-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's public spending on health is about five times lower than the world average, the Economic Survey released today has said, adding the country lacks good models of health care for replication nationwide. The survey, in a section on social sector expenditure trends, has pointed out that the government's annual expenditure on health was 1.2 per cent of the gross domestic product in 2013-14, 1.1 per cent in...

-TheWire.in Despite all the talk of a big push to the agricultural sector, the last Union Budget turned out to be a missed opportunity to provide genuine relief to farmers. The government must rectify this. The finance minister will be presenting the Union Budget 2017-18 at a time when the agrarian economy is in deep crisis. The farmers of the country have been suffering from a longstanding neglect of the sector, which...

-Firstpost.com I fear this budget. I fear that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley might announce an idea that I have liked and advocated: The idea of a Universal Basic Income. I fear it because Jaitley may use this label to justify something quite the opposite. In the process, he might ruin a good idea. Straws in the wind indicate that he might try something to this effect. Demonetisation was part of a grand...

-DNA According to the report, the rate of crimes per one lakh women in Delhi is 184.3, against 53.9 for the rest of the country The rate of violent incidents against women in the national Capital continues to remain “unacceptably high”. Delhi recorded the highest number of such incidents among all states and Union Territories (UT) in the last four years, according to a recent report. The report titled ‘Safety of women...

-The Hindu The growing chorus for a universal basic income is a ruse to eliminate or roll back significantly the public distribution system and signature welfare programmes The idea of a universal basic income (UBI) has been gaining ground globally. While Switzerland held a referendum on it last year (it was voted down), Finland introduced it earlier this month. Media reports suggest that the government of India’s flagship Economic Survey this year...