-TheWire.in Jayalalithaa’s schemes – such as her canteens and baby care kits – may appear to be populist at first glance, but are actually quite entrenched in a welfare tradition. For development economists, Tamil Nadu offers many lessons in social democracy. The state has distinguished itself with visionary schemes – such as noon meals (known as the mid-day meal scheme nationally) and the Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefits Scheme, which provides Rs...

-The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement demonetising high denomination notes on November 8, 2016, will do little to address the prime objective of flushing out black money but will adversely affect the economy in the short term, especially the informal sector, which is predominant in India, says M. Govinda Rao, a Member of the Fourteenth Finance Commission and Emeritus Professor, National Institute of Public...

-Business Standard Scheme to benefit close to 450 million workers, mainly in the unorganised sector  Stung by repeated resistance from trade unions and strikes, the Narendra Modi government plans to launch a massive social security coverage scheme which will benefit almost 450 million workers, mainly in the unorganised sector. In order to achieve this, the government will attempt to create a corpus through which the benefits will be provided. The benefits include...

-The Economic Times If you thought that social security schemes are only for rural residents, think again. Nearly half of the total subscribers of the three social schemes - Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) - are from urban areas. As per the figures on http://www.jansuraksha.gov.in/, nearly 6.3 crore of about 13 crore who have enrolled in these schemes are...

-The Hindu Held to account by the Supreme Court, the Central government is using opaque methods to change the key provisions of the employment guarantee scheme and make it targeted instead of universal. There is a pithy saying in Hindi that the elephant has two sets of teeth, one for show and the other to eat. This seems an apt description of the approach of the Narendra Modi government towards the implementation...