-Newsclick.in Rather than spending more, government expenditure by July 2019 is less than what it was last year as share of annual budget, with key public welfare related ministries cutting most. India is facing an unprecedented slowdown of the economy with GDP growth slumping to 5% in the June quarter, agriculture growing by only 2% and manufacturing by a mere 0.6%. Private consumption expenditure – spending by families on consumption – has...

-Scroll.in More than a tenth of GDP is provided by government expenditure. This is (more) bad news for the Indian economy. In 1773, the British Parliament passed the Regulating Act, appointing a governor general to oversee all of British India. This law marked the beginnings of the Central government of the British Raj, the single most significant institution to shape the Indian subcontinent for the next two centuries. It continues till today...

-The Telegraph Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget spells out the colossal failure that the draft NEP is fated to be In her budget speech on July 5, the finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, reiterated the government’s plan of bringing in a new National Education Policy, thereby initiating “major changes in both school and higher education”. Her announcement comes close on the heels of a draft NEP published by the ministry of human resource development in...

-TheWire.in While the revenue deficit is estimated to increase in the Union Budget in comparison to the interim one, the fiscal deficit shows a decline thanks to the increase in capital receipts especially through disinvestment. A comparison between the Interim Budget (IB) presented on February 1, 2019, and the full Union Budget (FB) presented before parliament on July for the current fiscal year (2019-20) throws up some intriguing questions. While most commentators have...

-Livemint.com Transfers to states are stagnating at a time when developmental demands on state governments are rising Five years ago, when the 14th finance commission recommended an increase in devolution of funds to state governments and a hike in the share of untied funds they received, it was heralded as a new era for fiscal federalism in the country, and one that would significantly empower state governments at a time when they...