The major problem that the media is addressing these days is the consumer price index. This is going to be discussed during the budget session. The focus has to turn to consumer pricing. People also face policy problems because of their wage negotiations and inflationary expectations. Consumer prices escalate by 5 percent every month and that is the first issue that needs to be addressed and attended as of now....

India's finance minister announced on Monday a food security bill for 2011/12, a measure that would provide cheap grains for millions of India's poor but which has sparked worries of a huge fiscal cost. It was one of the first signs of populism in the annual budget as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confronted high prices and corruption scandals as well as elections in five states this year. In his ongoing budget speech,...

Larry Summers, the recently departed Chairman of US President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council, posed the following question before his trip to India last November: “What is the self-perception of the Congress as a political party?” In fact, this broad question provokes three specific ones in the domain of economics. Is the Congress the party of Jagdish Bhagwati or Amartya Sen; Nehru or Indira Gandhi; or Aruna Roy or Nandan...

Poor allocation of funds to key social sectors shows the government’s lacklustre approach to inclusive growth. We are reaching the end of a remarkable fiscal year,” said the finance minister as he rose to present the Union Budget 2011-12. Agreeing with the government that the year gone by presented us with several opportunities and challenges to address critical concerns pertaining to the social sector, the overall sense is that this Budget,...

“To ensure greater cost efficiency, better delivery” Seeking to address the issue of subsidies not reaching the targeted groups, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday proposed to provide a direct cash subsidy on fuel and fertilizers to the poor from March, 2012. “To ensure greater cost efficiency and better delivery of kerosene and fertilizers, the government will move toward direct transfer of cash subsidy for people below poverty line (BPL) in a...