-Financial Express Has demonetisation led to a big increase in the number of people filing taxes and in tax revenue collected? Has demonetisation led to a big increase in the number of people filing taxes and in tax revenue collected? In other words, have the tax base and tax revenue increased substantially due to demonetisation? Minister of finance Arun Jaitley, and assorted defenders of the government, do make these claims. Writing in...

-PTI Says 7% growth not enough; centralisation of power a problem. Demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) are the two major headwinds that held back India’s economic growth last year, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has said, asserting that the current 7% growth rate is not enough to meet the country’s needs. Addressing an audience at the University of California in Berkeley on Friday, Rajan said for four years — 2012...

-The Hindu Natural recharge during monsoon may not help much if groundwater depletion becomes acute, as rainfall of past years controls current storage With 230 billion metre cube of groundwater drawn out each year for irrigating agriculture lands in India, many parts of the country are experiencing rapid depletion of groundwater. The total estimated groundwater depletion in India is in the range of 122–199 billion metre cube. The Indo-Gangetic Plain, northwestern, central and...

-The Indian Express Growth can alleviate poverty but its definition needs to expand to make any tangible difference on the ground. Amidst the din caused by the story of rising billionaires, the message on India’s poverty decline in the recent report of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative has been lost. UNDP and Oxford University released the report on Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2018. This report covers 105 countries. The...

-Livemint.com Tax collections from goods and services tax (GST) have been underwhelming, and the government is set to miss this year’s fiscal deficit target Mumbai: Widening the tax base and collecting more taxes has been a priority for the current government at the centre. This government’s two major economic disruptions—the introduction of goods and services tax (GST) and demonetisation—were justified in the name of raising tax compliance among other things. However, these...