-The Hindu Why measuring inequality is not the same as measuring changes in the level of poverty in India In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion on increasing inequality within several countries of the world, including India, particularly after the publication of Thomas Piketty’s book on inequality. It is true that rising inequality has adverse economic and social consequences. The Gini coefficient or other measures of inequality are being...

-TheWire.in In the gender Budget, the Modi government has not done much more than pay lip service to policies that impact women. Soon after the Union Budget was presented, the PMO tweeted Modi as saying: “Special emphasis has been given on women empowerment in the Budget.” A high-voltage communication campaign followed highlighting key proposals for women, including an increase in commitments for the Ujjwala scheme to provide free gas connections to eight crore...

-The Hindu Neither the Budget nor the National Health Policy 2017 shows a clear health sector road map The National Health Protection Scheme announced in this year’s Budget has generated a lot of debate. The government has committed itself to “providing coverage up to ?5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation” for 10 crore poor families, with approximately 50 crore people as beneficiaries. As only ?2,000 crore...

-The Financial Express The Odisha experience shows that PDS can play a pivotal role in bringing convergence and making India’s two important missions—food and nutrition security—successful in a short time. New Delhi: India’s public distribution system (PDS) is the largest food security programme in the world, which covers nearly 60% of the population and costs Rs 1.45 trillion—close to 1.4% of the national income. PDS has often been criticised for its structure,...

-Scroll.in India has attracted negative attention in recent years as the second most unequal country in the world, after Russia. Spectacular economic growth over the past three decades has made India a global economic powerhouse. Between 1990 and 2016, India’s economy grew at a compound rate of around 7% in current dollars. The Indian economy is now the third largest in the world by purchasing power parity after China and the...