-TheWire.in The Union government may do well to appreciate that getting vaccinated and seeking private health care are two different issues and should not be conflated. When the Union government partially revised its vaccine allocation strategy on June 7, 2021, from a 50:25:25 ratio to a 75:25 ratio, it had offered a set of justifications to the Supreme Court. In its second affidavit submitted to the apex court on June 26, the Union...
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India’s decision to liberalise vaccine sales likely to push up prices – and block access to millions -R Ramakumar
-Scroll.in Besides, by making states responsible for buying vaccines, Modi’s government has deftly deflected possible criticism for future shortages. Over the past few weeks, the second wave of Covid-19 infections and the acute shortage of vaccines had led to considerable public anger against the government. Despite being fully aware of a potential vaccine shortage, the Union government had held back permissions for new vaccines, such as the Sputnik V, to be used in...
More »Farm laws and ‘taxation’ of farmers -R Ramakumar
-The Hindu To show Indian agriculture as being net taxed to argue for the farm laws has poor conceptual validity Over the past three decades, a major rationale offered in favour of liberalising Indian agriculture was that farmers were “net taxed”. In other words, incomes of farmers were kept artificially lower than what they should have been. It was argued that this “net taxation” existed because protectionist policies deprived farmers of higher...
More »Amid protests over agri laws let's look at how some countries support farmers -Richard Mahapatra
-Down to Earth Every day, 54, mostly developed countries give nearly $2 billion in support to their farmers The sites of the farmers’ protests on the borders of Delhi are a microcosm of Indian peasantry — rich and poor, small and big, irrigated and rainfed and supported and not supported. The voices from these sites have now merged into one clarion call: Guarantee government support to farmers by legalising the minimum support...
More »The perils of deregulated imperfect agrimarkets -R Ramakumar
-The Hindu The Farm Acts were legislative misadventures, while much more is needed to address the genuine fears of farmers The eruption of massive farmers’ protests across India against the Farm Acts has shocked those in the seat of power in Delhi. According to the government, many private markets will be established, middlemen would disappear, farmers would be free to sell to any buyer and farmgate prices would rise. But the protesting...
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