In order to understand why the Union Budget 2021-22 is being termed as ‘transparent’, it has to be read simultaneously with the 15th Finance Commission Main Report for 2021-26. But first, let us discuss 'fertilizer subsidy'. The budget documents for Union Budget 2021-22 show that the spending on ‘fertilizer subsidy’ was slashed from Rs. 1,33,947 crore in 2020-21 (revised estimate) to Rs. 79,530 crore in 2021-22 (budget estimate). However, the budgetary...
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Climate change needs to be addressed or else be ready to pay the price
A recent report by Christian Aid -- an international NGO based out of London -- says that the world was not just hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it actually faced massive loss of lives and livelihoods owing to the intensification of the ongoing climate crisis. Climate-related disasters varied from fires in Australia and the United States, floods in China, India and Japan to storms in Europe and the...
More »Don’t laugh at US so soon, it has survived its populist moment far better than rest of us -Mihir Sharma
-ThePrint.in In comparison to countries such as Russia, Turkey, Hungary, India, American institutions (media and judiciary) have demonstrated their value and resilience In much of the world, the sight of a mob storming the United States Capitol to keep their leader in office was met not just with horror but with, let’s face it, schadenfreude. Finally! The U.S., which has for decades lectured other democracies about their imperfections and failures, had an...
More »Most stillbirths in 2019 happened in India, estimates UN report
Commenting on the recently released fifth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data for 17 states and five Union Territories (UTs) in an article published in The Indian Express (dated 6th January, 2021), Arvind Subramanian and his co-authors have stated that India has made progress on certain outcomes, including infant mortality rate (IMR), under-five mortality rate (U5MR) and neonatal mortality rate (NNMR). Relying on various rounds of NFHS data,...
More »Beware of illegal digital lending apps: RBI
-The Hindu Advisory in the backdrop of suicides in Telangana Hyderabad: The Reserve Bank of India has advised public to be wary of unauthorised digital lending platforms and mobile apps. Taking note of reports about individuals and small businesses falling prey to a growing number of unauthorised digital lending platforms/mobile apps, the central bank on Wednesday said “members of public are cautioned not to fall prey to such unscrupulous activities.” It urged them...
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