-The Hindu Business Line Better healthcare infrastructure, well-trained professionals, informed citizens and nutritious food score over index-induced competition The NITI Aayog’s report, Healthy States, Progressive India, made public earlier this month tells us much of what we already know: that overall, Kerala has the best set of indicators comparable with the developed world and Uttar Pradesh, the worst. That the BIMARU States are at the bottom of the pile along with Odisha....

-Frontline.in Despite its deeply flawed neoliberal perspective, Economic Survey 2017-18 is rich in detail, has many useful analytical discussions at different levels of aggregation, and would serve as a useful resource for students and scholars. When Arvind Subramanian, the present Chief Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance who took office way back in October 2014, presented his first Economic Survey, the one for 2014-15, there was considerable novelty on offer, at...

-The Indian Express The focus in the Union Budget on tertiary healthcare at the cost of primary and secondary healthcare is flawed. A publicly-financed health insurance scheme is no substitute If the past three Union budgets were any indication, this budget’s approach to the health sector should not have surprised anyone. The prescription in the National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 to increase the government’s (Centre and the states together) health expenditure from the...

-The Indian Express More transparency is needed for Indian society to have an informed debate about rising inequality In a recent study titled ‘Indian income inequality dynamics (1922-2014): From British Raj to Billionaire Raj?’ published on WID.world, we presented new estimates of the distribution of national income in India, from 1922, when the income tax was introduced, up to 2014. In this study, we systematically combine the best available data at hand...

-Press Release by Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) New Delhi: The idea of ‘good governance’ has gained a lot of momentum in the recent years and ‘Budget Transparency’ has acquired importance as one of the parameters of ‘good governance’ across the globe. In light of this, it is pertinent to see where India stands in a global survey of budget transparency covering more than 100 countries. A global survey on...