-NetworkIdeas.org Following its $1.9 trillion Covid-relief package, the Biden administration has further announced an infrastructure package of $2.3 trillion. But in contrast to the former which is to be spent within months, the latter is to be spent over an eight-year period. And this package in turn is to be followed by a “human infrastructure” package. All this adds up to a massive stimulus for the economy as well as a...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Govt. has an active role to play during the pandemic in terms of nutritional support, education & jobs, says IFPRI report
A recent report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) states that the countrywide lockdown imposed on 25th March, 2020, which was extended for nearly two months in phases, affected the food and nutritional status of vulnerable sections of the Indian population. It says that a programme like the Mid-Day Meal Scheme covers four-fifth of primary-school-aged children in the country that helps in improving not only nutrition but also...
More »Why do MSMEs rarely get compound interest on delayed payment claims? -Vivek Sharma
-TheLeaflet.in Explaining the predicament of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) when opting for payment claims under the MSME Development Act, 2006, VIVEK SHARMA writes about why, in practice, the statutory compound interest enshrined in the law is rarely executed, and offers suggestions to bolster the law and secure the interests of MSMEs in this regard. MICRO, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play a significant role in India’s GDP and export story....
More »The fault line of poor health infrastructure -Ashwini Deshpande
-The Hindu As and when India emerges on the other side of the pandemic, bolstering public care systems has to be the top priority As the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic ravages India, many bitter home truths and fault lines have been starkly exposed. One of these is the abysmally poor state of the country’s health infrastructure. World Bank data reveal that India had 85.7 physicians per 1,00,000 people in 2017...
More »A collage of laws that leaves the worker out in the cold -Santosh Mehrotra and Kingshuk Sarkar
-The Hindu The universalisation of social security remains an unfulfilled aspiration in the new code on social security As COVID-19 destroys lives and livelihoods, an unprepared government has rendered low-paid, informal workers, who constitute 91% of the workforce, totally hapless, pushing them further into poverty. Imagine if these same informal workers had social security (including free basic curative care in public clinics and hospitals, the elderly had old age pensions, the dying...
More »