-The Telegraph The recent budget talked about the government's plan to double farm incomes in the next five years. This will be done through investments in rural infrastructure, especially irrigation. About 50 per cent of land under foodgrain production in India is irrigated. This means that half of the foodgrain producing land in India faces weather uncertainties and, hence, those working on them face annual (seasonal) variations in income. These variations...
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‘Policy on rare diseases will make treatment affordable, inclusive’ -Cinthya Anand
-The Hindu Patients face discrimination because public health systems and schools are not equipped to deal with the problem Bengaluru: “The cost of my daughter's treatment is around Rs. 1 crore per annum. If it were not for the aid of a United States-based foundation, I would not be able to help her,” said Prasanna B. Shirol, founder-director, Organisation for Rare Diseases India. His teenage daughter suffers from Pompe Disease, a rare...
More »A lesson in hidden agendas -Rohit Dhankar
-The Hindu The assault on the Right to Education Act and government schools is motivated. It is definitely not in the interest of India’s children, especially those from less privileged households The public education system (PES) has for long been under fire. It is being painted as non-functioning, wasteful and un-improvable. The Right to Education Act (RTE) was designed to improve this system. Therefore, it is natural that the RTE will also...
More »Patented Patriotism -Kalyani Menon-Sen
-Kafila.org The last few months have seen an unusual public engagement around questions of secularism, freedom of speech, sedition and the like, with furious debates everywhere from our campuses, streets and TV studios to the floor of Parliament. The budget session has been enlivened by scenes of high drama, with the leading lights of the Treasury benches bringing colour, sound and fury to their tutorials on patriotism and nationalism. While these high-decibel...
More »The budget’s dangerous philosophy -Harsh Mander
-Livemint.com The government relies on for-profit big business to deliver public goods despite their inability to deliver Can we listen to the budget as an annual public statement by the government of its economic and social philosophy and intent? The centre abandoned five-year plans that earlier laid down a road map of where government policies are headed. The budget, then, is an important reality check of whether the government is literally...
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