-TheWire.in The most blatant example of ecological illiteracy in the name of ‘self-reliance’ is that of coal mining – a sector which is being opened up in parts of central India which were hitherto off-limits. For a government that is tom-tomming its environmental record across the globe, it is interesting that nature, ecology and environment are almost totally absent from the Indian government’s COVID-19 recovery or stimulus package labelled ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant...
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How to reduce food, job insecurity in rural areas -Binoy Acharya, Ved Arya, Pratyaya Jagnannath, and PS Vijayshankar
-Hindustan Times Launch a massive programme to rehabilitate returnee migrants; allocate an additional Rs 50,000 crore for MGNREGS; extend the free ration scheme for six more months; revive and strengthen public systems of service deliver; RBI should give a directive to banks to extend a top-up loan of Rs 10,000 crore to Self-help Groups After the Covid-19 outbreak, 66% of rural households fell short of cash for food. About 40% reduced their...
More »An agriculture-led revival as flawed claim -R Ramakumar
-The Hindu The crisis in agriculture demands that the government announce a strong fiscal stimulus for the rural economy A rather confident statement heard in the midst of India’s COVID-19-induced economic slowdown is this: “Agriculture will lead India’s economic revival”. But how valid is this claim put forward by government spokespersons and some observers? Four major arguments are offered. First, India’s food grain production in 2019-20 was 3.7% higher than in 2018-19. The...
More »100 days and GDP shrink: Government works on a fresh stimulus -Aanchal Magazine and P Vaidyanathan Iyer
-The Indian Express In mid-May, Sitharaman had announced five tranches of the AtmaNirbhar package, adding up to an economic package of Rs 20 lakh crore. AFTER MORE THAN 100 days since Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an economic package, six weeks after a series of meetings at the highest level underlined the need for a stimulus and official estimates indicating the worst-ever first quarter GDP contraction of 23.9 per cent, the government...
More »Centre’s stance on GST compensation to states is untenable, legally and morally -TM Thomas Isaac
-The Indian Express The stand of Indian government is devoid of any macro-economic logic. It is not a contra-cyclical, but a pro-cyclical stance. And it is untenable, legally and morally. The relation between the Centre and the states has reached its nadir with the controversy over the GST compensation payment. The shortfall in GST revenues in 2020-21 from the protected level will be of the order of Rs 3 lakh crore. The...
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