-TheWire.in What you lose on the wings, you gain on the roundabouts.  With no other major growth investments or policy reforms in the budget, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman made capital investment the lynchpin of the government’s growth strategy in Budget 2022. Stressing that “the virtuous cycle of investment requires public investment to crowd-in private investment” she took high moral ground to say that the “public investment must continue to take the lead and...

-TheWire.in Presenting a budget, especially in the midst of an economic crisis, is an opportunity to communicate a government's vision for the country. This budget fails to do that and seems to be completely disconnected from ground realities. It seems as if the Union finance minister, this year, took the idea of a paperless budget so literally that she has attempted to find digital solutions to most of the country’s problems. The ‘Amrit...

-The Hindu The Government needs to stop India’s avalanching slide into a grossly divided society, made worse by the pandemic On January 17, 2022, Oxfam International presented its annual global “Inequality Report”. Titled Inequality Kills, the report calculated and presented the quantum growth in wealth of a minuscule few, and the simultaneous impoverishment of millions of working people. During the novel coronavirus pandemic, the report reveals, more than half the world’s new...

-Down to Earth Eligibility threshold for FPOs should be reduced or support provided to meet the criteria, experts feel Farmer producer organisations (FPO) figure prominently in government policies and the ambitious plan to double farmers’ income by 2022. But funds remain elusive for these bodies, according to a recent analysis.  Just 1-5 per cent of FPOs have received funding under central government schemes introduced to promote them in the last seven years, the...

-Newsclick.in It appears the stage is being set to scuttle India and South Africa’s IP waiver proposal with regard to Covid vaccines and technology ahead of the 12th WTO Ministerial this month-end. At various global fora, Big Pharma and rich countries have been steadfastly pushing the focus toward supply-side bottlenecks of vaccines and unequal distribution of doses in a bid to steer the discourse away from the more contentious issue of patents...