-The Financial Express If you are a risk-averse investor and have been banking on small savings schemes for the purpose of saving and investment as well as building your retirement nest egg, then there is some bad news for you. For, the government has reduced the return on small savings schemes – including Public Provident Fund (PPF), NSC, Kisan Vikas Patra and Senior Citizen Savings Scheme — by 10 basis points....
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The Street Vendor's View -Arbind Singh
-The Indian Express Unorganised sector is worst-affected by demonetisation. Can banks go to them? An incident in 2000, during my initial years of work, woke me up to an uncomfortable question about post-economic liberalisation India. I was at a meeting with waste-pickers at Digha in Patna and a woman told me of her troubles with a Rs 500 note. She had saved money and changed it into a Rs 500 note, wrapped...
More »Govts should not blindly promote micro-irrigation schemes -J Harsha
-Deccan Herald Water in India has now become a contentious issue due to rise in demand, climate change and growing mismanagement. With erratic rainfall and recurring droughts in 2012, 2015 and 2016, “water saving” has become a high priority for the governments. As the agriculture sector consumes 80% of freshwater in the country, micro-irrigation – drip and sprinkler irrigation – has been catapulted as a policy priority because drip and sprinkler irrigation...
More »Plucking the low-hanging fruit of agricultural subsidy reform -Pravesh Sharma
-The Indian Express The Centre is pushing and many states are implementing Direct Benefit Transfers – and encountering little political opposition The entire focus on ushering in a direct benefit transfer (DBT) regime for delivering subsidies to the targeted populations has so far centered around cooking gas, and to some extent, on isolated pilot experiments with food subsidy. Agriculture subsidies, especially on inputs other than fertilisers, have largely escaped attention in...
More »What’s cooking? -Richa Mishra and Debabrata Das
-The Hindu Business Line The PMUY scheme, under which the poor get subsidised LPG connection, addresses an urgent need. At the same time, it can turn out to be a political masterstroke for the BJP, write Richa Mishra and Debabrata Das The kitchen has always played an important role in Indian politics. Leaders across political parties have cooked their electoral fortunes with the kitchen as the integral ingredient. While some distributed highly...
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