-Hindustan Times Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's claims of already having achieved an economic turnaround, made in his budget speech, evoke suspicion. Inflation is certainly down and so is the current account deficit, but that has almost entirely to do with the crash in international crude oil prices, which have fallen from $110 per barrel in June 2014 to around $57 per barrel currently. In fact, rather than passing on the full...

-Economic and Political Weekly Since independence, India's national health policies have been aspirational but the end results have been limited. The National Health Policy 2015, which is in the process of being finalised, should, in place of the earlier "broadband" approach, adopt a "narrow focus" on primary healthcare through the National Rural Health Mission. The latter has focused on primary healthcare and has shown visible results. A slew of suggestions as...

-The Indian Express The forthcoming budget is expected by some to be make-or-break or path-breaking, by others, to provide a legislative or economic roadmap for the rest of this government's term. Most likely, it will focus on issues within the purview of the finance ministry, namely, macro management, taxation, expenditure, the financial sector and balance of payments. The abolition of the Planning Commission and the 14th Finance Commission recommendations on tax devolution...

-Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of Finance Economic Outlook, Prospects and Policy Challenges Macroeconomic fundamentals in 2014-15 have dramatically improved. Highlights are: * Inflation has declined by over 6 percentage points since late 2013. * The current account deficit has declined from a peak of 6.7 percent of GDP (in Q3, 2012-13) to an estimated 1.0 percent in the coming fiscal year. * Foreign portfolio flows have stabilized the rupee, exerting downward pressure on long-term interest...

-Tehelka National Health Policy 2015 draft could end up being a paper tiger Successive governments since the reforms of 1991 have been criticised for low funding on health, lowest in the world. Nearly one percent of India's gross domestic product (GDP) is spent each year on public health. But the new government has pledged to turn the tide around by increasing government spending to 2.5 percent of GDP in the draft health...