-TheWire.in While the nitty-gritties of GST work are handled by the council, slippage in revenues are a result of poor design, which is why a road map for reforming the GST is needed. I don’t envy finance minister Arun Jaitley. The fiscal situation is looking rather grim, with the fiscal deficit target amount for the entire year having already been exceeded by 12 percentage points, with a full quarter of the fiscal...
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Why farmers don't have electoral clout -Avik Saha and Yogendra Yadav
-Down to Earth Although farmers vote at least as much, if not more than industrial workers or urban middle classes, elections are not fought around farmers' issues Elections are about numbers. Democratic politics is about stitching together a majority. So, the larger a group, the bigger is its “vote bank”, and greater is its electoral clout. A social group that constitutes a majority can therefore dictate its terms in an electoral democracy....
More »Lunch thali for Rs 10: BJP civic bodies seek way to voters' hearts -Paras Singh
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A whole meal for 10 bucks may sound unrealistic in today's world but subsidised food has been a popular poll promise of almost all political parties. Taking a cue from the popularity of "Amma canteens" in Tamil Nadu, civic bodies in the capital, too, rolled out half a dozen "Atal Aahaar Kendra" centres on Monday, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birthday, which will dole...
More »UP is Shifting the Burden of Inefficient Power Companies Onto its Most Disenfranchised Citizens -Kabir Agarwal
-TheWire.in While the hike in power prices will increase rural distress, many farmers believe the move is particularly cruel because the quality of rural power supply hasn’t improved. Garhmukteshwar (Uttar Pradesh): Voting in the civic polls of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-governed Uttar Pradesh (UP) concluded on November 29. A day later, a huge power tariff hike of up to 150% for rural consumers was announced in the state. While the tariff hike,...
More »Why crime data do not always add up to the complete picture -Deeptiman Tiwary
-The Indian Express Low crime rate numbers often don’t mean citizens are safer, and ‘rape capital’ and ‘crime capital’ could both be unfair assessments. In reports such as the one published by the National Crime Records Bureau last week, the quality of data is important, as is its placement in the right context. New Delhi: “It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts...
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