-Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) Union Budget 2018-19 is the fifth and the final full-year budget of the current ruling dispensation. The major plank on which this government was elected in 2014 with an exceptional mandate were issues of development related to reducing corruption, generating meaningful employment opportunities, tackling inflation (especially food inflation, an issue plaguing the economy at that point of time), reducing inequality, and pushing the economy...

-TheWire.in Why has India chosen the path of expanding medical insurance instead of a more comprehensive approach to health? The concern with rising inequities in access to medical care, rising out-of-pocket expenditures and unmet treatment needs have been addressed with yet another targeted medical insurance scheme for poor households. The idea of a targeted medical insurance is not new. Several southern states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka had introduced such schemes many...

-TheWire.in The finance minister has made a big announcement on minimum support price, but he should make it clear whether all he is promising is to take the prices back to the UPA-II levels. The government has done it again. Like last year, there has been much hype about a pro-farmer Budget, but in actuality it rests on misleading claims which don’t address the farming crisis. Last year, the agriculture credit target...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Employment levels, particularly for women, in 2015-16 as against 2005-06 have registered a sharp dip though women were employed in larger proportions than men in occupations such as "professional", "technical", "administrative" and "managerial", the national family health survey has found. A slightly higher percentage of women at 10% than men at 8% are employed in a professional, technical, administrative, or managerial occupations. Interestingly, 11% women who...

-OrissaPost.com Raisuan (Odisha): Despite funds being spent from the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) on development of mineral-bearing areas, people in several villages of tribal-dominated Keonjhar district are still deprived of safe drinking water.  Tribals allege lakhs of rupees are being misappropriated by officials in the name of development. The sorry state of the inhabitants of Sankari village under Bansapal block is a case in point. People belonging to the Bhuyan tribe live...