-Scroll.in The former Planning Commission member explains why the country needs to tread carefully on this idea. On January 1, when Indian news agency ANI asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the government’s plans to reduce agrarian distress, he said loan waivers do not work as a very small segment of farmers take loans from banks. “A majority of them take loans from money lenders,” said Modi. “When governments make such announcements,...
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What Ails CAG, and What Can Be Done? -BP Mathur
-Centre for Financial Accountability blog The institution of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in India is patterned on the British model. In Britain, The Exchequer & Audit Department Act of 1866 created the office of CAG with a view to strengthen democracy and exercise parliamentary control over national finances. The office of CAG came into being, thanks to the missionary zeal of William Gladstone who was Finance Minister at the time...
More »India ready to allow US dairy imports with riders -Kirtika Suneja
-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: India is ready to allow dairy imports from the US, if Washington can guarantee that those don’t violate religious sentiments here, said an official aware of the discussions. India, where dairy products are an integral part of the Hindu methods of worship, requires these be derived from animals which have never consumed any feeds containing internal organs, blood meal, or tissues of ruminant origin. New Delhi has told...
More »Indefinite strike by Bihar's ASHA workers is another reminder that they are overworked, underpaid -Kavita Krishnan
-Scroll.in The ASHA unions in Bihar are demanding government employee status and a minimum wage. Accredited Social Health Activists or ASHA workers in Bihar went on an indefinite strike from December 1 with a 12-point charter of demands. Bihar has 93,687 ASHA workers – the second highest contingent of the one million ASHA workers in India. They are the key link between the healthcare system and rural populations and have to perform...
More »Indian farmers need a new deal and not just loan waivers -Yogendra Yadav
-ThePrint.in Farmers’ issues have occupied centre stage after decades and compulsions of 2019 can create the political will to do something. When Raghuram Rajan opposes farm loan waivers, he ought to be taken seriously. Not just because he has the academic and policy credentials to talk about banking. Not just because he is backed by twelve other well-known economists. And, not just because he had the guts, as the RBI governor, to...
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