-The Indian Express As India inches towards its goal of universal healthcare, there is a need for the budget to try to ensure that healthcare sector requirements are well funded and the budget contains provisions that energise accessible, affordable and quality healthcare. Here's what the government can do to boost the healthcare sector. India’s annual healthcare spend hovers around 4 per cent of GDP with high out of pocket expenditure and low...
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With a huge informal economy, government should increase spending, not worry about deficit -Maitreesh Ghatak
-The Indian Express To get the engine of the economy revving, an expansionary fiscal policy that harnesses the energy of the informal sector to boost aggregate demand is the order of the day. That India is in the midst of a serious economic slowdown is no longer in question. The debates are now mostly about what to do about it: Whether to opt for a fiscal expansion to boost demand or to...
More »Why India faces a public funding crisis -Rathin Roy & Puja Mehra
-Livemint.com * The Centre has no money for a stimulus package. Only the states can find a way to get India out of the slowdown * States, taken collectively, are the only hope. Despite loan waivers, they are in a better position to boost public spending. But that would require coordinated work between the Centre?and the states NEW DELHI: On 1 February, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present an important Union budget. The...
More »It will take decades to complete the sanctioned railway projects: government -Yuthika Bhargava & Sobhana K Nair
-The Hindu Public private partnership (PPP) is the only way out, Ministry tells parliamentary panel New Delhi: Even with an annual capital expenditure of about ?1.6 lakh crore for the Railways — which is the highest-ever — it will take decades to complete the sanctioned projects, the Ministry of Railways told a parliamentary panel on Monday, adding that public private partnership (PPP) is the only way out. The Ministry told the Standing Committee...
More »Move to cash transfers will lead to savings, put agriculture on sustainable growth path -Ashok Gulati
-The Indian Express All such investments will go a long way to augment farmers’ incomes in a sustainable manner. Else, I am afraid, much of the talk in the Union budget for agri-reforms will remain mere rhetoric. Although the Union budget is basically an accounting exercise of revenues and expenditures for the coming year, economy-watchers anxiously wait for the finance minister to announce major economic reforms. In that sense, the budget of...
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