-The Hindu Business Line Better healthcare infrastructure, well-trained professionals, informed citizens and nutritious food score over index-induced competition The NITI Aayog’s report, Healthy States, Progressive India, made public earlier this month tells us much of what we already know: that overall, Kerala has the best set of indicators comparable with the developed world and Uttar Pradesh, the worst. That the BIMARU States are at the bottom of the pile along with Odisha....

-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: The government, which has very little to show so far as achievement on its ambitious plan of doubling farmers’ income by 2022, is organising a two-day brainstorming meet of various stake-holders, including farmers and farmer bodies. The national conference, scheduled from Monday, would be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, apart from his cabinet colleagues and top government officials. According to SK Pattanayak, Union Agriculture Secretary, the...

-Frontline.in Despite its deeply flawed neoliberal perspective, Economic Survey 2017-18 is rich in detail, has many useful analytical discussions at different levels of aggregation, and would serve as a useful resource for students and scholars. When Arvind Subramanian, the present Chief Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance who took office way back in October 2014, presented his first Economic Survey, the one for 2014-15, there was considerable novelty on offer, at...

-The Hindu The answer lies in the fragile state of the Centre’s finances, and its control over interest, pension and subsidy expenses To any layman watching India’s annual Budget jamboree, the entire exercise must seem very puzzling. After the Finance Minister has read out a long list of giveaways to farmers, small businesses, low-income earners and senior citizens in his speech, none of the beneficiaries seems entirely happy with their gifts. Commentators, after...

-The Hindu Policy should address credit, crop insurance, drip irrigation The government’s efforts to focus on the welfare of farmers in the Union Budget is admirable. However, in a zero-sum situation such as budget allocation, the government often finds itself trying to choose between short-term results and long-term benefits. Short term results might come with loan waivers and increase of Minimum Support Price (MSP), but care should be taken to address the...