-The Hindu “The purpose of a Budget – and the job of a Finance Minister,” P. Chidambaram declared in his speech, “is to create the economic space and find the resources to achieve the socio economic objectives.” Now that the presentation of and the spate of initial responses to the budget are behind us, it may be appropriate to ask how far the Minister went in accomplishing his self-defined task. Mr. Chidambaram...

-The Economic Times It is consoling that despite a deficit of 8% in south-west rainfall during 2012-13 compared to its long period average (LPA), agriculture's contribution to GDP growth is likely to be around 1.8%. It is also good news that the revised figure of agri-GDP for the 11th Plan as a whole is 3.6%, up from 3.3% estimated earlier. Gross capital formation in agriculture as a percentage of agri-GDP has almost...

-Pratirodh.com Speaking to an enthralled audience of 1,500 students and faculty at IIT (Delhi) , Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said that the idea of the National Food Security Bill was “a matter of appreciation and support”, and that the tabling of the Bill in Parliament was in itself a big achievement.  However, he also drew attention to various shortcomings of the Bill and argued for it to be strengthened, particularly in...

-The Hindu Business Line Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen on Friday said that the tabling of the Food Security Bill in Parliament was “a big achievement”, but also drew attention to its shortcomings and called for it to be strengthened, especially with regard to child entitlements. He was participating in a panel discussion on ‘Hunger and Nutrition: Time to Act’ held at IIT- Delhi, with Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Shantha...

-The Business Standard The Nobel laureate says neglecting children is not only unjust but also an economic blunder Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said the National Food Security Bill needs to be strengthened to include children’s entitlements. According to him, the Bill, in the current form, neglects children. He pointed out that there are powerful lobbies for diesel and LPG subsidies, and even for exemptions of custom duties on gold imports. However, nobody is...