Poor allocation of funds to key social sectors shows the government’s lacklustre approach to inclusive growth. We are reaching the end of a remarkable fiscal year,” said the finance minister as he rose to present the Union Budget 2011-12. Agreeing with the government that the year gone by presented us with several opportunities and challenges to address critical concerns pertaining to the social sector, the overall sense is that this Budget,...

India’s drug regulator has refused to disclose key information about a controversial government study that provided Indian girls a vaccine designed to protect them from cervical cancer, amplifying suspicions about the study’s objectives. The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has refused to release for public scrutiny the study’s protocols, which are expected to contain information about its purpose and methodology, a set of health activists said yesterday. The Union government had...

The possibility of the voluntary nature of the unique identity number project becoming virtually a compulsion in the light of entitlements being linked to the scheme saw members of a parliamentary panel quiz UID chief Nandan Nilekani about its pitfalls. At a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee on Friday, MPs told Nilekani that despite his claims that the UID is Merely a number — not indicative of citizenship, caste or...

How transparent and participatory is Pranab Babu’s budget For six months it evolves under a veil of secrecy. The Cabinet gets to see it just a few hours before it is tabled in the Lok Sabha. Such is the covert nature of the Union budget that accounts for about 50 per cent of all budgets in the country. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee wants to make the budget what such a public affair...

A renewal of concern about fiscal management in India is partly due to the resurgence of populism even in a post-election year. Instead of working to reduce the subsidy bill, various political elements seem to be pushing for even higher subsidies. The recent decision of a group of ministers to absorb higher import and production costs of fertilisers by raising subsidy, rather than increasing prices, is just one example. Some...