-TheWire.in The pandemic and lockdown threw existing budgetary calculus completely out of line. But that provides an opportunity too. In December 2020, talking at a CII meet, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman reportedly stated: “100 years of India wouldn’t have seen a budget being made post-pandemic like this”. Was it a mere statement of fact, that never before had parts of the budget-making process been done in a virtual manner after a pandemic, or...
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Covid deepened inequalities: wealth, education, gender -Udit Misra
-The Indian Express An Oxfam report, titled ‘The Inequality Virus’, has found that as the pandemic stalled the economy, forcing millions of poor Indians out of jobs, the richest billionaires in India increased their wealth by 35 per cent. A new report by Oxfam has found that the Covid pandemic deeply exacerbated existing inequalities in India and around the world. The report, titled ‘The Inequality Virus’, has found that as the pandemic stalled...
More »Two Key Numbers to Look Out for in the Upcoming Budget 2021 -Jayati Ghosh
-TheWire.in The most important concern is that of increasing public spending. There are really only two numbers to look out for in the forthcoming budget: how much did the government claim to have spent in 2020-21, and how much does it intend to spend in 2021-22. These two numbers will determine whether there is any real hope of sustained macroeconomic recovery in the near future, notwithstanding any claims of green shoots or revival...
More »UN representative: India doesn’t properly protect human rights defenders -Aranya Shankar
-The Indian Express Mary Lawlor was speaking at an online event marking 100 days of Swamy’s incarceration. United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Mary Lawlor Friday said India does not “properly protect human rights defenders”. She also said she had written to the Indian government in November, “raising concerns” over Jesuit priest Stan Swamy’s arrest in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, but had not yet received a...
More »Centre has promised to enhance MGNREGA mandays to 150, says Minister Eshwarappa
-The Hindu MANGALURU: Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj K.S. Eshwarappa said on Tuesday that the Union government has promised to sanction 50 additional mandays for the State to implement Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme. Speaking to presspersons in Udupi, the Minister said that the Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Narendra Singh Tomar at a recent meeting promised to increase mandays from 100 to...
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