-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a move that could significantly bring down prices of expensive medicines, a high-level committee has recommended capping of trade margins for costly drugs at 35% of MRP (maximum retail price). The recommendations - part of a report submitted by an inter-ministerial committee - have been put in the public domain by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, inviting comments on the suggestions. The committee was set up...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Unhealthy Budget: Tokenism in the name of catastrophe -Indranil Mukhopadhyay
-The Hindu Business Line The proposed investment in healthcare is inadequate Budget 2015 was catastrophic for health, as investments tanked to a historic low. Against that backdrop, when the Finance Minister talks about measures to tackle catastrophic health events, there’s bound to be some scepticism. And that deepens on hearing the plan for a ₹ 1 lakh insurance to address catastrophes. Yes, impoverishment due to out-of-pocket expenditure on health is a major...
More »Political expediency wins over cooperative federalism -Nitin Sethi & Ishan Bakshi
-Business Standard Cess, surcharges come in handy New Delhi: Looking to leave its political imprint over spending in rural India, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has budgeted for a massive 31 per cent hike in its share of spending on nine big-ticket centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) in 2016-17 over last year's budgetary allocation. Last year's Budget mantra of 'cooperative federalism' has been sidestepped to favour political exigencies. To fund these schemes, which...
More »A new paradigm for agriculture? -Ashwini K Swain and Gareth Price
-Livemint.com A growth-first approach may work in the short-term, but India needs to prioritize sustainability simultaneously The Union Budget 2016-17, seeking to “transform India”, has been hailed for its emphasis on agricultural growth and sustainability. Symbolically, the finance minister put “agriculture and farmers’ welfare” first in his nine-point agenda. The words “agriculture” and “farmer” found 20 and 32 mentions, respectively, in the budget speech, the highest in the last decade. On the...
More »Aadhaar as money bill means less scrutiny, more haste -Zia Haq
-Hindustan Times New Delhi: It’s quite possible that in this Parliament session, India will make the transition from being a wasteful welfare state to a reformed economy that allocates scarce resources efficiently. The Modi government on Thursday introduced the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016. When signed into law, the bill will make Aadhaar -- the unique biometric identification number -- central to all social...
More »