-The Times of India Direct transfer of benefits in cash to targeted beneficiaries of food and fertilizer subsidies could save an estimated Rs 60,000 cr and help trim the fiscal deficit which, in turn, may calm stubbornly high food inflation, a study by a government wing has shown. The study showed that policies to rein in food inflation would require winding down of the fiscal deficit, which has gone above 8% of...
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The Case for Direct Cash Transfers to the Poor-Arvind Subramanian, Devesh Kapur and Partha Mukhopadhyay
The total expenditure on central schemes for the poor and on the major subsidies exceeds the states' share of central taxes. These schemes are chronic bad performers due to a culture of immunity in public administration and weakened local governments. Arguing that the poor should be trusted to use these resources better than the state, a radical redirection with substantial direct transfers to individuals and complementary decentralisation to local governments...
More »Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of Finance interviewed by Lola Nayar and Sebastian PT
Despite the high-theatrics rollback of the Railway Budget, the government is confident of being able to push ahead with the reforms agenda. Despite the high-theatrics rollback of the Railway Budget, the government is confident of being able to push ahead with the reforms agenda. In an e-mailed post-Budget interview, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee took questions from Outlook’s Lola Nayar and Sebastian P.T. Edited excerpts: The government has managed to get UPA...
More »Dr Abhijit Sen, Member-Planning Commission of India, interviewed by Ajay Vir Jakhar and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
Dr Abhijit Sen is Member, Planning Commission of India. He is a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cambridge (currently on leave as Professor of Economics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University) and has also taught at the Universities of Sussex, Oxford and Cambridge. Besides serving various think tanks in the states and at the centre, Dr Sen has been a consultant with UNDP, ILO, FAO and various other multilateral...
More »Lopsided growth by Venkitesh Ramakrishnan
U.P.'s GDP grew at 7.28 per cent in the past five years, but the State ranks low in virtually every area of socio-economic development. IF statistics on gross domestic product (GDP) are the only criteria to evaluate the performance of a government, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government in Uttar Pradesh will have to be rated as one with highly impressive credentials. For, India's most populous State has recorded a...
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