-The Indian Express The Goods and Services Tax (GST), the biggest reform in India’s indirect tax structure since the economy began to be opened up 25 years ago, at last looks set to become reality. The Constitution (122nd) Amendment Bill comes up in Rajya Sabha today, on the back of a broad political consensus and boosted by the ‘good wishes’ of the Congress, which holds the crucial cards on its passage....
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Bridging the skill gap -Santosh Mehrotra
-The Hindu A levy on firms, resources from which are earmarked for vocational training, is what could help the country bridge the skill gap in its workforce. Financing technical vocational education and training (VET) is costlier than general education due to its technical nature. Pre-service training requires the installation of equipment and trained instructors to train youth. This raises the cost of training, and remains a factor preventing pre-service training from expanding...
More »State action vital to end social exclusion, says new report
Although public goods are meant for everyone to enable living life with human dignity, certain groups are systematically deprived to access them, says a new report from the Centre for Equity Studies -- a NGO based in Delhi. Put differently, not all sections of the society are able to access or enjoy public goods and services on an equal footing, despite social justice being one of the key provisions of...
More »Census pegs female-headed households at 13.2%, but it may be underestimation
There is a general perception that men are the primary breadwinners and, therefore, they are the ones responsible for fending for their families. However, recently released data from the population Census 2011 shows that around 3.3 crore households in the country are headed by women. In other words, overall there are 13.2 percent female-headed households (See Chart 1). The Census data shows that there are 59.4 lakh single member female-headed...
More »Centre owes over Rs. 81,000 cr. to States
-The Hindu The amount is tax share of last 10 years The Centre owes over Rs. 81,000 crore to States as tax shares of last 10 years, according to a finding by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India. According to details of communication between the CAG and the Finance Ministry, between 1996-97 and 2014-15, the Centre has failed to devolve to States Rs. 81,647.70 crore. Just in 2006-07 the Centre did not disburse...
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