-The Indian Express The Union budget is largely about the intentions and policies of the government of the day, as well as the arithmetic of resource mobilisation and allocation to achieve certain ends in the economy. The diagnostics of various economic problems and their probable solutions are generally found in the Economic Survey. The Economic Survey clearly indicates that growth in agri-GDP in FY15 has collapsed to just 1.1 per cent, while...

-The Hindu Over 3 lakh tonnes of food grain, enough to feed 15 lakh families, is pilfered from ration shops annually Chennai: The quantum of PDS rice pilfered from Tamil Nadu is so high that it is what 15.68 lakh families are entitled to draw free of cost every month. A whopping 3.76 lakh tonnes of rice from the public distribution system goes missing annually. In financial terms, this means a loss of...

-Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) This publication highlights a range of pertinent issues primarily focusing on social sectors (such as education, health, drinking water and sanitation, food security etc.) and the responsiveness of the Union Budget towards the vulnerable sections of the population, (such as, women, children, dalits, adivasis, religious minorities, persons with disabilities and the Urban Poor). In addition, a number of important issues pertaining to taxation, renewable...

-The Indian Express Indian National Interest requires that our environment be ruined, people displaced, resources thoughtlessly mined, all for the benefit of foreign companies and for the private benefit of people in power. This is the only conclusion that we can draw after reading the recent revelations on Essar alongside the ministry of home affairs (MHA) affidavit in the Delhi High Court responding to Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai's plea that her...

-Economic and Political Weekly The National Sample Survey Office's survey of consumption expenditure is woefully inadequate for estimating the number of food-insecure households in India. Future surveys of NSSO need to collect information on the four pillars of food security: availability, access, nutritional adequacy/utilisation and stability. The Comprehensive Nutrition Survey in Maharashtra is an example of such a survey and appears to do a decent job of capturing the different elements...