-The Indian Express More transparency is needed for Indian society to have an informed debate about rising inequality In a recent study titled ‘Indian income inequality dynamics (1922-2014): From British Raj to Billionaire Raj?’ published on WID.world, we presented new estimates of the distribution of national income in India, from 1922, when the income tax was introduced, up to 2014. In this study, we systematically combine the best available data at hand...

-The Indian Express The focus in the Union Budget on tertiary healthcare at the cost of primary and secondary healthcare is flawed. A publicly-financed health insurance scheme is no substitute If the past three Union budgets were any indication, this budget’s approach to the health sector should not have surprised anyone. The prescription in the National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 to increase the government’s (Centre and the states together) health expenditure from the...

-The Economic Times The agriculture sector and farmers are passing through a difficult phase. The sector suffered a blow from back-to-back droughts during 2014-15 and 2015-16 followed by low and depressed farm level prices during 2016-17 and kharif 2017, mainly due to global price trends. This has intensified the demand for ensuring MSP (minimum support price) and raising MSP. The forthcoming budget needs to take a call to launch effective measures to...

-Press Release by Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) New Delhi: The idea of ‘good governance’ has gained a lot of momentum in the recent years and ‘Budget Transparency’ has acquired importance as one of the parameters of ‘good governance’ across the globe. In light of this, it is pertinent to see where India stands in a global survey of budget transparency covering more than 100 countries. A global survey on...

-The Hindu Analysing data without providing sufficient context is dangerous An inherent challenge in journalism is to meet deadlines without compromising on quality, while sticking to the word limit. However, brevity takes a toll when it comes to reporting on surveys, indexes, and big data. Let me examine three sets of stories which were based on surveys and carried prominently by this newspaper, to understand the limits of presenting data without providing...