Rapid urbanization is placing significant stress on the budgets of India's local governments and more must be done to improve their financial status to enable them to fund infrastructure projects and delivery of essential services. To address the issue, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to a request from the Government of India to support a study to assess the state of India's local government finances and identify key...
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After ASEAN, India mulls FTAs with EU, Oz by Nirmala Ganapathy
The controversy over signing the India-ASEAN FTA has not dampened the enthusiasm of the UPA government for pursuing free trade agreements with other countries. Apart from the trade negotiations with the EU, the government is juggling with the possibility of entering into free trade agreements with quite a few countries and groupings. At present India is looking at the possibility of entering into FTA negotiations with Australia. Moving fast, a...
More »Kerala fights clock in ASEAN free-trade deal by Ranjit Devraj
Southern Kerala state is known for the lush expanses of cardamom, pepper, tea and rubber that grow on its misty hills, and the bountiful catches of fish on a coastline punctuated by lagoons and backwaters. But a cloud in the form of a a free trade deal with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc hovers over this picture of plenty. With the Indo-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA) now...
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KEY TRENDS • In 2018, India's Human Development Index (HDI) ranking was 129th (HDI value 0.647) among 189 countries and UN recognized territories, while China's ranking was 85th (HDI value 0.758), Sri Lanka's 71st (HDI value 0.780), Bhutan's 134th (HDI value 0.617), Bangladesh's 135th (HDI value 0.614) and Pakistan's 152th (HDI value 0.560) *8 • In 2017, India's Human Development Index (HDI) ranking was 130th (HDI value 0.640) among 189 countries, while China's ranking was 86th (HDI...
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KEY TRENDS • In 2017-18, 24.8 percent of rural working-age men and 74.5 percent of rural working-age (viz. 15-59 years) women were not employed. In urban areas, 25.8 percent of working-age men and 80.2 percent of working-age women were not employed AB • Both the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and the Consumer Pyramids Survey of the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE-CPDX) report the overall unemployment rate to be around 6 per cent in 2018,...
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