-Business Standard Research says Aadhaar was not necessary for de-duplication exercise What has been the net benefit that arose out of using Aadhaar within the Direct Benefits Transfer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or PAHAL scheme as it is now called? Research done by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) says the benefit from Aadhaar in the scheme through de-duplication of records was at best limited to Rs 12-14 crore in...
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Budget 2016: Behind the Symbolism
-Economic and Political Weekly The Modi government tries hard to signal a makeover but beyond the symbolic it does not change much. Budget 2016 is not important for the proposals that it has made but for what it tries to signal about the proposed makeover, in a limited way, of the Narendra Modi government. The budget does try hard to claim that the Modi government is not a “suit-boot” administration, an image...
More »Budget 2016, through a prism of the poor -Brinda Karat
-The Indian Express Gamlina’s response is just one example of how distant this government is from the lives of the poor and how tokenistic its schemes are. Gamlina Soren, an elected panchayat member in Jharkhand, sounded upset. She had been told by a local BJP functionary that gas cylinders were going to be “gifted” to poor women by the Centre but that they must have a BPL card. “But most poor Adivasi...
More »Laying the ground
-The Hindu Business Line The Budget’s agriculture focus is welcome, but it could have done better A Budget with a purported focus on agriculture could not have come at a better time. There has been a sharp dip in agriculture output from a trend rate of growth of 4 per cent per annum in the period 2004-05 to 2011-12 to about 1.5 per cent in the next four years, which includes a...
More »Political expediency wins over cooperative federalism -Nitin Sethi & Ishan Bakshi
-Business Standard Cess, surcharges come in handy New Delhi: Looking to leave its political imprint over spending in rural India, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has budgeted for a massive 31 per cent hike in its share of spending on nine big-ticket centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) in 2016-17 over last year's budgetary allocation. Last year's Budget mantra of 'cooperative federalism' has been sidestepped to favour political exigencies. To fund these schemes, which...
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