-The Business Standard Make schemes mobile and portable, by focusing on people and not products India spends close to four per cent of its GDP on an alphabet soup of welfare schemes and subsidies - it has become a welfare state before becoming a developed state. Despite its significant costs, India's welfare system is neither comprehensive nor very effective - subject to huge leakages and corruption, and not well knit into...

-The Indian Express The MGNREGS stands out as one of the Indian government's most ambitious social schemes, with far-reaching consequences throughout the economy. The only known recipe for poverty eradication is a combination of high growth and high development spending. Neither is sufficient. A recent study (Kapoor and Ahluwalia, 2012) has shown that post-liberalisation, one champion of poverty reduction in India is Andhra Pradesh. This reduction in poverty is widespread, as...

-The Indian Express International experience points to the dangers in moving towards a system of health insurance coverage. Improving government services is the answer. Last month, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan offered a glimpse into the new government's universal health assurance scheme, of which insurance will be an important component. Health insurance is also part of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the NDA government's financial inclusion programme. But international experience does...

-Outlook Education remains a preserve of the rich as India's states renege on the 25 per cent reservation the RTE Act promises to the poor It is a day of trepidation for Prakash. A short, gawky man in his early thirties, he is among the several anxious parents waiting at a Bangalore school for the draw of lots to commence, he perhaps more anxious than the others. The process begins finally,...

-Economic and Political Weekly Any discussion on universal health coverage in India is premature without a comprehensive understanding of public financing of health coverage in the country. This article analyses the government's share of financial resources for health across different agents, with particular focus on resources for health coverage. An attempt is made to separate spending for health in general and health coverage in particular, and to examine the issue of...