-Hindustan Times The government slashed plan expenditure by about 20% in the 2015-16 budget amid fiscal concerns, hitting spending on social sectors such as education and women's empowerment that were the focus areas of the previous UPA administration. In the 2014-15 budget, Arun Jaitley allocated Rs. 5,75,000 crore for plan expenditure, or money that goes towards creation of productive assets, but could spare only Rs. 4,65,277 crore this time. This is also...
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The budget exposes the class bias of the Modi govt -Prasenjit Bose
-Hindustan Times Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's claims of already having achieved an economic turnaround, made in his budget speech, evoke suspicion. Inflation is certainly down and so is the current account deficit, but that has almost entirely to do with the crash in international crude oil prices, which have fallen from $110 per barrel in June 2014 to around $57 per barrel currently. In fact, rather than passing on the full...
More »National Health Policy 2015: A Narrow Focus Needed -Javid Chowdhury
-Economic and Political Weekly Since independence, India's national health policies have been aspirational but the end results have been limited. The National Health Policy 2015, which is in the process of being finalised, should, in place of the earlier "broadband" approach, adopt a "narrow focus" on primary healthcare through the National Rural Health Mission. The latter has focused on primary healthcare and has shown visible results. A slew of suggestions as...
More »Activists cry foul as WCD Ministry funds slashed by half -Abantika Ghosh
-The Indian Express Little over a month ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' scheme from Panipat with much fanfare. On Saturday, his government slashed the allocation for the Women and Child Development Ministry by more than 50% from last year's allocation. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley allocated Rs 10,382 crore for the ministry. Last year, the allocation was Rs 21,193 crore of which the ministry managed...
More »Anaemic allocation leaves healthcare gasping for more -Smriti Kak Ramachandran
-The Hindu Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's announcement of new AIIMS-like institutions, tax sops for those who buy health insurance, and Rs. 33,150 crore allocation has given the health sector little to cheer. Though the draft of the government's new national health policy wants public health expenditure to increase to 2.5 per cent of the GDP, the allocation seems insufficient to meet the government's ambitious universal health assurance mission that includes free...
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