-The Indian Express Government could have undone the damage of demonetisation through the budget. The opportunity has been missed in deference to the whims of global finance. Since 97 per cent of the value of demonetised currency has returned to the banks, causing, contrary to the government’s expectations, very little extinction of currency, it is obvious that demonetisation has totally failed to achieve its purported objective of denting the black economy. It...

-Livemint.com One of the key trends underlying huge concentration of wealth and incomes is the increasing return to capital versus labour Given the demonetisation undertaken by the government in November 2016, the current budget was presented at a historic moment in the Indian economy. To understand the government’s emphasis on the rural economy, we have to understand a key narrative that must influence economic policies in democratic countries. As several governments in developed...

-The Hindu Most of the earnings of the average farm household were spent in meeting consumption expenditures. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a slew of measures in the Union Budget 2017 to boost the agriculture sector. Higher agricultural credit, higher allocation for irrigation projects, a crop insurance scheme and increased allocations for MGNREGA to dig farm ponds were among the measures announced on February 1. But will these help attain the goal...

-Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability Budget 2017-18 is placed at an important juncture when there has been a thrust by the government for a digitised and a consequent cashless economy with the demonetisation of high value currency notes undertaken in November last year. A number of claims have been made in the budget speech by the Finance Minister regarding longer term benefits of this move for the Indian Economy. To...

-The Indian Express The scheme grants Rs 6,000 to pregnant and lactating women who go for institutional delivery and vaccinate their children. The much-talked about maternity benefit entitlement of Rs 6,000 per woman, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 31, 2016, has received a meagre allocation of Rs 2,700 crore. This is not even a quarter of the estimate drawn up by civil society groups that have been long demanding...