-The Indian Express Several questions have been raised about our estimates of the savings from the DBT scheme for cooking gas. But all parties accept that the programme reduced subsidised sales by 24 per cent. Direct cash transfers have the potential to improve the economic lives of the poor by transferring benefits to households quickly and directly. Achieving these benefits requires thoughtful design of schemes, and careful, rigorous analysis of ongoing...
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Centre changes tack on LPG subsidy campaign -TCA Sharad Raghavan
-The Hindu The government seems to have given up on the Give It Up Campaign for LPG cylinders and has begun debarring LPG users who earn more than Rs. 10 lakh a year from the subsidy starting from their next refill. “Since your income is above 10 lacs, LPG subsidy is not admissible as per govt directive. Pl submit a declaration to distributor if your income is below 10 lacs,” LPG distributors...
More »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 »Highlights of Union Budget 2016-17
-The Hindu In case you missed the Budget, here's a round-up. Affirming that the economy is right on track, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget for 2016-17. Citing that the CPI inflation has come down to 5.4% from 9 plus, he said it is huge relief for the public. Tax Infrastructure and agriculture cess to be levied. Excise duty raised from 10 to 15 per cent on tobacco products other than beedis 1 per...
More »Applause and the fine print -Devadeep Purohit
-The Telegraph Arun Jaitley today drew loud cheers from the fiscal conservatives as he displayed "prudence" and stuck to the fiscal deficit - which captures the government's borrowing requirements - target of 3.9 per cent of the GDP for 2015-16 and pegged it at 3.5 per cent of the GDP for 2016-17. As the achievement came despite all the problems that the Indian economy faced - the Economic Survey presented details of...
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