-Reuters NEW DELHI: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes one year in office, his cuts in federal welfare spending on the poorest of India's 1.25 billion people are coming in for sharp criticism, including from within his cabinet. In a break with India's Socialist past, Modi has saved money on federal social and subsidy expenditure and pumped it into an infrastructure stimulus he hopes will trigger a spurt in economic growth. The government...
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NITI Aayog begins mid-term appraisal of 12th Five Year Plan
-PTI New Delhi: The NITI Aayog has initiated the mid-term appraisal process of the 12th Five Year Plan, an exercise which has long been followed prior to establishment of the new body that replaced the Planning Commission. Completing its 100 days, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog today said the last three months have been "tremendous" in the role of its inception as a think thank of the government. "NITI Aayog...
More »A new public policy for a new India -Shiv Visvanathan
-The Hindu What makes public policy exciting and potentially inventive is the contested nature of the public sphere. It is anchored in a diversity of perspectives which challenges the dominance of one subject. India is a country full of paradoxes. The elite in the country are forward-looking; they emphasise the need for reskilling but they conduct all this with backward-looking institutions. An acute observer once said: "we want to be [a] knowledge...
More »I&B asks depts to use Preamble with ‘secular’ word -Himanshi Dhawan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of the "Preamble" controversy, the government has issued instructions that all advertisements and government communication will use the 1976 version of the Preamble in future. In a letter, information and broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley has directed officials to ensure that the amended version of the Preamble be used by DAVP and other media units. This comes on the back of a row...
More »A big bang reform that may be spot on -TT Ram Mohan
-The Hindu The reassuring message in the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is that in pursuing its economic objectives, the government wants to accord an important role to the public sector even while relying on market mechanisms The goal is hard to achieve. It is costly and unviable. It will create huge stresses in the banking system. The Narendra Modi government's Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY), an ambitious scheme for financial...
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