-Economic and Political Weekly   Budget 2012, built yet again at the altar of fiscal fundamentalism, will not convince anybody. In this era of immediate assessment it took just a few minutes for the Union Budget for 2012-13 to be given one or the other negative appellation – “lacklustre”, “anti-growth”, “back to the 1980s”, “without reform” and the like. Such evaluations forget that union budgets have long since ceased to be statements of...

In India, agriculture and allied sector is the source of income for over 60% of rural population and its contribution to GDP has been consistently coming down and currently stands at 14.3%.  For the Indian economy to grow at the rate of 8-9%, the growth rate of agriculture sector has to be more than 4%. The critical role of agriculture in the economy highlights the need for a larger investment in...

The commerce ministry will announce rules to simplify and rationalize procedures to revive special economic zones, hoping to draw investors to these enclaves once touted as centres of export excellence.  The changes, which will be notified in a week, could include a reduction the minimum-area requirement, easier vacancy and contiguity norms and allowing multi-product SEZs in sector-specific zones.  "There will be reforms and changes in policies pertaining to SEZs mainly to simplify...

Judicial activism was the key in many Supreme Court observations and judgments during 2011. 2011 CVC THOMAS: A three-judge bench led by CJI SH Kapadia declared “non est” — or nonexistent — the majority recommendation of a high-powered committee for P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner. The court ruled that the Prime Minister and the Home Minister’s recommendation amounted to “official arbitrariness”, coming in spite of the dissent of the third...

The recent Cabinet nod to the National Food Security Bill triggered a flurry of criticism in the mainstream media, focusing mainly on the financial implications. The cost of the Bill obviously needs careful scrutiny and public debate, but it’s a little sad to see so much concern with the cost, and so little interest in what the Bill can do to improve people’s lives. The barrage of attacks was predictable —...