- Financial Express The Union Government will present its ninth and last full budget before national elections in early 2024. But none of the growth engines inspire optimism, Santosh Mehrotra writes in Financial Express.  Nearly 60 percent of India's GDP is accounted for by private onsumption expenditure. However, since demonetisation consumer expenditure has been tepid as job growth fell sharply. Per capita consumption in 2022-23 is just above the level of 2019-20.  Private...

-The Hindu The Government may have its reasons in extending, once again, the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana scheme, but it cannot delay the commissioning of a study that should help stop the diversion of foodgrains and identify the food needy The extension of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), a scheme to distribute free foodgrains to the poor, for another three months, comes as a surprise for many...

-The Hindu The government’s fiscal health will be brought into the political discourse with the proposed change, says top Election Commission of India official  The Election Commission of India’s (EC) proposal that political parties disclose the financial ramifications of promises in their manifestos was not linked to the recent debate on Freebies, but was aimed at improving the implementation of existing guidelines, a top EC official said on Wednesday. The EC had on...

-The Hindu The scheme scores well on focus, but whether it will lead to substantial or sustained improvements in nutrition is open to question Is the ‘Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme’ in Tamil Nadu required in a Dravidian welfare model state today or is it yet another populist scheme couched cleverly in the language of welfare of the poor? With a budget outlay of ₹33.5 crore in the initial phase, the new scheme...

-The Hindu Business Line The laws concerned are riddled with loopholes. A mandatory, enforceable code for ethical pharmaceutical marketing is a must The recent kerfuffle over a particular brand of the painkiller paracetamol 650 mg tablet is not really over the particular brand as much as about the unethical marketing tactics of the pharmaceutical industry in India. Gone are the days when a mere ball-point pen or a diary from a medical representative...