-TheQuint.in After interest payments, food subsidies, fertiliser subsidy will be third largest single-budget govt expenditure. With the Government seeking an additional appropriation of Rs 1.09 crore through the first supplementary in the current session, India’s fertiliser subsidy bill is set to exceed Rs 2.37 lakh crore this fiscal 2022-23. Govt Expenditures Going Big on Fertiliser Subsidies Excluding interest, pensions, and mandatory transfers to state governments, the revised budgetary discretionary expenditure is likely to be...

-The Hindu The measures included a ₹8 reduction in central excise duty per litre of petrol and a ₹6 cut in the duty on diesel. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a slew of measures to rein in runaway inflation on Saturday evening, including duty cuts on petroleum products, a ₹200 subsidy on LPG cylinders for the poor and a rejig of import duties on plastic and steel products. A reduction in central excise...

-Livemint.com Rural economy has to deal with declining incomes and rising cost of essentials The general consensus on the state of the Indian economy can be summarized as follows: The economy has been in a deep crisis even before the pandemic-led disruptions. Second, the crisis is not a result of supply constraints but is a result of demand deficiency, particularly in the rural economy. Recent evidence suggests that the impact of the slowdown...

-Down to Earth The government will use its extensive network of women’s self-help groups to encourage the transition. The Andhra Pradesh government announced financial support to more than 70,000 women from scheduled castes (SC) to promote natural farming among marginal farmers. Natural farming excludes the application of chemicals and promotes traditional agricultural practices. It is regarded as particularly useful for smallholder farmers as it reduces dependency on purchased inputs.   A one-time subsidy of...

-The Hindu Bar on government jobs and welfare benefits for those who have more children. The Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission has prepared a proposed draft Bill for population control, under which a two-child norm will be implemented and promoted. After the law comes into force, a person with more than two children will be debarred from several benefits such as government-sponsored welfare schemes and from contesting elections to the local authority or...