-The Hindu The Right to Information (RTI) Act was passed by Parliament in 2005, aiming to give people access to the records of the Central and State governments. It was a vital reform to help activists and individuals ensure transparency and accountability in governance. In a discussion moderated by Sonikka Loganathan, Anjali Bhardwaj and Saurav Das take stock of what’s working and the issues that appear to be weakening the law....
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Basic Needs Not Freebies; Poor People More Entitled to Receive Them: Jayati Ghosh
-PTI/ Newsclick.in The economist said the word 'freebies' indicates the class position of those who use it. New Delhi: Economist Jayati Ghosh said that 'basic needs' like nutrition, healthcare, housing and education, which the government should provide for its citizens, are not freebies, while asserting that the poor are more entitled to receive their basic needs. Ghosh noted that the word 'freebies' indicates the class position of those who use it. "India has one...
More »Tarun Bajaj, Revenue Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, interviewed by Vikas Dhoot (The Hindu)
-The Hindu It would be much easier for the government to provide relief to people if the tax base was wider, says Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj, noting that four crore people don’t file returns though the tax department gets some TDS collections on their account. With major customs duty rationalisation done and corporate tax settled, the government hopes to finish some pending reforms in personal income tax and GST, creating a...
More »‘Withdraw order on mandatory use of health card in govt. hospitals’ -Bishwanath Ghosh
-The Hindu Bengal doctor’s association writes to Mamata saying the order will only fatten wallets of insurance firms A prominent association of doctors in West Bengal has written to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, asking her to revoke a recent order that makes it mandatory for patients to use the Swasthya Sathi card while seeking treatment in government-run hospitals. Swasthya Sathi is the Trinamool Congress Government’s insurance scheme providing a cover of ₹5 lakh...
More »Separating the wheat from the agri-policy chaff -Biswajit Dhar
-The Hindu In the farm laws debate, the focus should be on the exchequer-farm subsidies issue and the spending on farm subsidies In the on-going debates around the three new pieces of agricultural legislation and the farmers’ demand for continuation of minimum support prices (MSP), questions have often been raised whether the government should be using the taxpayers’ money to provide subsidies to the farming community in this country. However, logically, two...
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