News: 12 Maharashtra BJP MLAs have gone to Supreme Court against their year-long suspension from the Assembly. Contents1 What is the background of this issue?2 What is the argument laid down by the suspended MLAs?3 What has Maharashtra said in its defence?4 What are the rules on the length of suspension of a Member of… Continue reading Explained: For how long can an MLA be suspended?
Author: Ram Manohar
There must be fair competition in telecom sector
News: The board of Vodafone Idea (Vi) has approved the conversion of part of their liability owed to the government into equity. Accordingly, Rs 16,000 crore of the interest on the deferred spectrum and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liabilities will now be converted to government equity. This makes the government as the single-largest stakeholder, owning… Continue reading There must be fair competition in telecom sector
Watch out for an official central bank digital rupee on its way in
News: The likelihood of launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in India is a credible possibility. What are the challenges to introducing CDBC in India? India has at least 500 million people with no access to a smartphone (Statistica reports the use of 845 million phones in 2021). Large numbers have neither an Aadhaar… Continue reading Watch out for an official central bank digital rupee on its way in
Re-skilling and upskilling with digital interventions
News: In a world where technology advances with every passing day, employees need to keep updating their domain knowledge to keep their work performance up to the mark. The responsibility to help them reshape their skills thus falls on the shoulders of every organization. Why it is imperative to re-skill and upskill employees? Here are… Continue reading Re-skilling and upskilling with digital interventions
How the Seventh Schedule affects delivery of public goods
News: There is a significant need to reform the 7th Schedule to deliver more powers to local bodies. The 7th Schedule should also incorporate a local body list apart from the Union list, Central list & the concurrent list. Why Seventh Schedule need to be reformed? Obsolete: The principles of 7th schedule were taken from… Continue reading How the Seventh Schedule affects delivery of public goods
How real is the GST boost?
News: The government is delighted over the steady improvement in the collection of goods and services tax (GST) in recent months GST collections have crossed the Rs 1-trillion mark for each of the last six months beginning July 2021. The buoyancy in GST collections provides the much-needed revenue cushion to government finances and for preparing… Continue reading How real is the GST boost?
Extending GST compensation as a reform catalyst
News: The agreement to pay compensation for the loss of revenue was for a period of five years, which will come to an end by June 2022. However, the states are demanding to continue it for another five years. Because, it was hoped that the tax structure would stabilise in the first five years, however,… Continue reading Extending GST compensation as a reform catalyst
Tackling India’s unemployment wave
News: Unemployment in India has undeniably reached a critical stage. What are the available data that suggests India has undeniably reached a critical stage? Unemployment rate: India’s unemployment rate has been increasing. It increased to 7.91 percent in December 2021 from 6.3 percent in 2018-2019. It is very critical as 10 million young Indians are… Continue reading Tackling India’s unemployment wave
Treating the planet well can aid progress
News: The 2020 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), titled “The Next Frontier – Human Development and the Anthropocene” proposed a planetary pressure-adjusted Human Development Index (HDI). This adjustment has been worked out by factoring in per capita carbon dioxide (CO2) emission (production) and per capita material footprint. The purpose is to… Continue reading Treating the planet well can aid progress
The sail that Indian diplomacy, statecraft need
News: Striking the right balance between continental and maritime security would be the best for India’s long-term security interests. In this context, India’s decision to hosts the five Central Asia leaders at the Republic Day Parade holds significance for India’s continental security. How India has progressed in terms of Maritime security? More recently, India has… Continue reading The sail that Indian diplomacy, statecraft need
