Covid-19 pandemic has widened economic inequities. Government interventions must be mindful of this challenge

News  Since the onset of the pandemic, there has been growing concern that income and wealth disparities have widened in the country during this period.   What are the factors that support this view?  Pandemic has led to rise in unemployment rate, increase in casualisation of the workforce, rising dependence on MGNREGA and financial distress among MSMEs, along with rising profits of large firms and a soaring stock market.  This all point out… Continue reading Covid-19 pandemic has widened economic inequities. Government interventions must be mindful of this challenge

Price we pay for privatisation delays”

Contents1 News 2 What has been government’s progress on its disinvestment target? 3 How is the delay in disinvestment hurting the PSU sector? 4 What is the way forward?  News  Government has been missing its disinvestment targets by huge margin and this delay has been hurting its revenues and PSUs both.  What has been government’s progress on its… Continue reading Price we pay for privatisation delays”

Why the Personal Data Protection Bill is bad news for business

News: Personal Data Protection Bill seeks to regulate the use of data and to foster a privacy protection framework in the country. However, it fails to strike the balance between privacy rights and ease of doing business. Read here: Union Cabinet approves introduction of Personal Data Protection Bill in Parliament What are the areas of concern… Continue reading Why the Personal Data Protection Bill is bad news for business

Stemming water insecurity

News: Although water is a renewable source of energy, its scarcity is visible in many places owing to the mismanagement of water resources. What is the present status of water availability in India? NITI Aayog, states that nearly 600 million people are facing “high to extreme water stress“. The yearly per capita availability of water has dipped… Continue reading Stemming water insecurity

A chance to support growth, fiscal consolidation

News: Recently, the National Statistical Office (NSO) released the first advance national accounts estimates for 2021-22.  What are the growth prospects for India? IMF and OECD forecasts have indicated growth rates at 8.5% and 8.1%, respectively, for 2022-23. However, these are optimistic as the base effects characterizing 2021-22 are limited. However, India may expect real… Continue reading A chance to support growth, fiscal consolidation

Climate change for practical people

News: Due to lack of availability of data there is a reasonable chance that impact of climate change is not measured accurately and to confront the climate problem we need to think more strategically. What is current scenario of climate change? Climate scientists warn that an increase in the global average temperature of more than… Continue reading Climate change for practical people

Poverty, Wellbeing, Hunger: Where Do We Stand?

News: Recently, there have been comments that hunger in India has increased, based on the GHI 2021 report that showed a decline in India’s ranking to 101 from 95 in 2020. This article examines the question – how best to measure poverty? It also stresses that poverty based on consumption is still important and there… Continue reading Poverty, Wellbeing, Hunger: Where Do We Stand?

Can inequality be solved or is it a natural human state?

News: Recently, Oxfam revealed that India’s richest 10% had 45% of Indian wealth, while the bottom half had only 6%. This article says, even if inequality is a natural consequence, it is evil. There is no need to declare it as sacred. Also, money can never be the correct measure of inequality. Is inequality a… Continue reading Can inequality be solved or is it a natural human state?

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