The Policy Monitor
A recent study by the Association Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India estimated that the hundreds of thousands of Indian students now studying abroad cost India as much as US $17 billion a year in revenue. As a result, Indians end up contributing to their host country more than their home country.
Should ‘Smart India’ carry forward the burden of ‘Unsmart Agriculture’, how long?
Probably, time has come to abandon the dream project ‘Doubling Farmers Income’ by 2022, launched 7 years ago, which appears a far cry! Better, initiate exercise to pay remunerative price to farmers having rationality to MRP and closer to price charged from consumers.
The RBI has surprised the markets by this strong move towards policy sequencing of inflation containment prior to economic growth in the recent MPC meetings. Since May 2020, indeed the policy imperative of RBI has been “whatever it takes” to tackle the economic growth recovery process. However, with the war in Ukraine and mounting inflationary pressures, price stability has become the significant concern for RBI. The ever-mutating coronavirus would continue as a crucial determinant of macroeconomic uncertainties.
There is an inherent danger of economic mismanagement in populism, and the ongoing Sri Lankan crisis proves the argument. Gotayba Rajapaksa’s presidency is marked by successive disastrous economic policy decisions ranging from tax cuts, freebies, and anti-modern policies such as the ban on chemical fertilizers, so on and so forth.
Natural Farming, as the name suggests, is the art, practice and, increasingly, the science of working with nature to achieve much more with less. It relies more on soil biology than soil chemistry by encouraging multi cropping, round-the-year soil cover, addition of formulation made up of cow dung and urines to trigger the microorganisms in the soil system.
Reliance Industries (RIL), Future Retail and Amazon have been embroiled in an unyielding corporate struggle for over two years now. The dynamically changing developments afflicting this saga indicate just how large the stakes are in this game with each party trying to take the biggest bite out of the pie that is the Indian retail segment.
As much as it sounds like opportunism, a diligent intervention to shore up international food supplies is far from an opportunistic gambit from India’s perspective and, even farther away from war profiteering. The CMI benchmark for wheat prices has risen by >50% since the Russian invasion began with global wheat prices touching $14 a bushel (approximately 30 kg).
For India’s urban areas to become more growth-oriented and productive and to increase the
capacity of the administrators, it is critical to build an excellent urban infrastructure, with
efficiency in service delivery and funding at the top of the priority list.
Oilseeds and Pulses, the major sources of vegetable oil and protein are most suited for Indian soils and range of agro-climates. Oilseeds crop, on an average, requires 900 litres of water for 1 kg worth produce. Whereas Pulses, the far more water use efficient crop just requires 50 litres of water to realize 1 kg produce. So, India as a policy must put emphasis on low water demanding high value energy crops with rational allocation of irrigated areas to overcome chronic shortages and mop up sizable revenues from exports.
Research on national and sub-national fiscal responses to sports promotion in schools through development of infrastructure is sparse. This paper examines whether the states’ and centre’s sports expenditures have led to improved sports infrastructure as playground facility at the school level in all the states combined. The empirical results suggest that the states should increase their efficiency in public sports spending, which is not only low but also characterised by arbitrariness especially when the implications of the central government’s budgets are seen to have remained insignificant in order to encourage the states to provide the playground facility in the schools.