The Policy Monitor
The steps taken by FC XIV towards strengthening the panchayat planning processes through fiscal decentralisation are significant. Now, when Finance Commission XV will be giving its recommendations, it is important for the government to consider the above challenges for effective utilization of these funds.
To say that India is still in the nascent stages of digitizing education is an understatement. Our cultural mindset makes us way too comfortable with the traditional brick and mortar system of education rather than readily adapt to digitized and unbundled education format.
It’s a pity that India in spite of having unique opportunities to double the Lentil, Green gram and Black gram production in Rice Fallows particularly in the inland coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odisha, West Bengal, and other upland ecosystem in Eastern and North-eastern States besides improving yields in other pulses, the Country is resorted to import Pulses heavily on regular basis!
The havoc created by Air Pollution in Delhi NCR could be turned into an opportunity by creating a National Fodder Bank utilising Rice-Wheat straw, left for burning, and fortifying the same with nutritious food legume stover.
The simplified bottom line is here. While slow growth with high inflation suggests supply side rigidities, slow growth with inflation below target suggests demand weakness.
Enhanced crop productivity is eminent in neutralizing input costs and thereby posting profits in farm income. The single most critical factor in profitable agri-venture is Seed.
Ministry of External Affairs has designated one officer each in 10 selected missions as Agriculture Counsellor. While welcoming such an aggressive strategy for developing international agricultural trade to achieve a growth target that is quantifiable, I would urge upon the government to take a top-down approach to bring about sweeping reforms (even at the risk of inviting criticisms and protests for heavy handedness).
Health is understood as a subject of ‘Market Failure’. But because it is the subject of social welfare there is need of an intermediary mechanism for active intervention. One such important mechanism would be regulation.
Regulation of international trade in wheat should be governed by market forces rather than by frequent tariff and import control interventions. Instead, the government should focus on making Indian wheat produce cost and quality competitive.
The right of farmers to choose their own methodology is what should be advocated, keeping the restrictions and inconsequential nudge as reasonable as possible. The circumstances won’t change unless there is consistency between the price of fertilizers and the farmer’s income, to encourage them to use all fertilizers proportionately.