When income growth slows down in an economy, so does the growth of tax revenue within the given tax regime. Since the government has certain expenditure obligations, to meet these obligations it has to either impose additional taxes or expand…
A unique feature of Jawaharlal Nehru University is its student composition. A substantial proportion of students come from socially and economically underprivileged families; and yet there is considerable social inter-mixing among students, made possible perhaps by campus politics which breaks…
The National Statistical Office (NSO) has decided not to release the quinquennial survey data on consumer expenditure for 2017-18. This is because these data, leaked by The Business Standard (Nov.15) show a drop of 3.7 percent in real per capita…
With the government being forced to withdraw from the RCEP agreement, an argument has arisen: if India is not competitive with other countries in producing a whole range of goods, which is why the producers of such goods within the…
On October 24-25, there were widespread peasant protests all over the country against the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) involving sixteen nations which India is currently negotiating. As negotiations near completion, such protests are escalating, with the All India Kisan…
The news that India’s rank in 2019 according to the Global Hunger Index (GHI) was 102nd among the 117 countries for whom this index was calculated (it is not calculated for countries where hunger is not a problem), instead of…
The European Central Bank last month pushed its benchmark interest rate to minus 0.5 per cent, which means that if it gives a loan of 100 euros then it would be paid back only 99.5 euros at the expiry of…
The Modi government has an unerring instinct for bungling in economic matters. It has come out with a “fiscal stimulus” for tackling the current economic slowdown that will actually make matters worse. After successive interest rate cuts which were predictably…
The reduction in the corporate tax rate by the BJP government, which would entail a transfer of Rs.1.45 lakh crores from the public exchequer to the corporate sector, has been generally seen to be insufficient for overcoming the slowdown in…
On July 29 the terms of reference of the Fifteenth Finance Commission were suddenly modified by a Presidential order. The Commission is now being asked to examine whether a separate mechanism for financing expenditure on defence and internal security should…
