The office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, in its Report 4 of 2020 relating to Union finances, has criticized the Centre’s handling of funds collected from various cesses levied for specified purposes. Cesses collected for designated…
The two bills rammed through parliament last week were objectionable in every conceivable sense. The very fact of their being rammed through the Rajya Sabha, without being put to vote despite demands for a division, was grossly anti-democratic. The fact…
A striking aspect of the 24 per cent decline in GDP in the first quarter of 2020-21 compared to the previous year’s first quarter is the decline by 10.3 per cent in public administration, defence and other public services. This…
The GDP growth in the first quarter (April-June) of 2020 over the first quarter of the previous year has been minus 24 per cent according to preliminary official estimates. But most knowledgeable people believe that even this is an underestimate…
While it was expected that the Indian economy will experience contraction during the second quarter of 2020, the 23.9 per cent fall in GDP reported by the National Statistical Office came as a surprise to many. For some the surprise…
As India faces the biggest economic crisis since Independence, it is being led by a central government in denial about the severity of the impact on lives and livelihoods, and spreading false hopes about the immediate future. The Monthly Economic…
When the Goods and Services Tax was introduced, and the states virtually gave up the power to levy indirect taxes which they had enjoyed under the constitution, the centre had solemnly promised that it would compensate them for a period…
At least two state finance ministers have declared it a great betrayal. Many others have strongly protested. But the Central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has decided to go ahead with its decision to…
Now it is official: India has managed to become the global leader in the number of new daily cases of COVID-19 and the worst performing of all major economies during the pandemic so far. How did we manage this double…
The Finance Minister of Kerala, Thomas Isaac, has declared it a “betrayal” of trust. He was commenting on the statement reportedly made at a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance by Union Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, that…
