Policy Issues

‘Kutil Niti’ of NITI Aayog

NITI Aayog was constituted by the BJP government immediately after it assumed power at the centre. This brought down the curtains on the Planning Commission. The intention behind the establishment of NITI Aayog has been very clear – deepening the neoliberal reforms. It has taken upon the task of international financial institutions like the World Bank, IMF to ensure the transfer of public assets to private players, reduce the role of government in welfare activities and confine the State to cater to the ruling class interests only.

Serious Anomalies and Unjust GST Rate on Essentials Medicines

THE prime minister has been requested to ensure that essential medicines listed in the National List of Essential Medicines are kept outside the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 28, CITU leader J S Majumdar flagged serious anomalies in the tax structure for medicines fixed by the GST Council, disregarding a Supreme Court order and subsequent government notifications.

“One Tax, One India”: The Gainers and Losers

THE launch of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime on the midnight of June 30, 2017 has been marketed by the Modi government as a big ticket reform that will benefit all stakeholders. In its media blitz to justify the measure, the government claims that the GST would “help to create a unified common national market for India, giving a boost to foreign investment and “Make in India” campaign” and reduce the overall burden of the indirect tax burden of the consumer.

Superficial Way of Tackling Corporate NPAs

IT is an acknowledged fact that the huge NPAs (non-performing assets) are the fundamental cause for the deep rooted maladies afflicting PSBs (public sector banks)out of which the contribution from the large borrowers (loan exposure of Rs 5 crores and above) is more than 90 per cent.

The entire energy and attention of the PSBs should be focused in recovering the NPAs from the large borrowers without any write off or sacrifice. But will it happen?

Drug Pricing: Prime Minister Misleading People

AFTER US President Donald Trump accused the drug companies with his “get away with murder” comment and thereafter meeting the top executives of US drug companies on January 31 on drug pricing, regulation and trade; and as the “Pharmaceutical companies are under fire around the world as a wave of new treatments for cancer and other serious conditions reach the market at ever rising prices,” the prime minister of India Narendra Modi discovered that it is not the drug companies and policy deficiency but the doctors who are the real culprits for high prices of medicines in India.

Bid to Privatise NLC through Backdoor

OVER the past 40 years, Neyveli Lignite Corporation has continuously secured profit and attained the status of a ‘Navratna’ public sector undertaking due to the untiring hard work of its workers. But, some unscrupulous officials, with the connivance of the private sector and under the patronage of the central government, are trying to open the doors for privatisation.    

Women Workers and the Union Government’s Economic Vision, 2020

THE Union Budget 2017-18 was preceded by the Economic Survey, 2017-18 which comprehensively outlines the long term economic strategy of the government. Though the survey is rigorously researched and referenced by the chief economist, it displays a strong ideological commitment and focus to pushing India into the next phase of neo-liberal reforms, both in terms of policy and societal changes.

Privatisation of Public Services Hurts Poor, Creates Inequality

EFFORTS to privatise public goods and services have helped fuel an increasingly unequal society, says a new report by a US-based research and policy centre.

The report, “How privatisation increases inequality,” examines the ways in which the insertion of private interests into the provision of public goods and services hurts poor individuals and families, and people of colour in the United States, a model that is fast spreading across the world, including in developing countries, such as India.

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