Times of India ⁽⁹²⁾

Read full article Abstract: The problem is likely to be less severe than UN statistics indicate, given faulty yardsticksIf asked to name the state with the lowest incidence of child malnutrition in India, readers will overwhelmingly pick one of Kerala, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab or West Bengal. But they will all be wrong by a wide margin: none of these states appears among even the top five performers. According to the recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India,Arunachal Pradeshwalks away with the top prize. Based on 2010-11 data, Nagaland,Sikkim, Manipur and Mizoram, in that order, follow on the top five list. Maharashtra ranks a close sixth but the next four slots again go to northern and northeastern states —Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir and Assam. Only then do Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab find a place on the list (caveat: I exclude Madhya Pradesh due to possible data inconstancies).

Read full article Abstract: The three-year compliance period for the Right to Education (RTE) Act is just over. What has the Act accomplished? Sadly, not very much that is positive. A key provision in the law abolishes board examinations and grants automatic promotion to each child to the next grade at the end of the academic year. It also requires the award of a diploma to all at the end of eight years regardless of the knowledge and skills acquired. It is anybody's guess what value such a diploma will command in the marketplace.

Read full article Abstract: Import barriers and capital inflows will not make the current account deficit go away India's current account deficit (CAD) has ballooned, reaching 4.6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2011-12. While the latest Economic Survey advises cutting gold and oil imports, the budget speech emphatically points to larger capital inflows as the solution. Both the survey and the speech couldn't be more wrong. Restricting gold or oil imports will not change the total imports or the CAD. And bringing more foreign capital will increase , not reduce the latter.

Read full article Abstract: Today, we celebrate the 88th birthday of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who, along with Narasimha Rao, must be credited with laying the foundation of the new India. To date, he also remains the only non-Congress prime minister to serve a full term. A member of Parliament for over four decades, Vajpayee served as India’s prime minister from March 1998 to May 2004. With Yashwant Sinha as finance minister on his side, he transformed the economic policy framework wholesale. Telecommunications, civil aviation, banking, insurance, public sector enterprises, foreign trade and investment, direct and indirect taxes, agricultural produce marketing, small-scale industries reservation, urban land ceilings, highways, rural roads, elementary education, ports, electricity, petroleum prices and interest rates were all subject to far-reaching reforms during his tenure.

Read full article Abstract: The experience with the latest package of reforms has provided further support for my hypothesis that when ruling politicians blame the lack of progress vis-a-vis reforms on missing consensus, that consensus is missing not among people but within the cabinet. Whereas the Indian public today fully appreciates the benefits of reforms, it is politicians who lag.The opposition parties had claimed that the latest package of reforms would damage millions of shopkeepers (FDI in retail), transport workers (diesel price hike) and urban households (subsidised LPG cylinders). Yet, none could translate that supposed harm into sustained anti-reform demonstrations in the public space. EvenMamata Banerjeefound her huffing and puffing going to waste, as her normally attentive Kolkata crowds greeted her with indifference.