Op-Eds

For developing countries, global finance has virtually disappeared when they need to spend more on education, health and food security. As a result, climate financing has become an unaffordable luxury. In the last three years, developing countries faced unprecedented challenges, a combination of external shocks: Covid-19, the Russia Ukraine war, food and energy security risks,...   Read More

For the first time, there would be recording of the Body Mass Index of all Assam Police personnel. When India celebrates 76 years of Independence on August 15 this year, we are going to witness a health page turning for the police personnel in Assam. For the first time ever, it was decided that there...   Read More

In the interplay between emission management and monetary returns, cost-effectiveness is a critical issue in the metric of a transport system. On this World Environment Day, we revisit the imperative to balance the rising transportation needs of a growing population in the capital city of Delhi with the mandate to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) vehicular...   Read More

This involves accounting for both environmentally beneficial and harmful products, and doing the required data-gathering. Growing environmental concerns have resulted in the demand for green national accounts that highlight the stock of environmental wealth, and its use and depletion by a society in its conventional national accounts. Incorporation of green accounts in conventional GDP requires...   Read More

The country is under pressure to alter its definition of unemployment to an international benchmark. Its once-vaunted statistical system is at a low ebb. Our faith in India’s once-vaunted statistical system is at such a low ebb that it is hard to trust its judgment, even when it is based on a sound rationale. How...   Read More

Renewable power sources have several shortcomings which include lower efficiency in generating power and shorter life-span of the plants. The success of India’s net zero pledge by 2070 rests heavily on successful energy transition. In the energy sector, power contributes most to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; roughly 50 per cent of India’s total emission emanates...   Read More

Farm mechanisation drive hit by limited R&D. The recently released NCAER White Paper on ‘Making India a Global Power House in the Farm Machinery Industry’ reveals there is a mismatch between what the organised Indian industrial sector is producing and what the small and marginal Indian farmers want at an affordable price. One of the...   Read More

Data accuracy. To improve data system, NSO is now the nodal agency for all statistical activities. The National Sample Survey, under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, has been conducting large-scale sample surveys on All-India basis since the 1950s. These surveys are the most important and reliable sources of data on several subjects including...   Read More

Mission LiFE (life style for environment) was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi—at COP26 in Glasgow on 1 November 2021—as a mass movement for “mindful and deliberate utilization, instead of mindless and destructive consumption” to protect and preserve the environment. Incidentally, India is the first country to include LiFE in its Nationally Determined Contributions. As...   Read More

IT skills do not match the standards demanded by the market. Nearly 30 per cent of individuals with such training are jobless. As the pace of technological change continues to accelerate and demand for such skills outstrips supply, it is time to educate everyone on computer-based skills. The data from the National Sample Survey: Multiple...   Read More