Op-Eds

While Government schemes may help map current strengths all districts need to have a vision for the future and plan for it in a holistic and integrated fashion.  The Aspirational Districts Programme is doing a commendable job of pulling backward districts away from a low equilibrium state to a high one.  Along with that the...   Read More

Indoor air pollution is as much a health hazard as outdoor pollution and women bear the brunt of it. Use of clean cooking fuel must increase. The mistaken belief that pollution-related illnesses can be controlled mainly by controlling outdoor air pollution has led us to ignore the serious challenges posed by indoor air pollution. People...   Read More

For now RBI should be comfortable letting it slide (gently if it so wishes) by another 5% in the coming months and even more if the external market pressure continues. Global capital flows have been retrenching from emerging market (EM) economies since end-February in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Another factor for this...   Read More

The size of our labour force is constrained by the absence of women from the workforce. Only about 30% of women aged 15 and above are employed either in wage work on family farms and businesses. The United Nations Population Division released a new set of population projections on July 11 World Population Day. These...   Read More

NITI Aayog’s effort though creditable has loose ends. PLFS should use 2015 worker classification and probe nature of contracts. At the outset NITI Aayog needs to be complimented for undertaking the onerous task of trying to estimate the number of gig workers. The report ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy: Perspectives and Recommendations on the...   Read More

All public sector banks (PSBs) should be privatised and only SBI— due to its better performance — may remain under government ownership for now, a policy paper by two influential economists has recommended. The policy paper is to be presented at the India Policy Forum on Tuesday. It has been authored by Poonam Gupta, NCAER...   Read More

Opinion: Mridul Saggar: In China, 82% of adults made a digital merchant payment using a mobile phone. In India, the figure is just 8%. In China, 38% of adults have credit cards. In India, only 5% do. Is the lower per-capita income - and, therefore, higher default risks - sufficient to explain this? On June 29,...   Read More

The recent announcement by West Bengal transport minister Firhad Hakim has practically signaled the death knell of Kolkata tramways the only city in India which still operates trams. The plan is no more to revive the tram route in the popular north Kolkata route. The plan now is to operate trams only in routes where...   Read More

A government job with its benefits and safety net is an aspiration for most Indians. Any perceived rollback in such employment opportunities is bound to fuel anxiety. What is surprising about the protests is that the government appears to be surprised that there should be any protest. To appreciate the anguish underlying these protests we...   Read More

It is widely believed there is an unevenness in the way rating agencies treat the countries in the Euro zone versus elsewhere. A better governance structure and operating framework are needed to ensure that in situations when EMs are grappling with capital flow reversals for no fault of theirs they are not slapped with a...   Read More