2022

by S S Sangwan *
The Central Budget (CB) 2022-23 has been presented by the Finance Minister as a blueprint for steering the economy for the next 25 years i.e. the Amrit Kaal. The budget has set four priorities viz., PM Gati Shakti (PMGS), inclusive development, productivity enhancement & investment, and financing investment. The PMGS is defined as a transformative approach through the usual key infrastructure namely, Roads, Railways, Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways, and (…)

February 4, 2022
There Is No Recognition Of Hard Times And Distress In The Proposals
No budget in recent memory has-been presented at a time when the economy is in such dire straits: unemployment is so bad that there are job riots in Bihar and UP; wealth and income inequalities are among the worst in the world; millions more have been pushed into poverty because of the pandemic and the lockdown; and inflation is accelerating even in the midst of massive unemployment. There is an urgent (…)

by Atul Sarma and Shyam Sunder
“In the long run we are all dead. Economists set themselves too easy if in tempestuous seasons they can only tell that when the storm is long past the ocean is flat again.” J.M Keynes
Union Budget 2022-23 was presented against a number of challenges: economic and social ravages of Covid-19, global uncertainty, growth recovery, supply chain disruption, massive job loss due to lockdown and rising prices and unemployment, to cite only a few. Yet the focus of (…)

As a pluralist society, India is home to people from different castes, religions, languages, regions, communities and cultures. The Constitution of India also guarantees the citizens right to equality and prohibits discrimination based on the above differences.

The Indian State is projecting Kashmir as a State enjoying the state of normalcy. However, there is no doubt in our mind that Kashmir has been transformed into a State of Exception, more distinctly after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution in 2019. To put it theoretically in the words of Giorgio Agamben: “This transformation of a provisional and exceptional measure into a technique of government threatens radically to alter — in fact, has already palpably altered — the (…)

by K.S.Chalam*
Civil Services in the service of the people and nation have been in existence ever since the emergence of a state. The engagement of government servants is not new to India. Kautilya had noted in his Ardhasatra about the appointment of superintendents of government departments from those who possess ministerial qualifications. He has even indicated fines to be imposed on those who are inadvertent on the job at twice the daily pay plus expenditure incurred on the item. The (…)

IMPRESSIONS
Perhaps the best way to understand the difference between yesterday’s India and today’s India is by looking at the way reading habits have changed. In the old days our leaders attached great importance to books and writers, trying to benefit from the ideas they promoted. A glance at their way of thinking will show us how much we have lost since then.
Consider Subhas Chandra Bose. The general impression is that he was an emotional firebrand, out to destroy British (…)

MUSINGS - February 2, 2022
Yes, it is the start of February but there’s little enthusiasm to look forward to the upcoming season of Bahaar or Spring, with Valentine’s Day splashed in its midst. Where is the excitement? Nowhere! Viruses of all hues holding sway, trampling upon even the faint traces of longing.
Not to overlook the communal virus consuming us. Attacking our emotions, our sensitives, our very existence. Polarization on the housing front affects other fronts, including the (…)

The problem of stray cattle is so severe in Uttar Pradesh that the new Chief Secretary in his first press conference asked the District Magistrates to run a special drive from 1 to 10 January, 2022, to catch all stray cattle. Realising that ten days period was not enough for this purpose he extended it by a week.
A farmers’ organization, Socialist Kisan Sabha, had been running a campaign in Hardoi, Unnao and Barabanki Districts for a year to take cattle from the villages to (…)

[This article was submitted before the announcement of the 2022 budget by the Central Government but could not be carried here earlier, it remains extremely relevant]
At a time of continuing high levels of economic distress and hardship in rural areas, there is a very strong case for a big increase in budgetary allocations for those schemes which can directly help to reduce this distress. In this context an activist and monitoring group which has the support of senior experts and (…)