Business and Economy

Why the draft water policy 2012 might need more steam!
Although the Draft Water Policy 2012 proposes to make water an ‘economic good’ while keeping livelihood and ecosystem needs as the first priority, it certainly fails to recognise that one cannot simply assert a number of propositions without considering their inter-relationships and possible contradictions
It is nothing short of an irony that a country like India, which is home to about 17% of the world’s population, has access to a mere 4% of earth’s total usable fresh water. Now, with the government i....Read More

“There is no structure or coherence, no overarching perspectives”
Ramaswamy R. Iyer, Former Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources sees the new water policy as a patchwork quilt
B&E: The government has come out with a new National Water Policy draft. Being the architect of the first National Water Policy (1987), how do you view the amendments made to the existing policy in....Read More

Is MGNREGS losing steam?
Despite its colossal size and spending power, the government’s flagship programme for rural employment is beset with a litany of problems, including large-scale bungling of funds and other instances of malversation. Will the proposed CAG audit of the scheme suffice to bolster its performance?
In times of economic duress, even prodigal governments become fiscally constipated. So it happened this fiscal with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, launched by the Gover....Read More

“40% to 50% of MGNREGS funds suffer from leakages”
Rajesh Tandon, President, Participatory Research in Asia, says a CAG audit into MGNREGS spending will not fix the problems
B&E: The Union Rural Development Ministry has asked the Comptroller & Auditor General of India to do a performance audit of NREGS. Will it have any impact?
Rajesh Tandon (RT): The MG....Read More