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Indian States Are Going Under. What Does This Mean For Us?

Jul 14, 2020

Indian States Are Going Under. What Does This Mean For Us?

M. Govinda Rao and Arjun Srinivas each examine the precarious financial situation of Indian states and the implications of this. Here are key takeaways from two pieces, by M. Govinda Rao and Arjun Srinivas, that tell you what Indian states are going through financially and what this means for us as a country and people. - The Covid 19 Pandemic and resulting lockdown in April led to a large and sudden shortage of revenue inflow for State Governments. Economic slowdown prior to

What Ails the Police Force?

Jun 28, 2020

What Ails the Police Force?

Police reform is imperative but we first have to understand the key issues involved. A 188 page report created by Common Cause and the Lokniti programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies helps us with this. We break down the highlights for you. From bias to brutality, the police force has come to be the face of the failure of India’s criminal justice system. Even so, police reform, though long overdue, has been neglected by successive governments. Arguably,

Indian Federalism in the Time of Modi’s BJP

Jun 19, 2020

Indian Federalism in the Time of Modi’s BJP

A questionable federal design, the BJP’s sweeping majority in parliament, and the party’s recent track record on cooperative federalism. These are the things Yamini Aiyar and Louise Tillin’s essay looks into. Key takeaways. An essay by Yamini Aiyar and Louise Tillin examines the implications of BJP’s victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and its political emphasis on “one nation” on Indian federalism. Here are the key takeaways, arranged as presented in the essay (the sub-h

Questions for the 15th Finance Commission to Answer

Jun 16, 2020

Questions for the 15th Finance Commission to Answer

The 15th Finance Commission is expected to submit its five year report. Read on to know how and why this is important, especially for centre-state relations and a list of questions the commission will have to confront. The bulk of the responsibility to fight the virus is upon the states. This battle has exponentially increased their expenditure burden. Meanwhile, revenues have been hit by the various phases of lockdown. Against this backdrop, the 15th Finance Commission is ex

Fix MGNREGA, Save Rural Poor

Jun 3, 2020

Fix MGNREGA, Save Rural Poor

To provide relief to the migrant and rural poor as well as the economy the government needs to fix MGNREGA urgently. From de-digitization to decentralisation, Reetika Khera lists out what needs to be done. After an unprecedented ordeal of months, lakhs of migrant workers are making their way back to rural India. The majority of them will be out of pocket by the time they make it back home and in urgent need of livelihood to make ends meet. India’s flagship employment guara

What We Speak of When We Speak of Labour Laws

May 12, 2020

What We Speak of When We Speak of Labour Laws

Indian Policy Collective announces a series on the extremely polarised Labour Law debate. One of the biggest policy debates taking place right now involves the watering down of or, in the case of Uttar Pradesh, suspension of labour laws by Indian states. Ostensibly this has been done in order to attract investment and provide a boost to economic activity. We will be carrying a series of pieces in order to give you a fuller picture of both sides of the extremely polarised deba

Indian States Need Cash

Apr 21, 2020

Indian States Need Cash

States have the bulk of the dual responsibility of containing and managing the spread of COVID-19 as well as providing for those in severe economic distress due to the lockdown. But do they have the financial means to be able to to do this? Here is a breakdown of the financial challenges the states are up against - 1) Prima facie Indian states have limited means to raise revenues as compared with the central government. They have few independent sources of revenue, their coll

A Brave New Design for Centre-State Coordination

Apr 20, 2020

A Brave New Design for Centre-State Coordination

In this Indian Policy Collective original, Yamini Aiyar suggests, in 14 points, a design for greater centre-state coordination that can get India through this crisis. COVID-19 outbreaks are localised, focused in clusters and in certain districts and states. They necessitate a locally driven, context specific response. The ‘graded lockdown’ to be implemented from April 20th recognizes this, with districts and states set to be colour coded and opened up or locked down depending

States to Centre: Raise the MSP

Apr 16, 2020

States to Centre: Raise the MSP

COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdown will leave harvesting and sowing cycles as well as supply chains in disarray. Here’s why the Centre needs to listen to states who have demanded an increase in the Minimum Support Price. In 2018 the central government announced that it will offer Minimum Support Price (MSP) of cost + 50% to farmers. However, this is not adequate because the cost being used to calculate the MSP is lesser than the actual cost in many cases. The MSP for eligible