Good country index

In the ‘Good Country’ 2015 index, Sweden has been voted as the best country in the world when it comes to serving the interests of its people and contributing to the common good of humanity. The index ranks a total of 163 countries taking 35 different UN and World Bank indices into account, including global…

Skill India Mission

According to government estimates, more than 1.04 Crore youth have been trained under the Skill India Mission in the year 2015-16 which is 36.8% higher than the previous year’s recorded data. Key facts: In the current arrangement, 60% of the trainings are directly under Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship while 40% are across other…

The MGNREGA index

The Hindu The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 (MGNREGA) aims at: Enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing 100 days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. In the financial year 2015-16, Rs.42,084 crore was spent…

Gulf remittances fall 2.2%, offset by slide in oil imports

The Hindu News: Remittances from the Gulf nations to India declined for the first time in six years due to sliding oil prices, according to a Crisil report. It fell by 2.2 per cent in 2015-16 but the slide had also resulted in a contraction of oil imports, which offset the drop. “Falling oil prices…

Have we lost the dowry battle?

Livemint National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data shows a rising graph in the number of dowry cases registered: 9,038 for 2012 10,709 for 2013 10,050 for 2014 Men’s rights activists will tell you this is proof of the law’s misuse. And even the Supreme Court has pointed out in 2014 that section 498A has “dubious…

A work in progress

The Hindu GDP: GDP since 1930’s has been used to measure the economic performance of a nation, and has been shaping the debate on the performance of countries for the past 80 years or so. Today, almost every country maintains GDP statistics. GDP? Click here What are the relative merits and demerits of GDP and…

Annual core sector growth at decade low as steel drags

The Hindu India’s annual core sector growth slowed to a decade low of 2.7 per cent in 2015-16, slower than the 4.5 percent pace in the previous financial year, according to government statistics. The growth was pulled down by steel and crude oil. Both of these saw output contracting by 1.4 per cent. Natural gas…

Digital DBT aids rural job schemes

The Hindu News The government has electronically transferred more than Rs.61,000 crore in the last financial year through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme. According to the data presented in Parliament Rs.61,824.32 crore was transferred to 30.8 crore beneficiaries in 59 schemes. Out of this, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) payments made…

Most death row convicts first-time offenders

According to the recently released “Death Penalty India Report”, most death row inmates in India are poor, uneducated and first-time offenders. What else the report says? A total of 241 out of the 385 death row inmates in India are first-time offenders. Around 60% of the prisoners did not complete secondary education and nearly 75%…

Bitter medicine for the Centre

The Hindu The Supreme Court has set up a three-member committee headed by former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha to perform the statutory functions of the Medical Council of India. Issues which needs reform on urgent basis are: Need to reduce the cost of medical education and increase access in different parts of the…