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Uttam Gupta
Debunking claims of fiscal discrimination
Opposition-ruled States, especially southern States, have raised concerns about discriminatory treatment in the current system of fiscal resource sharing between the Centre and the States Various Opposition-ruled States especially from south India have complained of ‘discrimination’ and ‘unfair’ treatment under the present scheme of sharing financial resources between the Union Government...
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Rationalise and simplify GST
20 March 2024 | Uttam Gupta -
The practice of offering freebies must stop
11 March 2024 | Uttam Gupta -
WTO deadlock over agricultural subsidies
06 March 2024 | Uttam Gupta -
MSP methodology and farmer demands
02 March 2024 | Uttam Gupta -
Farmers' demands are impractical and unrealistic
19 February 2024 | Uttam Gupta -
Balancing welfare and fiscal responsibility
15 February 2024 | Uttam Gupta -
Delink disinvestment from the Budget
13 February 2024 | Uttam Gupta
The conundrum of fertiliser pricing
The fact is that non-urea fertilisers, in practice, have consistently remained under regulatory control In an office memorandum dated January 17, 2024, the Department of Fertilisers (DoF) has issued detailed guidelines for the evaluation of “reasonableness” of the MRPs (maximum retail price) for all non-urea fertilizers covered under the Nutrient Based...
Tread the WTO quagmire with caution
The battle for a permanent solution to Public Stock-Holding programme is a difficult one; India must fight it deftly In a meeting of the Committee on Agriculture (CoA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) – held on October 2, 2023, in Geneva, the European Union (EU) agreed to consider India’s demand...
Is the Government’s debt sustainable?
The Government should take recourse to borrowings only for the creation of long-term assets. This will help generate income streams that can help in servicing the loans Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that India’s general government debt - it comprises the debts of the Centre and states –...
Differentiating welfare schemes from freebies
As election pledges of freebies escalate, Modi Government issues a warning to States at the third National Conference of Chief Secretaries In the third National Conference of Chief Secretaries held in Delhi on 28th and 29th December 2023 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the central government cautioned...
Establishing a robust and resilient tax system
The Modi Government has successfully addressed all key aspects to ensure the strength and resilience of the tax system The robustness of the tax regime in a country can be tested by looking at its ability to engineer and sustain an accelerated growth in its GDP (gross domestic product); help the...
The Centre has no control over subsidies
The biggest drawback with the current system of food subsidy is making it available at throwaway prices. It allures dubious players who buy it cheap and sell it at higher prices The Union government’s total expenditure on the three major subsidies - fertiliser, food and cooking gas - during the current...
New mechanism to ensure utilisation of funds
The new mechanism would regulate the release of funds to the states and track their use, thereby preventing idling The Union government executes a plethora of welfare programs aimed at providing basic and necessary amenities and upliftment of the most disadvantaged members of society. It does so mainly through "Central Schemes"...