Experts suggest fiscal measures to boost demand amid pandemic
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This targeting spending is also required for contact-based services that have borne the brunt of the pandemic since last year, economists said even as they acknowledged limited fiscal space for the government.
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Fiscal measures such as direct cash transfers, enhanced allocation under rural job guarantee scheme, free foodgrain distribution, modest cuts in excise duty on fuels, and expedited vaccination are crucial to overcome the second wave of Covid-19, top economists have said.
It is crucial to support rural and urban demand because the economic impact of the pandemic this time will be more on demand impulse than on supply-side disruptions amid an intensification of infections in rural areas, they said.
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The second COVID wave has brought back another round of lock-downs and its associated consequences. In fact, it has hit the country with such severity that case-load and fatality per day have reached a new high. While COVID 2.0 has been less disruptive for carrying out economic activities than COVID 1.0, its impact on the economy will be felt more through the loss of demand impulse than supply-side disruptions, says a research note.
In the report, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) says, the loss of demand-side impulse is expected to be more pronounced in rural areas than in urban areas, notwithstanding Indian Meteorological Department (IMD)’s forecast of a near normal monsoon in 2021.
Dr Nazrul Islam, the officer in charge of the development research branch at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the lead author.
Govt disputes claim of delay in releasing MGNREGA funds in SC
Govt disputes claim of delay in releasing MGNREGA funds in SC
A Bench Comprising Justices Madan B Lokur And N V Ramana Asked Attorney General K K Venugopal, Representing The Centre, To File An Affidavit Within Four Weeks In This Regard After The Government Disputed These Facts. PTI | Updated on: 10 Dec 2017, 11:17:10 AM
New Delhi:
The Centre has refuted in the Supreme Court the allegations by an NGO that there was a delay on its part in releasing funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme for drought-hit farmers.