Vivek's Commentary

   I first encountered Martin Ravallion's work in the last year of my bachelor's degree (“Poverty comparisons" by Martin Ravallion). The most interesting part of his study is that he deals with the fundamental questions. Martin Ravallion has made a significant contribution in growth-poverty-inequality by both raising fundamental questions and attempting to find answers to them. These basic questions include who are poor, how to identify them, can we measure the poverty, what is difference between poor in rich countries and poor in poor countries? how this poverty interacts with inequality, how growth affects these two? Who are Poor? Poverty in simple word can be said to be there in a society when people don’t have a minimum material level of well-being according to society’s standards.  Considering the notion of poverty, Ravallion raised three fundamental questions: 1. How do we assess individual well-being or "welfare"?  2. At what level of measured well-bei...

A blood flow doesn't follow any scientific law It follows political sometimes economical sometimes social norm It has same color just to hide identities: donor, receptor, mediator etc etc It has different forms just to celebrate identities: race, caste, class etc etc  It becomes piece of paper when flows from  wealthy to wealthier It becomes ballot paper when flows from untouchable to touchable It makes noise when flows from  crown to downtowns. It remains silent when flows among  crowns At the end  It is a circulation.. Circulation of blood.. Few receive it  Remaining perceive it.

It is a well-noted fact that India has a severe problem of malnutrition. This malnutrition is not limited to economically backward states. Rich states like Maharashtra, and Gujarat are also suffering from malnutrition. Global Malnutrition Report 2021 does highlight the fact that India has not made any progress in tackling childhood wasting. Around 17% of Indian children under 5 years of age are suffering from childhood wasting (Wasting is referred to low weight for height). As far as stunting is concerned, over 34% of children under 5 years of age are still suffering from childhood stunting (Stunting is referred to low height for age). So despite having impressive growth, we couldn't solve the malnutrition issue.  I found a good article in Indian Express (https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/solving-the-child-malnutrition-puzzle-7154617/) where the author compares Indian states with sub-African countries. Despite having higher per capita income, Indian states have a higher lev...

Congress has been a strong party at the regional as well as national level. But the drastic decline of the Congress party in regional as well as the national sphere is reflecting few phenomenons. We can divide Congress's life into five major major periods: 1947-1967, 1967-1989, 1989-2004, 2004-2014, 2019-2022. Initially, Congress was the only party ruling across regions. Post-1967 what happens is Congress facing challenges from other parties. Our electoral system (First-Past-The-Post (FPTP)) tends to have a two-party system at the center (This law is known as Duverger’s law). While we do have a multiparty system, it depends on federalism and the concentration of power at the center. Under weak federalism and a higher concentration of power at the center, the FPTP system can have a two-party system at the center as well as at the state. Otherwise, FPTP can lead to a multiparty system. Now with this law, let's track what is happening with Congress. In the period 1967-1989, even t...

Budget 2022-2023 by Nirmala Sitaram seeks to increase the Capital Expenditure sharply. It is increased to around 7.5 Lakh crore which is around 2.8-2.9 % of GDP. Economic Survey also suggests that the increase in capital expenditure in previous years has increased the Gross Fixed Capital Formation. Economic Survey also finds that the state outlay of capital expenditure specifically in sectors like medical and public health, urban development is also increased. Indian Railway has also seen an increase in capital expenditure. And it will increase in the next 10 years. The capital expenditure is not actually government spending. It is a part of public saving i.e. part of the revenue that is not used for actual consumption but used for public investment. Such investment can induce another spending.   The capital expenditure is supposed to be counter-cyclic meaning it should increase in crisis (in bad times) and should adjust in good times. The current expenditure includes governme...