NCAER in the News

We need a timebound mechanism to transition to a clearer land titling system The Indian macroeconomic slowdown is perceived as being structural in nature. One of the key suggestions being made is that India needs to carry out factor market reforms including those of land markets. In this article we make a specific policy recommendation...   Read More

The national discourse can ill-afford the danger of being hijacked by the poor quality of data. Last week demographers from around the world gathered in Delhi to mark 25 years of National Family Health Surveys (NFHS). It was both a celebratory and sombre moment. Policymakers and researchers celebrated tremendous achievements of four rounds of the...   Read More

Breaking away from the age-old tradition of immersing idols in rivers such as Yamuna this year set a new trend in Delhi. Following the directive of the National Green Tribunal-appointed committee idol immersion in the Yamuna this Dussehra was largely avoided albeit reluctantly by the ritual loving public. Instead the idols were immersed in artificially...   Read More

Putting more money in the hands of the poor who have a high propensity to consume should be the aim of our fiscal policy. Abhijit Banerjee Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer have just been awarded the 2019 economics Nobel for their work on combating poverty. Banerjee Raghuram Rajan and others have also underlined the seriousness...   Read More

While we do not question the basic premise that air pollution has adverse health impact we are sceptical about the figures quoted and the methodology adopted in estimating the cost. In the past three years several studies have linked air pollution with health effects. For instance the State of Global Air 2019 published by the...   Read More

On 29 July 2019 the government amended and added to the terms of reference (TOR) of the 15th Finance Commission (15th FC) asking it to “... examine whether a separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security ought to be set up..." The amendment has been interpreted as an attempt by the Centre to...   Read More

India’s relatively wet climate offers hope even in today’s dire situation. What is needed is the enforcement of programmes aimed at conserving our most precious resource Water water everywhere/ Nor any drop to drink.” These words from an evocative poem by the famous 18th century English poet Samuel Coleridge echo the helplessness of a harried...   Read More

Arvind Subramanian’s paper ‘India’s GDP Mis-estimation’ published in June this year caused a lot of controversy. I was initially sceptical of his argument. But now having heard him at the India Policy Forum at NCAER on July 10 where he presented more data on India’s slowdown I am convinced about the significance of his research....   Read More

India had an opportunity to take major initiatives but what the bureaucracy gave us is just another incremental budget The Bharatiya Janata Party’s massive electoral mandate provided a great opportunity for introducing major fiscal and other initiatives through the budget. Unfortunately that opportunity has been missed. Following her meteoric political rise finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman...   Read More