The lockdown has achieved its purpose. Extending it may not be worth the cost.

Amended FDI regulation is problematic under the WTO law. India should adopt a more facially neutral regulation

In the long term, the govt will have to deepen its procurement operations, expanding from the wheat-paddy complex.

A good ventilator must be a high-precision product, a combination of top-class engineering efforts, optimum manufacturing capability, and robust financial backing.

The president has claimed that he was being sarcastic when he talked about injecting disinfectant and exposure to high-dose UV rays as ways to fight Covid-19.

This trend continues even for local governments, which come to rely more on state transfers to run the administration.

Covid-19 could benefit the dairy industry as consumers could shift from meat-based to dairy-based protein. The govt may consider reducing GST on ghee and milk fat from 12% to 5% .

Just seven of India’s 993 Universities have online-education licenses; Meanwhile, as the Lockdown shows, Foreign varsities make hay of the Indian demand for online courses.

Even a 25% fall in their incomes due to the lockdown will make 354 mn more people poor. fixing this with cash transfers will cost the govt Rs 19,500 cr per month.

It is not just the lungs, it affects the heart, kidneys, brain... this is making treatment—and a lasting cure—difficult.

As for MFs, many of them are backed by strong parents—in India and overseas—and this is the time for them to support their offspring.

However, the High Court rejected this invocation of Rule 165, ruling that the it specified only the payability conditions of fees, and not the chargeability of it.

An RT-PCR test takes several hours for the result to be available. We cannot make a patient who comes with a non-Covid-19 problem wait till that result is available.

Globally, experts are looking at “excess mortality” or mortality gaps as another measure of the coronavirus death toll. This approach compares the number of deaths during a certain period to the historical average.

The trend of low power demand, now furthered in the post-Covid economy, and increased RE generation, will continue to put a ceiling on the PLF of the thermal fleet.

Coronavirus is ensuring the trade-off, especially for developing economies is significant, notwithstanding efforts to strike a balance

The industry is the most apt for creating livelihoods. Govt should consider supporting SMEs in the sector through tariffs to prevent their collapse due to the pandemic

Even supporting the poor—whose numbers will double—can cost Rs 65,000-130,000 crore per month

Extending the lockdown well beyond mid-May would shave 8-9% off the real GDP. but, the damage being done doesn’t seem to be filtering up to those in charge

Rishi Kapoor was old Bollywood, but he was also cracklingly fresh, spoke to an India trembling on the cusp of a new era

Before tertiary infections take root, it could perhaps be a good to plan to decongest the slums by arranging travel of migrants to their home in orderly manner without losing time

Government orders on waiver of rents impinge on contractual rights.

Corona will worsen world hunger, while malnutrition facilitates increased vulnerability to the pandemic.

Bengal’s handling of the Covid outbreak raises many questions.

Today, when the US, China, UK, France, etc, which spend much more on healthcare than other nations are facing a crisis, one can very well understand how bad the situation could have been if the outbreak was in the third world, where a majority of global poor live with very little or no access to public health care. The situation would have been much worse.

India’s Achilles heel on ratings is its parlous state of fiscal affairs and the risk of a sharp deterioration of government debt to potentially ~75-80% of GDP.

The world must use this opportunity to fund global public goods and rebuild global systems to fight the right battles.

Nearly 7,000 people have signed a change.org petition to open up courses in the UK as parks during the pandemic.

The need is for a temporary unemployment benefit scheme for up to 100 days a year similar to the MNREGS so that urban workers do not suffer during short periods of unemployment.

On May 3, the governments would have got 40 days time to do those things; the question is, do governments need more time?

In India, which is the biggest democracy in the world with over 1.3 billion people, the question of public health has never been debated in public.

By Abhinav Mukerji Recently, there have been a spate of news reports on measures issued through executive orders directing waiver of rents, reduction or freezing of school fees, continuation of employment, restriction on termination of employees, and restriction on reduction in salary in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The government has also issued executive […]

The Covid 19 crisis is an opportunity to redefine tax policy and law. A calibrated approach to balance welfare economics with a vision to pioneer economic activity and national growth is needed.

The lockdown is an opportunity to mainstream sustainability in economic policy as it has made citizens amenable to decisions that have a high discount rate.

Gaming has been serious business for some time, but Fortnite’s experiment shows the success of metaverse.

We should continue to implement all the needed public health measures instead of projecting testing rates as the sole path to salvation

While this makes China the first country formalising digital currency—Bitcoin alternatives have existed for long now—it also sounds the bugle for other central banks to join the race.

The basic decision making on the ground must be left to the states and should involve municipal corporations and wards.

With crude price low, the govt should think of moving completely to DBT for food, fertiliser and power.

Lack of PPE & shortage of testing kits is a real issue.

Containment zones must be marked ‘red’, not the entire district; also, will activity be curtailed if areas turn ‘red’?

India’s share of world manufacturing output is just 3%; it can easily be raised to 6% in 3-4 years, and 15% by 2030

The pandemic and its economic consequences have given every state economy the unprecedented opportunity to take bold decisions and accelerate decadal growth.

Liquor-store crowds show the masses still don’t understand the importance of social distancing in fighting Covid-19

Covid-19 presents an opportunity for UGC to push for US SAT-style common entrance exam

Even now, a state like West Bengal’s data looks dodgy; others like Gujarat and UP also pose challenges

Everyone in the banana supply chain seems to be gaining from the lockdown, except growers.

Given the many advantages it has over traditional litigation during the corona crisis, arbitration should no longer be just an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, but the primary choice for adjudicating disputes.

Building infrastructure to enable remote working will boost economy.

The lockdown has added significant impetus, however, to e-sports or online sports, which are fast becoming a mainstream activity.