https://www.scmp.com/rss/500988/feed Jairaj Devadiga is an economist. His work mainly deals with public policy and economic history. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Few things can hold back an economy as effectively as a bloated public sector and mismanaged government finances. India has both of these problems. Even the government’s own auditor, the comptroller and auditor general, has pointed out problems in the budget. Let us start with the oversized public sector. The government runs numerous “businesses” called public-sector undertakings, which operate in industries such as telecommunications, banking, construction and petroleum. Almost all make losses... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3021516/indian-government-cannot-be-trusted-tell-truth-about-its-finances?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3021516/indian-government-cannot-be-trusted-tell-truth-about-its-finances?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Aug 2019 04:00:08 +0000 India is in the midst of the most severe water crisis in its history, in which 600 million people have to contend with extreme water shortages. Nearly 200,000 people die annually because they cannot obtain clean water. Storage in 26 dams in the state of Maharashtra has dropped to zero, and five other states are on the verge of drought. This already grim situation is set to get worse, because 21 major cities could run out of groundwater by next year. In all of this, the poor are getting the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3012374/indias-worst-ever-water-shortage-and-corruption-surrounding-it-can?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3012374/indias-worst-ever-water-shortage-and-corruption-surrounding-it-can?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 May 2019 08:00:09 +0000