India wants to be among the top 3 world economies by 2047, which is dependent on greater spending on education, health and social welfare schemes. But the Interim Budget harks back to lower allocation trends.
As a part of IMPRI #PolicyWebTalk, Impact and Policy Research Institute recently organised an insightful panel discussion of 5 Days the prospects of Union Interim Budget. These discussions were conducted from date 2nd Feb to 6th Feb, 2024.
The increase in funds allocated for improving the quality of life in urban areas by 12 percent, as pledged in the Interim Budget, is positively received.
Even as one circus of the absurd has ended in Pakistan, another has begun. The farcical nature of the electoral exercise in the country has produced an even more farcical outcome. Even as Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independent candidates continue to maintain their lead on the victory board, Nawaz Sharif has gone ahead and given a victory speech.
In 2015, the Government of India launched its Smart Cities Mission, envisioned as the lighthouse of city development. With a total of 100 cities included in its proposal, this flagship programme received budgetary support and continued to dominate urban planning discussions.
In recent decades, six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE have emerged as pivotal in West Asia due to their huge sovereign wealth and Petro dollars, reformist policies and fast-moving diversification of their economies and interests beyond the hydrocarbons and regional heft as they continue to play a much bigger role in the global scheme of things.