Category Center for the Study for Finance and Economics

anjali

Punjab Department wise Schemes Update 2026

Punjab, with a geographical area of 50,362 sq km and a population of 2.77 crore as per Census 2011, is the sixteenth most populous state in India and one of its smallest by area, contributing about 1.5 percent of the national land mass while supporting roughly 2.3 percent of its population. The state has 23 districts and a population density of 551 persons per sq km, among the highest in the country. Punjab shares an international border with Pakistan and internal borders with Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, and its capital, Chandigarh, is a shared Union Territory with Haryana. The economy remains predominantly agrarian, anchored in the paddy wheat cropping cycle that powered the Green Revolution, but this legacy has produced acute groundwater stress. The state's own 2025-26 assessment placed groundwater extraction at 152.22 percent of the annually extractable resource, and in a statement to the Rajya Sabha on 9 March 2026, Member of Parliament Satnam Singh Sandhu said that 19 of the state's 23 districts fall under the groundwater dark zone; the department-wise section below sets out the underlying block-level CGWB data in more detail.

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Punjab Department Wise Schemes Update 2026

Punjab is one of India’s major agricultural states and has historically played an important role in national food security. Its economy is supported by agriculture and allied activities, industry, services, infrastructure and a large network of urban and rural settlements. At the same time, the state faces challenges related to agricultural diversification, groundwater and irrigation management, employment generation, infrastructure development, energy subsidies and environmental sustainability.

Arjya shree

Expanding National pension Scheme (NPS) to NRIs, 2015 

The National Pension System (NPS), regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) under the PFRDA Act, 2013, was expanded to Non Resident Indians (NRIs) in 2015 to broaden access to a structured, market linked retirement savings mechanism. NPS was initially introduced for Central Government employees effective 1 January 2004 and extended voluntarily to all Indian citizens from 1 May 2009 under the All Citizen Model. The specific expansion enabling NRIs to subscribe occurred through amendments to the Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of Security by a Person Resident Outside India) Regulations, 2000.

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GST Rate Rationalization Framework: Evaluating Input Tax Credit Fraud and Structural Revenue Efficiency

The rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July 2017 marked the most extensive structural overhaul of India's fiscal federalism, subsuming 17 distinct central and state levies along with 13 cesses into a single indirect taxation architecture. Designed to eliminate the cascading tax-on-tax effect, establish a unified national market, and accelerate economic formalization, the original GST regime was constructed around a four-tier rate structure comprising 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28% tax slabs, supplemented by special reduced rates for precious metals and an additional Compensation Cess on select luxury and sin goods. While this multi-tiered framework was politically essential at inception to achieve revenue neutrality and protect low-income consumption, over time it introduced operational frictions, tax classification disputes, and severe structural distortions.   

Aditya

Fiscal Health Index 2026: Are Indian States Building Sustainable Public Finances?

India's fiscal stability is closely linked to the financial health of its states, which account for a significant share of public expenditure and revenue. Differences in revenue mobilisation, expenditure quality, fiscal deficits and debt levels can create substantial variation in the fiscal resilience of individual states. NITI Aayog introduced the Fiscal Health Index (FHI) as a systematic framework to assess and benchmark the fiscal performance of states. States can track their performance across the five pillars: Quality of Expenditure, Revenue Mobilisation, Fiscal Prudence, Debt Index and Debt Sustainability: year-on-year and identify areas where deterioration is taking place (NITI Aayog, 2026a). 

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Madhya Pradesh Department wise Schemes Update 2026

Madhya Pradesh, located in central India, has Bhopal as its capital and is the second-largest state in India by area and the fifth-largest by population, with more than 72 million residents. The state has a diversified economy driven by agriculture, mining, manufacturing, tourism and services. It is one of India’s leading agricultural producers, particularly in pulses, oilseeds and soybean, and has significant mineral resources, including large reserves of diamonds and copper. Madhya Pradesh has a projected GSDP of ₹18.48 lakh crore for 2026–27, representing a nominal growth rate of 11% over the revised 2025-26 estimate(PRS Legislative Research). 

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Karnataka’s Gruha Lakshmi Yojana (2023)

Women’s economic insecurity is shaped by more than the absence of a regular wage. Many women manage food purchases, children’s schooling, health care, care work and household budgeting, often without independent control over income. This is particularly important in households dependent on informal work, seasonal employment, small farming or irregular daily earnings. State governments have increasingly responded to this gap through direct benefit transfer programmes that credit cash directly into women’s bank accounts.

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