 "Best of BS Opinion: Development debate, merger drama in television & more")
A new discussion paper released by the NITI Aayog this week showed that about 248.2 million Indians escaped multidimensional poverty over the past nine years. In this context, our lead editorial notes that policy interventions will partly need to focus on the next level of improvement. This may also require reorientation of government expenditure. For instance, if multidimensional poverty has declined to about 11 per cent, should the government be spending on free food for the majority of the population? Similarly, is the rising prevalence of cash transfers the way forward, or can state resources be used to bridge development gaps — to enhance the quality of education, for example? Many such policy questions need to be debated. Read here
In other views
The diplomatic responses to Lai Ching-te’s victory in Taiwan underscore the challenge and importance of maintaining status quo in the region, writes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran. Read here
With India hardly being a hot destination for media investments, the twists and turns in the Sony–Zee merger is bad news for the industry, writes Vanita Kohli Khandekar. Read here
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“Capacity utilisation has been slowly creeping up and it is approaching levels that prompt the private sector to undertake capital expenditure at least in some sectors.”
Monetary Policy Committee Member Jayanth Varma