Social Sector

Union Budget 2024-25: Govt aims on strengthening social sector reforms

Budget's focus is to create jobs and improve workforce skills

Over half of GCCs in India 'actively' adopting ESG agenda: Report

70% 'actively looking' for technology collaborations to implement ESG norms, says EY

How to teach history

Professor Krishna Kumar's book explores the practical challenges of teaching history within the constraints of timetables and textbooks

Irdai proposes revising coverage across sectors to secure insurance for all

Irdai said that a new strategy and fresh approach have been devised to boost insurance penetration in the country

Govt close to saturation in implementing social sector schemes: Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government is close to reaching saturation in implementing social sector schemes designed to provide basic necessities to the poor. Addressing the students of Hindu College on the occasion of its 125th anniversary, she said the time has come for India to become economically 'aatmanirbhar' (self-reliant) and march forward to become a developed nation by 2047. Regretting that 60 years since Independence passed without any sense of urgency, Sitharaman said, "we have laid the material foundation for a Viksit Bharat" and empowering people by providing basic necessities to all. Even earlier government had schemes of providing houses, roads etc but the sense of urgency was missing, she said, adding, nearly 50 per cent of the population were devoid of fundamental things 50 or 60 years post independence. "So that's the underlying principle with which between 2014 and today we have done with a sense of urgency. Push the border forward,

Tax buoyancy may give headroom for higher social sector budget: Report

The increased tax buoyancy as reflected in both income tax and GST monthly collection data will provide headroom to the government to allocate more funds for farmers and social sector schemes in the forthcoming interim budget, without sacrificing fiscal prudence, sources said. The focus in the interim budget, which will be the last major economic document of the Modi 2.0 Government ahead of the general elections, is likely to be on the issues being faced by poorer sections of the society, especially in rural areas. According to sources, collections from income and corporate taxes have been showing buoyancy in the current fiscal, and the total direct tax mop-up is likely to exceed budget estimates by about Rs 1 lakh crore. The government had budgeted to collect Rs 18.23 lakh crore from direct taxes in this fiscal. Till January 10, the mop-up stood at Rs 14.70 lakh crore, which is 81 per cent of budget estimates. On the Goods and Services Tax (GST) front, Central GST revenues are ...

Social stock exchange sees first listing with Unnati Foundation 1st entity

Platform to opens new financing avenue for social enterprises

JP Morgan EM index addition: Banks, FIs look to raise Rs 18,000 crore

NABARD to issue social sector bonds on Tuesday

Expenditure on social sector: Turning social safety nets into trampolines

A look back at welfare spending is the first step to understanding Covid impact absorption and darning holes, if any, in the welfare fabric

14 social sector ministries integrated data with PM GatiShakti platform

As many as 14 social sector ministries, including Health and Panchayati Raj, have integrated their data on the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP) platform, the commerce and industry ministry said on Thursday. About 61 data layers of these ministries related to infrastructure assets, such as primary and secondary schools, colleges, primary health centres, district hospitals, health sub-centres, public toilets, dump sites, Anganwadi centres, fair price shops, Amrit samovars, and dairy locations have been mapped on NMP. Individual portals of these Ministries/Departments have been developed, which are integrated at the backend with the NMP, it said. Special Secretary, Logistics Division, in the ministry Sumita Dawra said that for wider adoption of PM GatiShakti NMP, a comprehensive area approach planning should be focused upon. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are to be developed by each social sector ministry to serve as guidelines for data management, which may be replicate

NSDC registers itself on SSE to widen capital pool for social enterprises

The Social Stock Exchange (SSE) has been developed with the sole motive of facilitating social enterprises in raising funds from the public through the stock exchange mechanism

Social sector spending by ultra-rich down despite rise in wealth: Report

The ultra high networth individuals' (UHNIs) social sector spending declined by 5 per cent in FY22, despite a 9.2 per cent increase in their wealth and the persisting inequities in India, a report said. Giving by the UHNI segment declined to Rs 4,230 crore in FY22, if one were to exclude the contributions of Wipro's Azim Premji, the report said. Amid the clampdown on foreign funding of non-profits, the report by consulting firm Bain & Company and Dasra said international funding also declined in FY22. Private foreign giving dipped by about 3 per cent to Rs 15,000 crore in FY22 as compared to the contributions in the year-ago period, the report said, adding that their contribution to overall giving reduced further to 14 per cent as compared to 15 per cent in FY21 and 21 per cent in FY17. Overall, the private giving remained flat in FY22 at Rs 1.05 lakh crore compared to FY21, the report said, adding that the corporate social responsibility spends grew during the fiscal year on the .

Social sector spending by rich drops despite increase in wealth: Report

The ultra high networth individuals' (UHNIs) social sector spending declined by 5 per cent in FY22, despite a 9.2 per cent increase in their wealth and the persisting inequities in India, a report said on Thursday. Giving by the UHNI segment declined to Rs 4,230 crore in FY22, if one were to exclude the contributions of Wipro's Azim Premji, the report said. Amid the clampdown on foreign funding of non-profits, the report by consulting firm BCG and Dasra said international funding also declined in FY22. Private foreign giving dipped by about 3 per cent to Rs 15,000 crore in FY22 as compared to the contributions in the year-ago period, the report said, adding that their contribution to overall giving reduced further to 14 per cent as compared to 15 per cent in FY21 and 21 per cent in FY17. Overall, the private giving remained flat in FY22 at Rs 1.05 lakh crore compared to FY21, the report said, adding that the corporate social responsibility spends grew during the fiscal year on the

Social capital and Budgets: The picture is varied, not just black or white

India's ranking on the UN's HDI has remained more or less unchanged, suggesting the country is doing no better or worse than others, though most are growing much slower than India, writes T N Ninan

Social sector: The emphasis of Budget is on the consolidation of schemes

The government has ring-fenced financial outlays for various social sectors, and this is reflected in nominal increases and efforts to make them more effective

Mastodon social network sees user influx amid Twitter turbulence: Report

Mastodon is a decentralised, open source and distributed social network with independent user-managed servers

Social sector spending dipped 'as a proportion' after 2014-15: Chidambaram

P Chidambaram on Tuesday hit back at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for stating that the NDA government's developmental expenditure was higher than that under the UPA regime

Govt spent nearly Rs 100 trn on development, social sector schemes in 8 yrs

The numbers posed by the former finance minister fall way short of the mark as development expenditure was nearly four times

Tepid rural wage growth poses stiff challenges for economic recovery

Real rural wages of general agriculture labourers (male) rose just 2.64 per cent in September, followed by 3.11 per cent in October, and again 2.64 per cent in November

Lion's share of unspent balances is with social sector ministries: CGA data

Merely bumping up money to spend will not lead to faster utilisation; CGA has identified a host of reasons for balances lying idle, not least of which is the pandemic