Policy Watch: Special Issue – December 2023

This is a special issue in which we carry one article on each theme. The first article is in Hindi, by Shri Suresh Khairnar and it is a biograpihcal tribute to Sane Guruji – the great social reformer of Maharshartra whose 125th birth anniversary was on 23rd Dec 2023. We include it under the theme Constitutional Values and Democratic Institutions as people like Sane Guruji did a lot to truly establish the founding values of our Constitution.

The next article under the theme Governance and Development carries the summary of a White Paper on State Finances issued by the newly elected Telangana government. It shows how the state (and indeed all major states) is in a precarious fiscal situation and their deficit financing just cannot be sustained. We have to examine the fiscal costs of all kinds of promises that are made before elections by all Parties.

The third article is also in Hindi on the theme of Growth with Employment. Written by the undersigned, and two former colleagues of the RGICS, it shows the dire need to change our growth model so that jobs are also created. The paper emphaises the need to invest in regenerating the natural resources – land/soil, water, forests – so as to restore the productivity of agriculture and thereby generate more jobs in rural areas and also enhance farmers’ and agricultural workers’ incomes.

The fourth article is on the theme Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainability and it describes a workshop held in Uttarakhand in which Mr Jeet Singh, Fellow, RGICS participated. It deals with the issue of how to promote enteprises which while generating jobs and incomes for the local hill people, also ensure environmental conservation.

The firth article on the theme India’s Place in the World, is a review of the changes in India’s foreign policy since 2014. It has been written by RGCS Fellow, Sneha Mahapatra under the guidance of Dr Somanth Ghosh, Senior Visiting Fellow.