ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

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Risk-based Audits for Transfer Pricing

Vol. 54, Issue No. 45, 16 Nov, 2019
Commentary
Swati Verma, K V K Ranganathan
In view of the serious risk faced by the Indian exchequer on account of illicit financial outflows via transfer mispricing practices by multinational corporation–affiliated firms, an appropriate tax policy path shall be oriented towards a more thorough and stricter scrutiny of their transactions in future. The current policy approach of minimising the tax audits faced by these firms based on initial risk assessment should ensure careful profiling of risks and strategic audit design considering various risk factors.

Faculty Development Training and Quality of Higher Education

Vol. 54, Issue No. 44, 09 Nov, 2019
Commentary
Anirban Sengupta
The University Grants Commission introduced the Academic Staff Orientation Scheme in 1987 to set up academic staff colleges (now rechristened as human resource development centres). While the scheme is still operational, courses offered under it are hardly contributing towards quality improvement in higher education.

Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2019

Vol. 54, Issue No. 44, 09 Nov, 2019
Commentary
Dhaval Kulkarni
The results of the Maharashtra state assembly elections held in October 2019 were assumed to be a foregone conclusion with the Bharatiya Janata Party–Shiv Sena ruling alliance set to sweep the polls. However, the Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar won a large haul of seats and its ally Congress too improved upon its previous tally. The run-up to the polls as well as the immediate aftermath has been anything but smooth between and for the BJP–Shiv Sena alliance.

Touch, Untouch, and the Depositions of Ucchishta

Vol. 54, Issue No. 44, 09 Nov, 2019
Commentary
Sukanya Sarbadhikary
Complex sensory and linguistic underpinnings of caste come into play when touchables, with all their senses, touch objects made by untouchables. Here, ethnographic insights have been used about the devotional percussion instrument, khol , which is made by untouchables, but touched, heard, relished, and understood, by all castes.

History of Anxiety and Possibility

Vol. 54, Issue No. 44, 09 Nov, 2019
Commentary
Ashish Kumar Sedai
The developed world faces a new bout of anxiety given the current status of technology development. To understand the anxiety, the historical perspective on the short- and long-run effects of technological progress on labour substitution, post the Great Depression, is traced. The present technological progress stands in contrast to what Keynes called the “Economic Possibilities” of technological unemployment. The probable policies for tackling contemporary issues of technological unemployment are discussed.

Road Map for Agricultural Technology Transfer and Commercialisation

Vol. 54, Issue No. 43, 26 Oct, 2019
Commentary
Manoj P Samuel, Karim Maredia, R Kalpana Sastry
The management and transfer of agricultural technologies for commercialisation purposes is considered to be a new concept in India. However, there is an upward surge in the technology protection, incubation and other commercialisation activities in recent times. This can be attributed to the recent transformation of the agribusiness ecosystem in the country due to policy initiatives and more focused research in applied and frontier areas.

Troubles with Cash Food Subsidy

Vol. 54, Issue No. 43, 26 Oct, 2019
Commentary
Barun Kumar Barnwal, Mrityunjay Pandey
A pilot project of cash food subsidy to replace the public distribution system in Nagri block of Ranchi district in Jharkhand is analysed to highlight the problems experienced by Jharkhand in implementation of cash food subsidy through the direct benefit transfer system in the PDS. Further, the limitations of cash transfer as a means to replace the PDS are highlighted as also the infrastructural and institutional constraints to impose digitalisation in rural Indian conditions.

Stares of the Blind

Vol. 54, Issue No. 43, 26 Oct, 2019
Commentary
Hemachandran Karah
The ways in which blind people connect to the art of seeing without the ocular equipment of the eyes are explored, recognising that seeing is as much a political act as it pertains to human bonding.

Planting of Illegal Crops

Vol. 54, Issue No. 42, 19 Oct, 2019
Commentary
Meena Menon
The need for technology in agriculture is often confused with giving farmers access to genetically modified crops. Rarely is the performance of the country’s first GM crop, Bt cotton, examined under a critical lens. Instead, the backdoor entry of illegal GM seeds is gaining momentum in the name of progress and of giving farmers a choice. The absence of a strict regulation regime is sorely felt. Research on agriculture and sustainability is the need of the hour.

NITI Aayog’s Health Index

Vol. 54, Issue No. 42, 19 Oct, 2019
Commentary
Subir K Kole
Based on a critical review of the NITI Aayog’s recently published “Healthy States, Progressive India,” it is argued that the report provides only a superficial insight into the overall health attainment. Much deeper and careful analysis is required if one aims to unfold the complexity and varied contexts provided by Indian states, let alone ranking them on health attainment. The method of calculating the index in the report compromises scientific rigour, and the inferences drawn are highly misleading.

Nuances of the Left Debacle in Tripura

Vol. 54, Issue No. 42, 19 Oct, 2019
Commentary
V Bijukumar
The electoral and political debacle of the left in Tripura is a culmination of long-term social churning. Discontent among the tribal population as well as the divide between tribal and Bengali communities were effectively utilised by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has led to precipitous erosion of the base of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Lessons from Kolkata’s East–West Metro Disaster

Vol. 54, Issue No. 42, 19 Oct, 2019
Commentary
Partha Pratim Biswas
The disasters faced during the construction of the east–west metro corridor in Kolkata have brought to the fore various contentious issues of urban infrastructure development, such as limited know-how of executing agency, low or no disaster preparedness, and precedence of narrow political interests over the safety considerations of such high-risk construction projects. These accidents reiterate the need for redefining the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders involved in such projects.

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