Public and Private Healthcare and Health Insurance in India by Brijesh C Purohit, New Delhi, California, London and Singapore: Sage Publications, 2020; pp xiii + 283, ₹1,195 (hardcover).
India Policy Finance and Policy Report: Health Matters edited by Jyotsna Jalan, Sugata Marjit and Sattwik Santra, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2020; pp xvi + 166, ₹1,495 (paperback).
There is a buzz in the air about privatisation of some of the public sector banks (PSBs). There has been talk of privatising Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI Bank) in financial year (FY) 2020–21.
Mapping Power: The Political Economy of Electricity in India’s States edited by Navroz K Dubash, Sunila S Kale and Ranjit Bharvirkar, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2018; pp 400, ₹1,195.
The proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020 aims to reduce subsidies and push for privatisation, especially in the distribution segment of the power sector. Undertaking structural changes in a core sector at a time of crisis from the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic effects defies logic. The proposed amendments are not only anti-people, but they also fail to address the long-term crises in the sector and will only accelerate its deterioration. The central government must hold off on passing any hasty legislation on the subject and adopt a more scientific and less ideological approach to deal with the travails of the power sector.
The voluntary retirement scheme of public sector enterprises is built on the narrative of overstaffing and inefficiency. With Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited being the latest to announce a massive VRS, this article examines the path that led to this package. It argues that it is one of the instruments through which labour flexibility is ushered in public sector enterprises, which often end in privatisation. It also discusses the crucial role that BSNL could take up by virtually connecting the physically distanced in the resistance against the ongoing pandemic.
The National Education Policy, approved by the union cabinet on 29 July 2020, is the third education policy document of the country, coming after a gap of 34 years since the last one. This article is a brief commentary on some of the relevant concerns around the question of provisioning for good quality universal education, equitable access to education, and the increasing push to wards privatisation.
Examining how health policy has fared in India during the last five years shows the constriction of finances for major programmes like the National Health Mission and Reproductive and Child Health Programme that has led to under-resourced public systems. The Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana health insurance scheme would only end up diverting public resources towards commercial insurance companies and private hospitals, while having doubtful benefits for community health.
In the wake of the global enthusiasm for smart cities, the central government launched the ambitious Smart Cities Mission in 2015. Based on a detailed analysis of proposals of the top 60 cities, the mission is located within the larger urban reform process initiated in the 1990s. An attempt has been made to define smart cities to understand how they envisage questions of urban transformations, inclusion and democracy. The proposals reveal an excessive reliance on consultants, lack of effective participation, a common set of interventions that are accepted as “smart solutions,” and a shift towards greater control of urban local bodies by state governments.
Waste belongs to households and then to the municipality once it enters the public collection/disposal system. What does this mean for informal waste pickers? Despite their numbers and importance, they lack a “right to waste” and are vulnerable to processes of accumulation. This paper presents the counter-narrative of Solid Waste Collection and Handling, India’s first wholly self-owned cooperative of waste pickers, which has been contracted by the Pune Municipal Corporation for door-to-door waste collection. The initiative legitimises a “right to waste” for waste pickers by allowing them direct access to waste from households, and has reconceptualised waste and work for waste pickers, while altering their engagement with other stakeholders.
