Down To Earth recaps the primary environment, health and developmental news from 2022
Photo: iStock The global economy was badly effected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Food, fertiliser and energy princes went up drastically. The war hit the world even as the COVID-19 pandemic already crippled many economies.
Urgent funding is needed to save the lives of 882,000 people experiencing catastrophic hunger now. The Economics Nobel was awarded for improving ability to avoid financial crises.
In India, Centre-sponsored schemes were cut by half, reducing 130 schemes across Union ministries into 65, while agriculture and its allied sectors continued to be least affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here is a recap of some Down To Earth’s economy stories from around the globe.
Information accessed by DTE under the Right To Information Act belied the government's claim that banks give farm loans without any service charge or mortgaging farmer’s land.
Read more: Cost of credit: RTI reveals truth of government claim on farm credit
The number of people getting 100 days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 2022 through October has been the lowest since 2018. Only 0.77 million people received work as mandated, government data showed.
Read more: MGNREGA: Less than a million people got 100 days of work in first 7 months of this financial year
International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group annual meeting was disrupted October 11, 2022 by two activists from a women-led peace group. CodePink demonstrators interrupted the debt restructuring panel and demanded cancelling all debt.
Read more: ‘Cancel all debt’: Activists disrupt IMF, World Bank annual meet
The Nobel Prize for Economics 2022 has been awarded to Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig. Their work significantly improved the world’s understanding of the role of banks in the economy, particularly during financial crises.
Read more: 2022 Economics Nobel awarded to trio for improving ability to avoid financial crises
Urgent funding is needed to save the lives of 882,000 people experiencing catastrophic hunger now, alerted 238 non-governmental organisations in an open letter to world leaders. The call for financial aid was made during the 77th United Nations General Assembly.
Read more: 50 million a step away from starvation: Civil society seeks urgent funds
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise in food and fuel prices, it may appear difficult for India to reach its US $5-trillion economy target by 2025. But a study shows that the targets are easily attainable by following a bottom-up approach
Read more: Fix from ground up: A $5-trillion economy target by 2025 for India is not unachievable
The outcome of the 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva regarding fisheries subsidies was not a ‘win’ for India as was being touted by the Centre. Rather, it was a disaster for small Indian fisher folk.
Read more: Geneva WTO meet 2022: ‘Disaster’, not ‘win’ for India’s small fishers
The Russia-Ukraine war is precipitating an economic crisis like never before, says the second brief of the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance released June 8. The group, steered by the United Nations, has termed it the “largest cost-of-living crisis”.
Read more: Everyone exposed to shock waves of war; largest cost-of-living crisis: UN
Food, fertiliser and energy prices will remain at historically high levels through the end of 2024 due to the shock dealt to commodity markets by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a new report released by the World Bank April 26, 2022, has said.
Read more: Ukraine invasion fallout: Food, energy price rise to continue till 2024-end, says World Bank
In Chitapur, there is a little bit of tamarind in everybody’s life. Rather, in this village in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district, the tamarind tree is a living currency that sways people’s fate.
Read more: Chitapur: A village that counts its GDP in tamarind trees
The Union Budget 2022-23 was anything but what a budget should be. It gave a grand idea of the future, but not much of this intent was translated into monetary provisions.
Read more: Union Budget 2022-23: Whither Amrit Kaal
The Union Budget 2022-2023 has declared a major revamping / ‘rationalisation’ of centrally sponsored schemes (CSS). Since the last two years, the number of such schemes has been reduced by half.
Read more: Union Budget 2022-23: Number of centrally sponsored schemes cut by half
Agriculture and its allied sectors, the largest employer in India, continued to be least hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and will grow at 3.9 per cent in 2021-22, compared to the 3.6 per cent growth it clocked in 2020-21, the Economic Survey said January 31, 2022.
Read more: Agriculture least hit by COVID-19: Economic Survey
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