Why blame the petroleum minister for not hiking oil prices when no one else is arguing for market prices?
Today, the current spike is accepted as a long-term reality and has impacted all aspects of the economy in different ways
Of the five years when Manmohan Singh was the finance minister, only in two years did the government manage to keep the average annual inflation rate below 10 per cent. The remaining three years were hit by an average annual inflation rate (based on the wholesale price index) of 13.7 per cent in 1991-92, 10.1 per cent in 1992-93 and 12.6 per cent in 1994-95. Yet, a comparison should be useful.
If you add to this 52 Saturdays and 52 Sundays every year, when government offices are closed, the total number of holidays a central government employee can enjoy is 171days. That is close to half the number of days in a year. This context has to be kept in mind before judging what may well turn out to be the Sixth Pay Commission's most controversial recommendation. To be sure, the Pay Commission does not favour a reduction in the number of earned or casual leave.
Unlike the finance ministry which takes a larger view, the commerce ministry only looks at exporters' interests.
Getting Nandan Nilekani and Bimal Jalan to share ideas is a good beginning for North Block officials.
Today, NRIs are eager to reconnect with India because India is a growth story and it makes good business sense.
Now for the first time, the top team in North Block has the predominance of IAS officers.
National highways in India have seen a dramatic improvement over the last decade. Improvements are more evident in shorter stretches. For instance, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Agra are now well-connected with Delhi. Similarly, the highway that connects Mumbai with Pune can easily compare with the best anywhere in the world. This is true of many other national highways connecting major cities in southern and eastern India.
The Lok Sabha has now cleared a bill to divest government equity in TCI.
After netting a mere Rs 1,570 crore in 2005-06 and 2006-07, divestment proceeds could well touch Rs 5,000 crore in this financial year.
There is a queue when you want to pay your water bills. There is a queue when you want to get your child admitted to a school. There is a long queue when you want to get your complaint heard in a court of law. Needless to point out that all these sectors are in dire need of reform.
If elections are indeed around the corner, the government is unlikely to allow even a moderate hike in petrol and diesel prices.
The message for the Congress is that inflation, rural employment and condition of farmers are the three most critical issues bothering the electorate.
The states now realise that the bulk of the money that comes from the World Bank does not come as grants. In fact, it costs them as World Bank loans carry an interest rate that is not cheap by any yardstick.
What has happened that the overall airport experience in Delhi and Mumbai is so much better than what it used to be earlier?
Kamal Nath's reaction to India's exports growth of 18 per cent in May 2007 was almost like that of a panic-stricken commerce minister
Since the publication of Yashwant Sinha's memoirs of his days as finance minister, a debate is raging over whether due credit is given to the man who presented five Budgets in a row under two governments led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The appreciating rupee may just be one of the reasons why the Indian textiles sector may have suffered in the exports market.
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