The challenge is making governments at the Centre and in the states start focusing on the needs of towns and cities
A fiscal deficit of 6.8 per cent of GDP, up from 5.5 per cent postulated in February's Interim Budget, means an additional stimulus of nearly Rs 80,000 crore (Rs 800 billion).
India Inc believes that given the current economic slowdown, it could not have been any better
In 30 days, there have been a flurry of ministerial pronouncements. It does seem that most ministers have taken seriously the prime minister's observation that this time there can be no excuses.
While the civil aviation ministry's activist supervision of the airline's functioning is said to be responsible for much of the mess, the airline management has its own sins to answer for.
As huge declines continue, the govt can do little. Major trade destinations -- the US, UK, Europe and Japan -- are all gripped by severe recession. Other countries in Asia have experienced declines of comparable magnitude.
There is an air of purposiveness about the new government which is heartening.
Government-appointed officers, not below the rank of a joint secretary, will determine the nature of the offence and levy a penalty. But government officers are not judicial officers. Are they qualified to define, for instance, what goes against 'friendly relations with foreign states' and what is 'offensive' content?
It is remarkable that all three states that had assembly elections along with the Lok Sabha polls Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim have re-elected the parties that were running their governments till now.
India should welcome the initiative that Mr Obama has taken to attack the tax havens (for they are his real target, not Bangalore), and see what New Delhi can do -- about Mauritius and others.
In dollar terms, exports declined by 33.3 per cent over March 2008, the largest monthly decline yet. For the year as a whole, exports came in at $168.7 billion, significantly short of the original target of $200 billion and also below the revised range of $170-175 billion.
When word gets around that favouritism is de rigueur, it keeps away serious bidders and also ensures that the winners feel they can get away with shortchanging the country.
The warning being issued by many respected economists to governments across the world has been as follows: do not declare victory too soon since the path ahead is a very long one.
The RBI's assessment of the economy, presented as a prelude to the policy announcement, was relatively downbeat. Conceding the persistence of a hostile global environment and domestic weakness, the RBI expects GDP growth during 2009-10 to be 6 per cent. This is slightly higher than the 5.7 per cent that reflects the median of its external forecasters' survey.
Satyam has been saved. It has a credible owner after an auction in which reputed companies had bid, it has survived the last three months without much loss of business or desertion by staff, it has coped with a severe cash crunch and a national asset can now be re-built into an IT services powerhouse.
The govt's move to once again defer the enforcement of detailed nutritional information on packaged food labels is incomprehensible.
In any downturn, the turnaround comes only when investors feel asset prices have bottomed out; when consumer demand has fallen so much that it has nowhere to go but up; and when bankers feel that businesses (or those that remain) are on even keel.
Reliance Communications' third entry into the telecom business, starting with the time it was run under a different name when the Ambanis were an undivided group, has predictably got the mobile industry in a tizzy.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India's decision to subject all Nifty and Sensex companies to a peer review of their accounting statements, may not be a bad idea, if some pitfalls are avoided.
Truckers' have also demanded that different permits to carry goods to different states should be abolished.
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