When Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently extended a Rs 8,000-crore (Rs 80 billion) central support for building roads in Jammu & Kashmir, Union Cabinet's approval for the big-ticket announcement came in barely 48 hours.
The Planning Commission on Thursday unveiled a Vision 2020 document envisaging 100 per cent literacy, no unemployment and poverty and quadrupling the per capita income of the country by 2020 saying.
What transpired during that drive was one of the most compelling investment pitches made by an Indian state in decades.
The Commission more or less speaks for the government in power and nothing else.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his government may seek the help of agencies like the Interpol in investigating the alleged interference of Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who allegedly has links with Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi's British wife, in India's internal affairs. Sarma said the probe is at an initial stage and he has informed Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the developments in the case.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has announced the formation of a panel headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to study the relationship between the Union and state governments and ensure state autonomy. The panel, which will submit its interim report in January 2026 and its final report in two years, will examine the transfer of subjects from the State List to the Concurrent List, citing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) as an example of a subject outside state purview.
The Indian government has appointed Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Pandey, a 1987-batch IAS officer, will replace Madhabi Puri Buch, whose three-year tenure ends on February 28. Pandey's appointment comes at a time when the markets are experiencing bear pressure due to withdrawals by foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Pandey has extensive experience in the finance ministry, having served as the longest-serving secretary in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) and the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE). He also played a key role in the framing of the 2025-26 Budget and the drafting of the new Income Tax Bill. Pandey's appointment is for an initial period of three years.
Prodded by Prime Minister, the Planning Commission is likely to come out with a target of 10 per cent average annual growth in the 12th Five Year Plan.
'When Prime Minister Modi met President Trump, they agreed to initiate a bilateral trade dialogue.' 'It makes sense to give these negotiations a chance.'
Gursharan Kaur and daughter Daman Singh pay their respects to Dr Singh's mortal remains at the AICC HQ in New Delhi.
'We don't have to compete with Maharashtra or Gujarat. We have to now start thinking about how we compete with the United States or China.'
Seasoned bureaucrat and a stickler for rules Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey will be at the helm of capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), for three years. The 1987-batch Odisha-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Pandey, would replace Madhabi Puri Buch, whose three-year term ends on Friday.
Top finance ministry officials and members of Planning Commission on Friday gave a thumbs up to the Union Budget 2003-2004 saying Finance Minister Jaswant Singh had laid out a roadmap for greater flow of investment and industrial growth.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, allegedly linked to Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi's British wife, has visited India 18 times. Sarma, while speaking in the state assembly, claimed that the initial information in the case is "very fatal" for the Congress and will have a "huge impact" on the politics of Assam. He also stated that the investigation findings will put some people in an indefensible position.
The Plan Panel was set up by a simple government resolution in March 1950 had withstood many political and economic upheavals.
Though the Planning Commission favours imposition of a direct tax on Special Economic Zones (SEZs), it does not agree with the contention that these tax-free industrial enclaves are leading to revenue loss.
With its age-old fascination for education, southern states have done better than the North. Start-ups, IT hubs, and industry majors setting up shop have changed the face of the South. Nearly 79% of global offices set up by international conglomerates in India are in the South. Almost 46% of tech unicorns are from the South. The GDP per person in the South is 4.2 times higher than the North. None of these indicators can be ignored by any central government, whatever the political compulsions, notes Ramesh Menon.
Given the possibilities that next year's assembly elections could throw up, Stalin told the state assembly that an interim report had to be submitted by January 2026. The outcomes may well find its way into the DMK's poll manifesto, thus seeking to keep the electoral focus still on the BJP-ruled Centre and Prime Minister Modi, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into allegations of Pakistan links of Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi's British wife Elizabeth Colburn. Sarma alleged that Colburn had visited Pakistan after her marriage and that there are apprehensions of ISI infiltration into the Chief Minister's Office when Gogoi's father, the late Tarun Gogoi, was the chief minister. Sarma also shared screenshots of social media posts by Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, an advisor of the Pakistan Planning Commission and a former colleague of Colburn, claiming that the relationship between the Gogois and Sheikh appeared to be "deeply rooted." Sarma's allegations have been rejected by the Congress as "laughable and entertaining."
The quiet corridors of the Planning Commission were again agog with activity following talk that the central government would soon announce the former's much-awaited reconstitution.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has accused Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi of raising questions on sensitive defence matters in Parliament after his marriage to a British citizen. Sarma alleged that Gogoi's wife, Elizabeth Colburn, has links with the Pakistani establishment, including working for an organisation allegedly a front for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Gogoi has rejected the allegations as "baseless" and said the BJP is trying to divert attention from its own failures.
The Assam Cabinet on Sunday had decided not to register any case against the Congress MP or his British spouse, who the BJP has accused of having ISI links, but instructed the DGP to file an FIR against Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh.
Planning Commission director N K Singh expressed confidence that the country would see over 7% growth in gross domestic product during the current financial year, but said that maintaining the growth rate would be a difficult task.
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
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The CPI(M) on Thursday slammed the Planning Commission estimates on poverty levels in the country, saying these made "a mockery of life and death struggles" of the people, amidst continuous rise in prices and "massive" slashing of subsidies for the poor.
Sagoo was the lone candidate left in fray after incumbent senior vice president Anju Bobby George opted out of the race for the position.
Set up by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the Planning Commission brought 12 five-year plans and six annual plans involving fund outlays of over Rs 200 lakh crore in its nearly 65-year-history.
'The critical event signalling a new era for India was Dr Singh's 1991 Budget in which he quoted Victor Hugo to say that no power on earth could stop an idea whose time has come,' recalls T N Ninan.
'I am optimistic about the Budget because of the fiscal discipline the government has committed to.'
He drew the roadmap of India's economic reform, unshackled it from the licence raj and pulled it back from the brink when even its gold reserve was pledged.
'I had to persuade him. I think he was a sceptic to begin with, but later on he was convinced that what we were doing was the right thing to do, that there was no other way out.'
Creating many more half-decent jobs for the 10 million plus new entrants to the labour force each year must surely constitute the primary development challenge for India today.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday took potshots at the rival Shiv Sena over its minister not finding a place in the reconstituted NITI Aayog.
Arun Maira who worked for 25 years with the Tata Group, remembers his early years with Ratan Tata.
'We are going to need more technical people in government.' 'You can't expect a generalist to understand the complicated world of financial engineering.' 'I regret to say that most of our politicians have no competence to deal with these things. Nor is there a willingness to learn.'
Chief ministers of three Congress-ruled states -- Karnataka's Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh's Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Telangana's Revanth Reddy -- have announced they will not attend the NITI Aayog meeting over alleged bias against their states in the Union Budget.
'It is notable how humble he was and didn't want anything different just because he was a Tata.'
Banerjee said her microphone was stopped after five minutes, while other chief ministers were allowed to speak for longer durations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's goal of making India a high-income economy by 2047 is unlikely to be achieved, but the country should become an upper middle-income nation by then, Financial Times chief economics commentator Martin Wolf said on Friday. Wolf further said that India would also become a superpower by 2047. "India wishes to become a high-income country by 2047.
