The country's economic growth rate slipped to 5.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011-12, lowest in nearly 9 years due to poor performance of the manufacturing and farm sectors.
Economists say even 8.5 per cent growth is an optimistic target, which could not be met, unless the government pushes for economic reforms.
"I believe the biggest issues in front of us are malnutrition and toilets, these are the two faces of one coin... I have MNREGA, PMGSY, drinking water etc under me but I spend maximum time on toilet only," said Ramesh, who holds the portfolios of Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation, in what apparently was his take on the toilet controversy for which the plan panel has drawn flak.
Facing flak over expenditure of Rs 35 lakh on toilets, the Planning Commission on Wednesday termed it as routine maintenance and upgradation work and said it was "unfortunate" to call it a wasteful expenditure.
Inter-ministerial group to meet on Thursday to finalise model concession pact.
Key Planning Commission official says push from small-scale industries will help reach the figure, but others disagree.
India's booming telecommunications industry is set to see investment in excess of $20 billion over the next five years, a senior government official said on Friday.
Planning Commission, on Thursday, expressed reservations on Kelkar Committee proposal to bring processed foods under excise duty net saying it will badly affect growth in the sector.
State-run public sector undertakings live in a mysterious world, without scrutiny from analysts or the public. Here's an overview of Maharashtra's PSUs.
India's fiscal deficit is expected to be 5.6 per cent of gross domestic product this fiscal as against the budget estimates of 4.6 per cent of GDP.
Hectic preparations are on at the newly-formed Niti Aayog to welcome the first Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya and other members whose appointments were approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
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Indian-American economist Arvind Panagariya has said that he is "honoured" to be appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the first Vice Chairman of the newly created NITI Aayog, which replaces the 65-year-old Planning Commission.
The two-day conference, which saw participation of ministers and senior officials from all the states, was marked by brainstorming in the run up to the expected enactment of the government's ambitious Food Security Bill.
Last year, the Planning Commission got the approval for the 9 per cent annual average economic growth target under the Approach document for the 12th Plan from the country's apex decision making body, the National Development Council, headed by the Prime Minister with all the chief ministers and Cabinet ministers on board.
The Centre also referred to various international economic reports and surveys to emphasise on the need for Aadhaar.
Reliance Industries is facing penalty for falling gas output from its KG-D6 fields.
Shortly before the commencement of the Sixth G20 Summit in Cannes, France, leaders of the emerging, but powerful, economies -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- met with the intention of designing a joint strategy on how to tackle the Eurozone debt tsunami that could overrun the developing nations causing havoc.
Document to talk about social unrest, energy shortages, global factors.
The government hopes of registering GDP growth rate ranging between 6.1-6.7 per cent in 2013-14.
Developers say an increase in the FSI was long due, given the scarcity of land, but stress the need for stronger infrastructure to support such high-rise buildings.
The authority is set to cross the target by the end of this month, with a million enrolments every day. It has already allotted 116.3 million Aadhar numbers.
The Planning Commission may find those earning more than Rs 32 a day ineligible to qualify as poor but for Mumbai's tiny but affluent Parsi community a "poor Parsi" is one who makes up to Rs 90,000 per month.
'Who are these people on the streets?' 'They are youth and students who were hoodwinked, bluffed by Modi for the last seven years, with a promise of 2 crore jobs every year.' 'And Mamata sings the same tune.' 'But the youth can see that as long as there is Mamata or Modi, there is no hope.'
Others may be gung-ho about food inflation falling into the negative territory, but not former chief statistician Pronab Sen.
Soon after the Rajya Sabha met for the day, members from Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal-United, Bahujan Samaj Party, All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam and the Left parties were on their feet seeking a discussion on the issue.
The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and Planning Commission member Arun Maira are sticking to their guns on foreign direct investment in the pharmaceutical sector.
States could then stop complaining about the Centre and fashion their own economic destinies, says T C A Srinivasa Raghavan.
You cannot have a corporate tax and then say spend another two per cent.
The duo face a tough challenge to their ministerial aspirations.
Amid the controversy raging over the definition of poverty, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday claimed that they have resolved the issue.
Addressing a high level debate on 'State of the World Economy and Finance in 2012' at the United Nations General Assembly in United Nations on Thursday, Ahluwalia said the Indian economy grew at an average rate of 9 per cent in the five years prior to the financial crisis of 2008.
"The theme of tomorrow's meeting is 'Economic Policy Reform, Road Ahead'. The prime minister will make opening remarks. There are 15 invitees who will make their presentations before the prime minister," a senior government official said.
The PPP model for CIL was first mooted by the Planning Commission.
Amid India slipping to 134th spot in the ease of doing business ranking of 189 nations, Planning Commission member Arun Maira on Tuesday said "merely making comparisons" is not enough to improve business conditions.
The move was being made considering the poor flight services in the region comprising Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, Planning Commission member B K Chaturvedi said.
Slamming the Planning Commission over its controversial definition of poverty, the BJP on Friday dubbed it a "conspiracy" hatched by the body and the Centre to deprive a large number of poor people of benefits under various welfare programmes.
