Although the crop devours water, it remains important for India, reports Surinder Sud.
This, the Congress said in its political resolution, was necessary as there were misgivings on the 'misuse' of EVMs to 'manipulate the outcome contrary to popular verdict.' The resolution called for reverting to the old practice of paper ballot as adopted by other major democracies to help restore the credibility of the electoral process.
There appears to be a growing perception among the political class that faster growth will not create jobs fast enough and, therefore, welfare spending needs to be drastically increased, says T T Ram Mohan.
'Usually, urban wage rates are 50 per cent higher than rural wage rates. But, this could be narrowing very rapidly now,' points out Mahesh Vyas, CEO, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.
'Agri reforms need to go beyond the limited concerns of these three laws in improving agriculture productivity in cereal and crop diversification and production patterns.'
Yashwant Sinha explains where the Modi government has gone wrong in its handling of the economy.
Remember the trees that bend during the storm will survive; the ones that try to defy and stand straight tend to get damaged and uprooted, points out management guru Virender Kapoor.
'We can't have the best of both worlds -- large, efficient, world class government-owned banks, doing social banking and making profits. 'Why not set them free from the shackles of such obligations and run them as business units?' says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
For July-September, it pegged CPI-based retail inflation at 4.2 per cent which it saw firming up to 4.8 per cent in the second half of the current fiscal.
The 31-year-old will have to do the balancing act between his anti-BJP support base and work with the Khattar-led dispensation for smooth governance.
Shrikant Gajbhiye is inspiring change by offering free bee-keeping training to farmers and tribals.
Headed by Urjit Patel, MPC for the fourth straight time kept the repo rate unchanged, at which it lends to the banks, at 6.25 per cent. The reverse repo, at which RBI borrows, will be 6 per cent.
Such a drastic intervention overrides existing private bilateral commercial contracts
'Concerns about India's future are hampering private investment.' 'If the private sector sees strategy, teams and execution on these issues, this will inspire confidence in India.' 'This should be our main strategy for 2017,' says Ajay Shah.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked all wings of the government to work in a synchronised manner and pressed the bureaucracy to take speedy decisions.
Onion prices have been ruling at Rs 70-90 per kg in most parts of the country and even touched Rs 100 per kg in some cities like Patna and Jammu.
What will the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government do to answer the queries and fears of investors who will want to be doubly sure they would not be harassed at a later date, as has been happening to Sterlite, should be interesting to watch, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Expect Modi to speak about internal security, terrorism, agriculture, the Triple Talaq Bill, the SC/ST Bill and, of course, the controversial NRC.
Policy lays out a 5-year road map seeking creation of 3.5 mn jobs and promoting 10,000 start-ups.
'It is only fear and speculation, without much substance, that has led to the fall.'
The total quantum of water supply has barely improved since Independence, while demand has exploded, points out T N Ninan.
'The fiscal situation is stressed (when is it not?!), economic growth has slowed, tax revenue has fallen short and the deficit is high if it is properly accounted,' points out T N Ninan.
'There are many cases where a company hits the wall because of reasons not under their control.' 'If you do not understand and appreciate that and paint all promoters with the same brush then definitely you are inviting trouble.'
We need to clarify the rules for legal slaughterhouses and make sure that these can be enforced.
Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar speaks to Prasanna Zore/Rediff.com.
The temporary disruptions (primarily to private consumption) caused by cash shortages accompanying the currency exchange initiative are expected to gradually dissipate in 2017 as cash shortages ease, the International Monetary Fund said in its regional economic outlook.
Assessing the shape of the Indian economy just a couple of days ahead of the Union Budget for 2016-17, Saugata Bhatacharya, senior vice president and chief economist, Axis Bank, speaks about his budget wishlist and suggests measures that can help finance minister Arun Jaitley achieve the targeted fiscal deficit of 3.5 per cent of India's gross domestic product.
'The middle class you can hurt anytime. For revenues, politics, pleasure, anything,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
'At this stage, you should distribute money and food.' 'Like you queue up to vote, let people queue up to collect this.' 'This will arrest the decline in demand which will have a multiplier effect on the demand side for the economy as a whole.' 'The government should earmark about 2% of the GDP for this.' 'And this should be the first step to revive the economy.'
'Event management can distract from, but not permanently mask, execution failures,' points out Rathin Roy, director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
'It is less polarising than Hindutva.'
India is threatening to block the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s trade facilitation agreement (TFA) reached at Bali last year unless its agricultural policies are permanently excluded from multilateral scrutiny.
Kerala, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are facing a severe drought this year, affecting livelihoods as well as lives.
'The Modi regime is not willing to use its huge political capital for taking any economic policy measure that it fears might undermine that political strength, says A K Bhattacharya.
A summary of Indian athletes' showing at the Asian Games on Tuesday.
Former rural development minister Jairam Ramesh tells Sanjeeb Mukherjee that the Ordinance to amend the land acquisition Act (2013) opens the door for forcible acquisition and undermines the spirit and the substance of the legislation.
It was conveyed that he would not have a free rein in making bureaucratic postings. Sunil Bansal, handpicked by BJP president Amit Shah to execute his UP blueprint, has made it clear the party's writ would run over the government. But Adityanath has institutionalised a system to keep Bansal out, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
'If the money we spend on importing pulses reach our farmers, there won't be any suicides'
It was widely expected that this time around, the government would be less likely to initiate fresh reforms and rather loosen its belt a little to give various segments of the economy, especially the multitudes that truly constitute India, something to smile about, says Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
