'They were very vocal on the defence of the Constitution, reservation, SC/ST Act and democratic rights.'
'The economy will pick up in 2020 or a little later... When it picks up, will it reach 10%, 8% or still lower? It all depends on how realistic are the diagnosis and the prescriptions that follow,' says Professor K J Joseph.
China on Thursday told Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that it will always put its "all-weather ally" as a priority in its neighbourhood diplomacy as it praised his commitment to promote the USD 60 billion CPEC initiative.
Chinese leaders may well respond to challenges with heightened rhetoric.
India's fortunes will start reviving by 2018 when it will be at the ninth position, followed by fourth in 2023, before grabbing the third spot in 2028.
Most economists expect the global economy to weaken in the coming year amid political and financial volatility, but a large majority of over 90 per cent are confident of moderate or strong growth in South Asia, notably India, a survey showed on Friday. At the same time, the outlook for China has dimmed following signs of deflationary pressures and fragility in the country's real estate market, the World Economic Forum's latest 'Chief Economists Outlook' report said. As the world grapples with political and financial volatility, almost six in 10 believe the global economic outlook will undermine progress towards meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with 74 per cent saying geopolitical tensions will have the same effect.
For 2021-22, it projected the economy to clock a growth of 10.6 per cent.
The Kerala Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution demanding that the Centre provide COVID-19 vaccines free of cost to all states, even as the ruling and opposition members clashed over the COVID-19 fatality numbers in the state.
'We have to stop thinking about GDP and look at the impact on output and unemployment.' 'And that is not going to be insignificant.'
Moody's Investors Service on Friday said India's economy is expected to contract for the first time in more than four decades saying economic damage owing to the coronavirus-induced lockdown will be significant with lower consumption and sluggish business activity. Even before the coronavirus outbreak, Indian economy already was growing at its slowest pace in six years and with the stimulus measures announced by the government falling short of expectations, the disruptions are likely to be greater. "We now expect India's growth to register a real GDP contraction for the fiscal year ending in March 2021 (fiscal 2020-21), from our earlier projection of zero growth," it said in a research note.
One looks upon the coming new year with foreboding as current wars in Ukraine and Gaza spill over and escalate and new ones erupt in incipient fault lines across the world, notes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Officials hint the visit could finally see a formal defence industrial road map being adopted by both nations.
RBI recently cut repo by 0.25 percentage point, taking the rate to 7.25 per cent in three reductions since January.
A V Rajwade wonders if the Modi sarkar is pursuing price stability at the cost of potential social instability in both rural and urban India.
India's macroeconomic situation is improving fast and the country's GDP growth will turn positive in the third and fourth quarters of the current financial year, eminent economist Ashima Goyal said on Sunday. Goyal in an interview to PTI said the management of the COVID-19 pandemic and gradual unlocks announced by the government have helped in avoiding multiple COVID-19 peaks. The growth estimates by different agencies are being continuously revised, she said.
Need of the hour is to spend to grow more, the study said.
A fresh PIL was filed on Thursday in the Supreme Court seeking a probe by multiple central government agencies under the supervision of a panel or a former apex court judge against the Adani Group of companies following allegations of fraud and share price manipulation made by the US-based Hindenburg Research.
The poll panel also referred to the reported strong oral observations of the top court against it during the last hearing on the PIL on the issue, saying they have "caused irreparable damage to the reputation of this institution built over the years".
'While the poor have little say in shaping India's intellectual or public discourse, they do have a significant role in deciding political outcomes,' points out Roshan Kishore.
Former Reserve Bank Governors do not seen any harm in central bank consulting the government before firming up monetary policy initiatives saying such an step would not amount to infringement on its independence.
'Modi is still immensely popular and, therefore, he can sustain any number of policy failures.' 'Modi himself has worn multiple faces so it would be naive to think that the Modi of 2021 will be the same Modi that will be campaigning for re-election in 2024.'
India's role as a leader of the global south may require it to give up its ambition to serve as a bridge between the warring halves of the international community, points out Mihir S Sharma.
Xi does not want to risk any political or economic crisis complicating his bid to remain in office, observes Ambassador Shyam Saran, the former foreign secretary.
Former CEA Arvind Subramanian called for research in the area and urged the NSE Centre for Behavioural Science in Finance, Economics and Marketing to explain why as the economy has been going down, the stock market has been going up.
More than ever before, women voters can make or mar a political party's electoral fortunes.
Dr Ajay Kumar Sood will have to complete a task his predecessor started: Getting the government to sign off on a new Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy on which work was begun in 2020.
As per the NCERT, the decision has been taken to reduce the content load on students in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the coming few weeks, agriculture markets in North and Central India will be full of wheat, mustard, and chana - the three main rabi crops grown in these parts. Not only will the price trajectory of these determine the course of food inflation in the months to come, but it could also have a wider impact on the rural economy in the main growing states for these crops. Wheat and chana are largely grown in Madhya Pradesh (MP).
Debroy worked as a consultant in the Department of Economic Affairs in Finance Ministry.
The development of private data sources is a hugely positive development. It should serve as a challenge to the government to improve its own record on producing timely and reliable statistics, points out T N Ninan.
'A large portion of youngsters who aspire to join the civil services are not motivated by the spirit of public service and idealism of which the civil services offer in abundance.' 'When they join the mandarin club they look for the loaves and fishes of office, rather than make a difference and wipe what Mahatma Gandhi called 'every tear from every Indian',' points out Rup Narayan Das.
Li also had a difficult meeting with some of the Western leaders on the sidelines, especially Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has signalled Italy's resolve to quit China's famed Belt and Road Initiative for its failure to bring the expected results to Rome.
Policymakers should aspire to restore the pre-Independence environment where the rupee was trusted and used all over South Asia, in Southeast Asia, in West Asia, and in East Africa, suggests Ajay Shah.
'When the average growth in the last three years was just 2.5%, how does that make us the fastest growing country?' 'They only tell you what has happened in the last 2 years; they are not taking into account what happened in FY21 on account of their mistakes.'
The panel will also recommend a fiscal consolidation road map for the central and state governments, study the impact of GST on the divisible pool, and propose performance-based incentives for states.
'When you need to revive the economy, when you need to revive aggregate demand, you cut taxes.' 'But what's this government doing?' 'It's increasing taxes for the middle class and the vast majority of the poor on fuel, which has a ratchet effect on most other products.'
What drives Pakistani men to join its military, despite the toll it takes on them?
The Union Budget on Wednesday outlined several initiatives to drive India's technology agenda and boost digital infrastructure, including new centres of excellence for artificial intelligence, National Data Governance Policy, and Entity DigiLocker.
'ISRO's style is a terrific example of being able to survive, acknowledge failures, and then most importantly of all, learn from them to ensure that subsequent missions are successful.'
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