The Congress won 77 seats or 42% of seats in the 2017 polls. How then can Gujarat be called a BJP bastion, asks Sanjeev Nayyar.
Modernisation of agricultural marketing is important, says Montek Singh Ahluwalia
'Seven hundred farmers lost their lives.' 'The protesting farmers were demonised and called names like andolanjiwi, Khalistani, anti-national.'
China on Tuesday announced a major policy change for its crisis-ridden power sector by allowing coal-fired power plants to charge their industrial and commercial customers market-driven prices. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China said the electricity generated by coal-fired plants would discover price in market trading "in an orderly manner" from October 15. This is being done to pass on the high costs of coal and is being held up as the boldest reform in the Chinese power sector.
The reason behind issuing new bank licences is to allow more private sector entities to set up banks
Cabinet note being readied, on basis of study, to ensure against foodgrain shortage; might require buffer of up to 50% more.
'Electronic media splash sensational headlines of the bulb prices about to cross the three-figure mark and focus on customers looking longingly at baskets full of onions, bemoaning their misery without this essential staple of their diet,' notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Rajiv Kumar will continue as vice-chairman of the body, along with other full-time members V K Saraswat, Ramesh Chand and V K Paul.
The Bill at best makes the existing public distribution system a legal right, an aspect that seems of little consequence to the lords of high finance, whose primary anxiety is the FSB-by-numbers.
Private equity (PE) is set to play a bigger role in banks. Of 21 recommendations accepted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) out of 31 made by its Internal Working Group (IWG), its stance on non-promoter holdings in private banks is seen with excitement, though it doesn't refer to PEs explicitly. On non-promoter holdings in these banks, the RBI said this will be capped at 10 per cent of the paid-up voting equity share capital in the case "of natural persons and non-financial institutions and entities"; and "at 15 per cent for all categories of financial institutions, entities, supranational institutions, public sector undertaking, or the government." While this is a modification of the IWG's stance for the non-promoter holding in banks at up to 15 per cent, it does open up a huge window for PEs, all the same. This is because, while the RBI has remained silent on the eligibility of industrial houses for bank licences, fresh high-quality capital in large amounts can only come from PEs.
'This announcement is big foolishness.' 'The government has no idea of economics. They are just announcing what comes to their mind.' 'Let them implement what they have announced and just see what will happen in two years.'
Chouhan met some farmer leaders on Saturday, but failed to reach a compromise.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing the nation for the seventh time from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day on Saturday and it will be his second speech of the second term in office.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the single-day election in Uttarakhand and Goa, two states known for political volatility where the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to retain power, and for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
'I want to ask Modiji is the support price announced by him good enough to make a farmer's sons to start farming in their villages?' 'Can he swear by Bharat Mata and say that is true?'
Faced with huge cost overruns due to a delay in building the rural roads under Bharat Nirman, the Planning Commission is now looking at alternative ways to fund the ambitious rural development project of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.The rural road project, christened the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), has seen tardy performance on the target of constructing 146,185 km of rural roads by 2009.
Raj Barathur -- Indian American entrepreneur, geneticist, professor and biopharmaceutical industry leader -- stayed the course even when diagnosed with lung cancer
Farmers with land sizes less than 0.01 hectare have an average annual income of Rs 54732 and annual consumption of Rs 61296, thereby, a debt of Rs 6564 each year. Compare this with the minimum pay for a government employee, says Devanik Saha.
Experts say the Bill should include higher-value food items than just cereals
A large number of rich farmers, who earn more than salaried employees in the cities, get away with paying no tax at all in view of the government's lack of will to consider an agricultural income tax
'He is not looking at the interest of farmers. He only wants to do the politics of elections.' 'This Budget is for the new super India. It is exploiting the villages of Bharat.'
'In the last five years of UP government, the UP police were given a fair environment and the rule of law always remained supreme.' 'In these five years, nobody within BJP dared tell a police officer to act against the rule of law.'
'It is a national shame that the only country that enacted a food security act is now better known as the land of farmer suicides. Indian farming can change only if national irrigation policy is implemented in totality,' Dr M S Swaminathan tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
Consumers are paying an exorbitant 180 per cent tax on petrol, and 140 per cent on diesel in Delhi and in most other towns in India. Little wonder then that the central government expects a staggering Rs 3.46 trillion by levying excise duties on retail sale of the two fuels this year, and Rs 3.2 trillion the next. States would generally have had reason to cheer, as they command a 41 per cent share in Centre's tax revenues. But as the Centre has raised excise duties in the form of "cess," the revenue proceeds are by nature not shareable with states.
'There will always be hiccups given that the Namami Gange programme is spread over different sectors and involves several agencies.'
The protests brought home the fact that the Sri Lankan public is in no mood for halfway measures, as voices against Rajapaksa 'family rule' and 'securitisation' of the civilian administration began sidestepping the more critical economic crisis, affecting the nation and afflicting the individual, observes Sri Lanka watcher N Sathiya Moorthy.
John Holdren, Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the two countries were working in the fields of space, medical sciences, climate change, clean energy and agriculture.
In April, RBI had projected retail inflation to be around 5 per cent.
Here's the full text of President's Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on the first of Budget Session 2022.
According to the report, the generation projects envisaged for completion by 2018-19 need to be given priority in fuel linkage.
'Four years into his tenure and Modi still has no idea what is wrong with the agriculture sector!'
In view of the volatile situation, the Centre rushed 1,100 personnel of anti-riot Rapid Action Force.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday distanced himself from Agriculture Minister Nilomoni Sen Deka's remark -- that eight meals cost a total of Rs 20 in the state -- saying it was his personal view.
'Why did government not include a provision in the bills which categorically stated that no crop will be sold below the MSP in the open market?'
De-scaling of businesses, job losses and subsequent impact on disposable incomes has created negative sentiment among traders, business owners and workers alike, says Abhishek Waghmare.
Shetti said the SSS had committed a "grave mistake" by extending support to the NDA.
Sanjeev Nayyar offers a roster of things to do to see the India of our dreams.
The new MSP would worsen, rather than rectify, the two most pressing problems of Indian agriculture: Wastage of water from all sources and a tendency towards monocropping, says Shreekant Sambrani. On the other hand, a simple-minded recourse to them without a host of supporting measures could well exacerbate not just agriculture, but the overall economy as well, says Shreekant Sambrani.
Of the seven surveys presented under Modi govt, predictions of three were quite close to the actual GDP growth rate, one saw the base year change in between, but the last three were way off the mark.
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