'This confrontation could have been avoided by a less arrogant administration that initially listened, used whatever negotiating skills they had and tried to be more credible,' observes Ramesh Menon.
As and when the GST comes in, Budget projections will have to be unbundled and revised. In fact, the pragmatic decision would be to present another Budget! This makes the passage of the Finance Bill with its multiple unrelated amendments seem even more dubious, says Devangshu Datta.
A Collection of Services Trade Statistics Act is being thought of.
The real battle for NEET abolition can take much more time and energy, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently down 1.25%
In a Q&A with Doordarshan, Jaitley discusses how he chose the areas on which he would spend more.
France has now over-taken the UK as India's most visited European nation
The government has the upper hand in the ongoing negotiations, and it is unclear if a real debate will happen, observes Tulika Narayan.
The report suggests India in the longer term needs to create far more jobs in the formal organised sector -- 97 per cent of all female worker activity is in the informal sector
Around 700 migrant workers, women and children have lost their lives in this reverse migration. But what is happening today with the migrant labour is only a continuation of the policies pursued by the Modi regime during the last six years. It is not for nothing that India was ranked the most dangerous country in the world for women in 2018 by the Thompson Reuters Foundation poll, points out Rashme Sehgal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has managed to pull off what was unimaginable a year back -- adopting a much-needed centre-left approach, says Devanik Saha.
The ongoing violence in the valley is driving students to excel, but it is also making them angry, discovers Ritwik Sharma.
'Biometric Aadhaar-based surveillance is not only about violation of privacy, but also about the treasure hunt for unprecedented financial surveillance and economic intelligence in the economic history of mankind,' asks Gopal Krishna.
Modi Sarkar will not stand on ceremonies even if that means stepping on the Constitution, says Udit Misra.
'Both India and Japan can find themselves in a win-win situation if they draw some lessons from each other's strengths,' says Dr Rajaram Panda.
For two decades after his release in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999, Azhar has since been the darling of Pakistan's external snooping agency Inter-Services Intelligence.
'If the BJP thinks it is going to overnight transform Bengal into Madhya Pradesh, sorry, that's not going to happen because I have faith in our ethos and culture.'
This historic Vishaka judgement brought the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace into the mainstream discourse says Kanika Dutta.
'In old India, there was no hatred, anger or lynching. New India is one where humans are enemies of each other'
'Chinese troops are not geared to fight Indian troops who are battle hardened and acclimatised and are far more hardy.'
This time, the global appetite for risk is in favour of India.
Refuting allegations of divisions in the Congress in Rajasthan, Corporate Affairs Minister and Member of Parliament from Ajmer, Sachin Pilot, speaks to Kavita Chowdhury on a range of issues, including the Congress's prospects in the coming Rajasthan Assembly polls.
'Coalition governments, sometimes assumed to mean years of political instability, actually saw key institutions emerging with greater strength -- the Election Commission, the judiciary, the press, and civil society at large, among others.' 'The question now is whether the clock is being turned back in a new political phase,' asks T N Ninan.
With GDP down by 2 per cent, while 99 per cent of banned notes make way back to the banking system, whom did demonetisation benefit?
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday dismissed Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament Dilip Gandhi's remarks that all studies linking cancer to tobacco have come from abroad and that there is no Indian survey report to confirm it.
Bringing in the untapped informal sector into the formal one will benefit business.
Premier Li Keqiang highlighted his government's performance in the last one year and the challenges ahead in various fields. Compared to other reports by his predecessors, Li spoke more frankly about the mounting challenges faced by the country. Srikanth Kondapalli on the two recent Chinese parliament sessions.
With the United Progressive Alliance government likely to announce a separate Telangana state on Tuesday, the call for carving out Vidarbha state out of Maharashtra has started gaining heat.
The passage of the Bankruptcy Code could set the stage for other important legislation that may see India undergo more economic change than all governments combined since the reforms implemented by P V Narasimha Rao in 1991-93, says Ben Merton.
India must focus on reforms.
'One thing is sure: After this Budget, no Ambani-Adani tag will be attached to the government.'
India has just had one of the worst quarters in export earnings.
Fencing the border between Myanmar and Nagaland is expected to adversely affect the Naga tribals. Gautam Sen, an expert on Nagaland, explains why the Indian government needs a more comprehensive and long-term perspective on this issue and why it must take local tribal sensitivities and customs into account.
The corporate sector does not care from where the money is coming.
According to a study by the medical journal, the Lancet, air pollution has emerged as the deadliest form of pollution and the fourth leading risk factor for premature deaths worldwide.
Following the Budget being announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, leaders across the political spectrum provided their views.
'It was the Supreme Court's order (recommending changes in the SC/ST Act).' 'Isn't it wrong not to accept even the court's order?' 'Are you bigger than every institution?'
'Only the prime minister can take the initiative in reaching out to his opponents. The fact that he has been reluctant to do so, leaving it to the Arun Jaitleys and Venkaiah Naidus to hold out the olive branch, has given the Opposition the chance of pointing to his aloofness,' says Amulya Ganguli.
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The Finance Ministry had set a time period of 18 months, which expired last year on August 21, for completion of the study.
One way to do a reality check on the official numbers will be to develop a desi version of what came to be called the Li index in China.
