A cut in government spending would come at the cost of growth.
But the measures, particularly in agriculture, may not be enough to revive the sector and double the farm income, says S Mahendra Dev.
The finance minister admitted that there was no quick-fixes to economic problems and the government is working to stabilise the economy which may take time.
Apart from Smriti, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ananth Kumar took over as law and parliamentary affairs ministers respectively.
Cereals like millets can help alleviate malnutrition and improve public health, reports Surinder Sud.
As the government began consultations with stakeholders on raising gas prices, gas producers and consumers met a committee of secretaries separately with their pleas on the issue.
Making it clear that he was not opposed to the National Food Security Bill, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday said he would prefer it to be approved by Parliament after a debate.
The bill, considered by many in the Congress as a gamechanger which could boost its prospects in the Lok Sabha election, was tabled in the Budget Session but could not be taken up for discussion as Opposition stalled Parliament over a rash of scams under United Progressive Alliance.
The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs has approved a hike in gas prices from April 2014.
'Poor home work, and a subsequent loss of nerve.' 'This sums up the Modi government's current travails, the stall in key sectors, fading momentum, irritability,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
Most analysts, who have long stopped covering UB stocks because of continuing troubles, were surprised to see a sudden spike of up to 20 per cent in their share prices on Tuesday.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 1 crore each to the kin of those killed in the incident.
A six-time member of Parliament, Kumar had climbed the political ladder steadily from being an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker to be the Union minister in his thirties.
Economic reforms seem to be on a slow train, while good old fiscal populism is alive and flourishing.
The loss in Bihar has forced a change in NDA's market positioning, says Shekhar Gupta.
The government should frame new policies to assure growth.
E-auction or e-tendering moves the process of bidding for government contracts completely online, removing most manual procedures and, therefore, creating an accountability trail.
As per the 15-day billing cycle, gas producers are to raise the first invoice at the revised price of $5.61 per million British thermal unit this weekend.
Insisting that PM Modi has consistently cared for the farmers, Goyal said the Rs 75,000 earmarked for paying Rs 6,000 per annum to each of 12 crore farmers is not one time but a 'sustainable' provision.
The Indian stock markets may turn bearish after the US Fed decides to raise interest rates.
The growth, however, may not indicate a major revival of economic activity.
This is the Centre's highest-ever budgeted capital outlay.
The Cabinet on Thursday decided to allow Reliance Industries to almost double the price of natural gas from April provided the firm gave a bank guarantee to cover its liability if gas-hoarding charges are proved.
The idea of strategic disinvestment seems to have been dropped by the government.
There are many collateral advantages of taking the tough decision.
The second part of our series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ministers with a criminal record.
Strategic sales are tricky and were last undertaken when the Vajpayee government was in power.
The farmers of Khentia are now working in tandem with the IIT team.
According to BJP strategists, PMJAY and the PM Ujjwala Yojana will form the nucleus of the Modi government's re-election campaign.
Politically, it will not be easy for Modi to take hard decisions such as raising fuel prices in the first budget, given the risk of higher inflation.
Though three crops of onions are raised in a year - early kharif, late kharif and rabi - their harvests are not evenly spread out.
There would be a marginal 3% increase in freight rates.
Against National Democratic Alliance's 75 million target, United Progressive Alliance added 61 million in 2013-14.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's spin doctors are on an overdrive these days to project him as a "tough talking" leader following a spate of critical media reports about his sudden silence on key issues, says rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal.
India has been eyeing deeper energy ties with Iran and has already lined up $20 billion as investment in oil and gas as well as in petrochemical and fertiliser sectors there.
The government's subsidy bill towards oil, fertilisers runs into lakhs of crores of rupees.
Structural changes to government finances could be focus of the Union Budget, says Mihir S Sharma.
We had prepared a contingency plan for 580 districts, the minister said.
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