Government's financial inclusion mission is well intentioned, but it may be putting a severe strain on the banking sector.
Hailing the Congress manifesto as a visionary document promising to shape a better future for Punjab, Dr Singh said the Parkash Singh Badal-led government mismanaged the state and failed to harness its full potential.
India needs to come up with new ideas to make the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas more appealing to overseas Indians. The Diasporas talents should be used for the country's development, says Thomas Abraham, founder of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin
Sanjeev Nayar offers some ideas on how Indians can help in improving the lives of those living in border areas and in the process help the Indian Army.
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
Sanitation is always clubbed with other departments, which lead to its neglect, says Devanik Saha.
'The temptation of governments, to have a finger in the RBI pie will be just too great to resist, unless extensive amendments are carried out in the RBI Act treating it almost as the fourth branch of the government.'
Few Harvard graduates are changing the way we teach students.
'The execution has been 100 per cent faulty.' 'The scheme is also a stupid one, a real Tuglaq Darbar scheme.' 'This way of attacking black money is the most ineffective one.'
Low consumer demand, a slide in investments and troubles in the banking sector should prompt the government to recalibrate taxes and expenditure. It is also important to ramp up spending on health care and education, says CII president Sumit Mazumder.
As education minister Smriti Irani should be worried about the state of education nationwide rather than fuelling a German-versus-Sanskrit row, says Sunil Sethi
'The middle class stood by the BJP, especially after demonetisation, and they expected something in return.' 'Some section of the BJP believes the middle class is condemned to vote for the BJP as they have no other choice.' 'They think they can treat them any way, still the middle class will run to vote for it.' 'That's what the Budget seems to convey.'
Income from renting of properties is taxed at a flat rate of 10%.
For FY16, MTNL's standalone net loss was over Rs 2,000 crore.
Since many of Modi's urban policies were initiated in Ahmedabad, the city may act as a template to examine what can be expected in a country that is witnessing the biggest migration from rural to urban areas in the world
India has built two top-secret facilities in Karnataka to enrich uranium in pursuit of its hydrogen bomb dream.
Currently, the travel time between Mumbai and Delhi varies between 16 and 30 hours.
Pradip Burman belongs to one of India's most illustrious business families, one which runs the noted Dabur brand of mostly Ayurveda-based FMCG products.
Money is being released and the government knows it will have to front-run private investment.
The Budget is remarkably coherent.
The sharp fall in the rupee's value against the dollar during the July-September quarter, it turns out, has come as a boon for corporate earnings.
'Let me talk about young Indian startups with their hearts in the right place and how they are proving that innovations that represent 'affordable excellence' -- breaking the myth that 'affordability' and 'excellence' cannot go together -- is indeed possible!' says Dr R A Mashelkar, the eminent scientist, in this fascinating feature.
'Growth is predicated on the misery of large sections of people.' 'Maybe Hindutva will be used to suppress any such unrest.'
Harassment, corruption and the burden of compound interest for years are also the reasons.
The government's new initiative appears to be timely for health and hygiene players, battling low awareness and the lack of use of branded products.
India Inc has few leaders who are likely to grab headlines in 2015.
'There are so many schemes announced for the benefit of farmers, women and less privileged sections of our society. But how many of these are being availed of?'
Menstruation is not a disease. Yet, in villages, women die due to poor hygiene during their periods.
Hard and unpopular decisions are needed - not just another round of financial repackaging to sort out the discom mess.
A senior official with Muthoot Finance said the group would also want to apply for a universal licence.
'Hindu voters in coastal Karnataka lean more towards Hindutva than Hinduism which explains why the Siddaramaiah government's perception as anti-Hindu worked wonders for the BJP in coastal Karnataka.'
'He is anything but astute or charismatic. He believes the Congress can win elections without alliances in the Hindi heartland.'
Dr Swarnim Wagle, the official behind Nepal's reconstruction strategy, speaks to Patrick Ward.
'Through the use of technology, the GSTN will tip the balance in favour of compliance rather than tax evasion, lowering the barriers for entry into the tax payment system while making it much harder to cheat on payments,' says Nandan Nilekani.
On the first anniversary of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, Sangh Parivar affiliates say they are annoyed with the ruling dispensation but can't live without it either
With erstwhile Congress leaders likely to get drubbed in the region, the battle for Seemandhra is all about the Telugu Desam Party and the YSR Congress. While it's a crucial election for TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, who might end up taking political sanyas if the results don't go his favour, YSR Congress president Jaganmohan Reddy will leave no stone unturned to become the first chief minister of the region.
How many of these will you include in your travel list for 2016?
In the near term, two key factors are the outcome of the monsoon season in respect to cropping yields; and the correction in the crude oil price.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Tanzania where he held talks with Tanzanian President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli.
After a 25-year stint at ICICI Bank, Mor suddenly quit as he wanted to add more value in the bigger areas of health care and financial inclusion.
