Economy has become a major cause of concern for the new government with GDP dropping to 5.8 per cent in the last quarter of the 2018-19.
The Indian government would unveil a major initiative in the next 10 days to enhance the total public investment in agriculture and push the rural growth to greater levels.
Agriculture and processed food exports dropped to a five-year low of $24 billion in 2015-16.
The tragedy is not the inevitable drought or the inevitable flood. It is our inevitable lack of ability to push and get done what needs to be done, says Sunita Narain.
On the trend of paddy-wheat cycle in Punjab, he said it was not only affecting fertility of the agricultural land, but was also causing depletion of underground water in the state.
Congress president implored the party to have a 'concrete agitational agenda' to go directly to the people instead of merely being aggressive on social media.
Bill Gates specifically complimented India's Aadhaar identity system and the country's performance in the financial services and pharma sectors.
Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar said that the two major constraints being faced by the investors are less availability of finance and high interest rates.
As India emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, the ninth budget under the Modi government, including an interim one, is widely expected to focus on boosting spending on job creation and rural development, generous allocations for development schemes, putting more money in the hands of the average taxpayer and easing rules to attract foreign investments.
While the positive surprise has been the high growth in agriculture, the negative surprise is in the trade, transport, hotels segment where growth came lower than expected, says Madan Sabnavis.
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The supplementary nutrition programme and the Poshan Abhiyaan under the Women and Child Development Ministry has been merged to launch Mission Poshan 2.0 to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach, and outcome, according to the Union Budget announced on Monday.
The government's second round of stimulus will spur consumer spending in the near term but support to economic growth will be minimal, Moody's Investors Service said.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said there is no need to encourage foreign direct investment in the farm sector as large number of farmers have small holdings, but welcomed FDI in the food processing sector.
A large number of states, including Congress-ruled Kerala, are opposing the decision on concerns that the entry of foreign retailers like Walmart would lead to displacement of the neighbourhood kirana stores.
Governments must encourage micro-irrigation, use of natural manure and pesticides in a big way. Farm income can be doubled by reducing cost as much as by increasing MSP, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
India will not allow Chinese companies to participate in highway projects, including those through joint ventures, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday amid the border standoff with China. Gadakri also said the government will ensure that Chinese investors are not entertained in various sectors like the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
On September 14, the government allowed 51 per cent foreign holdings by multi-brand retail chains with two caveats -- one foreign retail chains like Wal-Mart, Tesco, etc will be allowed to set up shops only in those cities with over 1 million population; and secondly, they can operate only in those states, which allow FDI in retail.
As he projected a grim outlook for the economy, RBI Governor said that amidst this encircling gloom, agriculture and allied activities have provided a beacon of hope on the back of an increase of 3.7 per cent in foodgrains production to a new record.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had extended an invitation to United States President Donald Trump, but he had expressed his inability citing "scheduling conflicts".
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'The spirit of cooperation between the Centre and states has been diluted in many ways.' 'The level of consultation which used to be there earlier has reduced significantly.'
By 2020, rice prices would rise by 13 per cent, wheat by 15 per cent, and maize by 27 per cent, it said, adding that in the past few months, the prices of major cereals have fallen by about 30 to 40 per cent as a result of the economic slowdown and favourable weather conditions, but they remain high compared to the rates three years ago. Many developing regions have experienced high economic growth in recent years.
'From the time India liberalised in the 1990s, the government has policies are for facilitating the growth of the manufacturing sector.' 'The policies were put in the hope that growth of the manufacturing sector will lead to increased employment,' points out Chidambaran G Iyer, Senior Fellow, Pahle India Foundation.
Describing India as one of the most important partners of the United States in the Indo-Pacific region, the Biden Administration on Tuesday said that it welcomes India's emergence as a leading global power and its role as a net security provider in the region.
The numbers, however, appear to be in favour of the ruling dispensation to get these bills passed from Rajya Sabha, while the lower house has already cleared them despite a key NDA member Shiromani Akali Dal vehemently opposing them.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday strongly defended the three new agri laws saying their benefits have begun reaching 10 crore small farmers instantly, and condemned as 'very unfortunate' the Republic Day violence and 'dishonour' to the tricolour during the tractor parade by the protesting farm unions in New Delhi.
Taizo Son, SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son's youngest brother, is also planning to enter India.
Tuesday's meeting at the PM's residence, attended by all the five secretaries in the finance ministry besides top officials of other economic ministries and NITI Aayog, cleared a five-year vision plan for the government to make India a $5-trillion economy by 2024.
Speaking at industry association CII's annual session, PM Modi said the government has taken tough steps to fight the coronavirus pandemic and has also taken care of the economy. "On the one hand we have to safe the lives of our people and on the other hand we have to stabilise the economy and speed up the economy," he said. "Yes, we will definitely get our growth back," he asserted.
Calvin Miller, senior officer, rural finance, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), is happy with the country's rural finance when compared with the rest of the world.
'Four years into his tenure and Modi still has no idea what is wrong with the agriculture sector!'
The new governments will have to spend much more than Rs 220 billion in Rajasthan, more than Rs 160 billion in MP, and nearly Rs 30 billion in Chhattisgarh.
While players in the financial ecosystem are opening up to the idea of receivables funding for the sector, this market needs a regulator, which a Parliament panel feels only RBI can provide.
The sources said India may be building small libraries as part of the community development initiative, but most of its investments in Afghanistan were on mega infrastructure projects including the 218 km road from Zaranj to Delaram, the Salma Dam and the new Afghan Parliament building.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the states were free to announce farm loan waivers if they had the fiscal space and that there would be no shortfall this year in divestment and non-tax revenues.
The substantially increased economic dualism may exert lasting negative influences which could include a reduced potential for economic growth; the persistence of a very weak employment and poverty situation; rising social and political discord; and heightened vulnerability to geopolitical challenges, cautions Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
There will be uncertainty about outcomes,but one must hope for the best, observes T N Ninan.
Gandhi said that the BJP government has clearly mishandled the economy that was built by the United Progressive Alliance government, and is now resorting to selling the country's assets as a "last resort" to generate some money.
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