Chief ministers of states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka were among those who raised the issue of loan waver scheme for farmers.
The Child Protection Services programme under the Integrated Child Development Services was increased to Rs 1,500 crore from Rs 925 crore.
The idea is to make unexceptionable broad promises so as to have the maximum freedom to devise policies if and when the opportunity arises, says Subir Roy.
'Whatever the result on December 18, Rahul has succeeded.' 'He has taken the battle to the rival's territory, and forced him to take him more seriously than he has done so far, or would have wished to.' 'A party, dominating and powerful as the BJP today, is spending all its time attacking the leader of one with just 46 seats in the Lok Sabha, and in the woods in Gujarat for 22 years.' 'This isn't the script the BJP had written,' says Shekhar Gupta.
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Modi government has taken some interesting policy decisions in the 100 days since the time he met President Pranab Mukherjee to present his claim as Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy, says Tanmaya Nanda.
'Wild animals lived in their natural environment.' 'So, viruses could not be communicated.' 'Then came mass production and mass quartering of animals -- whether it be poultry, pigs and cattle -- which gave rise to bird flu, SARS and the mad cow disease.' 'Vast amounts of animal produce are also being flown from one part of the world to another, which has helped to spread the virus.' 'All these changes have led to a new and deadly mutation of the virus that has immobliised human beings.'
A K Bhattacharya digs into the yet-to-be-public report on ways to curb black money and finds out that Modi's next moves could include action on dabba trading, hawala, and education.
Meanwhile, key BJP ally skips event to mark first year of Yogi govt.
Narendra Modi promised to be A B de Villiers but has batted like a Geoff Boycott, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan
The opposition has attacked the Modi government over the National Democratic Alliance's last full-fledged budget before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
'We have to rise over our divisions.' 'Divisions within us allow unscrupulous politicians to divert attention from issues like corruption and governance.'
There is clearly something deeply rotten in the systems of institutional governance in the bastions of higher education in India, says TCA Anant.
May is now expected focus on pushing her controversial withdrawal agreement through for a last-ditch Commons vote next Tuesday
In its manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had criticised the Congress-led UPA regime for "policy and decision paralysis".
'This is a historic juncture when the US is in great need of an alliance with India to strengthen its hands in the fierce struggle with China in the Asian theatre,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In July, IRS officers in Mumbai held an incendiary meeting where they criticised the alleged interference in 'operational matters' by the department of revenue.
Despite their promised and announced reduction in power prices, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government may want keep the issue on the burner for sometime longer, since none of the concerned players are ready to give an inch, and seem raring for a fight, says Upasna Pandey
Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad believes governance finally on track. An exclusive chat with Rashme Sehgal.
With the Bahujan Samaj Party keeping out and the Congress being in the fray only for namesake, Saturday's bye-election for 11 state assembly constituencies and for one Lok Sabha seat will determine the supremacy between Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Budget shouldn't be stuck on fiscal numbers, the PMO apparently said.
'While they were respectful of the PM, it was clear that as ministers, they owed their positions as much, if not more, to Mrs Gandhi.' 'When attacks were mounted on the PM, there was very little coordinated effort by the Congress, UPA ministers or other politicians to speak up in his favour and strongly defend him.' B K Chaturvedi, Cabinet Secretary during the early years of UPA1, reveals how the Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi equation worked. A riveting excerpt from Chaturvedi's memoir, Challenges Of Governance: An Insider's View
Sri Lanka's Minister for Economic Development, Basil Rajapakse's visit to New Delhi on Thursday for what is described as "regular high level consultations" comes shortly before a scheduled meeting of a Parliamentary Select Committee for Constitutional Amendments on July 9.
A week after taking office, Arvind Kejriwal and his ministers have ambitious promises to keep.
From planning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign trips to playing a key role in the Jammu and Kashmir elections, former RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav is become increasingly important in the BJP
Poor land-use planning, indiscriminate approvals of building plans and the absence of disaster-risk assessment in urban design have resulted in what experts term concentrated concretization, predisposing cities to disaster risks
'In the final analysis, all Budgets everywhere are like the schemes hatched by A A Milne's lovable Winnie-the-Pooh.' 'They may be well-intended, but often go awry.' 'Although Pooh and his friends agree that he 'has very little brain', he is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense.' 'This Budget at a first glance does not appear to belong to that latter category,' says economist Shreekant Sambrani.
'We need to be in a perpetual state of aggression, and able to swiftly change the goal posts to keep Pakistan in a state of imbalance,' argues Sanjeev Nayyar.
The prime minister's August 15 address was undoubtedly inspirational and outlined important economic and social objectives, such as making India a global hub for manufacturing, ensuring bank accounts for all poor families, major thrusts in sanitation and cleanliness, and a radical restructuring of the Planning Commission.
The IPL has produced more controversies in its short lifespan than any other sporting league in history.
There have been no major blasts in the state, but most terror operatives are trained in camps in the state. Extremely volatile, Kerala has been declared a Red Zone by the NIA.
What Shekhar Gupta would have really liked to know from Pranabda: Why did Sonia prefer Dr Singh to him as PM? Why did he deny finance first, why did he accept it 5 years later, and why did he make such a mess of it? How did he force Sonia to nominate him for President and not Hamid Ansari? And how does he justify that most toxic legacy -- the Vodafone tax amendment?
'Overlying his idealism was a hatred of war and of all things military. He gave no deep thought to politico-military matters and this prevented him from making sound security decisions.'
Despite the rally, on the basis of valuations, Indian markets aren't too expensive, says Christopher Wood, managing director and equity strategist at CLSA.
'We could quibble with each other whether there were 25 terrorists killed or 250 killed.' 'The message is more that India undertook such an aerial attack and this attack has actually changed the paradigm.' 'The change in paradigm is that India has shown by the surgical strike in 2016 and the aerial strike of 2019 that we will not just sit back and tolerate terrorism which killed so many of our people.' 'We will hit back and by hitting back we will raise the costs of such activities.'
Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Ansari believes a national debate on a Uniform Civil Code is a must. 'The need of the hour is to debate this issue at length in order to create a consensus,' Ansari tells Rediff.com, adding, 'Such a debate must take place at the grassroot level. We must understand all the divergent viewpoints before any draft can be prepared.'
Shaken by Justice RM Lodha committee's recommended reforms of its governance structure, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to call a Special General Meeting (SGM) within the next two weeks to discuss the implications of the report.
However, he refrained from speaking on Mexican immigrants and also declined to repeat his frequent promise to force Mexico to pay for the wall.
A glance back at some important events that occurred in 2018.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi attacked the Congress and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday for "failing" to ensure development of Northeast though he represented Assam for the last 23 years in the Rajya Sabha.
Biometric authentication is based on the unscientific and questionable assumption that there are parts of human body that does not age, wither and decay with the passage of time.
