'We first need to acknowledge the truth.' 'We are trying to diminish the problem and say, everything is okay and green shoots are emerging.' 'Imagine you are a doctor and not getting accurate medical reports, how do you diagnose and treat the illness?' 'We are not dealing with a terminal illness here, we are dealing with BP and cholesterol, which are imminently curable.'
China, the Ukraine crisis and Quad will dominate the discussions, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
The government has received flak for allegedly shielding the corrupt ministers and slow pace of investigation in irrigation scam.
Extended rounds of negotiations having failed, farm leaders now reckon that their best chance to pressure the government lay in defeating the BJP in the coming assembly poll, particularly in UP, observes Virendra Kapoor.
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.
Registering a jump of 10 places in the rankings, Uttar Pradesh occupied the second position in 2019 as against 12th in 2018.
The domestic deal-making activities were hit by weak corporate governance and a huge liquidity crunch in 2019, while the global deals were also hard to come by due to various factors including uncertainties caused by the US-China trade war, which left many investors in a wait-and-watch mode.
'The new government will have to contend with slowing economic growth, weak private investment, anaemic exports and vulnerable external imbalances, a stressed financial system, mounting fiscal pressures (including high government debt-to-GDP ratios) and an exceptionally bad employment situation,' says Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
Moody's Investors Service on Friday projected India's growth at zero per cent for the current fiscal and said the negative outlook on sovereign rating reflects increasing risks that GDP growth will remain significantly lower than in the past. The outlook also partly shows weaker policy effectiveness to address economic and institutional issues, it noted in the update to its November 2019 rating forecast.
Air India Chairman Rajiv Bansal has been appointed as the new aviation secretary as part of a major top-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre on Wednesday. K Rajaraman, additional secretary in the department of economic affairs, has been appointed as secretary, department of telecommunications, a personnel ministry order said.
While some CMs suggested reopening economic activity in phases, others pitched for the extension of the coronavirus lockdown, but with a carefully crafted exit strategy
The Biden administration on Friday issued a formal notification to delay the implementation of the previous Trump regime's controversial rule to raise mandatory minimum pay for foreign workers on H-1B visa, the most sought after among Indian IT professionals. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. The Department of Labour in its federal notification published on Friday said that it is considering whether to propose a further delay of the final rule's effective date and accompanying implementation periods that are currently scheduled to take effect on May 14, 2021, and July 1, 2021, respectively.
'China need not worry about a truly 'resurgent India'.' 'It's not going to happen.'
'There are companies that are losing and there are companies that are rising.' 'And the companies that are losing are positioning it as an economic slowdown.'
The textile industry is the second-largest employer in the country, employing about 32 million, and the government is banking on it to absorb millions of youth.
'Unless we change and we see a change in the direction we are taking, times can only get worse.'
'There will always be a challenge to maintain a fine balance to ensure that the growth keeps happening and inflation is contained.'
The protests against farm laws saw a fair share of controversies as well with climate activist Greta Thunberg and pop sensation Rihanna making their way to India's prime time debates and terms such as 'toolkit' and 'andolanjeevi' entering the Indian political lexicon.
Stoutly defending the agri laws, Modi said it is one thing if a political party makes a promise and is unable to deliver on it but what is a "particularly undesirable" and "detestable" trait is some of these parties made promises on the lines of the reforms enacted by his government and have now done a U-turn and spread "the most malicious kind of misinformation on the promises they themselves had made".
Portfolios were on Tuesday allocated in the new Bihar cabinet headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who, predictably, retained the all-important home department which helps him keep direct control on the state police.
In 2015-16, reforms will take hold, growth in GDP, will accelerate, and government processes and statutory clearances will speed up
'The current crisis is one of incomes, driven by poor job growth, agrarian distress and poor investment sentiment,' notes Harsh Pati Singhania, director, JK Organisation.
'The first year of the Modi government's second term has laid the roadmap for the future and we will embark on it with gusto,' promises Gopal Krishna Agrawal, the BJP's national spokesperson on economic affairs.
Tikait says PM Modi was supporter of MSP law when he was CM
Panagariya also pointed out that COVID-19 pandemic may lead to integration of global labour market.
'Breaking down silos and ensuring a more integrated governance process is just as important to performance.' 'It has been a major priority in the last six years, especially in national security,' External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar points out when delivering the Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture-2020: India and the Post-Covid World.
'So you have welfare programmes, you reach out to the poor, you cut out the middlemen, you cut out the leakages and you try to raise the standard of living.'
'The Indian State needs to focus on healthcare, education, infrastructure and law and order, and get out of all these regulatory cholesterols.' 'Then, India will fly.'
The flexi staff workforce at present in the country has increased to 2.1 million from 1.7 million in 2015.
There is talk of a fresh approach to a new labour code as well as reforming land acquisition laws in such a way as to be politically.
'When I talk to my colleagues in the Railways, they say 'aadmi toh bohot hai, lekin matlab ka aadmi ek bhi nahi hai (the Railways has a bloated workforce, but doesn't have employees with have the skillsets that matter)'.'
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led right-wing bloc has secured an emphatic victory in Israel's general elections by claiming 64 out of the 120 seats in parliament, bringing the country's longest-serving premier back at the helm after a brief gap and also ending prolonged political instability.
This Budget signals a shift from a hand-out to a hand-up economy.
Unless Punjab has a chief minister who is able to look beyond community/vote bank politics, carry all sections of society, stop appeasing while addressing genuine concerns and break the stranglehold of the SGPC over Sikh affairs, my beloved home state is bound to die and conversions will be rampant, warns Sanjeev Nayaar.
'If you are a slave, nobody has any problem. The conflict starts when you question and ask for equal rights.'
Labour union leader Shrirang Barge said the state government would have known Dharmadhikari has a massive following and that the event would have attracted several lakh people, so why were arrangements for water, shade etc, missing.
The G20 chair has suggested three areas for the talks in Argentina - the future of work, infrastructure for development and a sustainable food future, areas where India has a lot at stake.
Sanyukt Kisan Morcha said the move is aimed at further strengthening and expanding the farmers' agitation which began in November last year.
Farmer leaders also announced their plans to block the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway for 24 hours on April 10.
The third and final part of BJP president Amit Shah's interview to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
