Mudra Bank will be a Rs 20,000-crore institution, which would "primarily be responsible for refinancing all micro-finance institutions.
There's a looming water crisis facing the country, and it comes down to how the states are faring in water resource management.
After launching a book on experiences of Naidu during his first year as vice president of India and chairman of Rajya Sabha, Modi said he always provides visionary leadership whenever he gets a responsibility.
Lack of literacy is compromising the ability of farmers in India and China, two of the world's most populous countries with the smallest farm size, to raise productivity without losing soil fertility, says Kunal Bose.
Grand plan: 10% GDP growth; 175 million jobs; $10-trillion economy
"We now realise that the so-called farmer agitation hardly remains a farmers' agitation. It has almost got infiltrated by Leftist and Maoist elements, a flavour of which we saw over the last two days when there were extraneous demands to release people who have been put behind bars for anti-national (and) who have been put behind bars for illegal activities," Goyal, the Minister for Railways, Commerce and Industry and Food and Consumers Affairs, said at FICCI's annual meeting.
The return of a BJP-Sena regime after a love-hate war and gap of 15 years, demise of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde, collapse of Congress-Nationalisy Congress Party alliance and rising cases of farmers' suicides dominated Maharashtra's political landscape in 2014.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently extended a Rs 8,000-crore (Rs 80 billion) central support for building roads in Jammu & Kashmir, Union Cabinet's approval for the big-ticket announcement came in barely 48 hours.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to deliver his third Independence Day speech on August 15, he is inviting ideas from citizens on issues he should speak on
The government has asked the Indian Banks' Association to make sure that IDBI Bank's wages are on a par with other banks.
Uttarakhand was a tragedy that none of us will forget. As experts analysed the tragedy, it became clear that the disaster was more man made. The intergovernmental panel on climate change in its Assessment Report 5 states that human influence on the climate system is clear and this is evident from the increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, positive radiative forcing, observed warming, and understanding of the climate system.
Past experience shows loan waivers benefited only 30% of India's farmers; here again, the richer cultivator skimmed the cream, leaving very little for his poorer brethren.
'We know each other for quite some time.' 'He could provide stability to the country for five years.' 'But he could not provide confidence to the countrymen that he is our leader.'
AAdhar cannot be successful unless there is proper coordination at the helm.
India is experiencing jobless growth and skepticism abounding that the country may not be able to cash in on its demographic bonus
'On the tax front, most of the Budget proposals are sensible'.
'When you start distributing wealth, you end up distributing poverty.'
The second part of our series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ministers with a criminal record.
'The Modi government must create conditions to integrate millions into the rural economy as many migrants are certainly not going to return to live an undignified life,' notes Ramesh Menon.
It is likely the government will divide the country into different zones during the proposed extended period of lockdown and might permit a few services to function in safe zones.
Govt looks to take cooking gas to tiger reserves, Naxal-hit areas
The Planning Commission has not been central to the policy making process since the mid-1960s, says Nitin Desai.
'The world is going to be more insular.' 'What India needs to do is develop the domestic market for domestic consumption.' 'The emphasis has to be on Bharat as against India.'
'If some measures are implemented quickly, they can help revive growth.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who recently completed one year in office, has, in an exclusive interview with Smita Prakash, editor, ANI, said the opposition alleging that his government is a "suit boot ki sarkar" is definitely better and more acceptable than being labelled a "suitcase" (ki sarkar), and satirically added, that after ruling for sixty years, the Congress has suddenly remembered the poor.
Against a turbulent and uncertain background, Budget 2017-18 hewed a steady, forward-looking course, says Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the government.
By 2030 India will be among top three countries in science and technology: PM
'When I met the prime minister on November 15 there was no RBI report with the prime minister as to why this was done.' 'When I asked the PMO officer about this, he said the RBI did not bring this to the PM and did it independently.' 'When I asked how could the RBI ban DCCBs from accepting deposits from farmers in old notes when the government gazette released on November 9 allowed them to do so, this officer told me that not even senior PMO officials had any idea about this RBI ban.'
Businesses that either take local communities for granted or see them as an obstacle to be 'managed' are skating on thin ice.
FinMin plans tougher targets for bad loans, Casa and others in performance-linked pay for senior management.
'Instead of doing reforms and restructuring, the present government is busy with the perception that everything is fine and the economy is hunky-dory.' 'Such hollow perceptions are very dangerous for the Indian economy in the long run.' 'The real risk to India is the lack of decent employment opportunities for youth in general and educated youth in particular.'
Single window clearances for realty must.
The Bharatiya Janata Party regime will have to make good on this election slogan to restore state-owned banks to health, says Rajiv Lall.
Finance minister attempts a clean-up job, keeps projected expenditure growth low.
Banks cannot shirk their responsibility in cases of frauds.
A group of retired civil servants also called upon the PM to reach out to the families of the victims in Unnao and Kathua and "seek their forgiveness on behalf of all of us".
Narendra Modi's positive engagement with Barack Obama has well and truly washed away the doubts and slights of the past.
'We need to put aside our anxieties about the Budget for now and possibly for long, and carry on as best as we can,' advises Shreekant Sambrani.
India could gain four times over by winding up dysfunctional subsidies.
