We can hope that some of the benefits of the rural spending - on irrigation, roads, etc -- will spur rural demand and improve rural productivity, says P V Subramanyam.
Gone are the days of over-the-top Diwali parties, says Kishore Singh. This year round, the taxman is the invisible -- and unwanted -- guest at these once extravagant affairs.
Make in India right now is just a slogan. The policy content is missing or not clearly articulated. The lion with cogs and wheels must now show some majestic movement forward, says Rahul Khullar.
'It would be too sweeping to say that the elites and the middle-class don't care about liberty.' 'It is just that they are always calculating the trade-offs: What's in it for me, what could it cost me?' 'To that extent, we haven't changed in 40 years,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'If Modi arrived like a juggernaut, he left like a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces were being dismantled bit by bit. It was as if India had seceded quietly from him.' Shiv Viswanathan's social science fiction about what India would be like in 2020.
The trouble is largest FDI projects in India have had a tragic history.
In 2014-2015 the I-T department put up 669 cases for prosecution. The charges stuck in only 34 cases: Just 5%. It was no exceptional year -- the story broadly follows the script every year.
The Sensex and the Nifty witnessed biggest one day loss in percentage terms since June 24
India's rank in the World Bank's ease of doing business index cannot get better unless more attention is paid to bringing about procedural reforms in the way states run their governments and provide various approvals for trade and industry, says A K Bhattacharya.
The main concern among industry and market experts is that the governance in these companies needs to be strengthened and the focus on social insurance has to come down.
While the government has the option of ensuring the passage of these Bills as money Bills, there are voices within the government advising discretion on the GST roll-out by April 1.
'Can anyone honestly say with hand on heart that our streets and office buildings, railways and other public spaces are any cleaner?'
Digital services work best when the seller designs a system where default options are designed to help the buyer, says Debashis Basu.
'Don't waste your time in doing long pointless graduation courses.' 'Try and get into an apprenticeship or a job after Class 10 or Class 12, as there is always time to get back to academics and learn new skills.'
'I feel now we have a leader who is non-corruptible.' 'But he needs time as corruption is deep-rooted in our society, and people have no shame about being corrupt.' 'It will take at least 7 years to make some changes.'
'The true fruits of the attack on black money, what Raghuram Rajan did for the banking system, and what technology is doing for us will come in FY19, which, not surprisingly, is the year running up to the next Lok Sabha elections.'
Will demonetisation lead to a rate cut, leading to higher quantum of lending?
'There will be some issues of contention, especially on H1B visa and on trade policy.'
'Fear is not created by those who are defending minorities and Dalits.' 'Fear is being created by the actions of political leaders like Yogi Adityanath and police forces.' 'The kind of hate statements that are being made to which there is silence from the prime minister's side.'
'As we were setting up our base camp, one of the women with professionally used brooms squatting in a corner and having chai approached us, with a grin. "Namaste Saheb, Acche Din to aahi gaye. From which party?"' Ambassador B S Prakash and a group of retired bureaucrats join the Swach Bharat Abhiyan.
'Since the general election is only two years away, the BJP will need a surefire plan of action -- and it cannot be either the Ram temple or ultra-nationalism,' says Amulya Ganguli.
The banking sector's credibility is on thin ice. Unless the government takes strict steps, things could get worse.
Why had the CBI decided to have Waghmare tell the court the tale surrounding this odd trip to Kolkata made for even odder reasons, close to a year-and-a-half after Sheena's murder? To show the kind of person Indrani was? And that the murder of her daughter was not a heat of the moment crime, given Indrani was capable of other odd, suspicious, premeditated acts like this?
In UK, France and Germany, the president and CEO of Edelweiss Securities, anticipates votes incrementally in favour of local protection and de-globalisation.
Months before 8/11, MP, Haryana probed note ban
The government has spent a little less than one-third of the Budget estimate of capital expenditure, it can still spend about Rs 20,000 crore this year without disturbing its fiscal deficit target.
In a weekly chat with readers every Thursday, Rediff's Love Guru addresses their relationship problems and offers solutions.
Shivade: "You didn't find any brain inside the brain cavity?" Dr Thakur nodded. The judge shocked: "Huh?!"
Henry Kravis, co-founder of global private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, thinks India should go for a bad bank to deal with bad assets in banks. In an interaction with journalists in Delhi, he says there are plenty of opportunities in India. He was joined by India CEO Sanjay Nayar.
A glance back at some of the important ups and down Indian Inc faced in 2018.
A mere pair of shoes sets off the kind of harsh condemnation Indrani draws in these corridors of justice. That she being a woman who killed her daughter -- never mind that she is an undertrial and the crime has not yet been proven -- apart from making her an object of curiosity, also makes her, by perception, more evil than the men that flood these corridors, facing trial for similar or worse crimes.
This time however, the poll panel did not share the overall polling percentage at its briefing.
'China's deep involvement in the stability and economic and political success of Pakistan actually produces some elements of congruence with India's core interest in a stable and productive relationship with Pakistan.' 'It is not far-fetched for us to pursue that congruence and with ingenuity work out with China a formula that also satisfies our formal position on PoK,' argues Ambassador Kishan S Rana.
'The most valuable personal sensitive information of present and future citizens has been made available to foreign data firms and governments and non-State actors for all time to come,' says Gopal Krishna.
'Lakhs of engineers graduate every year in India and the IT industry used to be the primary recruiter. That is going to end.'
'In a future where newspapers are gone, the public will have a severe lack of material to be properly informed.' 'We will be left in a world of journalism that is entirely populated by Arnab and anchors like him, competing on the basis of passion and anger, and by people who pull out their phone and tweet a comment without first hand information,' says Aakar Patel.
Some unlikely celebrities are behind multiple campaigns to fight the fake news menace.
Aam Aadmi Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal has kicked up a controversy by asking voters in Delhi to take "bribes" from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress but to vote for his party in the upcoming Delhi assembly election.
'While collections under the Income Disclosure Scheme explain it partly, indirect tax numbers not showing any effect of the withdrawal of high denomination currency notes was puzzling.'
Income-tax data released by FinMin after 15 years
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