Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's customary address to the joining sitting of Parliament on the first day of the budget session.
Railways to have functional autonomy, bear salary burden
"India's economy is projected to sustain a 7.6 per cent growth rate in both fiscal years 2016-17 and 2017-18," says the year-end update of the flagship report Economic and Social Survey for Asia and the Pacific 2016 of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
The implementation of their recommendations means that an adequate apparatus to change this is at the disposal of the government.
India is in the midst of its biggest crisis since Independence. It is a national emergency and begs to be dealt with. Politics can wait. Lives need to be saved. We need to vaccinate India at a pace faster than any country in the world, asserts Ramesh Menon.
This comes as IR posted its worst operating ratio (money spent to earn every Rs 100) in 16 years, at 96.9 in 2016-17.
Resource constraints have forced the planning commission to scale down investments by 12.5 per cent in crucial areas including agriculture, power and manufacturing.
A closer look at the data reveals that a lot of the items are not part of this calculation. The notable ones include buffalo meat, marine exports, raw cotton, and plantation crops such as tea, coffee, rubber, etc.
If anything has become clear during this campaign, it is this: Mr Modi can bat on almost any wicket and hit the ball over the ropes, points out T N Ninan.
'We have often heard the mythical argument that patents block access to life-saving drugs, but only 5% of medicines from multinational companies are under patent protection in India.' 'Where these patented products are beyond the reach of Indian patients, the companies have programmes to facilitate access to their drugs, for free or for a fraction of the price,' points out Ranjana Smetacek, former director general, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India.
A United Nations expert body on Thursday said surge in food prices in India is a matter of concern, but retail price inflation will cool down to 7.5 per cent this year from around 12 per cent last year.
Major corporates are staring at an uncertain future after investing substantially on their projects
Several speakers noted that Budget carried the weight of expectations.
The tall claims that the state administration, particularly Modi's highly charged PR machinery has created to hardsell the state, and in turn Modi himself, are not reinforced by the numbers
The revived factionalism in the AIADMK, if not curbed now, has the potential to split the party vertically, warns N Sathiya Moorthy.
Sidbi acquires Ahmedabad-based start-up at hefty premium; founders deny link to govt.
The Pakistan Hockey Federation has threatened to pull out of next year's World Cup in India unless assured of "easy procurement" of visas and "top security" for its players at the event.
'When you forgive a farmer's loans there is this ideological economists lobby which says: 'That's socialism. And that's bad'.' 'But to forgive the loans of big people, so that they will be interested to invest further is capitalism and is good.'
The Indian economy is expected to return to the pre-crisis growth trajectory of about 9 per cent in a couple of years.
The Indian regulator played key role in uncovering the identity of two Indian men who floated the scheme
According to the report, the generation projects envisaged for completion by 2018-19 need to be given priority in fuel linkage.
In 5 years, the AMC has clocked a growth rate of 40% with its AUM up nearly 4 times.
India and Tajikistan on Monday pledged to further deepen their cooperation to fight terror and agreed to step up defence ties besides boosting trade and investment.
The Centre has to bear the maximum burden of borrowing NSSF loans to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore.
Banks bore the brunt of the sell-off.
Abu Dhabi national carrier had bought 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways for $379 million in April.
Economists have cautioned that any deferment of the government's fiscal goals would prove counter-productive and raise the interest payment burden.
The government is considering a proposal to privatise some state-owned banks in phases.
The special package assistance would be used to augment irrigation structures in drought-prone areas to address the agrarian distress and drinking water crisis.
Private sector firms need to be re-engaged for better infra planning.
'Persisting with the inequalities, indeed seeing them get worse, is no one's prescription for national unity,' notes T N Ninan.
Bharti Airtel called the prices exorbitant while Vodafone Idea wants the auctions take place in 2020. The auctions need to happen when the infrastructure is ready for the roll out, be it in terms of fiberisation levels, or optimisation of equipment and software etc. Spending a hefty amount on a technology (airwaves) that at present offers limited returns is not going to be a priority for the incumbent telcos.
Arvind Kejriwal is poised to return to power with a simple majority. Even if the BJP wins 20 to 25 seats, it will be seen as a victory, says R Rajagopalan.
Kiran Vissa, co-convenor of National Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, said that amendments to the EC Act have nothing to do with farmers' welfare but instead meant to please big players and agriculture companies. This is because small and marginal farmers don't have the storage capacity to attract provisions of the EC Act.
Aiming to improve the living standards in the country, the 11th Plan draft document has set ambitious targets of per capita income growth of 7.6 per cent each year and an overall average economic growth of nine per cent. The Plan aims at an average growth rate of 9 per cent, accelerating it from 8 per cent in the first year of the Plan (2007) to 10 per cent by the end of the Plan period (2011-12).
The Budget is remarkably coherent.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India is likely to challenge the Central Information Commission's ruling that the cricket board be brought under the Right to Information act with a top official accusing the Committee of Administrators (COA) of 'wilful negligence' in dealing with the matter.
Decision-making has to be much quicker, the finance minister said.
Another point of contention is the invoice issued by the e-companies.
The TDP chief said he tried to speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a 'courtesy' to inform him about the decision to quit but he did not come on line.
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