'An expanding army, rising salaries due to the 7th pay commission, and raised pensions due to OROP are consuming money at the cost of badly needed bulletproof jackets, rifles, artillery, submarines, warships and fighter aircraft,' notes Ajai Shukla.
The announcement comes on the first anniversary of the project.
'People do not want a 'maha milavat' (highly adulterated) government of those who assembled in Kolkata.'
Rajiv Chandrashekhar, Rajya Sabha MP, explains that the argument that other government servants are eligible for OROP is incorrect and the comparison is laughable.
Universal basic income or social security? Economist Nitin Desai feels we need a blueprint for universal health care and pensions to help the vulnerable section.
The independent institute advising the PM on jobs seems to have missed the point that the challenge is to create net additional jobs, says Mahesh Vyas.
He cautioned people against forces inside and outside India which are working against the country by targeting it and its constitutional values.
Railways to hive off all production units and workshops into new govt-owned company; may invite bids from private players to run passenger trains in next 15 days, with ownership vesting with the government.
Rediff.com does a quick checklist on what the two manifestos have to say on hot-button issues of the day.
'We should hope and pray that the PM's sentiment is not held ransom by machinations and craftiness of a few junior babus who throw in an imaginary impediment at every welfare measure and snigger and giggle at the sidelines every time a soldier is ill at ease,' says Major Navdeep Singh on the one rank one pension debate.
'If Modi is talking to every Tom, Dick and Harry, why is he afraid of talking to ex-servicemen?'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi writes a letter to the nation on Tuesday listing his government's achievement as he completes on here in office.
'There were tears in my eyes when I parted with my medals. I thought was it for this moment did I become a soldier?' In 2008, Captain H Balakrishnan (retd) of the Indian Navy returned all his medals to the President of India to protest the government's failure to implement the One Rank One Pension scheme.
How could India@75 improve law and order, courts, social, physical and soft infrastructure, efficient cities, e-governance, ease of doing business and other essential state functions by 2022, asks Shailesh Pathak.
At a time when the Modi government is attempting to push cashlessness with coercive means, Devangshu Datta explains why cash usage is popular even in nations with good cashless infrastructure.
After assuming power in 2014 with a full majority of its own, the BJP-led NDA government started an ambitious process of reforming labour laws in the form of codes aimed at making the framework less cumbersome with a variety of alterations. It had planned four codes each for industrial relations, wages, social security and welfare, and occupational safety, health and working conditions. To this end, 35 central labour laws were to be converted into four codes that would have had the virtue of streamlining labour relations. But none of the proposed code Bills could be converted into a law principally because neither trade unions nor industry representatives came on board. They hold the key to India's low-growth-high unemployment paradigm but the government may struggle to push them through this time as well. Somesh Jha explains why
West Bengal was the second-most industrialised state in terms of value added and first in terms of number of factories and employment even in the mid-1960s. With a severe and long process of deindustrialisation, it lost its primacy.
Deadline to submit convincing reform plans is this week.
The defence minister clearly asserted that there will be no budgetary constraints to enhance the capability of the Army and meeting its other requirements.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing the nation for the seventh time from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day on Saturday and it will be his second speech of the second term in office.
Opposition to tri-service structures comes not just from bureaucrats and politicians as the generals like to lament, but equally from within the military. Neither the army, navy or air force chiefs want to relinquish control over their theatre commands, with these cutting edge units placed under some commander who reports elsewhere, says Ajai Shukla.
Govt expects to save Rs 10,000 crore through this move.
A way out of the economic slump is to revisit the template of 15 years ago and follow its constituents, recommends Ajay Shah.
Recently, the government announced yet another ambitious scheme aimed at providing health insurance to 50 crore individuals.
The protection of individual security and privacy is critical to building safe online systems, say Mitchell Baker and Ankit Gadgil.
'The high court notice could go some way in easing the vitiated civil-military relationship, and the trust deficit between civil servants and the military.'
The Modi government has not lived up to the muscularity the prime minister promised while campaigning, says Ajai Shukla
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.
The city needs some autonomy, or it will continue to decline in all the ways that are familiar, observes T N Ninan
'The COVID-19 pandemic must push the military into a long-term reconsideration of its primary challenges.' 'There must be greater emphasis on humanitarian aid and disaster relief including the management of contagious illnesses and impending crises caused by climate change,' notes Ajai Shukla.
'It is the government's most important duty to ensure that when war breaks out, the armed forces are absolutely ready to face the adversary -- well equipped, well trained and in high spirits,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
The cap of Rs 10,000 on daily withdrawal has also been removed.
Payments banks will mainly deal in remittance services and accept deposits of up to Rs 1 lakh.
Experts have started giving comments on provisions that the govt must make in Budget 2016-17.
A second vote will be held on Wednesday, on measures including justice and banking reforms, when a similar outcome is expected.
A tweet by the Press Information Bureau said the states which have imposed lockdown in all districts include Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir and Nagaland. The other states are: Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Ladakh, Tripura, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Haryana, Daman Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Karnataka and Assam.
'This letter is not a complaint, it's more indignation, because we do not like being used as political tools by people of various parties.'
'There is no money with the villagers as there is little work.'
The notes argue that it will widen the talent base available to govt to deliver increasingly complex services to a demanding population.
