If this Budget was not packaged and sold as a Budget for the poor and for farmers, Narendra Modi would have lost the next election.
What Readers thought of Article 15.
Populations of cities are rising, more are coming in because cities continue to attract people for jobs and because of increased economic activity. One standard question would be: What is the government doing about this?
Since 2004, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, one of the commission's longest serving deputy chairmen, has been trying to mould it to fit into the new economic order, without much to show for his efforts.
Advertisers take to pitching family values and social causes, giving celebrity endorsers and flamboyance a miss. Nikhat Hetavkar reports.
The Shiv Sena passed a resolution not to align with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Dilip Kumar Jha explains what the buyers must do to protect their own interest.
An overview of India's underwhelming performance in athletics
Prepare your replies with expert help, if necessary. Keep relevant documents ready to support your replies.
The Bill neither plans to make the Aadhar mandatory or limit its issuance to citizens.
The sticking point remains the argument over a revenue share scheme which has underpinned contracts for 20 years.
As the mercury keeps moving up in the wake of rising temperature, poll fever is also soaring northward in Tamil Nadu which will witness a fierce fight for the 39 Lok Sabha seats between ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, even as a six-party BJP-led alliance is trying to play spoilsport.
Charges were filed against against underground bitcoin exchanger Robert Faiella, 52, and chief executive officer and compliance officer of a bitcoin exchange company Charlie Shrem, 24.
Its growth has been driven by discounts rather than enticing new customers to its platform
The 67-year-old hasn't only received a clear-cut mandate for an unprecedented fourth term but also done it on his own. From distributing tickets to planning party campaigns to chalking out strategies for the present and the future, the chief minister had played a stellar role throughout, and emerged successful in his endeavour. Bikash Mohapatra reports
Around 40% of India Inc feels that Modi govt's biggest weakness in the last 6 months has been its slow pace of economic reforms.
The 61-year-old former top cop from Mumbai changed professions after listening to his 'inner voice'.
'LIC's proposed investment will come out of what is technically called the 'policyholders funds'.' 'As the name implies, these monies belong to policyholders; that is, you, me and 25 crore others who have taken a total of 30 crore policies from LIC.' 'It is not the government's or LIC's money to play poker with,' says S Muralidharan, former managing director, BNP Paribas.
'When he first came to office, my belief is that the PM's reading of the landscape was that, with a vanquished Congress and fragmented Opposition, he was looking at least at two terms in office. This reading perhaps allows for a more cautious, gradual approach.' 'It was only a matter of time before the government was forced to come face-to-face with a serious corruption scandal. This is not a commentary on the BJP, but a statement about India's political economy.' 'There is growing concern about the government's commitment to freedom of expression, religious tolerance, and an independent civil society. Thus far, the positive movement on strategic and economic matters has crowded out these concerns, but they are lingering beneath the surface.'
Two years after a midday meal took the lives of 23 children in Gandaman, Archana Masih sits down to have lunch at the same government school and discovers that much has changed and much remains the same.
'They are acquiring agricultural land almost free of cost promising an illusory rise which is worse than a chit fund scheme.' 'When I went there on a fact-finding mission, we found that one third of the land they plan to acquire is the best agricultural land in the country.'
The chain readies to expand its footprint as Bharti focuses on its retail venture.
Drishti, an affordable eye care chain has lit up the lives of scores of people in rural areas.
The problem is set to grow following issuance of 75 million new RuPay cards in the next six months with the launch of the Jan Dhan Yojana.
'A fierce crusader against communalism, George joined hands with majoritarian forces, never to revisit or re-assess his saffron association.' 'He was a Union minister in 1998-2004, a time when people like Graham Staines were lynched in Orissa.' 'On the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, George went on to kind of justify the slashing of pregnant women, by saying in the Lok Sabha that this was nothing new for India.' 'Thus, he was in sharp contrast to what he had himself stood for in the heyday of his political career in the 1970s and 1980s, says Mohammad Sajjad.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
GST will make it easier for governments to spend more, says T C A Srinivasa Raghavan.
The ability and quality of implementation of development initiatives remains India's Achilles' heel.
If providing a stimulus to growth is the objective now, that would be best served by moving rates as quickly as possible to the bottom.
Aadhaar, an ambitious initiative of the previous government, has been used to initiate mandatory attendance for government officials, prisoner identification and by linking it to passports, mobile SIM cards and provident fund accounts.
'Though federal, the Constitution is unitary in nature. All matters relating to revenue are centralised. It is necessary that matters related to finance have to be decentralised... States need more freedom in designing schemes with their interest in mind. There has to be a Constitutional amendment to give more powers to the states. A special session of Parliament should amend the Constitution, especially the 7th Schedule,' Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
'The innate fascism of the RSS is overshadowing Modi's development programme,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'Today you have 30 to 40 per cent of bureaucrats who are not parrots of the government, but what happens if you change the system?' 'If implemented, this can disrupt the system, which will have more adverse consequences than demonetisation.'
In Muthuvel Karunanidhi's passing, Tamil Nadu has lost the last of its Titans.
'The transmission sector is going to be the next sunrise industry.'
'If Modi is talking to every Tom, Dick and Harry, why is he afraid of talking to ex-servicemen?'
Payment banks may not be viable option to attain financial inclusion.
'The answer is no, the entire country's is.' 'So why such obsession with Delhi?' 'But the most powerful people in India live here: The prime minister, civil servants, Supreme Court judges, MPs, diplomats, dadas of the media...' 'If they can't deal with their own problem, what chance does the rest of the country have, with its foul air, dying rivers, frothing lakes, and crumbling mountains?' says Shekhar Gupta.
'We have the political will to take this to the very end.' 'But what eventually happens depends on the effectiveness, honesty and missionary zeal of the officialdom in the frontline of the battle against corruption,' says S Muralidharan.
Attired in his trademark half sleeves kurta and sporting a Rajasthani turban, Prime Minister Narendra Modi devoted a bulk of his 90-minute address on the occasion of the 70th Independence Day to presenting in effect a report card of his government's work particularly in boosting economic growth, ease of doing business and welfare schemes for the poor and farmers.
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