A total of 415 million people moved out of poverty in India within just 15 years from 2005/2006 to 2019/2021, the United Nations said on Tuesday, highlighting the remarkable achievement by the world's most populous nation.
While arithmetic political stability is a reality, the end result of politics in Maharashtra is hard to predict.
About 150 years ago, in British India, big farmers in the western region of Maharashtra agitated over unfair lending practices and demanded a more fair and inclusive financing structure. People say this is where the seeds of the cooperative movement, now omnipresent in the country, were sown. Today, more than 800,000 cooperative societies thrive in India, with 300 million members, a number close to the population of the United States. Despite a reach this deep--grass roots as they call it--cooperatives do not occupy a lion's share in the Indian economy.
It was business as usual for Jairam Ramesh in his new rural development ministry where he held extensive meetings with officials on his first day that stretched past midnight.
A few days back, Atul Ganatra, president of the Cotton Association of India, presented a grim scenario of the crop's prospects in the 2024-25 season that starts in October. Addressing the association's annual general meeting, Ganatra said the area under the crop could go down by at least 10 per cent in the coming season due to falling yields and realisation, leading to farmers losing interest. The fear of a decline in acreage comes against the backdrop of India's cotton production probably falling to its lowest in a decade, according to estimates.
'Modigate is snowballing into a huge thing with the electorate. The BJP is in for huge punishment by the electorate.'
The European Union on Thursday raised concern over its trade with India on two areas, differing tax rates in states and entry barriers for processed food items. Both, it said, are major concerns.
Agatha Sangma, who had campaigned for her father P A Sangma in the Presidential polls, on Monday offered to quit as minister of state for rural development.
Buckling under B S Yeddyurappa's pressure, Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday decided to replace Sadananda Gowda with Jagdish Shettar as the chief minister of Karnataka marking the third change in the state in four years. The decision was taken at the BJP core group meeting in New Delhi on Saturday, sources said.
The inquiry commission probing the Adarsh Housing Society scam has issued summons to former Maharashtra chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan to appear before it as witnesses. The two-member commission, which summoned Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde last week, issued summons to Deshmukh, presently Union minister for rural development, and Chavan.Chavan had to step down as the state chief minister last year following the Adarsh controversy.
The BJP senior leadership believes the YSRCP is a more reliable potential ally post-2024 Lok Sabha election than the TDP.
Notably, after coming to power in November 2019, the then MVA government scrapped certain policy decisions of its predecessor BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Fadnavis.
The meeting was attended by all the cabinet secretaries from the SAARC member states. It was noted that SAARC is transforming into an 'implementation body' and the need to strengthen administrative and delivery mechanisms was emphasized. The cabinet secretaries deliberated upon areas where significant innovations have been tried in various member states to benefit their citizens.
The dissidence-hit Bharatiya Janata Party's Karnataka unit presented a picture of unity on Monday, with rebel leaders joining Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa at a meeting to ask partymen to work for the victory of party candidates in the April 9 bypolls to three assembly constituencies.
The party also decided to field Narpat Singh Rajvi from Chittorgarh after its earlier decision to deny the five-term MLA, who is the son-in-law of its stalwart leader Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, renomination from his Vidhyadhar Nagar seat. This triggered a backlash from a section of party workers.
'The government should act proactively to instil confidence in the private investors, and also boost the purchasing power of people directly or indirectly by ensuring minimum wages.'
Days after he kicked up a row by stating that there are more temples than toilets in India, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday urged women not to get married into families that do not have toilets in their homes.
Rajasthan minister Ameen Khan, whose remarks on President Pratibha Patil triggered a controversy, on Thursday submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, speaking on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, charged the government with not delivering on its various promises, including generating two crore jobs per year.
Heaping praises on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's leadership for not only driving industrial growth but also boosting rural development, Ratan Tata on Wednesday said the Tata Group will partner the state in providing transportation into the hinterlands.
The Bharatiya Janata Party will have an understanding with former prime minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal-Secular for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said on Friday, an announcement that shot up political temperature in Karnataka.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held deliberations with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda amid speculation about a reshuffle in the Union cabinet, an exercise Modi has not undertaken since forming the government for a second time in May 2019.
Portfolios were distributed 2 weeks after the MVA govt was sworn-in. Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde will be home minister while NCP's Jayant Patil will be finance minister.
Amid a surge in coronavirus cases, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday replaced his 'Team-11', a group of officials tasked with managing the crises, with a new nine-member set of ministers and bureaucrats.
The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, of which he is chairman, has quickly sought to distance itself and the government from Dr Debroy's views.
Union Minister for Rural Development and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday said the land for the controversial Adarsh Society belonged to the state and was never reserved for defence personnel or Kargil war heroes. In an affidavit filed before the two-member Adarsh Commission, set up to probe irregularities in the scam-tainted Adarsh Society, Deshmukh said, "The records clearly show that the land belonged to the state government."
Most farmers depend on rainwater for farming.
The RBI reminded that the primary role of these banks is to lend for activities related to agriculture and rural development. The central bank said it has come to its notice that certain state cooperative and central cooperative banks have extended finance to the sector.
The proposal to adopt villages is to promote integrated rural development.
The BTP, a Congress ally which supported chief minister Ashok Gehlot during the revolt in his party earlier this year, is upset that the ruling party candidates chose BJP over it.
The IMD came out with a dismaying prediction.
A five-time Member of Parliament from Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha constituency is now the Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
The United States wants India to do more in developing a world-class infrastructure, energy security, creation of true national markets and protection of intellectual property rights to attract American investments.
The no-confidence motion moved by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party against the Congress government in Chhattisgarh where assembly polls are due next year, was defeated by voice vote in the state Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
Stalin still enjoys a lot of sympathy and empathy as someone wishing well for the state, but not full-throated support as in 2019 and 2021, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather's record run in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly ended on Tuesday when he lost from Charar-e-Sharief while his National Conference colleague Ali Mohammad Sagar equalled his feat of sixth consecutive victories by winning Khanyar seat.
The caste and Below Poverty Line census has been suspended in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, though it goes on nonstop in Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur also have simultaneous elections.
While India won't be immune to global spillovers, we need to create the macro preconditions for sustained growth. Policy agility, prudence, and resilience will be key, suggests Sonal Varma.
