In all this, the political establishment -- and especially the finance ministry -- appears the weakest link, and worse still, the possible reason for the political backing to Narain and Ramkrishna that emboldened them to defy all the sentinels -- the independent board, the auditors, top management persons like the chief compliance officer, the company secretary, and unbelievably the super-regulator Sebi, observes V Ranganathan.
Agricultural incomes can be taxed without hurting farmers, as a substantial section - the small and marginal ones - will remain outside the tax net simply because their incomes are likely to be below the basic exemption limit of Rs 250,000 per annum that is extended to all taxpayers in India, finds out Ishan Bakshi.
Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian spoke on a wide range of issues -- from GDP growth and fiscal consolidation to job creation and GST.
The minimum support price for the rabi season will not radically alter the falling trajectory of farm incomes
India's economy has bounced back amazingly from the Covid-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown over the last one year, but it is not out of the woods yet, according to the World Bank, which in its latest report has predicted that the country's real GDP growth for fiscal year 21/22 could range from 7.5 to 12.5 per cent.
After helping the government in policymaking since October 2014, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian is returning to academics and will be teaching at Harvard Kennedy School on a visiting position. In an interview to Dilasha Seth and Somesh Jha, he says the ease of doing business agenda needs to move forward and India must try to integrate with the global value chains. Edited excerpts.
Rather than worry about what picture of India is being painted in the foreign media, the focus must be on marshalling all our energies to provide relief and solace to our deeply wounded and dispirited citizens, says former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Gates stressed on promoting quality and user friendly toilets to ensure their proper use.
'The government has said it has kept its powder dry to fight the true battle against the debilitating influence of the pandemic.' 'The release of the shocking economic data this week should act as the fuse for using that powder now.' 'Further delays will make the battle that much harder,' notes Shreekant Sambrani.
HR guru Mayank Rautela provides a three-point plan.
Indian students, who are living and studying away from home, tell us how they are dealing with the COVID-19 crisis and what they discovered on their journey back home.
'What proportion of the people require the vaccine for us to manage this entire COVID-19 situation?'
'Agri reforms need to go beyond the limited concerns of these three laws in improving agriculture productivity in cereal and crop diversification and production patterns.'
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the states were free to announce farm loan waivers if they had the fiscal space and that there would be no shortfall this year in divestment and non-tax revenues.
'You can't take money from Shaktikanta Das (the RBI governor) and give it to Nirmala Sitharaman (the Union finance minister). She will blow it away on Modi.'
'In the final analysis, all Budgets everywhere are like the schemes hatched by A A Milne's lovable Winnie-the-Pooh.' 'They may be well-intended, but often go awry.' 'Although Pooh and his friends agree that he 'has very little brain', he is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense.' 'This Budget at a first glance does not appear to belong to that latter category,' says economist Shreekant Sambrani.
A time has thus come when state encouragement for rural students led to empowerment of the socio-economically marginalised sections of the population. It included women. Today, with greater exposure and consequent enlightenment, it has gone beyond 'empowerment' to become 'entitlement', says N Sathiya Moorthy.
A technology company founded by an Indian-American at the age of 19 has emerged as the largest online seller of silicon wrist band in the US.
'... the government provides adequate cash and kind support for the poorest of the poor for survival... ...conditional cash and skilling support for the economically poor to raise their incomes to adequate levels... ...and make functional arrangements for providing unemployment allowance to the vulnerable poor during disasters like the present one.'
Retirement planning requires a clear-eyed analysis of future needs and income. Don't fool yourself by believing in these wrong assumptions.
Instead of failing young Indians, the government should now focus laser-like on education, skilling, healthcare, and the environment, says Mihir S Sharma.
'With the largest number of malnourished people on the planet, India is poised to be a nation that significantly under-performs as an economy.'
The government scheme has a long way to go before its ultimate goals of universal financial inclusion and financial literacy are achieved.
Shriya Rangarajan has come a long way from the comforts of the western world.
Aseem Chhabra lists his favourite Indian films of 2021.
Student jobs help aid students who are in financial need.
Here's the full text of President's Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on the first of Budget Session 2022.
Shikha Verma offers invaluable money management insights
Kavitha Kuruganti has been fighting for decades to ensure farmers are respected and get their due from the Indian nation. In order to ensure they don't struggle for a living, she works to ensure sustainable farm livelihoods and farmers' rights.
It was widely expected that this time around, the government would be less likely to initiate fresh reforms and rather loosen its belt a little to give various segments of the economy, especially the multitudes that truly constitute India, something to smile about, says Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
The government's negligence towards this 'treasure house of knowledge' can be seen from the fact that monkeys roam about freely in the reading rooms, disturbing the calm of the library, as well as putting the lives of the readers in danger, writes Sajad Ahmad Dar.
The EPFO launched one-page simplified forms for withdrawal.
EPF has traditionally been the only tool for Indians, especially the salaried class, to save for their retirement corpus.
'You will see more and more people working independently -- starting beauty parlours, driving cars, etc.' This is what we call the gig economy.' 'The same people who have been laid off in India or are unable to get visas to work in the US may be part of this gig economy.' 'India needs billions of jobs, and it can only be created by self-employment or the gig economy.'
Any NGO critical of the government is unlikely to receive a green signal. The new amendment will leave NGOs vulnerable to harassment. It was the NGO sector that helped provide compassion and food to millions of people during the lockdown. The new Bill will render such cooperation and camaraderie impossible in future, observes Rashme Sehgal.
'This is basically aimed at vilifying Nehruvian ideals.' 'Why?' 'Because, Nehruvian leadership is seen by Hindutva forces as the one which did not let them have their Hindu Raj.' 'The Hindutva proponents have always assumed that had Sardar become the first prime minister, India could never have become a secular State,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
The deduction will be higher and net take-home pay will fall.
A lottery system would decide the participants who would get to attend the public reception of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 28 at the prestigious Madison Square Garden in New York City, organisers of the event have said.
Education, jobs, health and more: Experts share their wishlist.
'There is no tried and true recipe for creating Silicon Valleys.' 'Attracting and creating a mass of truly dynamic entrepreneurs is at the core and among the hardest and most necessary ingredients.' 'In the US, close to 60% of the top valued tech companies were started by immigrants who found the start-up climate to be superior to where they came from.' 'India would clearly benefit from attracting back its talented Diaspora, but it also needs to hold onto those entrepreneurs.'
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