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.
'The forces of good are on the run.' 'But dark times also challenge people to fight.' 'I believe Indians will rise against these dark times.'
Till high school, his medium of learning was Marathi. Later, he completed his doctorate under Neil Armstrong's guidance. He has travelled to close to 50 countries, sold $350 billion worth of aircraft. Anjuli Bhargava meets Boeing SVP Dinesh Keskar.
'If majority of the country's population is sentimental about a certain species, why are we so ashamed to say that we want to give it statutory protection?'
Kanika Datta explains why the Modi sarkar is gunning for non-profit organisations
A smartly executed reform-recap will be the best booster for the economy, says Ajay Chhibber.
The means to do so via an expanded Aadhaar system is easily at hand, too.
The electric vehicle market in India needs a policy push that goes beyond targets, says Vandana Gombar.
The industry began to upgrade its practices even before the NGO alleged Indian tea contained harmful pesticides.
Professor Bhaskar Ramamurthi of IIT-Madras discusses the disparity between academic vision and industry needs with Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com.
Prashant Lingam and Aruna Kappagantula are changing the way houses are being built in India.
'Don't forget the BJP in the last election almost doubled its vote.' 'Even if they were not traditional BJP supporters, they were convinced about Mr Modi.' 'If the voter perceives that Mr Modi has performed well and he reinforces it, they will vote for him.' 'Otherwise, they won't.'
'I have been managing people since I was very young. I really enjoy it.' 'For me, age is only a proxy for experience.'
'If they are not ready for a 10 to 20 year journey, they should not become entrepreneurs.'
Uttarakhand was a tragedy that none of us will forget. As experts analysed the tragedy, it became clear that the disaster was more man made. The intergovernmental panel on climate change in its Assessment Report 5 states that human influence on the climate system is clear and this is evident from the increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, positive radiative forcing, observed warming, and understanding of the climate system.
Sports Minister Vijay Goel has hinted that Narsingh Yadav's prospects of participating in the Rio Olympics is virtually over, but said the wrestler will be given a fair chance to defend himself.
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.
Siddhartha Kaul, president of SOS Children's Villages International that has been involved in earthquake relief work in Nepal, speaks to Rashme Sehgal.
The California Superbike School, which has trained many MotoGP and WSBK champions in various countries, will train Indian riders now.
With nearly a million identified slums, UP urgently requires housing for the poor
'The role of sports science, sport medicine is incredibly important in modern day sport. We can't do without it'
The WTO has already significantly lowered its sights since a decade of Doha talks broke down, forcing the body to focus on a much less ambitious set of reforms.
'Oommen Chandy may well prove to be the Teflon chief minister whose reputation cannot be tarnished,' predicts Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'President Kalam would always say -- this was one of his pet sentences -- that "If you don't do anything, there will be no difficulties but if you do things, there will be difficulties. You have to overcome them. Don't be afraid of difficulties".'
Iran is preparing for a trade and investment boom that could reshape the region after agreeing with world powers to curb its nuclear programme, paving the way for sanctions that have stifled its economy to be lifted.
Aseem Chhabra looks at the year's best Non-Hindi Indian movies.
Down in the Indian Ocean, cricket turned out to be the great unifier and Archana Masih, only an intermittent fan, became its ambassador of sorts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has managed to pull off what was unimaginable a year back -- adopting a much-needed centre-left approach, says Devanik Saha.
'On the tax front, most of the Budget proposals are sensible'.
When is the last time our government recognised a twenty something entrepreneur for introducing a break-out innovation?
'It is time for all Indians to understand the truth that led to a 10-year long bloodbath in Punjab and not attempt to glorify the terrorists under the garb of human rights violations or scratch old wounds,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd), on the 30th anniversary of Operation Bluestar.
Since many of Modi's urban policies were initiated in Ahmedabad, the city may act as a template to examine what can be expected in a country that is witnessing the biggest migration from rural to urban areas in the world
Empowered in the Modi government, junior ministers have enough on their plate.
Here are some of the best images of winners and finalists.
A Priority Foreign Country is a status reserved for those nations that are the most egregious violators of intellectual property rights and have the most negative impact on US competitiveness abroad.
Anushu Gupta is being recognised for "his creative vision in transforming the culture of giving" in India and Sanjiv Chaturvedi for 'Emergent Leadership'
'Bhagwat, aware of the advantages of keeping the BJP in power, is wary about the RSS taking steps that would undermine the popular standing of either the PM or the party.'
'Since Modi is walking a tightrope between two worlds -- one of the saffron brotherhood and the other of the proposed smart cities and bullet trains -- it is understandable why he is averse to scrutiny lest he loses his balance by tilting too heavily on one side or the other. But, why has Sonia Gandhi acquired the reputation of a sphinx,' asks Amulya Ganguli.
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