The party's national executive meeting chaired by its president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar flagged price rise and unemployment as "burning issues"
State Bank of India's house economists on Monday said the recent farm sector reforms reek of parochial thinking and promote lazy farming as they only cater to cereal-producing states. In the recently concluded monsoon session, the government rushed through three legislation to change the way agricultural produce is marketed, sold and stored by dismantling the decades-old APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) mandis.
'Three manufacturing sectors can create jobs by the million: Apparel, food, and electronic assembly.' 'Let's talk to them and ask them what it would take to scale by a factor of ten,' suggests Naushad Forbes.
The government should 'encourage infrastructure funding by mandating five or six institutions to create an infra bond market,' IMC President Gul Kripalani said in the action plan submitted to the prime minister. It wanted deregulation of the labour market to stimulate investment and employment. 'Encourage contract labour employment to enhance labour flexibility. Amend labour laws to provide flexibility in respect of entry and exit,' IMC said.
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said perhaps for the first time after Independence, such a big and 'far-reaching' reform process is being initiated in the Army.
Questions that the state had come to recognise over time but consistently delayed treating seriously because doing so requires an overhaul of perspective and lifestyle, notes Shyam G Menon.
'What should surprise BJP supporters is Modi's call for 'stability' at the manifesto launch, a theme that he and his team members had not touched ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019.' 'The last time the party called for 'stability at the Centre' was in 1998 and 1999,' recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday conferred Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian honour, on former prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh, agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan and two-time former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur, posthumously at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
With the reality of coalition politics staring the BJP in its face, this was inevitable, points out Ramesh Menon.
Kapil Sibal, Minister for Human Resource Development, has said that education reforms can't be implemented until parents allow their children to pursue their dreams.
Events, including press conferences and public programmes, will be held in most of the over 700 districts of the country in this regard.
The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday approved the revision of Kannada and Social Science textbooks of Classes 6 to 10 in the state for this academic year by removing the chapters on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh founder K B Hedgewar and Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar among others.
Growing at a robust rate due to economic reforms in key sectors like digitisation and infrastructure, India has emerged as a star performer and is projected to contribute more than 16 per cent of the global growth, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday. "What we have been observing for quite some time now is that India has been growing at a very robust rate. "It's one of the star performers when it comes to real growth when you look at peer countries.
Bhujbal, who has strongly opposed the demand to include the Marathas in the other backward classes category for quota benefits, said a new social system is taking shape in Maharashtra which is different from the order envisaged by prominent social reformers.
The government's decision to confer former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur with the Bharat Ratna is a testament to the socialist leader's enduring efforts as a champion for the marginalised and a stalwart of equality, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday.
Addressing reporters at his residence soon after the meeting ended, Chowdhury said six names came up before the panel for the selection of the two ECs and the names of Sandhu and Kumar were finalised by a majority of members of the high-powered panel.
In 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that by 2030 technology would be so advanced that three hours of work per day would suffice. Has AI brought about the transformation that Keynes predicted, asks Atanu Biswas.
The next government in these states may find it tough to push economic growth through long-term reforms, which would be necessary.
Bangladesh is in turmoil, which is not good news for India, which shares a porous 4000 km border with it. There is a danger of fundamentalism growing there, and India has to move in to reset its ties with the new dispensation before China and Pakistan make capital out of it, alerts Ramesh Menon.
Chaudhary Charan Singh, who on Friday was conferred with India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna, is popularly known as a champion of farmers.
'Tamil Nadu will never allow the Centre's three-language policy'
This is the full text of the address to the nation by President Droupadi Murmu on the eve of India's 78th Independence Day.
Indian economy, dubbed the fastest growing major economy in the world, is faced with the single most important pressure point of job creation, says former RBI Governor Raghuram G Ranjan as he makes a strong case for improvement of human capital through skill development. Talking about the book 'Breaking the mould: Reimagining India's economic future', written jointly by him and Rohit Lamba, assistant professor of economics at Pennsylvania State University, Rajan said one of the greatest strength of India is its human capital of 1.4 billion and the question is "how do you make it strong?" The nation needs to create jobs at every level going along the path of development, said Rajan, presently Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at Chicago Booth, USA.
'We have essentially tried to set out an agenda for the next five years and it, in essence, represents the political commitment to that agenda.'
Prabha Atre, the woman who could have been lawyer, scientist or doctor but became a globally renowned Hindustani classical vocalist instead, died in her Pune home on Saturday hours before she was to leave for a concert in Mumbai. She was 92.
Thakur, popularly known as 'jannayak', served as chief minister from December 1970 to June 1971 and from December 1977 to April 1979.
Reforms needed in law to render social justice: Ex-CJI
Private and foreign corporate investment may soon get to flow into Indian higher education with the government considering a move to reform policy that hinders such financing.
'The provincial universities have already been lost at the hands of unscrupulous politicians, the central universities are fast moving towards deep degeneration.'
Increasing female economic participation by ensuring equal work opportunities for women and expanding access to education and skills training for female entrepreneurs.
It will be in Modi's interest to reinvent his party, read the writing on the wall that voters wrote, and move ahead. He has little choice now. The country is watching, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Planning Commission Member N K Singh on Wednesday said there was a need to continue with crucial economic reforms to sustain eight per cent GDP growth.
Uzbekistan's ambassador to India Dilshod Akhatov said on Tuesday that constitutions of 190 countries, including that of India, were studied to bring in holistic and comprehensive changes to the Constitution of the country.
The blueprint submitted to the prime minister identified agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, education and sustainability as five key areas of focus. The government should 'encourage infrastructure funding by mandating five or six institutions to create an infra bond market", IMC president Gul Kripalani said in the Action Plan submitted to the prime minister.
'Who has seen what Sharia is? Who knows what actual Sharia is?'
All eyes will be on whether Sitharaman will deliver a populist budget leaving more money in hands of the common man or push the reform agenda by staying on the fiscal glide path to lower the fiscal deficit to 4.5 per cent of GDP by 2025-26.
If Mr Modi and his team expect to win the 2019 elections, groundwork for improved performance in their second term should be done now.
The analysis of five candidates could not be completed as their affidavits are either badly scanned or complete affidavits are not uploaded on the Election Commission of India website, they said.
