'The IAS officers are after the rich people, the IRS officers are after the middle class and the IPS officers are after the poor. This is the new varnashrama created by the bureaucracy.'
'To identify with the common man, Modi had to look like one.' 'The disastrous suit with his name written on it never made its reappearance.' 'Frequent dress changes during the day, which led Arvind Kejriwal to calculate that Modi spent crores on his attire ever year, too stopped.' 'Instead, a newer Modi emerged: Humble and eager to serve.' Narendra Modi has cleverly repositioned himself as a man of the masses in the past three years, says Aditi Phadnis.
In an emotional response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's jibes at her Italian origins, Sonia Gandhi on Monday said India is her home and "it is here that my ashes will mingle with my loved ones".
Going by the number of changes Mr Jaitley's next Budget is likely to see, he will go down in the history of Budget-making as the finance minister who ushered in the largest number of changes in a single Budget, says A K Bhattacharya.
That "Rollback Budget" ushered in an era of rollback.
The Budget has unveiled measures that should now pave the way for India to progress from Make in India to 'Innovate in India'.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley takes a protectionist stance in favour of domestic companies, increases customs duty on certain products.
The minister said any declaration made under the law will be protected
Let Bihar be damned under its contradictions of having gone 'dry' and then having been submerged under flood, which is a recurrent phenomena? After all it is a godforsaken land, having lost its promises of overcoming its problems, says Mohammad Sajjad.
Re-instatement of 5% custom duty on crude imports will help.
The government on Friday lowered its economic growth forecast.
Protester Sasi Perumal's death has given a new fillip to the pro-prohibition movement, which was beginning to draw attention across Tamil Nadu after different political parties began to make it a part of their poll manifesto for next year, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
An asset swap can simultaneously boost public investment, reduce the fiscal deficit and keep fiscal policy from being pro-cyclical.
Not declaring the black money under the scheme now, but showing it as income in the tax return form would lead to a total levy of 77.25 per cent in taxes and penalty. In case the disclosure is not made either using the scheme or in return, a further 10 per cent penalty on tax will be levied followed by prosecution.
Senior New Delhi-based journalist R Rajagopalan, who has been closely following the Union Budget preparations since 1977, lifts the veil off India's most secretive operation.
Forty years on, ironically, the managerial attention to new businesses has meant almost 40 per cent of revenues now come from the non-tobacco business.
When oil prices collapse from $110 to $45, economic agents in India experience a large income windfall.
Power Minister Piyush Goyal on the government's manufacturing push and other key issues.
The CAD in 2012-13 was at 4.7 per cent of GDP and in 2013-14 it will only 1.7 per cent, the Finance Minister said.
World Bank's Doing Business Indicators ranks India (out of 189) at 132 for trading across borders.
'The money is safe with the payment services solutions provider'.
ITC is one of those few enterprises in the world that has traversed a 100 year journey and has yet managed to remain contemporary, relevant and competitive.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley witll spearhead the campaign with BJP President Amit Shah as its chief strategist.
In an hour-long chat on rediff.com on Thursday, A K Prabhakar, senior VP and Head -- Equity Research (Retail), Anand Rathi Financial Services Ltd, discussed the best stocks to put the investors' money in.
HPCL is now ready to increase the stake of the state government up to 49 per cent.
The government should now focus on governance and monitoring the supply side to manage inflation, says M V Subramanian.
The industry's reactions to the Budget have been mixed.
'People residing in the enclaves have led completely isolated lives. They are stateless, have no official identity proof.' 'It is significant that Modi, Banerjee, Sarkar and Gogoi, despite having different political ideologies, are walking in tandem for the cause of the people residing in the enclaves.' 'If the LBA betters the economy of India and Bangladesh, there will be less turmoil in both these countries.'
'Modi as the PM of the country has to take everybody on board and deliver on good governance. That is his responsibility. In that talking alone won't help, he's working.' Commerce Minister Dr Nirmala Sitharaman tells Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com how the Modi government plans to change India.
The government has provided a long-term vision.
'The UPA's claim of growth at 9.5 percent was absolute nonsense and a fraudulent claim because the country did not grow; it was only statistical growth.' 'I do believe that when there is a determined leader who wants to bring a desired change, the system will begin acting. Today, people think there is policy paralysis, but there is functional paralysis also.' 'When things start moving, people will invest. Many companies are holding cash, many people are not investing. Nobody is making any move. Everybody is waiting for the elections to get over.' Economist and Swadeshi Jagran Manch convenor Swaminathan Gurumurthy in conversation with Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
The sluggish legal system in India makes it extremely difficult for law-enforcing agencies in the ministry of finance to punish violations of foreign exchange laws. Unfortunately, it is not just FEMA. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act too has significant infirmities, say Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Pranati Mehra.
