The country's economic growth rate slipped to 5.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011-12, lowest in nearly 9 years due to poor performance of the manufacturing and farm sectors.
Economists say even 8.5 per cent growth is an optimistic target, which could not be met, unless the government pushes for economic reforms.
Inter-ministerial group to meet on Thursday to finalise model concession pact.
This is the second time that the Planning Commission will be scaling down the growth projection for the 12th Plan.
Facing flak over expenditure of Rs 35 lakh on toilets, the Planning Commission on Wednesday termed it as routine maintenance and upgradation work and said it was "unfortunate" to call it a wasteful expenditure.
Deficient monsoon is likely to pull down the economic growth in the current fiscal to about six per cent, from 6.5 per cent a year ago, the Planning Commission said on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced its imminent replacement in his Independence Day address, but the new name, structure and key personnel became known only a week ago.
Developers say an increase in the FSI was long due, given the scarcity of land, but stress the need for stronger infrastructure to support such high-rise buildings.
Document to talk about social unrest, energy shortages, global factors.
The authority is set to cross the target by the end of this month, with a million enrolments every day. It has already allotted 116.3 million Aadhar numbers.
This year, however, the quarantine is also being strictly applied to the headquarters of the government's main policy think-tank, the Planning Commission.
The Planning Commission may find those earning more than Rs 32 a day ineligible to qualify as poor but for Mumbai's tiny but affluent Parsi community a "poor Parsi" is one who makes up to Rs 90,000 per month.
Others may be gung-ho about food inflation falling into the negative territory, but not former chief statistician Pronab Sen.
In the mid-1980s, India and the US struggled to arrive at sufficient confidence for Washington to even sell a supercomputer to India for monsoon prospecting. Now, the most sensitive military technologies, data, and intelligence resources are being shared. This would not have happened without that one, big deal that changed the fundamentals of India-US relations, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President V M Sudheeran on Monday flayed the Narendra Modi government's move to scrap Planning Commission and bring in an alternative body in its place.
Slamming the Planning Commission over its controversial definition of poverty, the BJP on Friday dubbed it a "conspiracy" hatched by the body and the Centre to deprive a large number of poor people of benefits under various welfare programmes.
The Planning Commission on Wednesday said that one of its expert groups has suggested rolling out of cashless health and portable universal health coverage (UHC) across the country by 2017.
Poverty in the country fell 7.4 percentage points in the past five years.
Over 4,000 ancient monuments managed by the state archeology departments will get professional and financial help for the first time from the Archaeological Survey of India.
While there is pressure on the Reserve Bank of India to cut policy rates to spur stagnating industrial growth rates, Pronab Sen, principal advisor to the Planning Commission, says the central bank should exercise caution till it is sure inflationary expectations are under control.
India may end the financial year with a seven per cent GDP growth rate, as the economic deceleration is expected to continue in the third quarter, said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
The Planning Commission's de-linking entitlement benefits for the poor from the Suresh Tendulkar committee's recommendation on determination of poverty has left a big question mark on the number of beneficiaries to be covered under the proposed Food Security Act.
Under attack over the Rs 32 per capita per day (in urban India and Rs 26 per day per person in rural areas) cut off for poverty line, the Planning Commission on Monday distanced itself from the controversial definition presented to the Supreme Court saying it did not represent its views.
'Second-generation neoliberal policies, coupled with multiple failures on the food front, could do to the UPA what India Shining did to the NDA in 2004,' says Praful Bidwai.
This is essential to promote investment in essential infrastructure such as Power. Any additional burden will only pass on to the end consumer.
Maharashtra is facing trouble on two fronts: economic development and fiscal management.
When India's Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma met his counterpart in Beijing last year, he spoke mainly about India's yawning trade deficit and China agreed that this was a problem that needed fixing.
The question is how to genuinely assess the felt needs of citizens who are below a decent way of living, based on their consumption of food and arrangement for housing.
According to principal advisor with the Planning Commission and former chief statistician, Pronob Sen, there were 40-45 million more people in the age group of 15-59 between 2004-05 and 2009-10. The unemployment rate has correspondingly fallen from 2.3 per cent to 2 per cent of the labour force.
The Planning Commission said the decision of oil marketing companies to raise petrol price by Rs 3.14 per litre is a good news and will provide credibility to the economic reforms process.
Defending the government's decision to open up the multi-brand retail sector to foreign investment, Plan panel deputy chief Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Friday said it would help farmers as well as consumers.
Trade unions have to become much less relevant to India's future if we have to recognise that job-creation is more important than job preservation, says TeamLease CEO Manish Sabharwal.
The Congress on Monday supported Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's statements for a "reasoned debate" on the Lokpal Bill and that there is a "lot of scope for give and take" on the issue.
"Attempts should be made to curtail growth of subsidies to achieve nine per cent growth. We are trying to achieve nine per cent growth. Though there are major challenges like global slowdown, we will achieve the target," Singh said.
In a report to the Planning Commission, the panel headed by former SAIL chairman S K Roongta suggested at least 30 central PSUs be listed in the next three years, going up to 50 over five years.
"This year, at the Planning Commission, we expect growth rate will be around 8 per cent. We are not expecting 9 per cent in the year 2011-12," Ahluwalia said while speaking at the convocation ceremony at Vijna Jyothy Institute of Management.
The manner in which the government and the political opposition in Delhi have been guilt-tripped into this debate on the poverty line is a reflection of a broader phenomenon that has taken root within the minds of the thinking class at large, says Shashi Shekhar.
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