Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said investment in infrastructure should be doubled to about Rs 41 lakh crore during the 12th Five Year Plan ending 2017 from the prevailing level, and directed concerned authorities to work out the details.
The RBI's decision to raise repo and reverse repo (short-term lending and borrowing) rates by 25 basis points each to 5 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively, on Friday evening was aimed at anchoring price rise.
The Planning Commission on Monday said investment in the infrastructure sector in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-12) will be close to the target of $500 billion, thanks to a better-than-expected show by the telecom sector
Most manufacturers, including Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motors and Hero Honda are already working on advanced indigenous technologies to build greener vehicles.
This follows concern expressed by environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh over poor public allocations for research on the impact of climate change in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
A day before the announcement of the inflation data for August, the Planning Commission said that the figures would remain high but would start declining in subsequent months to reach a level of 6 per cent by December-end.
The MTA will now be placed before the National Development Council, highest policy making body in the country headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The recently established Unique Identification Authority of India has got its official address and is likely to move in soon from its temporary office in the Planning Commission.
Against the all-state average of Rs 3,049 per capita development expenditure, Bihar registered Rs 1,446 during 2005-06. Similarly agaisnt all-state average of Rs 3,826 and Rs 4,208, Bihar recorded per capita development expenditure of Rs 2,123 and Rs 2,184 during 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively.
Can the newly-minted Jal Shakti ministry bring water to some 19 crore Indian households that have never had taps or heard the sound of flowing water, wonders Vinayak Chatterjee.
The guidelines also point out that it is not advisable to form 50-50 JVs, since such a company is regarded as a private company and functions as such, even though the PSU is an equal shareholder. In many cases these entities are not accountable to Parliament or the state assembly.
The Planning Commission on Monday lowered the target for construction of roads under the NHDP scheme to 2,500 km for the current fiscal from 3,165 km in the previous year, which was not met by the road ministry.
The Planning Commission on Monday set targets to augment the country's infrastructure this fiscal, including adding 20,359 MW of power generation capacity and 2,500 km of highways, its Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
In order to help the industry combat the impact of global financial crisis, the government had provided three stimulus packages to the industry resulting in a revenue sacrifice of Rs 1.86 lakh crore (Rs 1.86 trillion).
Earlier on Wednesday, an expert group, headed by former Planning Commission member Kirit Parikh, suggested freeing of fuel prices.
Overall inflation, which has been in double digits for the last five months, was 10.55 per cent in June.
Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, CII said: "This move will bestow the benefits of information technology to the common man and will also help establish citizenship, thus enhancing security at various levels. This would further bring transparency in different delivery channels, help in mapping diverse requirements of the nation and, in turn, assure better planning and strategisation for the country."
The Planning Commission on Tuesday said the Reserve Bank's decision to tighten the money supply will not have any impact on growth and the economy would do better than 8 per cent expansion rate projected by the central bank.
The Planning Commission on Tuesday said it expected industrial production to beat last year's growth and attributed the revival to various stimulus measures. His comments came after latest government data showed that factory production grew 11.7 per cent in November last year.
The Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Wednesday objections to the disinvestment progammes of the government can be sorted out through discussions. Although the government has expressed its commitment to offload equity in state-owned companies while retaining 51 per cent share, the supporting Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had raised objections to it.
Following widespread drought and floods in various parts of the country, food inflation climbed to more than a 10-year high of 19.95 per cent in December, driven mainly by higher prices of potato, other vegetables and pulses.
Replying to a question related to the possibility of additional fiscal stimulus measures in the forthcoming Budget, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said: "We have started some discussion with the finance ministry. This is related to what should be an appropriate size for planned expenditure for 2009-10." In the interim Budget announced in February this year, the planned expenditure for 2009-10 was budgeted at Rs 2,85,149 crore.
The private sector will be expected to contribute up to $500 billion for development of the infrastructure sector during the 12th Plan, an amount which will be nearly half of the total investment projected for the Five-Year period, the Planning Commission has said.
An Economic survey released by the state government said the poverty estimates provided by the Planning Commission reveal poverty ratio in the state is 30.7 per cent, 3.2 per cent more than the all-India (27.5 per cent) figure.
Dr Ashwani Mahajan, all India co-convenor of the Swadesh Jaagran Manch and an associate professor at the Delhi University, discusses the state of the Indian economy in an interview with Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
Pakistan's first satellite will be launched into space by April 2011, a top nuclear scientist of the country said on Tuesday. Leading nuclear scientist Samar Mobarakmand who is also a member of the Planning Commission, made the announcement.
As the debate is on to decontrol fuel prices, the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Thursday said it would be a bad idea to continue with subsidies to keep oil prices subdued.
Ahluwalia's assessment of economic growth is marginally higher than 6.3 per cent projected by the Commission earlier.
The Union government's response to the many comments and criticisms of the 2009-10 Budget was explored by Karan Thapar for Devil's Advocate, the CNN-IBN channel programme, with deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Arvind Subramanian, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, was informally recommended to the post by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
This failure of basic short-term policy is surprising, given the star power that this government brings to its economic management.
The government is likely to raise the Gross Budgetary Support (GBS)-- the amount of assistance provided by the Centre for Plan schemes-- by 15 per cent to Rs 2.60 lakh crore during 2010-11.
The RBI's big decision is not how much to ease but whether to monetise the fiscal deficit.
The sharing of river waters between India and Pakistan is a "sensitive issue" that has the potential for triggering a war between the two countries, an adviser to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said.
Extending the job guarantee programme much beyond digging ponds and building roads, work allotted under NREGA may cover garmenting giving employment to lakhs of people, Textile Secretary Rita Menon has said.
International economic diplomacy will be a major focus for the new government.
Economist Arvind Panagariya is the vice-chairman of NITI Aayog, while economist Bibek Debroy and scientist V K Saraswat are the two full-time members of the Aayog.
The government has earmarked Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) to establish 'a comprehensive system of unique identity for the resident population of the country'. The project will focus on border areas with illegal immigration in mind. It will also facilitate speedy and efficient transactions between individuals and service providers.
The others who will be joining the commission as members are Narendra Jadhav, honorary vice-chancellor of Pune University and Mihir Shah, secretary of Samaj Pragati Sahayog. The government has also retained Abhijit Sen, Syeda Hameed and B K Chaturvedi as members in the reconstituted commission, sources in the Prime Minister's Office said.
Delhi gets more water than Paris, according to a report of the Planning Commission. If the national average water supply for cities is 140 litres per capita, Delhiites guzzle 240 litres per capita. But Delhi, which empties the river Yamuna as it enters the city to fulfill its water needs, says it is facing a water shortage of the intensity of a crisis.
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