'There is a law that prevents the government from diluting its equity in the PSBs below 50 per cent.' 'That law has to be amended and given the parliamentary arithmetic of the political parties, it is not as simple to do that.'
'We are making a transition from governance to campaign mode.' 'The speed of execution is picking up,' says Union Minister Jayant Sinha.
Erstwhile RBI governors, including Raghuram Rajan never had cordial relations with the government.
'Modi wants to reverse everything Nehru did, but is shy of touching his daughter's most unwise policies.' 'There is no example of this more stark than bank nationalisation,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'Make no mistake, depriving water deliberately to a nation of 190 million people is a repugnant idea.' 'The world community won't forgive us.'
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.
'This coming general election is not going to be about manifestoes.'
'The family is the final court of appeal, the first among unequals. If there is no family, all leaders are equal. If all leaders are equal, anyone can lead the Congress. So every time the family has stayed in the background, the Congress has split.'
'I was at a very senior position in the CBI and what happens is, hints are dropped for you to act upon. But then it depends upon your conscience, to do it or otherwise.' 'I know the rank and file of the CBI, they will bounce back; it is the leadership which has failed.'
Currently, the select committee is considering the Bill.
National interest today demands that Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party seriously think of forming a coalition government -- based on a common minimum programme -- after the next general elections, filmstar-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha has said.
'...Unless we muck up our policies.' 'We have to become a modernised economy.' 'Our institutions should be stronger. And that is most important.' 'The rule of law should prevail and contracts should be enforced.' 'Above all, we have to recognise the importance of globalisation.' 'It is in our favour at this stage. We should grow and become globally competitive.'
Accusing Defence Minister A K Antony of making a "false" statement on Poonch killings, Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Wednesday said he should apologise as his remarks are intended to "exonerate" Pakistan as government wants to continue talks.
Closing ranks, Political parties bristled with outrage over the killing of five Indian soldiers by Pakistan with Congress President Sonia Gandhi declaring that India could not be cowed down by such "blatant acts of deceit".
From Swachh Bharat to spearheading the Make in India campaign, the PMO seems to be at the centre of all policies, writes Nivedita Mookerji.
This means taxpayers might continue to enjoy exemption on maturity of their investments
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that Narendra Modi is the "best possible card" for the party in the Lok Sabha elections and dismissed media speculation that L K Advani was opposed to his elevation.
Asserting that there was no comparison between Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi, the Congress on Sunday said while the Gandhi scion was an undisputed leader, the Gujarat Chief Minister was a "leader of all disputes".
'For half a century, Delhi has not seen a truly powerful ruling party president.' 'The Cabinet, chief ministers, and even the heads of the most powerful departments and agencies now acknowledge where power lies, besides the prime minister's office,' says Shekhar Gupta.
A long crisis with a lack of sound short-term, long-term actions can result in sluggish growth in India, similar to that in Japan.
'The BJP is no longer the BJP. It has become the Bharatiya Janata Poaching Party.' 'They talk of black money and here they are ready to pay Rs 100 crore to MLAs.'
As the Narendra Modi government nears completing a year in office, the Congress on Wednesday stepped up its offensive against the prime minister accusing him of weakening democracy by running a "one-man show" while scoring maximum on "arrogance" and minimum on governance.
2016 saw the worst unrest in the Kashmir valley in 26 years.
Kapil Mishra was one of the closest aides of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. However, in May 2017, the tides turned. A loyalist of the Aam Aadmi Party founder, Mishra shocked one and all by openly accusing him of corruption, a claim that the AAP dismissed. Since then Mishra has become one of the most prominent AAP rebels. In the face of the sit-in by Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and ministers - Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai at Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal's office, Mishra spoke to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com and said that this is the first time in history that a sitting chief minister of a state in India has kidnapped himself.
The attorney general admitted that there is no sovereign guarantee, but asserted that there is a letter of comfort by France which would be as good as a governmental guarantee.
India's economy is not like Western ones, and thus needs restrained fiscal policy even during a recession, says Ajay Shah.
The Budget chose to stick to an ambitious disinvestment programme for 2016-17.
What is required from government is intellectual framework.
'If India is already involved in helping the insurgents in Baluchistan and Karachi, as Pakistan says, it is but one step for New Delhi to bring Dawood or Hafiz Saeed into its sights,' says Amulya Ganguli.
There is much work to be done to design a good GST.
P Chidambaram says all options are on the table.
Behind the BJP's astounding electoral success is a small army of dedicated lieutenants marshalled by Amit Shah.
Younger party leaders are livid with the Murli Manohar Joshi-headed manifesto drafting committee for not taking their suggestions, reports Archis Mohan.
Many in the Bharatiya Janata Party feel that internal democracy in the party is being stifled
His father is a former finance minister. His brother is a minister in the Modi government. But Sumant Sinha wants nothing to do with politics and tells Shreya Jai why he is bullish on the renewable energy sector.
A heavy agenda including the ordinance on the Food Security Bill awaits the Monsoon session of Parliament beginning on Monday amid expectations that the short sitting will be more businesslike and smooth as compared to the din and dust in the last few sessions.
The Sangh's leadership has boxed itself into a tight situation. It now needs to wait and see if Modi can deliver in the Lok Sabha polls, says Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'The extended Bose family is insisting that the Japanese government must release all the information they have on Bose's ashes. It cannot be forgotten that Bose was in Japanese care when his 'death' occurred. Ultimately, it is the Japanese who hold the secret about what happened to him.'
It is quite likely that the Parliament itself could now attract people's scorn. That would be terrible, and not the people but the politicians would be responsible, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament and former investment manager Jayant Sinha on Friday said the country has potential to become a $5 trillion economy.
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