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Market capitalism suffers from, what psychiatrists describe as, bipolar disorder. The affliction leads to alternate periods of elation and depression. This ailment can be controlled and managed by treatment, but never completely cured. The Indian economy is currently in a state of changing moods, from euphoria to dejection. There are unmistakable signs of slowing down and growing misery — low demand, absence of private investments, rising unemployment and stagnating production in many important sectors of the economy, including the agricultural sector where farmers are in acute distress. Two questions come to the mind of ordinary citizens: what is the cause of this impending gloom about the economy, and what, if anything, can be done about it to improve the situation? Let’s take the second question first. That the economy is not in proper health is accepted by even the most die-hard Bharatiya Janata Party supporter. The issue is whether we need to do anything about ...

FirstPost PTI October 10,2019 Moody's Investors Service on Thursday slashed its 2019-20 GDP growth forecast for India to 5.8 percent from 6.2 percent earlier, saying the economy was experiencing a pronounced slowdown which is partly related to long-lasting factors. The projection is lower than 6.1 percent that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had forecast just last week. Moody's attributed the deceleration to an investment-led slowdown that has broadened into consumption, driven by financial stress among rural households and weak job creation. "The drivers of the deceleration are multiple, mainly domestic and in part long-lasting," Moody's said in a report. It expected the growth to pick up to 6.6 percent in 2020-21 and to around 7 percent over the medium term. "Although we expect a moderate pick-up in real GDP growth and inflation in the next two years, we have revised down our projections for both. Compared with two years ago, the probabi...

Business Standard PTI, Washington October 08, 2019 Research shows the impact of the trade conflict is widespread and countries must be ready to respond in unison with cash infusions, Kristalina Georgieva said in her first speech as MD of IMF Grinding trade disputes are undermining the global economy, which is set to see its slowest growth in nearly a decade, the new IMF chief said Tuesday. Research shows the impact of the trade conflict is widespread and countries must be ready to respond in unison with cash infusions, Kristalina Georgieva said in her first speech as managing director of the International Monetary Fund. She also called for a ramp-up in carbon taxes to address the other challenge facing the global economy which is climate change. "In 2019, we expect slower growth in nearly 90 percent of the world. The global economy is now in a synchronized slowdown," Georgieva said in a speech ahead of IMF-World Bank autumn meetings next week. ...

FirstPost K.M.Singh October 06, 2019 The provocative speech of Imran Khan at the UN General Assembly closely on the heels of abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir seems to have acted like a fuel to the fire for locals. Khan's speech has emboldened the separatist elements in Kashmir and restoring normalcy in Kashmir remains a major challenge for the administration and would need a deft handling. Two major concerns in the psyche of a sizeable section of people in Kashmir are: firstly, downgrading the status of a major state in India to a Union Territory and secondly, apprehension related to the protection of their land. Downsizing the status of Jammu and Kashmir to Union Territory came as a rude shock to Kashmiris. Union Home Minister Amit Shah,  in his statement in the Parliament in August , had assured restoration of its status as a state in course of time. A reiteration of this assurance at an appropriate level from the Union government would assua...

The Quint  April 15, 2019 TOI India has set up a new Indo-Pacific division in the foreign office, to specifically deal with the region's policies. The division will reportedly be headed by joint secretary Vikram Doraiswami as an additional charge, along with Bangladesh and Myanmar, according to The Times of India (TOI). The division will integrate the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), ASEAN region and the Quad to the Indo-Pacific table. The Quad, a group of like-minded democracies comprises the US, Japan, India and Australia across the Indo-Pacific region. I ndia for improved multilateralism with focus on Indo-Pacific Strategically Important To Bring Region Under One Umbrella: Vishnu Prakash Former diplomat Vishnu Prakash said that the move is an effort to bring the nations of the Indo-Pacific region under one umbrella. "At the moment, we have a desk looking after the Asean region, we have a desk looking after the Indian Ocean countries. As...

Economic Times April 14, 2019 PTI As many as 344 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or more, have shown cost overruns to the tune of over Rs 3.16 lakh crore owing to delays and other reasons, a report said.  "Total original cost of implementation of the 1424 projects was Rs 18,17,469.76 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 21,33,649.81 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 3,16,180.05 crore (17.40% of original cost)," the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation's latest report for December 2018 said.  The ministry monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above.  Of these 1,424 projects, 344 reported cost overruns and 384 time escalation.  According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till December 2018 was Rs 8,06,997.78 crore, which is 37.82 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.  However, it said the number of delayed project...

The Indian Express Srinath Rao September 22, 2018 H C Agrawal is a 1988-batch India Postal Service officer currently serving as the Chief Postmaster General, Maharashtra Circle. Prior to this, he served as the Director of the Mumbai GPO and the Deputy Director General ( Aadhaar  Enrolment) at the Unique Identification Authority of India, New Delhi. In an interview to Indian Express, Agrawal talks about India Post stepping into banking space and changing roles of postmen and post offices. What was the rationale for India Post entering the payments bank space? So far, we have been concentrating on savings banks, collecting deposits that can be used by the Government of India. But the focus of the Indian Post Payments Bank (IPPB) is not on collection of funds from the public but on giving them a platform for digital payments and to facilitate different types of payments. Apart from that, we have made more than three lakh postmen and Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDSs) available for doo...

THE ALL India Jat Aarakshan Sanghrash Samiti (AIJASS) led by Yashpal Malik Sunday announced another phase of protests from August 16 to press for their demands of reservation for Jats in government jobs and the withdrawal of cases lodged during the February 2016 violence that erupted following the quota stir. Initially, the stir will be launched in nine districts of Haryana that have considerable presence of Jats. These are Rohtak, Jhajjar, Bhiwani, Hisar, Kaithal, Jind, Panipat and Sonipat. The AIJASS also said dharnas will be staged wherever Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu go to address public meetings in rural areas from August 16. Reference https://indianexpress.com/article/india/fresh-phase-of-jat-quota-stir-from-august-16-aijass-leader-5303581/

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 12 The 2019 general elections seem to have cast a shadow over the much-talked-about new scrapping policy for commercial vehicles. The proposal, which was to be sent to the Union Cabinet, is seeing fresh round of discussions. The Road Ministry is engaging with States to make the policy more effective, sources in the know said adding that the Ministry is also considering offering interest rate subvention for buying new vehicles. “Bringing such a policy in an election year is difficult,” a senior official told BusinessLine. The government can ill afford to face the wrath of transporters at this juncture as the policy involves fresh investments in buying lakhs of trucks and other heavy vehicles, which will lead to higher expenditure for transporters. Earlier, in April-May, the Road Ministry did prepare the Cabinet note. However, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) advised the Ministry to hold further discussions with the States to make the draft more...

Financial Express August 06, 2018 By Pragya Srivastava Contrary to the common belief that the world has not become a better place, data show that extreme poverty has dropped by almost 90% in the last 100 years. In 1910, 82.4% of people were living in extreme poverty, which shrank to a mere 9.6% in 2015. Presently, the World Bank’s poverty line is $1.90 per day. “In 1950 three-quarters of the world were living in extreme poverty; in 1981 it was still 44%. For 2015 – the last year for which we currently have data – research suggests that the share in extreme poverty has fallen below 10%,” Our World in Data, an Oxford University project said, adding that it’s a huge achievement. The research pointed out that people make the general mistake of thinking that the world is static and nothing much is changing. However, if looked from the long-term perspective, the world has made remarkable progress in eradicating extreme poverty. “To see where we are coming from we mus...