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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast India will grow 7.5 per cent in 2015-16, up from 7.2 per cent in the current year, a projection less optimistic than that of the Modi government. In the Union budget 2015, the government estimated growth of up to 8.5 per cent in 2015-16. The Indian economy is the bright spot in the global landscape, becoming one of the fastest-growing big emerging market economies in the world, the IMF said in an official statement. The report stressed the urgency of certain key reforms, including the bottlenecks in the energy, mining and power sectors; infrastructure gaps, land acquisition processes and environmental clearances. In its annual assessment of the Indian economy in the mandatory Article IV annual report, the IMF said that India’s vulnerabilities have receded more than those of most emerging markets and sentiment has been revived. “The Indian economy is reviving, helped by positive policy actions that have improved confide...

The recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission headed by former RBI Governor YV Reddy, which was accepted by the government and announced during this year’s Budget marks a huge transformative shift in public finance and in terms of fiscal autonomy for states with higher transfer of funds — 42 per cent compared to previous Commissions. The Commission’s award is expected to usher in a new era of both co-operative and competitive federalism. Dr Reddy, spoke to Shaji

He is the first Indian PM to visit the island nation in 34 years Prime Minister Narendra Modi clicks a picture during dedication of the India - Seychelles cooperation project 'Coastal Surveillance Radar System' in Mahe, Seychelles, on Wednesday.— PHOTO: PTI Terming Seychelles a “trusted friend and a strong strategic partner,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday wrapped up the first leg of his three-nation tour of the Indian Ocean countries with both nations underlining the need for comprehensive cooperation in the region. “Our security partnership is strong. It has enabled us to fulfil our shared responsibility to advance maritime security in the region,” Mr. Modi said. He is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Seychelles in 34 years. Highlighting India’s push for regional integration, Mr. Modi observed: “We also hope that Seychelles will soon be a full partner in the maritime security cooperation between India, Maldives and Sri Lanka.” During his meet...

It is not often that the King of Saudi Arabia receives visiting foreign dignitaries at the airport. That precisely is what King Salman did on Wednesday when he went to the Riyadh airport to lay out an ostentatious welcome to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. There is speculation that the Saudi Kingdom is seeking Pakistan’s military support to shore up its internal and external defences amidst mounting regional tensions. No announcements were made after Sharif met King Salman and other senior members of the Saudi Royal family. But security cooperation was reportedly at the top of the agenda.

Controversies have a way of fragmenting the narrative of stories. They also have a touch of scandal which generates not merely outrage but also an epidemic of political correctness. The recent ban of the BBC documentary, titled  India’s Daughter  , on the Nirbhaya rape case, is an example. I sat and watched the documentary. It is powerful and compelling. What holds one’s attention are the fragments of conversation from the convict and the quiet responses of the family. What is irrelevant or possibly elliptical to the movie is the commentary of the NGOs that spread out like politically correct icing. The reactions of Krishnan, Kanth, Seth, all sensitive people, are reasonable in themselves but they do not touch the core of the narrative.

As he swings across the  Indian  Ocean this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s biggest challenge is not  about  countering China. After  all , Beijing is far away and  India is right in the middle of the  Indian  Ocean. In the near term, the tyranny of  geography will limit the scope and intensity of Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean. Modi’s real problem is in Delhi, afflicted by a condition called continentalism, which has proved rather difficult to overcome.

The Bharat Krishak Samaj (BSK) has long urged the merger of the agriculture ministry with the water resources and rural development ministries, in the interests of  better coordination. With cooperative federalism gaining currency as an idea, that might just become possible. Now, the panchayati raj and  food  processing ministries could join the club, leaving agriculture, for  all  practical purposes, to the states, as envisaged by the Constitution. But we must be careful what we wish for.

People who think  about  the United Nations too much tend to develop distinctly strange views of  international  affairs. Seventy years old this year, the  world  organisation is not letting old age slow it down. Its aid workers and peacekeepers are on the frontlines, from the wars in the Middle East to Ebola-stricken West Africa. Yet, diplomats and UN officials often struggle to focus on the ugly realities of these crises. It is easy to get sucked into the minutiae of the UN’s ineffably complex rules of procedure  and committee work instead. If you sit in the  Security  Council (UNSC) or General Assembly in  New  York, these details appear to be of global importance.

Breaking  away from the traditional pension fund management system for  government employees, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is planning to provide them with a variety of investment options where they can park their funds, including a choice to deploy 50 per cent of their contribution into equities. This will be a marked change from the  current  default scheme that allows up to 15 per cent of contribution to be invested into equities.

India and Iran will together review the issue of maximum residue levels (MRL) of pesticides in teas in order to increase India’s exports of the commodity to the high-value market. During the visit of an official delegation, it was decided that a joint technical group would review this issue, at a time when Iranian importers are seeking increased level of orthodox tea exports from India, with an assurance on the MRL front.

Scientists have discovered the “earliest and most credible” primitive animal fossil in 600-million-year-old rocks in southwest China, media reports say. The research led by Chinese scientists described a well-preserved, rice grain-sized primitive sponge fossil in the Guizhou Province, a Xinhua report said.

The  release of the Kashmiri separatist leader Masarat Alam  by the Mufti Mohammed Sayeed government is not so much a national security crisis as it is a crisis for the relations between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Peoples Democratic Party. The BJP-led government at the Centre tried to hide its embarrassment at the actions of its ally in Jammu and Kashmir by quickly clarifying that it  does not agree with the freeing

The recent revival of the discussion on enacting a Uniform Civil Code, which its proponents believe will give all women equal rights, overlooks the reality of the discrimination that Hindu women continue to face despite amendments in Hindu personal laws, including on issues of maintenance and inheritance. Rather than uniformity in law, women need an accessible and affordable justice system. Flavia Agnes (flaviaagnes@gmail.com) is a women’s rights lawyer and director of Majlis, which runs a rape victim support programme in Mumbai. An influential, senior criminal lawyer of the Bombay High Court, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and, on his own admission, a close associate of the Prime Minister, spelt out the agenda of his party to enact the Uniform Civil Code at a recent lecture. He made it sound so simple: just abolish polygamy and triple talaq, and he added as an afterthought that Christians should be granted the right to divorce by mutual consent (they had already secure...

The budget has become a meaningless exercise with dicey figures and unkept promises. Within a week of the presentation of the Union Budget for 2015–16, the fizz that we saw around it, in a gushing media, has gone flat. When the layers of packaging are removed, there is little in the core. There are only incentives and promises to powerful interests, and mirages for the rest. That is how it has been in the age of media hype and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s second budget is not very different from the smoke and mirrors that have come over the years to mark the central government’s annual financial statement. An intriguing question is the shape Budget 2015 may have taken if the Bharatiya Janata Party had not been brought to earth when it was routed in the Delhi assembly polls. Would there have been “big bang reforms,” whatever that may mean other than a large-scale withdrawal of the state from the public sphere and freedom to employers to hire and d...

BEIJING: China on Sunday said the border dispute with India has been "contained" and the Indian elephant and Chinese dragon should "do more" to strengthen the bilateral cooperation to facilitate its settlement. Addressing his annual press conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's legislature, foreign minister Wang Yi said a warm welcome awaited Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he makes his first visit to China later this year. "Last September, President Xi Jinping made an historic visit to India. Picture of the two leaders working at a spinning wheel in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister, has spread far and wide in China," Wang said in response to a question from PTI about the India-China relations at a nationally-televised crowded press conference. India, China bound by 'unbreakable bond', Narendra Modi says "Chinese people believe in reciprocating the courtesy of others. I am sure when P...