-Firstpost.com I fear this budget. I fear that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley might announce an idea that I have liked and advocated: The idea of a Universal Basic Income. I fear it because Jaitley may use this label to justify something quite the opposite. In the process, he might ruin a good idea. Straws in the wind indicate that he might try something to this effect. Demonetisation was part of a grand...

-The Indian Express Post-demonetisation, a reversal of the slowdown would require enhanced public spending. It doesn’t appear to be forthcoming. Given the economic uncertainty around the world and the demonetisation-induced domestic downturn in the Indian economy, preparing this year’s Union budget was never going to be an easy task. But the Modi government seems determined to make its task harder. It has managed to generate expectations — that will almost inevitably remain...

-The Hindu EC expresses "serious concern about the cursory manner in which the issue has been dealt with" The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has turned down the Election Commission’s request to enhance the Cash withdrawal limit for nominated candidates in the five poll-bound States, from Rs. 24,000 to Rs. 2 lakh per week, till the declaration of results on March 11. Asking the RBI to reconsider, the EC on Saturday again wrote...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The demonetisation-hit economy, which is expected to limp back to normalcy by the middle of this calendar year, may report a GDP growth rate of around 7 per cent for 2016-17, according to North Block economists. Of course, like all cautious economists, North Block's tribe of coffee swigging GDP forecasters and policy sherpas will add a ceteris paribus (all other things being equal), the Latin term that the followers...

-The Indian Express EC had asked the central bank to relax the weekly bank withdrawal limit from Rs 24,000 to Rs 2 lakh for candidates contesting elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has shot down the Election Commission’s (EC) proposal to relax the weekly withdrawal limit for those contesting the Assembly elections, prompting an angry reaction from the poll panel, which...