Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented Budget 2011-12 in Parliament on Monday promising to stimulate growth and bring down inflation. Admitting that food inflation remains a matter of concern, Pranab said that the economy could have performed better. He said that the development needs to be more inclusive while announcing increased outlay on social sector schemes. "Total food inflation is down from 20.2 per cent last year to 9.3 per cent...

Thousands of people have gathered in the Indian capital, Delhi, to take part in a rally to protest against rising food prices and unemployment. A steady stream of protesters, carrying red flags, has been marching through the streets of central Delhi since early morning. The rally has led to massive traffic jams in the city. Trade unions who have called the rally say nearly 40,000 people will attend a meeting at the Ramlila...

The budget session of the Parliament began with President Pratibha Patil’s address. All indications point to a normal functioning of this session, unlike the wasted winter session.  This is because the UPA 2 government has agreed to constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to look into the 2G spectrum allocation scam. If the government were to have done this in the winter session itself, then precious time and resources would...

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan wants it to be the new Singapore. State officials call it Urjanchal, land of energy. For sociologist Sakarama Somayaji, the enduring image from India’s emerging energy wonderland in Singrauli is the women who sell baskets of stones on the roadside. Individually or in groups, the women break stones, and sell them to passing trucks for R80-R90 a basket, a day’s labour. The women are...

Legislation targets poor and vulnerable sections among whom malnutrition was particularly high Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday that the government was committed to bring to Parliament a Right to Food Act which would serve as a viable safety net for the poor and the vulnerable sections among whom malnutrition was particularly high. Addressing an international conference on ‘Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health,' the Prime Minister said such...