Pranab Mukherjee today got an opportunity to escape the drudgery of financial jargon and immerse himself in phrases such as poor, women, Muslims, farmers, weavers and prices. At an annual pre-budget exercise at the Congress headquarters, most party leaders asked the finance minister to provide relief to “the common man”, bring down inflation to a single digit, reduce petrol prices, lower interest rates on agriculture, housing and education loans and offer...

While the recent sporadic performance of the Indian manufacturing sector has justifiably evoked both concern and comment, another well-documented facet has not received commensurate attention. Organised sector manufacturing in India turned capital intensive in the 1990s and the trend continues inexorably. Research by Business Standard indicates that India Inc added over Rs 13 trillion in fixed assets over the past decade, with over 80 per cent of this accretion since...

Activists hope that a popular agitation against the setting up of a factory to manufacture asbestos products in the eastern Bihar state will result in a nationwide ban on the large-scale import into this country of the deadly mineral fibre. Following six months of agitation against the setting up of the factory in the Chainpur-Bishunpur area of Bihar’s Muzzaffarpur district, state chief minister Nitish Kumar sought to lay blame on the...

Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram is the nation's domestic security chief, overseeing a broad portfolio that includes battling a homegrown Maoist insurgency and routing out terrorists. The 65-year-old, a veteran of the ruling Congress Party who previously held senior economic posts and played a key role in the country's post-1991 liberalization, is considered a future contender for the post of prime minister. Recently, he spoke to The Wall Street Journal. Here...

Advocates carrot and stick formula to ensure compliance Norms must be enforced, which is often difficult, says Prime Minister “Capacity building, key to effective village level planning” In the midst of the raging debate on environment versus development, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has warned that enforcement of environmental standards must not signal a return to the licence permit raj era. Addressing the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)...