-Livemint.com Loan waiver promises fell short of farmers’ expectations in states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janta Party’s (BJP’s) poll promise in Karnataka to waive off farm loans is likely to intensify demands for a similar waiver in other states such as Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan which go to polls this year. In February last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to waive off farm loans...

-Outlook A break-up of the expenses suggests that an average of Rs 22,000 was spent per day on entertaining about 150-200 guests. “Its natural,” says BJP spokesperson Virendar Bisht after RTI query revealed that Uttarakhand chief ministerspent Rs 68,59,865 from the exchequer for buying snacks for his guests. "Such expenses are natural as most of the Janta Darbar & official meetings take place at CM office. But, if they go beyond a limit...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The upcoming Budget poses a big challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There are too many demands on the Budget while the government is expected to stick to its fiscal deficit targets. Traditionally, Modi's Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has been seen to rely on middle-class voters—urban workers and small traders. But Modi's rise to power was fuelled equally by rural voters. Budget 2018-19 being the last full...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In the last one week or so, the government has actively turned its focus towards reviving the country's economy. On Thursday, news agency Reuters quoted government officials to report that the Centre is planning to spend up to Rs 50,000 crore to arrest the 'economic slowdown'. This report came a day after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government is considering additional measures to...

-Hindustan Times The animating impulse of Indian politics, pundits of all stripes insist, is youthful aspiration: fearless young people throwing off the shackles of caste and class to Whatsapp their way to what the Prime Minister likes to call “vikas”. Parties like the Bharatiya Janta Party understand this, the argument goes, and are handsomely rewarded; the opposition doesn’t, and is doomed to failure. But a recent CSDS-KAS survey paints a rather different picture:...