-The Business Standard The government must prepare for below-normal monsoon A massive 30 per cent deficiency in the monsoon rainfall in June, coupled with an anticipated low precipitation in September, may add to the government’s difficulties in achieving its growth and fiscal deficit targets. Agriculture may not be the only victim of poor rainfall. Its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) may have dipped to mere 15 per cent but it still...

-The Economic Times The austerity measures announced by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee are likely to help the government save between Rs 800 crore and Rs 1,000 crore, said a senior finance ministry official. The government has decided to cut down on foreign travels of ministers and official delegations and has put a ban on creation of plan and non-plan posts The figure is based on preliminary estimates.  In addition, the 10% cut...

-The New York Times India's coalition government just celebrated the third anniversary of its tenure with a self-congratulatory banquet that could not have been more poorly timed: India's currency, the rupee, is falling; investment is down; inflation is rising; and deficits are eating away at government coffers. While short-term growth has slowed but not ground to a halt, India's problems have dampened hopes that it, along with China and other non-Western economies,...

Amid protests over India's steepest-ever petrol price hike last week, many are now beginning to ask the question: Is the government milking the common man to keep its oil companies profitable? Consider these: Each time, you fill your car with a litre of petrol in Delhi, the Centre gets richer by Rs. 14.78 and state government earns another Rs. 12.20. In 2010-11 ( the latest figures available), the Centre and state governments...

A rural Indian spending Rs. 22.50 a day would not be considered poor by a Planning Commission whose Deputy Chairman's foreign trips between May and October last year cost a daily average of Rs. 2.02 lakh Pranab Mukherjee's stirring call for austerity tugs at the national tear ducts. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pleaded for it in the past and watched his flock embrace it creatively. With the Finance Ministry even...