Policy reforms required to bring about better convergence of schemes Streamlining of environment clearance for infrastructure projects suggested Higher farm sector share in economic development needed The Economic Survey 2010-11 has advised the government to carry out nearly a dozen reforms pertaining to various sectors of the economy and stressed that action in this regard would be necessary to achieve the 9 per cent GDP (gross domestic product) expansion projected for 2011-12 and...

President Pratiba Patil today said the Centre is consulting state governments on the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA), which will give the poor a legal entitlement to subsidised foodgrains. “The states are being consulted as the success of the programme (NFSA) hinges critically on their commitment to reforms in the public distribution system (PDS),” Ms. Patil said in her address to Parliament to mark the beginning of the Budget Session. The...

The government put out a promised new price index on Friday that will capture changes in prices of goods and services sold at the retail level, helping the government and the central bank get a better grip on policy tools while tackling inflation. Central banks world over rely on retail prices while framing monetary policy, but the Reserve Bank of India has had to consider mostly the wholesale price index...

While inflation has been hitting people hard across the country, the rate of price rise has been the most in Kerala, Orissa and Meghalaya, as per government data released today.     In all three states, the consumer price index (CPI) overall stood at 108 in January from a base of 100 in 2010, suggesting inflation of 8 per cent. Incidentally, even richer states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi and Punjab reported a...

Inflation is beginning to hurt seriously, corruption is at an all-time high and the government is not doing enough to tackle either problem. That is the way India's big cities feel on the two big issues dominating headlines in recent months, according to an 8-city survey done exclusively for TOI. Asked what impact rising prices have had on their household budgets, only 3% said it has had a small impact. About...