With elections in sight, low food prices are a budget problem for PM Modi

A low inflation spell in an election year should be good news for any government, right? Wrong.

For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the subdued inflation numbers, due largely to low food prices, may present a budget problem. His government may have to shell out more to compensate farmers for low market prices of some crops under a plan announced this year with a view to double farm incomes by 2022.

“India’s falling food prices could become a bane for Modi,” said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic adviser at the nation’s largest lender State Bank of India. “A bumper harvest that’s led to crashing of food prices will increase the burden on the government to compensate farmers.”

In July, the government raised support prices of crops such as cotton, soybeans and paddy rice to ensure farmers get at least 50 per cent more than the estimated production costs. That means in the event of a crash in market prices, the government would have to chip in and ensure the sale of the produce by farmers at guaranteed prices.

Gaganyaan: Isro's first manned space mission on schedule, says Raghavan

Gaganyaan - The Indian Space Research Organisation will complete its first manned space mission on schedule as the programme was finalised a few years ago, K Vijay Raghavan, principal scientific advisor to the government of India, has stressed.

"This mission is not happening out of the blue, nor is it a coincidence. We were giving shape to this mission for a while," Raghavan told PTI-Bhasha in an interview.

One of the most distinguished biologists, Raghavan, 64, was appointed the principal scientific advisor in March.

The post of principal scientific advisor was created by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1999. The PSA is the topmost advisor to the government on scientific policy matters.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Independence Day this year that India will put a man or woman in the space on board 'Gaganyaan' by 2022, Raghavan said, Isro has been moving ahead to complete the mission as per the schedule.

Rahul Gandhi slams mob lynchings and attacks on Dalits; BJP hits back

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said mob lynchings and attacks on Dalits and minorities reflected the anger that currently pervaded India’s society because of growing joblessness and the Narendra Modi government taking away protections provided to the country’s poor. He said the Modi government’s demonetisation and poorly implemented goods and services tax (GST) have destroyed the informal economy and killed jobs in the small and medium businesses, which contributed to this anger.

Addressing a gathering at the Bucerius Summer School at Hamburg in Germany, of which Rahul Gandhi is an alumnus, the Congress president pointed to the example of the rise of the Islamic State, in Iraq and Syria to caution that excluding a large number of people from the development process could lead to creation of insurgent groups anywhere in the world.

Vajpayee's health continues to remain critical, on life support: AIIMS

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's condition continues to remain critical, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said in a statement on Thursday. Vajpayee's health worsened on Wednesday and he is on life support system.

"Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Health condition continues to remain the same. He is critical and on life support systems," the statement by the hospital read.
Senior BJP leaders Lal Krishna Advani, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh paid visits to the AIIMS on Thursday to enquire about the health of the former prime minister.
Earlier in the morning, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu visited AIIMS to enquire about the condition of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who has been undergoing treatment at the premier institute.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress president Rahul Gandhi are expected to visit the premier medical institute soon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visited AIIMS on Wednesday at around 7:15 pm in the evening to enquire about the health condition of Vajpayee. After Modi, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi also paid a visit.

'Excellent question': Rahul pokes Gadkari over 'where are the jobs' comment

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday took a potshot at the Narendra Modi-led government over the unemployment issue after one of his cabinet ministers conceded that there is a job crunch.

"Excellent question (Nitin) Gadkariji. Every Indian is asking the same question. Where are the jobs," Gandhi tweeted attaching a news report in which the Union Road Transport and Shipping Minister questioned the rationality behind a job reservation stir when there were not enough jobs in the first place.

Gandhi's remarks came a day after Gadkari on Sunday told reporters in Maharashtra that reservation would not guarantee employment as jobs were shrinking.

"Let us assume the reservation is given. But there are no jobs. Because in banks, the jobs have shrunk because of IT. The government recruitment is frozen. Where are the jobs?" Gadkari asked.

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As Sec 377 is in force, Rahul Gandhi must marry before we hug him: BJP MP

A day after Rahul Gandhi said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs step back on seeing him as they fear he might hug them, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Thursday took a jibe, saying the leaders might be divorced by their wives if they embrace the Congress president as "Section 377 hasn't been scrapped as yet".

Dubey said BJP MPs can hug Gandhi only when the Congress president gets married.=

"Why should we hug him. Section 377 hasn't been scrapped as yet. And our wives will also give divorce to us. If Rahul Gandhi gets married, then we will hug him," he said.  

The IPC's Section 377 criminalises sex among people of the same gender. 

Rahul vs Modi: Congress and BJP fight over Rafale deal in Lok Sabha

The Congress party on Monday fielded former defence minister A K Antony in the Lok Sabha to demand the Narendra Modi government make public the price at which Rafale fighter jets are being purchased.

Countering Antony’s charges, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad termed it a “collective singing of falsehood” to defend Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Prasad said Gandhi was “prima facie guilty of breach of privilege for misleading” the Lok Sabha.


The Congress chief had raised the issue of the price of Rafale in the Lok Sabha on Friday, during the debate on the no-confidence motion against the government. In the discussion, Prime Minister (PM) had termed Rahul’s accusations “childish”. Some of the members of parliament (MPs) of the BJP have also moved a privilege motion against the Congress chief.

On Monday, the Congress accused the PM and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of “lying” in Parliament on the Rafale deal. The party said there was no secrecy clause in the 2008 Indo-French pact.

The Centre, however, has argued that the agreement binds the government from revealing price details. The Congress might even move a privilege motion against the PM and Sitharaman for “misleading” the Lok Sabha.

World not ready to Make in India? Samsung plant masks Modi govt's struggle

Despite a sleek marketing campaign, the world isn’t quite ready to ‘Make in India.’

Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in celebrated the inauguration of what Samsung Plant called the world’s largest mobile phone factory. At the splashy event just outside New Delhi, Modi said the facility was “extremely important” for his 'Make in India' initiative to boost manufacturing to 25 per cent of India’s economy by 2020 and create millions of jobs. Samsung said the plant was a “shining example” of the success of the program.

But the investment is more the exception than the norm. Data from the World Bank and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) show manufacturing hasn’t received a significant boost since Modi took office in 2014.

While India’s economy has overtaken France to become the world’s sixth largest, manufacturing has shrunk to about 15 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) from a peak of 18.6 per cent in 1995, according to the World Bank. Other data show new investments in India have dropped and stalled projects are on the rise.

BJP pulls out of alliance with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, CM Mufti resigns

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) broke its alliance with Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday, forcing Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to resign at the end of an uneasy partnership at a time when fresh violence was stalking the militancy-hit state.

“It has become untenable for the BJP to continue in the alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir," general secretary Ram Madhav said in New Delhi, blaming Mufti’s party for challenging security conditions. He did not, however, name Mufti in his address to the press.

The BJP’s decision, which was taken after consulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah, raised the possibility of governor's rule in the politically volatile state for the eighth time, news agency PTI reported.

“Keeping in mind that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and in order to control the prevailing situation in the state, we have decided that the reins of power in the state be handed over to the governor," Madhav said.

Immediately after his news conference, senior PDP minister and party's chief spokesperson, Naeem Akhtar, told reporters in Srinagar that CM Mufti will submit her resignation to Governor N N Vohra.

In the national capital, Madhav said the Centre’s ruling BJP did everything feasible for the development of the state, which has been on the boil since the killing of a militant leader two years ago.

A welfare scheme for 500 mn Indians: Is this Modi's big plan for 2019?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to extend a welfare program to India’s 500 million workers as he bids for re-election 2019, but he has limited time and resources to implement the ambitious plan.

PM Modi aims to initially provide three programs — old age pension, life insurance and maternity benefits, while leaving out unemployment, child support and other benefits — to most working citizens, government officials said, asking not to be identified as discussions are private.

While it could translate into significant political gains to offset the challenges he faces in the lead up to the national poll, it is likely to add pressure on India’s fiscal deficit, already one of the widest in Asia.

The government has drafted a bill to extend benefits to all workers, including those in informal employment, by merging and simplifying 15 federal labour laws into one. It plans to present the bill in July in the upcoming session of Parliament, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar told Bloomberg News, while remaining non-committal on a full-fledged roll-out before the national poll.

Explained in 9 charts: How India got thousands of railway passengers to fly

There are a few things about the Indian railways’ performance and the boom in India’s aviation sector under the Narendra Modigovernment that catch the eye.

For one, in an unprecedented development, the number of rail passengers travelling in 2nd AC compartments in 2016-17 saw a steep decline from a year earlier. Secondly, fewer people have been using the Indian Railways services than during the last few years of the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Thirdly, the exponential growth seen in the number of India’s air travellers lately has as much to do with the pricing of railway tickets as with rising incomes and falling jet fuel prices leading to air tickets being more affordably priced.

And, finally, if India’s per capita income continues to increase at the pace it has over the past decade, and airlines continue to price tickets within the levels of decency – in addition to Indian Railways aiding airlines by providing poor services on trains despite rail tickets costing almost the same as air fares – there is little doubt that more Indians will pay a bit more and fly.

Some hits, some misses in Modi's first term: Does he deserve a second one?

Four years ago this week, Narendra Modi was sworn in as India's prime minister amid the kind of excitement and expectation not seen in decades. Not for 30 years had a single party won an electoral majority. Modi's success, his rhetoric and his background all seemed like a decisive break with India's past -- one which many Indians were eager to embrace.

What precisely was expected from Modi? Surely, that's one fair way to judge how his government has done as he makes a bid for reelection next year. As far as economic policy goes -- which was where the previous Congress administration had disappointed the most -- voters hoped to see three things: less corruption, greater decisiveness in policymaking and more market-friendly reform.

Even Modi’s critics have to admit – and welcome – the fact that he’s made real progress on all three. Even his fans, though, must acknowledge that given its advantages, his government hasn’t lived up to its potential.

Ujjwala has led social change, 45% of beneficiaries dalits and tribals: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the 'Ujjwala Yojna', a flagship welfare scheme of his government aimed at increasing LPG cylinder coverage among poor families, has led to a social transformation with over 45 per cent of its forty million beneficiaries being Dalits and tribals.

In an interaction with the scheme's beneficiaries, he underlined his government's pro-Dalit credentials by comparing benefits given to the community under it against what they received under the Congress-led UPA government.

While Dalits got 445 petrol pumps under 2010-14 during the UPA rule, more than 1200 of them got it during 2014-18 in his government's rule, he said, adding that the corresponding figures for LPG distribution centres for the community are over 900 and 1300.

"Since people started to get benefits under the Ujjwala Yojna, a big social transformation is visible. I am happy to tell you that out of its four crore beneficiaries 45 per cent are Dalits and tribals," he said.

Demonetisation effect: Demand for cash rises 7%, says RBI

People’s demand for cash continues to head northwards compared to pre-demonetisation levels despite the frequency of digital transactions going up and a substantial increase in bank deposits since November 2016.

Currency with the public (CwP), or people’s demand for cash or currency, is 7 per cent higher at Rs 18.25 trillion at the end of April compared to Rs 17 trillion at the beginning of November 2016, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) data reveals.

Over the past four years, through its twin policies of Jan Dhan Yojana and demonetisation, the government has taken necessary steps to expand banking services substantially.
Today, around 80 per cent of Indians have a bank account, thanks to improvements in access to formal finance channels.

While account ownership has increased by 79 per cent since 2014, around 38 per cent of all bank accounts were inactive over the course of last year, the survey found. Similarly, the Jan Dhan Yojana, which was launched in 2014, has added around 310 million banking accounts with deposits totalling Rs 812 billion as of May 9.

Good show by Modi govt in four years; private sector now needs to pitch in

Evaluating the performance of any government on economic grounds is challenging. This is so because direct linkages are at best by chance as phenomena like oil prices, monsoons, global forces etc. affect inflation and exchange rates which are beyond the purview of any government. Further, it would also be disingenuous to say that the NPAs are high during a particular regime due to the ruling government as these things build up over time and mere recognition cannot be attributed to a government.

Hence, to evaluate the performance of the NDA government in the last 4 years a twofold approach is required. The first is to judge what is within the purview of the government and the progress made therein and the second is a comparison of economic indicators in the pre- and post-periods as part of the routine.

The performance of the NDA government in terms of conceptualisation and implementation of policies has been most remarkable with very little left to be done. The major reforms that were noteworthy are bringing in the eNAM (electronic national agricultural market), opening up of FDI (defence and railways equipment included), GST, power sector reforms, addressing NPA issue through the IBC and recap measures, improving the doing business environment, channeling funds for the SMEs etc.

Karnataka shows what Modi should most fear ahead of 2019 general elections

As a politician, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is distinguished by his relentlessness. Every vote, every constituency, every election matters. Modi has built his Bharatiya Janata Party into an electoral juggernaut that runs 21 of India’s 29 states; 70 per cent of India’s population is ruled by the BJP at both the state and the federal level.

In some of these states, such as the vast northern territory of Uttar Pradesh, the party swept elections on its own. In others, such as UP’s struggling neighbor Bihar, the BJP stole away one member of the ruling coalition in order to seize power for itself. In yet others, such as the coastal state of Goa, the opposition Congress Party in fact did better than the BJP in the elections only to discover that Modi’s lieutenants were far more skillful alliance-builders.

Last weekend, in the southern state of Karnataka -- home to India’s IT capital, Bangalore -- Modi discovered the limits of this strategy. Karnataka was the last major state ruled by Congress; after a bruising election campaign, the BJP ended up winning more seats in the state assembly, though not quite enough to form an outright majority.

Karnataka polls: This will be my last election, says Siddaramaiah

As the Karnataka Assembly election 2018 draws closer, top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress leaders are holding back-to-back rallies in the state to boost their respective parties' chances of securing a win in the crucial election. The Karnataka Election Watch and Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Monday analysed affidavits of Karnataka polls candidates, filed with the Election Commission (EC). Of the 2,654 candidates in the fray for the May 12 Karnataka Assembly elections, at least 883 are crorepatis and 645 have criminal cases against them, said the two watchdogs.

"The average assets of the 883 (35 per cent) crorepati candidates are worth Rs 75.4 million. Of the 645 contestants, 254 (10 per cent) face serious criminal cases and 391 (15 per cent) face criminal cases," revealed the study. Affidavits of all the contesting 223 BJP candidates were analysed. Two hundred and eight (93 per cent) of the 223 candidates in fray from the BJP have declared assets worth over Rs 10 million. Of the 2,654 candidates in the fray for the May 12 Karnataka Assembly elections, at least 883 are crorepatis and 645 have criminal cases against them - the highest number among all the parties contesting.

A total of 207 (94 per cent) of the 220 candidates from the ruling Congress, 154 (77 per cent) of the 199 candidates from Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and 199 (18 per cent) of the 1,090 Independents have declared assets more than Rs 10 million.

Karnataka poll updates: Manmohan attacks Modi for 'economic mismanagement'

As the Karnataka Assembly election 2018 draws closer, top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress leaders are holding back-to-back rallies in the state to boost their respective parties' chances of securing a win in the crucial election.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, too, joined the Congress election campaign in the state on Monday, addressing a press conference in Bengaluru. Singh attacked the Modi government for its economic policies, saying that the country was facing a crisis that was avoidable.


Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with Karnataka BJP Yuva Morcha workers. Addressing Karnataka BJP workers via NaMo app on Monday, the Prime Minister accused the Opposition of being against new technologies promoted by the central government.

Looking to dethrone the Congress-led government in Karnataka, Modi kick-started a series of election rallies in the poll-bound state on May 1, with a total of 21 rallies scheduled. On Sunday, he addressed rallies in Chitradurga, Raichur, Jamakhandi, and Hubli.
As the Karnataka election inches closer, a political slugfest has erupted in the state, with parties firing a barrage of barbs at one another. Gandhi has advised Prime Minister Modi to "copy" and implement at the Centre the Karnataka government's plan for the welfare of Dalits and Adivasis. Modi, for his part, reminded voters that United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party chief Rahul Gandhi were out on bail in connection with a Rs 50-billion (Rs 5,000-crore) scam.

Bihar bus accident: How the official death toll came down from 27 to zero

The Bihar bus accident that was reported and confirmed by the state government to have claimed more than two dozen lives has turned out to be a major goof-up on the part of the authorities. A day after confirming 27 deaths in the accident, the Bihar Disaster Management Minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav backtracked on Friday, saying there were no deaths in the accident.

"Yes, I said 27 people have died. It was based on info from local sources, but I also said that only final report will be considered," Yadav told ANI.

The mix-up over the death toll arose from the confusion over the number of passengers travelling in the bus that overturned and caught fire at NH-28 in Bihar's East Champaran district. The private AC bus was on its way to Delhi from Muzzafarpur in Bihar.

Earlier reports had indicated that a total of 32 passengers were travelling in the private bus.

But, now it has emerged that only 13 passengers, besides the driver and a helper, were inside the bus when the accident took place.

"A total of 32 passengers had booked their seats in the private bus, out of whom only 13 had boarded at Muzaffarpur and the remaining were likely to catch the vehicle at Gopalganj," PTI cited regional news channel reports.

Markets are not factoring in Karnataka poll outcome yet, say analysts

Market have not yet priced in the possibility of a loss for the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming assembly election in Karnataka. Though analysts expect a knee-jerk reaction to the outcome on May 15, they believe the markets will start focussing on other global and domestic events soon after.

Nilesh Shah, managing director at Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund believes the S&P BSE Sensex could dip sharply if the BJP loses Karnataka. He, however, expects the recovery to be equally swift. A win, on the other hand, could take markets higher.

assembly election, karnataka election, elections, union election, BS election “Markets are not factoring in a loss for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka yet. On the contrary, there are reports that suggest that the BJP will win – and probably that’s why the S&P BSE Sensex was able to cross the 35,000 mark in April. That said, stability should return after a knee-jerk reaction, as the markets will look at events beyond the Karnataka election outcome,” he says.