ChinmayC Blog

The economist in Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, has finally decided to take control of the country’s economy and growth, and end the nearly one-year-long policy plus reforms paralysis politically enforced by the opportunist opposition parties as well as the allies of the ruling coalition. Undaunted by the countywide rallies and protests against the diesel price hike on September 13, 2012 Dr. Singh captained his government along to push through the reforms further the very next day. Goodness for the country’s economy and future growth prospects in a global perspective must be kept beyond politics and political fortunes of the government; he seemed to have decided upon. In a landmark decision on the evening of September 14, 2012 the Government of India approved the much opposed 51% FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in the over $500 billion Indian multi-brand retail market and 49% FDI in the misery-ridden Indian aviation sector. The FDI cap for the Broadcasting sector has a...

How many cooking gas cylinders do you use a year or how many days one cylinder lasts for you! The frenetic calculations must be raging at the moment in households or in the minds of housewives across the length and breadth of India! The curious spectacle of the 7 th cylinder must be getting embedded in various brains. But the first story first. After months of introspection, retrospection and brainstorming the Government of India today took the courageous decision of hiking diesel prices by 12% or 5 rupees per litre. This is very courageous basically on two grounds; first, diesel has been the basic fuel of India used in various activities meant largely for the poor and the farmers and second, with the political opposition hounding for controlling inflation and the pressure of big and bigger scams building all the time the ruling coalition government was in a tight corner. The fiscal deficit of the government that has been growing due to the heavily subsidized diesel, cooking gas and ...