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Faced with the challenge of bringing a turnaround in the economy and bridging the fiscal deficit, the Modi Government has shifted the usual focus of the annual budget from the regular sole allocation-oriented approach to attracting both domestic and foreign investment for implementation of its novel schemes. As the global economy is showing signs of improvement and Asia and the emerging economies are becoming favoured destinations for foreign direct investments (FDIs), India hopes to become a larger beneficiary.

LUCKNOW: Enthused by the grand success in Uttar Pradesh where party got 72 seats out of total 80 in Lok Sabha, BJP is now seriously pursuing the agenda to capture power in UP.

Is there any hope of the 16th Lok Sabha functioning well? The beginning of the budget session on Monday shows signs of the repeat of the 15th Lok Sabha when the government could not transact much business throughout and the house did not discuss and debate many serious issues. One hoped that with a stable government and a fractured opposition in place, the Parliament might function better.

Former strongman of Bihar Lalu Yadav is facing unprecedented crisis of his political career. The last Lok Sabha election was the last time for him to prove that he could stage a comeback after loosing Bihar Assembly Election of 2005. Since then his political fortunes measured in terms of electoral success has seen continuous and gradual decline.

The Modi Government is faced with the dual challenge of bringing an upturn in the economy by achieving a growth rate in the range of 5.4 per cent to 5.9 per cent and moderating the trend in price inflation.

The raw deal meted out to Kerala by the first railway budget presented by the Modi Government has touched off a wave of anger in the state.

After the new Government presents its budgetary proposals in the Parliament the Prime Minister Narendrabhai Damodardass Modi is slated to begin his engagements with the emerging economies of the world. Close cooperation among the emerging economies has become imperative as the world economy is yet to come out of the crisis that befell in August-September 2008.

Few would believe their ears when the Union Railway Minister Mr. D.V. Sadananda Gowda presenting the maiden railway budget of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Government frankly conceded that an organization of big magnitude “vested with varied responsibilities is expected to earn like a commercial enterprise but serve like a welfare organization”. Stretching the imagery further he hit the nail on the head by stating that these two objectives are “like two rails of the railway track, which though travel together but never meet”. What a candid confession that the system he is presiding over had been milked arid over the years by successive railway ministers who preceded him so much so that social service obligation of providing concessional carriage of both passenger and the freight had bled the system black and blue, leaving little resources for maintenance and expansion of the network!

Modi government has outlined the future development agenda for Indian Railways that includes launching of Bullet Trains (with speed above 200 kmp), increasing the speed of trains on certain track to 160 to 200 kmp with an ambitious plan to have a Diamond Quadrilateral Network, connecting major Metros and growth centers of the country and providing workstations in select trains, alongwith improvement in basic facilities like ensuring travel safety and providing hygienic food on board and setting up of food courts at major stations.

Safe return home of 46 nurses and hundreds of Indian expatriates from strife-ridden Iraq is an example of Quality Track-I Diplomacy and governance, in which Indian government has excelled once again. This is the third time in last three decades that a major possible social crisis has been cleverly averted.