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Singapore: India's slowing economy got a lift when the government decided to ease rules for foreign investments in September. The reforms perked up the Mumbai Sensex by 10% over the past 12 months, enabling the country's 100 richest to realize modest gains. Their collective net worth is up 3.7% to $250 billion compared to $241 billion a year ago.

In most OECD countries tax revenues are continuing to rise in relation to GDP from the 2008-09 declines seen at the beginning of the crisis, according to OECD’s annual Revenue Statistics. OECD countries collected about 34.0% of GDP in taxes in 2011, compared with 33.8% in 2010. This is still well below the most recent peak of 2007 when tax revenues to GDP ratios averaged 35.1%.

Executive Directors of the IMF have noted that the difficult external environment and domestic political uncertainty are weighing on the economy. They welcomed the authorities’ continued commitment to the program objectives, stressing the importance of sustained policy discipline and accelerated implementation of structural reforms to reinforce the economy’s resilience and boost its growth potential.

NAY PYI TAW, MYANMAR – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Australia are providing $570,000 in technical assistance to strengthen planning and reforms in post-primary education in Myanmar, including secondary education, technical and vocational education and training, and higher education, a vital component to ensuring the country is prepared for opportunities created by ongoing democratic and financial reforms.

LUCKNOW: The PUCL report has made a sensational disclosure that after the Samajwadi Party government was installed, many incidents of attack on the Muslim community took place in Uttar Pradesh, wherein the role of the police and the PAC has not been found to be neutral, and in fact, in some place their behaviour amounted to be patently anti-Muslim.

Politics having degenerated into a saga of corruption scandals, and an erstwhile world model for economic stability turning into a zone prone to turbulence and volatility, India can hardly reclaim, in the near future, its high place as an attractive destination for international investors, no matter the desperately-driven reform agenda since mid-September.

A hysterical, well-orchestrated and organised campaign is underway to malign the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) as an agency of “Green Terror”, which is throttling India’s development by putting environmental obstacles to industrial, mining and hydroelectricity projects. The campaign, backed by Big Business and entrenched interests in real estate, coal, power and other infrastructure sectors, accuses the MoEF of imposing a new “license-permit raj” and throwing a “green noose” around the neck of industry.

It is a safe prediction that there will not be a single dull moment once Anna Hazare’s new team takes to the field. Initially, there may be a show of camaraderie between the anti-corruption crusader from Ralegan Siddhi and his former disciple, Arvind Kejriwal, who has launched his own campaign. But, since both will be catering to the same constituency of the urban middle class, there is bound to be some amount of jostling as each one of them tries to project himself as a bigger saviour of the nation than the other.