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As India begins to re-write its development strategy for the Twelfth Plan (2012/17), Paris-based OECD has come up with a formidable array of reforms needed to achieve sustainable and socially inclusive growth. India is lauded for its growth touching close to 9 per cent and becoming one of the main driving forces for the global economy, but the OECD Economic Survey’s thrust is on what is glaringly missing in the growth process, and what needs to be done to overcome the constraints to realize the ambition of double-digit growth. Surely, the Approach paper of the Planning Commission under preparation ought to focus more on agriculture, infrastructure (power, in particular), rural sector, urbanisation, and health and other inclusive growth sectors.

NEW DELHI: France is hyper active not only in trying to grab the top job for its finance minister, Christine Lagarde after the exit of Frenchman Dominique Strauss from the International Monetary Fund. Miss Lagarde visited India this week and met her counterpart Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi to secure India’s support for the French candidature.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Will the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) have a new president?

BHOPAL: All eyes are set on the bye-election in Jabera assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh. The Jabera seat has been rendered vacant due to the death of Congress MLA Ratnesh Solomon, who, incidentally happened to be a Christian and one of the very few minority community members of the assembly. The MP House does not have a single Muslim member.

Any estimate of Hindu communalism will put the VHP and the Bajrang Dal on a scale higher than the BJP. This rule of thumb was again confirmed by the varying reactions of the BJP and the two more combative saffron outfits to M.F. Husain’s death. While the BJP conceded that Husain had “contributed to Indian art” without mentioning the supposedly obscene depiction of Hindus deities which made the Hindutva activists hound him out of the country, the VHP’s views reflected those of the storm-troopers.

Baba Ram Dev’s controversial fast has brought into focus the role of those heading the religious and socio-reformist institutions, particularly in Haryana and Punjab. Although such institutions abound in other states too, in the present context the two states need special mention because of the involvement of many of their chiefs in unsavoury controversies. Some of them have been in the news for committing murders and rapes. Others have exploited peoples religious faiths and beliefs in India’s glorious past for promoting their political objectives and amassing assets. The trend has been spreading to socio-cultural arena. The latest example is of Haryana’s two luminaries.

For all the massive mandate that has firmly put her back in the saddle as Chief Minister for the third term, Ms. Jayalalithaa has taken care to strike a more benevolent image of herself, than before, sounding right priorities reflecting Tamil Nadu’s urgent needs, and rolling out in the first days a slew of welfare schemes promised in the AIADMK manifesto. These included free rice of 20 kg per month to eligible card holders, marriage aid with cash and four gm of gold for educated poor women, doubling of old age pension to Rs. one thousand and enhanced assistance to fishermen. She has declared her commitment to implement all of the party’s pledges within the next eighteen months.

NEW DELHI: The recently held Assembly elections in some of the important states have had notable impact on the stakeholders in the country’s industrial relations, including captains of industry, UPA-2 Government and the trade union movement.

LUCKNOW: The home coming of Uma Bharti in BJP and her assignment to lead campaign in Uttar Pradesh has boosted the morale of party workers but unnerved the senior state leaders.

New Delhi: CII has welcomed the decision of the high level Committee headed by the Prime Minister to go ahead with the finalisation of the National Manufacturing Policy in consultation with the relevant Ministries.