For Planning Commission those who live below poverty line (BPL) are not 'aam aadmi'. The new definition of 'aam aadmi' has come at a time, when the Plan panel is facing flak over latest poverty number

Giving relief to the beleaguered Congress-led UPA-2 government, the Samaj-wadi Party, with 22 MPs in the Lok Sabha, on Tuesday said it will ensure the Manmohan Singh government serves its full term.

While the political spectrum in Parliament has not changed in actual terms, Congress’ “presumptive” loss in the recent Assembly elections has left it to do a lot of manoeuvring to get its reforms and

The states that will not see any change in terms of the strengths of the parties in the Upper House include Maharashtra (six), Gujarat (four), Chhattisgarh (one), Karnataka (four), Andhra Pradesh (six), Orissa (three), Madhya Pradesh (five), Himachal Pradesh (one), Rajasthan (three) and Haryana (one).

The upcoming biennial elections to 58 Rajya Sabha seats may not see an increase in the tally for the Congress in the Upper House, but it is going to be a certain gain for the ruling UPA alliance as the Trinamul Congress is set to replace at least three of the total four retiring members of the Left parties in West Bengal.

While the political spectrum in Parlia-ment has not changed in actual terms, the Congress’ “presumptive” loss in the recent Assembly elections has left it to do a lot of manoeuvring to get its reforms

The Assembly elections results in five states may not have an instant impact on the UPA at the Centre in terms of the numbers game, but it has certainly dented the ability of the Congress-led alliance’s manoeuvrability on the policy front. Even the aspirations to have a majority in the Rajya Sabha on its own has dimmed, as the Congress failed to improve its numbers in almost all the states. The ruling Congress will also feel the number pinch during the presidential elections.

The assembly elections results in five states may not have an instant impact on the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre in terms of number game, but has certainly dented the ability of the Congr

With India’s growth sliding down to below seven per cent in the third quarter of the current financial year, President Pratibha Patil’s speech to the joint sitting of the Parliament on the opening day of the Budget Session on March 12 is likely to focus more on the challenges before the country’s economy and measures to be taken by the government to successfully deal with them.

In a bid to arrest the slowdown in the Indian economy, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely give a major boost to the grassroots economy and resource-starved sectors in his 2012-13 Budget next month. Revealing this, a Planning Commission member who sought anonymity said Wednesday that the finance ministry had agreed to hike Gross Budgetary Support for planned expenses by 18 per cent to `5,21,000 crores, which is `80,000 crores more than in the current financial year.