The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, found “little justification” in not recovering the operational expenses on certain subsidies incurred in providing urban public transport, higher education and city milk distribution schemes, and said that even if half the cost on these subsidies was recovered, “the fiscal deficit of the Centre and States will be wiped out”. In his first public address after reassuming office as FM at the inaugural of a conference on “India’s Economic Renaissance”, he said the much-awaited White Paper on subsidies promised in his Budget would be made public in the next couple of days.

Caution sounded on full rupee convertibility

Full convertibility of the rupee in the current scenario will only exacerbate India’s problems, in the absence of expeditious domestic financial sector reforms, particularly in the capital markets, the renowned economist, Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs, has said. Addressing a news conference, Prof. Sachs, Director of the Harvard Institute for International Development, suggested that India should proceed towards capital account convertibility by adopting a step-by-step approach.

Indian Bank case: Ensure fair probe, Vajpayee to PM

The senior BJP leader, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, has urged the Prime Minister, Mr. I.K. Gujral to ensure that there is no attempt, overt or covert, to cover up the CBI inquiry into the Indian Bank scam in the light of his commitment to maintaining total transparency in the functioning of the new Government. Mr. Vajpayee, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said there was “reason” to believe that “certain obstacles” were being created to prevent a full inquiry into the scam.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW