IPA Staff
16480 stories by IPA Staff
Bulldozers And The Pavements Of A Failing City Under New BJP Govt
By Devasis Chattopadhyay KOLKATA: On the night of 5th May, shortly after the declaration of the recent West Bengal Assembly election results, bulldozers and flatbed trucks rolled into the lanes around New Market and parts of Chowringhee in central Kolkata. Timber stalls were dismantled. Tarpaulin roofs were ripped away....
Mamata Is Revamping TMC For Turnaround By Depending More On Old Timers
By Tirthankar Mitra KOLKATA: Veterans are being roped in by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee seeking to use their knowledge of state politics to take on the BJP occupying the Treasury benches in the Assembly and Lok Sabha. Loyalty to the party supremo and none else has been the...
Energy Cost Spike Pushes Wholesale Inflation To 8.3%, A 42-Month High
NEW DELHI: Led by a steep rise in energy prices amid the ongoing West Asia crisis, India’s wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation rate more than doubled to a 42-month high of 8.3 per cent in April from 3.88 per cent in March, according to data released by the Ministry...
Rupee Nears 96/$ Amid Aggressive Importer Dollar Demand, Before Rebound
MUMBAI: The rupee hit a fresh intraday low of 95.96 per dollar on Thursday amid aggressive demand for the greenback among importers, and maturing of offshore non-deliverable forward (NDF) positions, dealers said. The rupee later recovered sharply to around 95.58 after reports emerged that the government was considering a...
No Let Up Likely On Crisis-Relief Measures Despite Fiscal Strain
NEW DELHI: India’s fiscal deficit in FY27 may overshoot the budgeted target to some extent as the Centre is implementing a series of relief and stabilisation measures to shield citizens, farmers and businesses from the fallout of the escalating West Asia conflict, sources told FE. However, they stressed, the...
Govt Caps Gold Imports Under Export Scheme, Tightens Monitoring
NEW DELHI: A day after hiking customs duty on gold, the government on Wednesday put limits on the quantity of yellow metal that can be imported under a key export scheme. Capping gold imports under the Advance Authorisation (AA) Scheme at 100 kilograms, coupled with tighter compliance and monitoring,...
IMF Warns Iran War Disruptions Are Pushing Global Economy Towards ‘Adverse’ Scenario; Growth Risks Rise
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday warned that continued disruptions from the Iran war are pushing the global economy closer to an “adverse” scenario marked by slower growth, tighter financial conditions and rising inflation risks, AFP reported. Last month, the IMF’s World Economic Outlook projected global growth at...
Salaried Employment Stagnated, Casual Employment Declined
By Dr. Gyan Pathak A closer look at the just released quarterly PLFS data for last quarter of 2025-26, January-March 2026, shows that salaried employment in India remains stagnant at 25.5 per cent, while casual employment has declined to 18.7 per cent from 20.1 per cent in the first...
Modi Govt’s Latest Coal Gasification Incentive Is A Welcome Step For Economy
By R. Suryamurthy The Union Cabinet’s approval of a ₹37,500-crore incentive scheme for coal and lignite gasification must be understood not as an isolated industrial subsidy, nor merely as another attempt to revive India’s coal economy under a different technological vocabulary, but as part of a far larger and...
Chief Minister Vijay Is Safe For Now But He Is Riding On A Tiger
By T N Ashok The rise of Vijay from Tamil cinema’s “Thalapathy” to Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu crossed its most decisive constitutional milestone this week when his government survived a dramatic trust vote in the Assembly with 144 MLAs backing him and only 22 voting against. In the...
V D Satheesan Named Kerala Chief Minister
By P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Putting an end to the prolonged suspense, the Congress High Command named on Thursday Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Kerala Assembly, V. D. Satheesan as the new Chief Minister of the State. However, the reaction of the other two main contenders of the...
Communalisation Of Elections In Bengal And Assam Has Ominous Signals
By Nilotpal Basu The results of election for the five assemblies were announced on May 4. The implications are far reaching. Naturally, the challenges arising out of this new situation can be belittled only at our own peril, particularly the future of the secular democratic republic. Cashing in on...
Centre’s Great Nicobar Island Project Has Serious Environmental Issues
By Krishna Jha The Great Nicobar Island is at the centre of eight to ten billion dollar mega-infrastructure project launched in 2021 under India’s “Holistic Development of Islands” program at the southernmost tip of the country that aims to transform the island into a global transhipment and economic hub....
Assam CM Himanta Applied His Polarisation Programme In Polls With Big Success
By Rabindra Nath Sinha Weeks preceding Assam’s one-phase Assembly election on April 9 saw chief minister and state Bharatiya Janata Party’s strongman Himanta Biswa Sarma trying to outdo even Hindi-belt party leaders in resorting to politics of polarisation and what marked him out was his direct targeting of ‘miya...
Devastating New U.S. Sanctions Against Cuba Have International Reach
By W. T. Whitney, Jr. NEW YORK: President Donald Trump on May 1 issued an executive order imposing yet another round of new sanctions again Cuba. This latest set of restrictions apply to foreign persons and entities, including financial institutions, not only to Cuba or its government officials. The...
Need For Reshaping Labour’s Agenda During And After A Leadership Contest
By Ben Chacko LONDON: Reports of an imminent leadership challenge within the ruling Labour Party from British health minister Wes Streeting overshadowed the King’s speech. All now accept Keir Starmer has to go. How to turn that into the “fundamental change of direction” affiliated unions demand is the key...
PFC Flags Concerns Over RBI’s Upper-Level NBFC Draft Norms
MUMBAI: State-run Power Finance Corporation, the largest non-banking lender with over Rs 12.4 trillion in assets, has reported a marginal 3 per cent increase in the March quarter consolidated net income at Rs 8,598 crore, weighed down by a fall in interest income as borrowers chose to prepay their...
Govt Hikes Tariff On Precious Metals To Shield Foreign Exchange Reserves
NEW DELHI: The government has sharply raised import duties on gold, silver and platinum, as it looks to curb non-essential imports and shield foreign exchange reserves strained by surging crude oil and fertiliser costs amid the West Asia crisis. Under a Finance Ministry notification issued on Tuesday, Customs duty...
