Prime Minister Modi arrived in Riyadh late Monday night on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia to participate in the high-profile financial summit Future Investment Initiative, dubbed "Davos in the desert", an initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Strengthening the portfolios of the home minister and the finance minister is a message that should not be missed, points out A K Bhattacharya.
Asserting that the self reliant India programme will help revive the global economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday told global business community that his government aims to transform the country through access, inclusion and empowerment while also ensuring complete data security. Addressing the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda Summit, where he also interacted with global business leaders, Modi also said India offers a predictable and friendly environment from tax regime to FDI norms. He said Aatmanirbhar Bharat movement is committed to global good and global supply chain while the country's digital profile has been completely transformed.
'Even if Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech were successful in ramping up production overnight, what happens to the capacity after the demand from India is met?' asks Sanjeev Nayyar.
'To keep the next catastrophe at bay, a carbon free economy will be an imperative. 'Our 2000 cc internal combustion engine powered personal cars and public transport may have to give way to electric and hydrogen powered fuel cells. 'The oil refineries which were so much part of my professional life may have to be dismantled and trees planted in its place. 'The smokestacks, which once upon a time represented growth and prosperity, will now be gory symbols of a polluting past,' notes former Hindustan Petroleum chairman Arun Balakrishnan.
Pinch your nerves, and trust the ghoul -- blood will be spilled; women, children, and grouchy old men will be dismembered! observes Sreehari Nair.
However, if there is a larger outbreak, the entire building will have to be closed for 48 hours. All staff will work from home till the building is adequately disinfected and is declared fit for re-occupation, it said in the guidelines on preventive measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 in workplace settings.
Seventeen Indo-Canadians, including NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, won Canada's parliamentary elections on Tuesday with Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returning to power in the snap polls.
Washington is signalling to Delhi that it can rely on American support in any great game vis-a-vis China. Delhi shouldn't fall into the trap, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
We must work in the direction of an innovation and technology driven economy which could boost up creation of jobs and open advanced and newer avenues of employment within the country.
Conformity assessment procedures will be put in place to verify that goods and services sold on e-commerce platforms meet required standards and technical regulations, according to the draft e-commerce policy. The policy, which is under discussion, also stated that actions and things which cannot be done by the online platform entities "can also not be done" by any of its associates and related parties. Government may, from time to time, notify parties which fall in the definition of associates and related parties, it said.
As India launches the world's most ambitious and biggest vaccination drive against COVID-19, the country will encounter the formidable challenge of rapidly scaling up distribution of the vaccines to secure immunity for its entire population, two prominent Indian scientists at World Health Organisation have said.
Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Ansari believes a national debate on a Uniform Civil Code is a must. 'The need of the hour is to debate this issue at length in order to create a consensus,' Ansari tells Rediff.com, adding, 'Such a debate must take place at the grassroot level. We must understand all the divergent viewpoints before any draft can be prepared.'
The India centre, which is the seventh such facility for the company globally, will function as a satellite to Microsoft's Redmond-based Digital Crimes Unit.
As India suffers and the ruling party is on the defensive, the truth is that the only way that this wave will pass is if exponential growth of the virus stops on its own, asserts Aakar Patel.
A government spokesman said there was "no truth" to a report in Britain's Times newspaper that the government had privately concluded the Games would have to be cancelled.
Undergraduate courses indicatively cost S$23,000 to S$38,000, while postgraduate courses approximately cost S$15,000 to S$40,000.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson led the tributes with UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street for the National Health Service (NHS) and other key workers across care homes and public transport at 11 am local time. So far 82 NHS staff are known to have died after testing positive for the coronavirus, including many with their roots in India.
Silverline seems symptomatic of how Kerala -- its claimed education, awareness and all -- overlooks its real problems, notes Shyam G Menon.
The National SC/ST Hub, under the micro, small and medium enterprises ministry, with an initial outlay of Rs 490 crore, will work towards strengthening market access/linkage, monitoring, capacity building, leveraging financial support schemes and sharing industry-best practices.
'The day I took charge, the PM told me you do the following -- stop imports, talk to all stakeholders and involve them to make mining more industry-friendly without affecting the environment.'
Organisers warn participants against eating out over COVID-19 risks.
If international crude oil prices zoom past the current level of about $90 per barrel and move towards $100 and beyond, middle-class consumers are not going to keep quiet about their discomfort, points out Arun Balakrishnan, former chairman and managing director, Hindustan Petroleum.
Asserting that Uttar Pradesh has undergone a complete transformation under his government, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday that there have been no riots since 2017, strict action has been taken against the mafia and the state is in the frontline of implementing welfare schemes, ensuring the ease of doing business and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Computers need to be trained to recognise images, says Devangshu Datta.
State minister Nawab Malik said the Centre has written to the Maharashtra chief secretary, saying the proposed Metro-3 car shed land in suburban Kanjurmarg belongs to it, as he accused the opposition BJP of conspiring to stall the project through the Union government.
'He could indeed survive [the no confidence vote] even as he faces his biggest political test.'
'He felt that he had no place in the BJP and he was wrong.'
'Bommai's predicament is pathetic right now because deep inside he is not like this, but to remain in power he has to talk and speak against his own conscience.'
'This individual's constant endeavour at self-glorification, even at the cost of both the government and the party, has the potential to subvert whatever genuine efforts that Channi has been making since he became CM.'
The government questioned the manner in which Twitter "officially allows fake, unverified, anonymous and automated bot accounts to be operated on its platform" and said it raises doubts about its commitment to transparency and healthy conversation on the platform.
Terrorism has to be fought at its root of origination. Today we are just removing cobwebs but not killing the spider, asserts counter-insurgency expert Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
The battle to manage the international environment over Kashmir has just begun, but what is expected to help is the lifting of internal controls. All eyes are now on that exercise. Aditi Phadnis reports.
Greenpeace on Friday termed as part of "relentless onslaught" by the government cancellation of its FCRA registration that barred the environmental organisation from receiving foreign funds and said those in power cannot "muzzle" dissent in a democracy.
'Businessmen like Rajiv render public service when they speak truth to power,' observes Virendra Kapoor.
Premji, 70, who founded the Azim Premji Foundation, is among the nine philanthropists named recipients of the 2017 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in "recognition of their outstanding and innovative leadership in philanthropy."
Physical security for women, the first step towards getting them into factories and offices, is all but absent in most Indian cities, notes Kanika Datta.
Penalty must act as a deterrent. If it is too low, it could encourage the regulated entities to lap up penalty instead of complying with the norms, suggests Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Kaavan, the world's loneliest elephant, will finally get a chance to live in a place he can call home.
'If a doctor is kind of trying to say that there's an urgency, relatives should definitely get a second opinion.'
