Expressing anguish at the exodus of north-eastern people from Pune, Bangalore and other major cities, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj on Friday said the Parliament must unite to tackle the issue. "Let us say in one voice in this Parliament to all residents of the north-east that this country is yours, we are all with you, study, live where you want, you will be looked after," Swaraj told the Lok Sabha during a debate on Assam.
With people from the northeast in panic following rumours of attacks, Union Home Secretary R K Singh on Thursday said there was no threat to anyone from the region living anywhere in the country and termed the reports of violence as rumours.
This could be attributed to the attractive valuation of the Indian equities after the sharp correction during the first quarter of calendar year 2020 and significant depreciation of the Indian rupee against USD, which provided them a rather good entry point.
Some 500,000 drivers and helpers have been left high and dry because of lockdown; many of these trucks are carrying essential goods.
First a major exodus of students from the North East, then an attack on a Manipuri girl in a car and now an assault on an African national in Bangalore. Ironically in all these incidents, the victims have complained of being racially abused while being assaulted.
'With sufficient gaps between polling dates, the BJP will have time to convert the 'fence-sitter' votes,' observes Payal Mohanka.
'Fear psychosis has gripped the entire world.' 'Nobody is going to enter shops freely in the next 5, 6 months.' 'Secondly, the priority has changed.' 'Now that they have seen the bottom of the economy, people will prefer to save for tomorrow.'
The United States Customs and Border Protection closed the border between Tijuana in Mexico and San Diego in California and used tear gas on migrants and refugees, including children, whoever tried to cross the border fence. The incident took place because of rising frustrations among immigrants due to slow processing of their asylum claims by the US authorities.
West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party chief Dilip Ghosh on Saturday said that the party has to fulfil its long-cherished mission of winning the state not only to expand its ideological footprint but also to secure India's eastern borders, which have turned into a 'transit point for terror elements' trying to create unrest in the country.
It is a record that the saffron party has created, where the majority of its legislators belonged to the minority community.
This September 14, our Martyrs Day, we pledge that one day we will be back in our homeland, with our heads held high and honour in tact. We will reverse our exodus but only at our own terms and at a time of our choosing. That will be the most appropriate homage to our martyrs, says Lalit Koul
Ironically, the BJP, which seeks to unseat the TMC from power, has taken a leaf out of Mamata Banerjee's strategy of soliciting tinsel town's support towards causes and fielding actors in elections.
The saffron party, which had witnessed unprecedented growth in terms of vote share and mass base over the last few years, had opened its doors wide for leaders from other parties as part of its poll strategy, but that did not go down well with many senior leaders, who had once locked horns with the newbies from rival camps, sources in the BJP said.
What is foreign policy worth if it stands disconnected from domestic realities? Make no mistake, the horrifying visuals of the human suffering in metropolitan India is only the tip of the iceberg. The vast swathes of the hinterland are heaving with untold sorrows, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'In every film, I have a message and in Shikara, it is, 'Todo nahin, jodo (Unite, don't divide)'.'
Left behind after elections will be the Biharis with their stagnant conditions of poor education, poor health infrastructure, poverty, unemployment, division of society and the aftermath of coronavirus. What will remain is the Bihari tenacity, observes Asmita Bihari.
Singh, who recently said all Rohingyas in India were "illegal immigrants" as none of them had applied for asylum as refugees, asked opposition parties not to make it a "political issue".
The Government of India has failed Kashmiri Pandits as they are still living as refugees in their own country. The state as well as the central government has not taken substantial measures till date for the return of Kashmiri Pandits back to the valley, says Varad Sharma
The total number of positive cases has increased by 106 in the last 24 hours to reach 1,024.
Liverpool could suffer the embarrassment of a mass exodus on Saturday with supporters' groups calling on fans to leave their seats during the Premier League match against Sunderland at Anfield to protest a rise in ticket prices.
We love a leader who oozes authority and firmness, notes Virendra Kapoor.
The corona-fuelled lockdown having shattered their dreams, they are now walking, cycling and hitchhiking hundreds of miles under an unforgiving sun blazing down at over 40 degrees to reach their homes in an impoverished Bihar, where an uncertain future awaits them.
Their leaders in the provinces, which have been under the control of Taliban commanders for several months now, speak the language of the bigot. Women are known to have been abducted and enslaved. Several young girls have simply disappeared.
Cities, the world over, are bursting at the seams. With urbanisation on the rise, urban populations have now outnumbered rural populations in many nations, and the 'exodus' shows no signs of abating.
Forex traders said a stronger dollar also dragged the rupee down.
'Reports of hitherto 'atmanirbhar' breadwinners having to stand in line for a plastic bag of khichdi or, travelling thousands of kms with nothing but packets of biscuits, have not moved the prime minister,' observes Jyoti Punwani.
Kingfisher Airlines has increased the salary of a section of its pilots, fearing an exodus to rival carriers. Airlines including SpiceJet and IndiGo are in an expansion mode and will be adding 29 planes this financial year, opening new job avenues for pilots.
Experts say that the lockdown and its aftermath will further quicken the consolidation in the real estate sector, which has been taking place since 2012, with more small players going out of the business and bigger, branded players dominating the market.
The implementation of four labour codes in one go from April 1 next year will usher in a new wave of reforms in industrial relations and also help in attracting more investments but employment generation will remain a key challenge in 2021. This year has also been a challenging year for the work force as well as for employers due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government imposed a nationwide lockdown from March 25, which had an adverse impact on economic activities and resulted in exodus of migrant workers from large cities to their homes in the hinterland. Many migrant labourers lost their jobs and it took months for them to return back to their work places from their native places.
The employers, many of whom had virtually abandoned the migrant labourers, are sending them train and even flight tickets to fetch them back as factories whir back to life, construction activities pick up and the sowing season sets in.
A little charm from the debuting actors and Notebook would actually be worthy of note.
Media giant AOL, along with some private equity firms, is 'exploring' making an offer to buy Yahoo Inc, as the Internet company deals with poor financial performance and an exodus of senior executives, a media report said.
Pandits, including women and children, converged at the temple, some 20 kms from Srinagar, from various far-off places including Delhi and Jammu, to offer special prayers on the occasion of Zyeshth Ashtami.
Non-Gujaratis were targeted and hate messages circulated against them on social media after a native of Bihar was arrested for allegedly raping the toddler on September 28.
The real battle for NEET abolition can take much more time and energy, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Mamata will beat the living daylights out of BJP workers with the result that people who are not totally committed, they will promptly leave the party and go back to Trinamool.' 'Or when they find they cannot get what they came to the BJP for they will go back to Trinamool.'
Losing striker Jamie Vardy to Arsenal could spark an exodus of players from Leicester City, former defender Gerry Taggart has said, adding that the move could be catastrophic for the Premier League champions. Arsenal tabled a bid for Vardy before he left for the European Championship in France with the rest of England's squad on Monday, according to British media reports. The 29-year-old was the joint second-highest scorer in the English top-flight last season and Arsenal's bid comes at an uncomfortable time for England, whose manager Roy Hodgson has banned players' agents from the team hotel in Chantilly to avoid his players being distracted. "If Vardy goes then one or two others might want to leave as well," Taggart, who made over 100 appearances for Leicester, told the BBC. "For the good of the whole team and the club it is important Vardy stays."
'Leaders of the Indian community in Hong Kong had broached the idea of developing the Andaman and Nicobar islands for investment and setting up manufacturing units,' points out Rup Narayan Das.
Nomura Group Study found that in 2019, out of the fifty-six companies which shifted their production out of China, only three of these invested in India; while 26 went to Vietnam, 11 to Taiwan, and 08 to Thailand. In April 2020, Nikkei noted that out of the 1,000 firms which were planning to leave China and invest in Asian countries, only 300 of them were seriously thinking of investing in India.
