The jury is still out on the decision to demonetise high value currency notes on November 8, 2016, with the government claiming it has helped greater formalisation of the economy while critics saying it has failed to curb black money and reduce dependence on cash. On November 8, six years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the demonetisation of old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes and one of the key objectives of the unprecedented decision was to promote digital payments and curb black money, besides eliminating terror funding. As per a Reserve Bank data, currency with the public has jumped to a new high of Rs 30.88 lakh crore an October 21, indicating that cash usage is still substantial even six years after the demonetisation move.
'They are also sitting on huge public sector assets without many returns.'
'You know the factors against you and those in favour, and you use the weapons you have in accordance with the strategy you've developed.'
'Why should our government opt for unproven technology that has been rejected by most countries across the globe?' 'Being dependent on any other nation to supply you seed for your good crops is another form of slavery.'
These self-appointed well-wishers of AMU are basically for the control or police model of university governance. They have no faith whatsoever in the democratic functioning of the universities, observes Faizan Mustafa, former dean, Faculty of Law, and Registrar, Aligarh Muslim University.
What matters most is how resilient you are in an ever changing world, advises Sarita Digumarti, chief learning officer, UNext Learning.
He also rejected queries on whether a "cleansing act" was going on in the universities.
'For an introduction to his career-spanning genius, watch just five of his movies: Anand, Saudagar, Abhiman, Black and Pink,' notes Kalyan Singhal, McCurdy Professor of Business at the University of Baltimore.
The dinner Jill Biden and her husband US President Joe Biden hosted for Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, June 22, at the White House brought together, Indians and Americans from so many firmaments.
'Have you seen a situation like this anywhere before, globally or in India, where a government says, okay, we are withdrawing a law because you don't want it?'
'And they are going to be milder because we are dealing with the vaccinated and are much richer in terms of the immune response in the population.'
'Partition was a two-sided story in a very big way.' 'We've oversimplified it, blamed the British, thought of ourselves only as victims.' 'We've been both victims and perpetrators.'
'On the LAC, China can undertake military action at any place with much fewer resources. It can do 'salami slicing'.'
'Unfortunately, our political class is not interested in making this society equal. They just want to exploit the situation for their own benefit.'
'Getting Brijbhushan to rake up Thackeray's anti-north Indian stand is the BJP's way of cutting Raj Thackeray to size.' 'Could just one MP have stopped Raj Thackeray's Ayodhya tour?'
'In what must go down as one of the most nonchalant remarks by the head of any hospital, J J Hospital Dean Dr Ranjit Mankeshwar said: 'We do not know where the staff was, but he did not suffer serious wounds'.'
The protection gained after being fully vaccinated with both doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines against Covid-19 wanes over time, a new UK study reported on Wednesday.
Troy Deeney has declined to take part in the resumption of training, after the stoppage due to the coronavirus pandemic, citing his son's breathing difficulties.
'I'd rather eat a hearty meal, meet deadlines, make money, meet a friend for coffee or even tend to that long-neglected corner in my oddly-shaped living room, than spend my Saturday morning romping in bed.'
The educated, respectable and established Muslims voices, that were on the modernising side on the Shah Bano issue, are fighting on the opposite side now, mostly because they worry about Narendra Modi, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'The entire public needs to be evacuated immediately. Any day, the entire town can collapse.'
India needs foreign exchange buffer reserves to insulate itself from exchange rate volatility as we have "no friends" for swap lines and Japan was the only country that helped during the taper tantrum in 2013, former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said on Tuesday. Participating in a virtual event organised by economic think tank NCAER, Rajan said during the taper tantrum in 2013, India asked for swap lines, and only country who helped was Japan. "We need this (foreign exchange) reserve buffer to insulate ourselves because we have no friends.
More than anything else, Pathaan is a silent and subtle statement of Shah Rukh Khan about his place, his commitment to cinema and, if one can say, his politics, observes Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
Recent growth has wrought enormous environmental destruction and degradation in India, says Praful Bidwai.
A new study has found that adding just a small amount of everyday herbs and spices to vegetables and reduced-calorie meals may make those foods more appetizing to consumers, which could ultimately help the eater cut down on dietary fat.
'People are questioning these highways and expressways in UP because ultimately, they want to get bread and butter first.'
If 'development' and jobs and such things are less important to many than identity, then the BJP can dominate the discourse by stressing the largest marker of identity, which is religious nationalism, observes Aakar Patel.
A network of interchangeable transport systems with seamless access, like in China's Guangzhou city, can go a long way in easing urban commuters' woes.
'Education is disconnected from social reality and does not even attempt to solve the real problems of our country,' observe Peehu Pardeshi and Sandeep Pandey.
'One police officer told me that trials take forever, conviction rates are low.' 'So one way to judge states' performance on handling crime is through the 'recovery rate' of their police.' 'The fastest way to get recovery is by torturing the accused.'
Behind each Covid vaccine are hundreds of parents, who had the courage and conviction to come forth with their children for the trial of a vaccine which was, until then, untried in that age group, reports Sindhu Bhattacharya.
Kota Factory finds success in a winsome cast as they lend heart to its moods and mundanity, notes Sukanya Verma.
Sharmaji Namkeen is Rishi Kapoor's swansong and show. His cinematic memories are coloured in liveliest hues of celebration and happiness, observes Sukanya Verma.
'Punjab elections are there and so are UP elections. They must have done some calculations (before announcing the repeal).'
Beijing will be intently watching Washington's response for any hint of weakness. Xi Jinping, who feels China has a limited window of strategic opportunity, will be emboldened to take additional initiatives in the Indo-Pacific and specifically against India and Taiwan, warns Jayadeva Ranade, the former senior RA&W officer and China expert.
As their parties are locked in a fierce battle for Bengal, Tathagata and Saugata Roy, siblings who belong to the BJP and the TMC respectively, answer the same questions put to them about the assembly election.
'When an individual becomes authoritarian, you can overthrow the individual easily. 'When the system becomes authoritarian, whoever challenges the system will be called a criminal or an anti-national.'
Cut off from the world and having to contend with an orthodox and repressive Taliban government, Afghans are facing the brunt of Pakistan's decades old policy of nurturing militant groups, note Harsh V Pant and Kriti M Shah four months after the Taliban took Kabul.
What is the magic in the make-up of 007 that keeps us coming back again and again?asks Sandeep Goyal.
The new vaccine candidate, DIOS-CoVax2, uses banks of genetic sequences of all known coronaviruses, including those from bats, believed to be the natural hosts of many relatives of human coronaviruses.
