'With the June quarter GDP shrinking by nearly a quarter, there is an even greater economic imperative: Reduction of uncertainty,' observes Neelkanth Mishra.
If Kerala wants to sustain its room for independent thinking and talk back to Delhi when needed, it should put its finances in order. Or - if one takes the North East example - Kerala's political posturing may end up commensurate with its financial dependence on others, suggests Shyam G Menon.
Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan says the government should take advantage of the peaks in the Indian equity markets right now and sell stakes in PSUs while prioritising spending to get the economy back on track. The upcoming Budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1 should look to provide "relief to the poorer households and small and medium enterprises," he said. And then move on to getting the economy back on track.
Education topped the table with nearly $1.755 billion as against $379 million last year, followed by real estate which received $754 million.
Mumbai traffic, mobile internet speeds, and grocery and pharmacy visits are all showing lower numbers for the latest week.
With the Omicron variant of coronavirus slowly spreading its tentacles in the country, a number of states enhanced surveillance to trace, track and quarantine contacts of COVID-19 positive persons while Delhi began genome sequencing of samples of all infected people and has prohibited Christmas and New Year gatherings.
'The majority of the spread is by people coughing, or sneezing or talking loudly, in a very short distance, two metres from one another, and a mask will prevent that sort of transmission.'
The key factor in deciding the 80 new trains was the fact that there were many stations from where the migrant workers are going back to their workplace.
30 sportspersons and support staff across disciplines were found to be COVID-19 positive after 741 precautionary tests were conducted at the National Centres of Excellence in Patiala and Bengaluru, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that the central government will provide free coronavirus vaccine to states for inoculation of all above the age of 18 from June 21, and asserted that vaccine supply would be increased significantly in the country in coming days.
'It was more than ego.' 'It carried with it a sincere belief that he was the quintessence of the country, that the country's destiny was irrevocably intertwined with his destiny.' An excerpt from T J S George's The Dismantling of India: In 35 Portraits.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the challenge of the Covid pandemic is not fully over yet, with the increase in coronavirus cases in the last two weeks manifesting the need to stay alert, and underlined that vaccination remains the biggest protective shield against the virus.
It is learnt that fielding coach Sridhar, who has watched Vihari from his junior days, is monitoring his training sessions and also giving him throwdowns.
The guidelines have been framed by the ministry, following concerns raised by parents about schools conducting online classes like regular schools, which has increased children's screen time after the COVID-19 pandemic mandated a shift from classroom teaching to online learning as schools continue to remain shut for over four months.
Tata Motors plans to have 10 new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in its domestic product portfolio by 2025 as it looks to drive its business model towards sustainable mobility going ahead, as per Tata Motors chairman N Chandrasekaran. In his message to the shareholders, he noted that the auto major aims to be amongst the world leaders in sustainable mobility solutions and as part of that it is also exploring tie-ups in cell and battery manufacturing to secure supplies for its portfolio of green vehicles. "In India, EV penetration in our portfolio has now doubled to 2 per cent this year and we expect penetration to increase exponentially in the coming years. "Tata Motors will lead this change in the Indian market. By 2025, Tata Motors will have 10 new BEV vehicles and as a Group, we will invest proactively to set up charging infrastructure across the country," Chandrasekaran informed shareholders in the company's Annual Report for 2020-21.
Vaccines Covishield and Covaxin work against SARS-CoV-2 variants Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta, while effectiveness tests against the Delta Plus variant is ongoing, the government said.
Dutch speed skater Lara van Ruijven died after battling with an autoimmune disorder.
Gita Gopinath, the IMF's Indian-American chief economist has been promoted as its First Deputy Managing Director recognising her exceptional intellectual leadership in helping the global economy and the Fund to navigate the "twists and turns" of the "worst economic crisis of our lives". Gopinath would replace Geoffrey Okamoto who plans to leave the International Monetary Fund early next year, Kristalina Georgieva, IMF's managing director announced on Thursday. Gopinath, who was scheduled to return to her academic position at Harvard University in January 2022, has decided to stay, she said. Gopinath, 49, has served as the first female chief economist of the Washington-based global lender for three years.
PM asks states to check laxity in containing COVID-19; calls for vaccine festival from Apr 11-14
Business Standard tracks pollution levels, goods ferried by the Indian Railways and consumer visits to various categories of places, in addition to power generation and traffic numbers to understand the fast-changing situation on the ground.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reviewed the impact of Covid-19 on the Indian economy and a possible second stimulus to boost sectors hit hard by the pandemic. Modi held discussions with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as the pandemic hit sectors from small industries to the aviation sector hard with millions of jobs at stake.
'It is our right to protest and draw the attention of this government, which is sleeping and appears blind, as it has failed to see the pain and struggle of the jobless youth.'
"Had corona (COVID-19) not been there, the prime minister would have dedicated NATGRID to the country. I am hopeful that the prime minister will dedicate NATGRID to the country in some time," Union home minister Amit Shah said during the 51st Foundation Day event of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) here on September 4.
Pune's Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker by volume, is placing its bets on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate AZD1222 with CEO Adar Poonawalla stating he would start manufacturing at personal risk.
'We still have 30,000-40,000 cases.' 'It is plateauing, but the number should definitely come down more so that we can convert the pandemic into an endemic.'
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday said despite the latest headwinds arising from the Jackson Hole summit leading to extreme volatility, our banking system and financial markets are strong enough to withstand such pressures. Taking the markets by surprise, US Fed chair Jerome Powell had told the annual Jackson Hole summit of central bankers and economists last week that he would have to keep raising federal fund rates to tame inflation, which remains the biggest challenge to the world's largest economy. He also warned of the pains that such monetary policy actions would create on growth and jobs.
Airports hold pride of place in the government's National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) programme to monetise public assets. Private airport operators, including the Adani group, Fairfax, GMR and Zurich Airport, are expected to evince interest in the next round of public private partnership (PPP) development of state-owned Airport Authority of India (AAI) airports. Industry analysts, however, do not expect bids to be as high as the last round, which saw Adani group gain control of six airports.
'... so that the hospitals do not get overwhelmed. We have to avoid it at all costs.'
Images from Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday presented the Budget for 2021-22 in the Lok Sabha that is expected to provide relief to the pandemic-hit common man as well as focus more on driving economic recovery through higher spending on healthcare, infrastructure and defence amid rising tensions with neighbours, As India emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, the ninth Budget under the Modi government, including an interim one, is widely expected to focus on boosting spending on job creation and rural development, generous allocations for development schemes, putting more money in the hands of the average taxpayer and easing rules to attract foreign investments.
The British government announced on Friday that it would end the 14-day coronavirus quarantine for people arriving in England from more than 50 countries, including Germany, France, Spain and Italy - but not the United States.
'COVID-19 will not stop the expansion of China's 'infrastructure power'.'
Italy's Mugello circuit will make its debut on the Formula One calendar in September to host Ferrari's 1,000th grand prix, the sport announced on Friday, with Russia's race in Sochi also confirmed. The September 13 race, to be called the Grand Prix of Tuscany Ferrari 1,000, will follow on from the September 6 Italian Grand Prix at Monza as the ninth round of a season that has been heavily revised due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
India captain Virat Kohli left Australian shores on Tuesday with a message for his teammates as they aim to bounce back after the debacle in the opening Test in Adelaide.
Thackeray said there will be some restrictions in the state after June 30 but more relaxations will be offered gradually.
The PM said there was a need to 'fight' rumours that the lockdown could be reimposed.
At present, the railway services in Kashmir operate between Banihal in Ramban District and Baramulla only.
Kataria, 49, an IIT-XLRI alumnus, was quick to implement a number of initiatives during the Covid-19 crisis including launching D2C initiatives such as mobile stores, WhatsApp messaging, video calling and home deliveries. Kataria was also swift to recognise that stay-at-home consumers were keen to buy informal rather than formal footwear, launching new collections quickly to take advantage of this trend, says Viveat Susan Pinto.
Suryakumay Yadav has become the toast of Indian cricket