India should have done more to protect jobs during the pandemic, a senior official from a global consultancy firm said on Tuesday. Alok Kshirsagar, a senior partner with McKinsey & Company, said the United Kingdom ran a very effective programme to protect employment through the payroll protection initiative, while the US was also not so effective because they were not well-targeted."I think in India, frankly, we should have done more to protect employment in some way, shape or form," Kshirsagar said while speaking at an event organised by industry lobby grouping CII. It can be noted that unemployment had touched record highs during the pandemic across the organised and unorganised sectors.
The prime minister said that Netaji is the biggest source of inspiration for the dream of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' (Self-reliant India) and 'Sonar Bangla' (Golden Bengal).
'By the time actual action began, it was already too late.' 'The virus was raging.'
India might be heading towards a "serious livelihood crisis" as the situation seems to be worse this time for the working class amid the COVID crisis and local restrictions by states already add up to something close to a nationwide lockdown, according to noted economist Jean Dreze. In an interview to PTI, he also said the government's target to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25 was never a "feasible target" and was just to pander to the "super-power ambitions" of the Indian elite. About the impact of the second wave of COVID on the Indian economy, the eminent economist said the situation today is not very different from what it was around this time last year as far as working people are concerned.
Even as Chinese troops continue squatting on territory that we claim as our own -- this was the lowest allocation for defence in percentage terms since the 1950s, reveals Ajai Shukla.
Boeing's confirmation that the Super Hornet has flown off a ski-jump is a statement that it is ready to operate off existing Indian aircraft carriers.
Each of the larger states may need less than Rs 10,000 crore each to finance the exercise.
'Unemployment barely figures in the Budget except as a derived demand from the industry and infrastructure.' 'There is no effort at direct attack on unemployment.'
'Today, there is no easy money to be made after the run-up in equities.'
The challenges before the coming Budget are more daunting than those in 2021, reveals A K Bhattacharya.
India has over 4,000 medium tanks, but not a single light tank. It remains to be seen whether the Ladakh face-off with China galvanises a change, observes Ajai Shukla.
'We were taking the Starbucks experience from the store to the home.'
Of the seven surveys presented under Modi govt, predictions of three were quite close to the actual GDP growth rate, one saw the base year change in between, but the last three were way off the mark.
"CCP's (Chinese Communist Party) territorial aggression is also apparent on its Indian border where China has attempted to seize control of the Line of Actual Control by force," US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien said in a remark on China early this week in Utah.
'Hybrid learning is the future, and test prep is a big segment within the entire education space in India.'
The latest variant is the most heavily mutated version discovered so far.
It is our only chance of avoiding a repeat of our catastrophic second wave, asserts Naushad Forbes.
He said the first decision of the cabinet was to approve Rs 20 crore fund for conserving Raigad Fort, which was the capital of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
The salient features of the new OTT/social media policy announced by the Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar on February 25, 2021.
A playlist of 10 'so bad it's good' songs, our hostile neighbours will regret the day they decided to take panga.
Rup Narayan Das reveals the towering Odisha leader's role in improving national security after the 1962 War with China.
Besides clearing the proposal to buy assault rifles, the other significant acquisitions approved by the DAC include procurement of smart anti-airfield weapon (SAAW) systems for the navy and the Indian Air Force at an approximate cost of Rs 970, the officials said.
The Indian Army has shown it can face down the PLA, but is too often held back by a political leadership that lacks boldness, asserts Ajai Shukla.
'You have sufficient protection if you take the second dose of the Covishield vaccine at 12 weeks, because this vaccine works in a way where it provides protection in the first dose.'
'They want (the ownership and management of PSU banks) to pass into the hands of a private sector entity.' 'Ownership of these banks will go from the public sector to private sector.'
The Biden administration on Friday issued a formal notification to delay the implementation of the previous Trump regime's controversial rule to raise mandatory minimum pay for foreign workers on H-1B visa, the most sought after among Indian IT professionals. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. The Department of Labour in its federal notification published on Friday said that it is considering whether to propose a further delay of the final rule's effective date and accompanying implementation periods that are currently scheduled to take effect on May 14, 2021, and July 1, 2021, respectively.
'In the last five years of UP government, the UP police were given a fair environment and the rule of law always remained supreme.' 'In these five years, nobody within BJP dared tell a police officer to act against the rule of law.'
On the shopping list: Light tanks, anti-tank guided missiles, UAVs, assault rifles, fighter aircraft.
Those who have recovered from COVID-19 respond faster to the Covishield vaccine and reach high antibody levels, says a study, leading to hopes that they may not need a second dose and therefore help widen India's corona immunisation cover.
'A recent compromise by the state government is accepting NEET exams for medical entrance.'
'One evening, my mother announced during dinner that we would open a Cumulative Time Deposit account in the post office. 'My father froze. 'The handful of curd rice that he had just put into his mouth remained there for a few extra seconds.' Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd) recalls an important decision that changed his family's life forever.
It is baffling how the PM chose the LCH as an indigenous product to celebrate on Rashtriya Raksha Samarpan Parv, even while his Cabinet holds up manufacturing clearance for 15 LCHs on the grounds that they are not Indian enough.
Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress overcame the might of the BJP and is all set to be CM for a third term.
DRDO's Air Independent Propulsion system will allow Indian Navy submarines to operate for up to two weeks without having to surface to recharge its batteries.
Prime Minister Modi has certainly pulled back, and his political capital -- dependent as it is on an image that he knows best and never retreats -- may have taken a bit of a beating. But, equally, it is hard to say that the protesters have 'won', argues Mihir S Sharma.
'The Punjab police was taking the prime minister by road for 100 km for the first time, maybe in the last many years.' 'But the SPG keeps travelling with the prime minister every second-third day outside Delhi.' 'They are better aware of the drill; they understand the PM's security parameters better than the Punjab police.' 'They could have refused even if the clearance was given by the Punjab police.'
Only two in every five migrants said they received ration or cooked food from the administration either daily or at times.
Science is a young person's game. An award to a young scientist could free up that person to do productive work, or help win more grants by enhancing reputation, argues Devangshu Datta.
"Zero is an unlikely figure. The virus is mutating and it is difficult to predict it's future behaviour,
An important focus of the dry run will be on management of any possible adverse events following immunisation.
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