The US has been, historically, a sleeping partner in India-China relations. Today, any attempt by the Modi government to make a bilateral move to improve relations with Beijing could upset Biden's apple cart, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A PhD from Chicago-Booth and a top-ranking IIT-IIM alumnus, Krishnamurthy Subramanian is one of the world's leading experts in banking, corporate governance and economic policy
'India finds itself in an unenviable situation today with its prospects diminished by acutely polarised domestic politics and the setbacks suffered during the pandemic,' notes Ambassador Shyam Saran, the former foreign secretary.
The Planning Commission, which was established in 1950, will be called 'Neeti Ayog' in its new avatar, months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that it will replaced by a new body.
But their trajectory and direction have been largely influenced by politics and the political leadership's understanding of how the economy needs to be managed, explains A K Bhattacharya.
'COVID-19 will not stop the expansion of China's 'infrastructure power'.'
The finance ministry also said the maximum funding will be Rs 400 crore for any single project that will be seeking assistance from the 'special window' for completion of the 1,508 projects comprising about 4.58 lakh units.
The US military efforts in Afghanistan were akin to filling a bucket that had gaping holes, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Trump's visit symbolised heightened partisanship and a return to chemistry between leaders defining bilateral ties, notes Kashish Parpiani.
'New Delhi showed itself willing -- at least for a period -- to tolerate the risk of conflict and to withstand Beijing's implicit and explicit threats.' 'But it also continued to try to cut some kind of deal with China to reduce tensions.'
Stressing that both the government and the opposition have 'important roles to play', the President said, "While giving expression to their political ideas both must move forward in tandem to ensure that development of the country and welfare of its people are promoted consistently."
Beijing's political risks are also escalating because of a renewed wave of public anger in many parts of Balochistan against human rights abuses by Pakistani troops deployed to crush the low-intensity insurgency in the province, the report said.
Prime Minister Khan, in his address, said Pakistan will never fight any other country's war in future and his government's foreign policy will be in the best interest of the nation.
The experts said that climate change is not only raising temperatures and making India's heatwaves hotter, but also changing weather patterns that further drive dangerous weather extremes.
'We have often heard the mythical argument that patents block access to life-saving drugs, but only 5% of medicines from multinational companies are under patent protection in India.' 'Where these patented products are beyond the reach of Indian patients, the companies have programmes to facilitate access to their drugs, for free or for a fraction of the price,' points out Ranjana Smetacek, former director general, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India.
'Imagine taking care of a patient who is infected with Covid. A human nurse is unable to do that due to fear of infection. The robot can do that task, while it is controlled or supervised by the human nurse. So the robot becomes an extension of the nurse.'
Snooping is one of the oldest peccadilloes of man, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Earlier this month, Sobha Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor, part of the promoter group of Balaji Telefilms, faced shareholder ire when they failed to obtain the requisite votes on resolutions proposing pay increases for them. In recent months, several promoter-directors, including Siddharth Lal of Eicher Motors and Pawan Munjal of Hero MotoCorp, have faced similar situations. Clearly, large institutional shareholders - and public shareholders - are not taking kindly to promoter-directors upping their remuneration takeaways at a time when the prospects of business recovery are clouded by the anticipated third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
During his college days, Hardeep Puri was a student leader who was active in the JP movement.
'In the long run, the boost to farmers' incomes must come from technological breakthroughs,' says Pratap S Birthal and Digvijay S Negi.
Outlay for infra is also expected to see a significant increase in view of the government's Rs 111-trillion investment plan under the national infrastructure pipeline to develop social and economic infrastructure over five years.
'The markets have corrected almost 8-9 per cent from their highs, so one can accumulate quality stocks at reasonable prices.'
Regional States will be worried that the US's nascent engagement with the Taliban behind the fig leaf of humanitarian aid enables the return of US intelligence personnel to Afghanistan, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Observing that the economic recovery was not yet fully entrenched, the RBI Governor said recovery is likely to be gradual.
In fact, given the current tensions and massed troops on both sides, there is a danger that the LAC will become more like the Line of Control with Pakistan, a heavily fortified and strongly defended border where weapon fire exchanges regularly occur. Indeed, Stratfor Worldview research has listed a sharp increase in new Chinese facilities along the LAC in 2019-20.
The highest water-use efficiency of more than $ 50 per cubic metre is in Oceania, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Israel, Denmark, Finland, and Great Britain while the lowest is in Central and South Asia, including India, at less than $ 10 per cubic metre.
TCS is recognised as a Top Employer in Latin America and North America.
Ajay Banga is one of the nine members of the Commission on Enhancing National Cyber Security.
There are signs of China's external behaviour becoming more aggressive in the coming years. If that happens, strategic implications for neighbours having territorial disputes with China can become deeper and imperatives can rise for the former to counteract, says D S Rajan
In democratic India, a citizen can be a patriot and at the same time be critical of the government, unlike China which promulgated a national security law in Hong Kong prescribing patriotism to contest elections, observes Rup Narayan Das.
Ramesh Menon, the veteran journalist suggests Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi what he should do if he wants to win 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Talks between Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to improve the relations got off on a rough note at the northeastern Chinese port city of Tianjin, with Xie launching a blistering attack on Washington, accusing it of being the "owner of coercive diplomacy".
Earlier in his address, he said with over 500 million bank accounts in the country, it is estimated that the Indian banking system produces over one billion transactions a day.
The Biden administration should expect continuity in Iran's policies under Raisi. This may not necessarily mean that strengthening of ties with the West will be Raisi's top priority, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Policy lays out a 5-year road map seeking creation of 3.5 mn jobs and promoting 10,000 start-ups.
Wang Junzheng, Tibet's new Communist party boss, is on a number of sanctions lists by the US, Britain, the EU and Canada, for his tough role in Xinjiang, aimed at China's Uyghur ethnic minority, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and distinguished China expert.
'He was always opposed to a form of nationalism that was narrow, selfish and arrogant.' 'He will always remain a beacon of inspiration for freedom-loving people across the world and for movements of resistance against oppressive State power.'
The perfunctory management of external affairs has left India's foreign policy establishment largely unprepared to manage the consequences of dramatic international developments, says Nitin Pai.
'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.'
President Xi Jinping has called for better international communication, urging the bellicose official Chinese media and 'wolf warrior' diplomats to adopt a tone that displays openness and conveys modesty, in what observers see as a rare admission of Beijing's growing isolation exacerbated by COVID-19.
