'All imaginary figures are pushed by government bureaucrats.' 'They never showed that the production of wheat was less this time.'
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday (local time) said the US is working closely with its partners in the Indian government to deploy more supplies and additional support amid the record upsurge in Covid-19 infections in the country.
From Covid to climate change, Shankar Acharya's look at some of the trends and events that might shape 2022.
Modi had clearly not come to terms with the limits to a prime minister's powers, any prime minister's powers however strong numbers he may have in Parliament, observes Virendra Kapoor.
The five-nation grouping BRICS on Tuesday resolved to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the cross-border movement of terrorists, and vowed to step up joint efforts in building support for an India-backed global framework to effectively deal with the menace.
In the last five years, imports from HK have more than tripled -- from $5.6 billion in FY15 to $17.1 billion in FY20. In the same period, exports declined by 20 per cent -- from $13.6 billion in FY15 to $10.8 billion (annualised) in FY20.
Russia on Monday said it will not join the World Trade Organisation this year and is unlikely to join the global trade body next year.
Trump said India and China - the two economic giants from Asia - are no longer developing nations and as such they cannot take benefit from the WTO.
Several member states of the World Trade Organisation voiced frustration after India's demands for concessions on agricultural stockpiling led to the collapse of the first major global trade reform pact in two decades.
Narendra Modi's strategy in Gujarat was to run the state as a business entity.
It's time Indian parliamentarians learnt to view global economic frameworks without the narrow prism of domestic politics
Despite the noise that India is making at the WTO saying that its food security concerns are non-negotiable, back home it is aggressively pushing for dismantling minimum support prices and at the same time limiting the sovereign role of Food Corporation of India in food distribution to the hungry and the needy, says Devinder Sharma.
The aggressive Chinese dragon has taken the textile game away from competitors.
So vaccinate employees and families, staff at home, rickshaw drivers, milkmen, service providers, shopkeepers and street vendors, says Naushad Forbes.
In the second major decision to end the UPA government's legacy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday scrapped four cabinet committees, including one on Unique Identification Authority, as part of his efforts to minimise decision-making processes.
Mounting fresh pressure on developed nations, India on Tuesday said that three of the four Singapore issues should be dropped from the work programme of World Trade Organisation.
We have a government with an extremely weak economic team advising a PM who hardly pays attention to their thoughts, says Jayanta Roy.
India has demanded resumption of export benefits to certain domestic products under GSP, and greater market access for its products from sectors like agriculture, automobile, auto components and engineering. On the other hand, the US wants greater market access for its farm and manufacturing products, dairy items and medical devices, data localisation, and import duties cut on some ICT products.
With the Bali deal settled, countries should now focus on long pending issues such as market access and reduction in green goods tariff
US Trade Representative's office in early February asked India for WTO consultations on its national solar program, the Jawaharal Nehru National Solar Mission.
Diplomats at WTO have become pessimistic about striking a trade deal.
The BRICS stressed on resolution of conflicts in a declaration issued after a virtual meeting of foreign ministers of the member nations of the grouping. The meeting was attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
In his address to RIC Foreign Ministers, Wang said the three countries should 'correctly handle and properly deal with sensitive factors in bilateral relations and safeguard the overall interests of mutual relation', without directly referring to the current round of India-China military tensions along the Line of Actual Control, (LAC).
Success of the Ministerial meeting depends on the WTO members putting together the broad contours of a deal by August.
Imports too tumbled by 58.65 per cent to $17.12 billion in April from $41.4 billion in the same month last year, according to the data by the commerce and industry ministry.
Though the countries are lowering international trade restrictions, there is still fear that they may resort to policies that discriminate foreign investors due to weak economic recovery.
The EU is challenging the introduction of import duties on a wide range of ICT products, for instance mobile phones and components, base stations, integrated circuits and optical instruments
The United States has filed a complaint against China at the World Trade Organisation over the nearly $3 billion of antidumping and countervailing duties that Beijing levies on US automobile exports, saying that such duties abuse trade laws.
'As long as people are willing to compromise on quality for a lower price, the unorganised retail sector will stay.'
Acknowledging the strained diplomatic relations between Malaysia and India over his remarks, Mahathir said that it is necessary to speak out on the issues, even though such remarks could be disliked by some.
George Perkovich, vice president, studies, and director, Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, believes that with the United States-India nuclear deal in limbo, the lack of convergence between Washington and New Delhi on Iran, climate change, the World Trade Organisation, and stagnation of defence cooperation, the US-India relationship has indeed been oversold.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met over 40 CEOs across broad swathes of industry, ranging from makers of mobile devices, auto components, food products to telecom networking equipment and pharmaceuticals. The agenda: To discuss how to make India an integral part of the global supply chain. The focus of the discussion would be the much touted yet not so well understood production-linked incentive scheme (PLI), the centrepiece of the government's drive to massively boost the manufacturing sector. To do so, the government has created a war chest of over Rs 197,000 crore to be paid out as incentives to over 14 industries in five years. There are three objectives to the scheme, two explicitly stated, one implied.
Communications between the USTR and the world's most powerful pharmaceutical and trade lobbying groups reveal that many raised concerns about India's push to exempt Covid vaccines from intellectual property.
WTO should focus more on what it 'should do' than what it 'can do'
The PM said there was a need to tackle the problem of terrorism in an organised manner.
Duty-free and quota-free access in favour of LDCs is a commitment undertaken by WTO members at the launch of the Doha Round in 2001.
Gloom over ministerial, courtesy US-China spar, conflict between cotton-producing African nations.
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said his meetings with the US, China, India, and Brazil over the last fortnight revealed that the gaps in positions among members are too wide
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