A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
In 2017, a consortium led by Russian state oil company Rosneft agreed to buy Essar Oil for $12.9 billion in India's biggest foreign acquisition of a homegrown company. Rosneft's buyout of Essar's assets was meant to herald a wave of energy investments in India - over six decades after Esso, Caltex and Shell invested in India's refining sector in the 1950s. But the government has tripped up in its efforts to sell Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), formerly Burmah Shell, a blue chip public sector company. Bidders include a couple of global funds and resources firm Vedanta.
The political script for pre-2019 politics has gone with the wind and the writers of the new script seem in no great hurry to oblige the tormented, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
India is worried about Pakistan getting the Taliban to ignite trouble in Kashmir, observes Ramesh Menon.
The Modi government wants to have a smooth relationship with the DMK government.
Jet will require short-haul Boeing 737s to feed the traffic to Abu Dhabi, Etihad's home base and hub.
The NCP leader said that he will be happy to cooperate with the ED so that the agency understands the "complexities" of the aviation sector.
'The Chinese are only about 160-170 km behind.' 'It will not take much time for them to bring their troops back, considering that they have better infrastructure -- and the weather is now favourable.' 'They can move in much faster as the terrain favours them.'
A resurgent SpiceJet is spreading its wings and Vistara is set to challenge Jet on long-haul routes in the coming years.
Vistara Chief Executive Officer Phee Teik Yeoh is expected to meet the senior management of BA over the next few days to discuss the partnership.
Waiting time for customs, immigration clearance cut drastically; Jet-Etihad alliance to get competitive advantage
As President Biden moves ahead with a new 'strategic concept' for China and Russia, the going is bound to get rough for the US and its G7 partners, notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The delivery of the jets -- capable of carrying a range of potent weapons and missiles -- is scheduled to begin from September next year.
The Modi leadership could lose Election 2024 if a communal flare-up becomes cause for all-round catastrophe, warns N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Can any nation claim, guarantee that there will be no terror strike?'
He also sought to clear the air on the controversy concerning him and the Congress, which is part of ruling Grand Alliance in Bihar.
Modi government's story of five years with regard to equity allocation for PSUs shows that it may have allowed a large part of its resources to be wasted. This is also a worrying reflection of the government's inability to take hard decisions - whether they pertain to privatisation or forcing weak public-sector banks to wind down their operations, says A K Bhattacharya.
'From the very start, PM Modi was insistent that visiting foreign leaders should be exposed to an India beyond its capital.' 'Through these experiences, he felt that the full Indian narrative would be much better understood across the world,' explains External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. A riveting excerpt from Bluekraft Digital Foundation's Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery.
German carrier Lufthansa wants to fly its superjumbo A-380s to India and is studying the pros and cons of when and which Indian city to operate from, top airline officials said on Tuesday.
Rahul reiterated that there was massive corruption in the Rafale deal.
Police, however, said a link between the social media post and the assault has not been established yet.
He said discussions are still going on with various parties over forging an opposition alliance.
Robust military preparedness along the entire perimeter of our nation is the only iron-clad permanent guarantee for our security, asserts Vivek Gumaste.
At a virtual press conference to launch the report, Inger Anderson, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme, said, "Climate change is here and now. No one is safe. Despite warnings from so many years, the world did not listen. We need to act now. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will not only limit climate change but also reduce air pollution."
The government has deprived AAI of a sizeable and stable source of income.
German airliner Lufthansa has no plans to bid for equity in either Air-India or Indian Airlines as a counter to Air France-KLM mega merger, its executive vice-president Thierry Antinori said in New Delhi on Friday.
Leaders of that party are now scared of contesting from constituencies dominated by majority population
The Congress for its part urged Modi not to politicise the armed forces.
The growing rift and war of words with key National Democratic Alliance ally Janata Dal-United on Monday led BJP president Nitin Gadkari to ask all party functionaries and alliance partners to "exercise restraint" while airing views on coalition- related issues.
Even low cost carriers IndiGo, Paramount Airways are now in talks to join the Jet Airways-Kingfisher Airlines alliance to cut costs. After Kingfisher took over Air Deccan, fares have gone up steadily. Other low cost carriers have also hiked fares.
Jaganmohan Reddy hopes for a hung Parliament to 'extract a better deal' for Andhra Pradesh, and says his party will sweep all 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
As a percentage of the military budget, the navy's share has fallen from 19 per cent in 2010-2011 to just 15.5 per cent this year. With the Indian Navy's annual budget declining steadily, security planners are reluctant to green light crucial projects, discovers Ajai Shukla.
Like Air India, there have been recent cyber attacks on some major airlines, including one in Canada, and a global airlines alliance
Michel may prove to be the missing link in the money trail in the alleged multi-crore scam being probed by the CBI.
Sitharaman, who became the first full-time woman defence minister in the first tenure of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government -- will also head the Corporate Affairs ministry in the new cabinet.
'The really striking thing is that the Taliban has suo moto presented to us certain firm benchmarks against which it expects us to hold to account the Taliban rulers's actions in the period ahead' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Congress chief reiterated that Rs 30,000 crore was "wrongfully" given to Anil Ambani in the purchase of Rafale fighter planes.
Changing with the times and in compliance with social distancing norms, customers are now picking up their parcels, speed posts and registered letters within the city themselves after they are informed on phone.
Modi visited the border district in Jammu region, his first to Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, coinciding with Infantry Day celebrations.
"They probably ran the Defence Ministry with a lot of brokers and 'dalals' in between," she said.
