'Modi as the PM of the country has to take everybody on board and deliver on good governance. That is his responsibility. In that talking alone won't help, he's working.' Commerce Minister Dr Nirmala Sitharaman tells Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com how the Modi government plans to change India.
Two aborted missions, three different ministers, multiple rule changes and two decades later, Indian taxpayers will no longer have to pay Rs 20 crore per day to keep the loss-making Air India flying. While opposition Congress expectedly attacked the decision as selling the family silver, DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said what Tata is getting is not a cash cow but an airline which is bleeding where money needs to be pumped in to refurbish obsolete aircraft and dust up strangled ones while being unable to touch any employee for one year and only be able to resize staff after paying a VRS. "It won't be a very easy task there. Only advantage is they (new Air India owner) are paying the price which they think they can manage. "They are not taking the excessive debt accumulated to fund years of losses. We are continuing it as an ongoing concern.... This process has also saved huge amount of taxpayers money going forward," Pandey told PTI.
Since 2014, India has left its moorings as a pluralist, modern, secular State because that is how the BJP wants it to be, notes Aakar Patel.
'Till now, many political parties indulged in Muslim appeasement.' 'This is one experiment, successfully carried out by the AAP, in indulging in Hindu appeasement.'
Congress complained against Modi, Shah, Irani; the BJP against Rahul Gandhi.
FDI is a major driver of economic growth and a source of non-debt finance for the economic development of the country. The government has put in place an investor-friendly policy on FDI, under which investment up to 100 per cent is permitted on the automatic route in most sectors/ activities. At $ 64.37 billion, FDI in 2018-19 is the highest ever investment received for any financial year.
'There were any number of Congress leaders who disliked Sonia Gandhi, but they were very close to Ahmed Bhai and he would listen, and give a shoulder to cry upon.'
Not all change is good, but this one is, applauds Shekhar Gupta.
UP has 14 mango belts in Lucknow (Lucknow, Malihabad, Bakshi-ka-Talaab), Saharanpur and Sambhal-Amroha-Muzaffarnagar districts. Apart from Dussehri, the other major varieties in UP comprise Langda, Chausa, Amprapali and Mallika.
Devita Saraf, the founder of Vu Televisions, tells Karan Choudhury why she issued a front page newspaper ad praising Donald Trump last week.
Mahesh Vijapurkar on phoney ideology excuses and the spurning of brand ambassadors.
The latest to join the list is a technology company that recently launched an antivirus solution after the PM called Namo AV.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked exporters to prepare a strategy for the next five years and start working in that direction.
Narendra Modi might on Saturday ask the Apple CEO to make in India instead of importing and selling refurbished phones
Modi was addressing a public rally after laying the foundation stone of a factory to manufacture advanced AK-203 rifles in Amethi, represented by the Congress president in Lok Sabha.
During the second day of discussion in Rajya Sabha on the pandemic and steps taken by the Centre, Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena) took exception to the criticism by some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, of the measures taken by the Maharashtra government to control the pandemic.
'India will keep trying to avoid conflict.' 'This is the moment when we draw a line in the sand.'
Urvi Malvania on what makes Ranveer Singh so popular that he is succeeding Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar as the brand ambassador of Thums Up.
Continuing his attack on the Congress, he said efforts to stop the 'leakage' could have been made earlier as well but there was no intention and will power.
Indian American teen Sia Parikh, who made her debut on the Cannes red carpet, talks about her life journey.
'Mahatma Gandhi, even for those on the extreme Hindu Right who believe he founded the politics of Muslim 'appeasement', is suicidal to target,' asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The West Bengal on Thursday became the sixth state to pass a resolution against the three contentious farm laws enacted by the Centre, even as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party staged a walkout from the assembly amid 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans.
If Kejriwal wins the Delhi election, then most regional parties will copy Kejriwal's do's and don'ts of jugaad to win an election against the Modi-Shah juggernaut, reports Sheela Bhatt.
The party needs to fight competition not by acting like others, but by finding a strong narrative of its own.
Endorsements from actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Surya marks Heinz's renewed bid for a market dominated by Horlicks.
According to the sources, the President of the United States (POTUS) and First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) will be welcomed with traditional 'teeka', 'thali' laden with flowers and stoles after they arrive at the hotel on Monday. They said women dressed in traditional attire will greet the Trumps.
The Indian State has low operational capabilities. Individuals will have concerns about material that flows through the government, on questions of purity, perfection of the cold chain, and correctness of procedures at the frontline. Even if a government programme is able to solve all these problems, it will be limited in scale-up. The passion, management capabilities, and response to local conditions, which will be found with tens of thousands of ground-level initiatives, Individuals will have concerns about material that flows through the government, on questions of purity, perfection of the cold chain, and correctness of procedures. Even if a government programme is able to solve all these problems, it will be limited in scale-up, argues Ajay Shah.
After Rajasthan, petrol price on Thursday crossed the Rs 100 per litre mark in Madhya Pradesh after fuel rates were increased for the tenth day in a row. Petrol price was hiked by 34 paise per litre and diesel by 32 paise, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. While branded or additive-laced petrol, which attracts higher taxes, had crossed the Rs 100-mark in some places in states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, regular petrol crossed the physiological mark in Sriganganagar town of Rajasthan on Wednesday, and on Thursday it went past that mark in Madhya Pradesh. In Anuppur of Madhya Pradesh, petrol is priced at Rs 100.25 per litre and diesel at Rs 90.35. Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges.
During his visit to India in May, the Apple CEO had discussed the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Thimpu apparently didn't think it necessary to take Delhi into confidence. Bhutan is loathe to getting dragged into the geopolitical rivalry between India and China. And for Beijing, this was too good an opportunity to be missed to thumb its nose at the powers-that-be in Delhi, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Physically, he is your boy next door, but attitude-wise, he is an evangelist who does not mind shouting from the rooftops to take a stand on a cause he believes in.'
A study of the PM's speech reveals 13% of all words he used were pointed keywords to market his cause
Labelling All India United Democratic Front chief Badruddin Ajmal as the 'enemy of Assam', state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday asserted that he is an extremist in protecting Indian and the Assamese culture.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who envisioned Make In India last September was at his eloquent best as he made a fervent plea to global businesses to come Make In India.
Who will walk away into the sunset at the end? The reigning superstar who has given three mega blockbusters in 2005, 2010 and 2015? Or the fresh faced son of a former star trying to make a mark for himself, asks Asmita Bihari.
PM Modi also called for a strong action plan for combating extremism.
Phillip Morris says its research shows that the product while giving the same delivery of nicotine to smokers, does not produce the toxic and carcinogenic effects of cigarette smoking known as harmful and potential harmful constituents.
Rahil Ansari, 38, recently took charge as head of Audi India, one of the youngest brand directors in the German luxury car maker.
'The way opposition parties such as the Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Jharkhand Mukti Morch have supported her, if she wins, she will be the biggest opposition face for 2024'
Tech giant allowed to set up fully owned shops, with 30% local sourcing like everyone else.
