Agnipath may be an exercise to address the genuine needs of the armed forces. But overall, it betrays the tendency to use the military and paramilitary for employment generation and shaping a national character, instead of treating them as the professional services they are, notes Shyam G Menon.
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.
The Americans have expended a lot of diplomatic energy to coax India into toeing their line but India has refused to buckle under pressure. As Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said, India has not taken anyone's side but its own side, points out Virendra Kapoor.
'They are also sitting on huge public sector assets without many returns.'
10 stocks which are most popular with brokerages right now and are expected to deliver maximum upside over the next 12 months.
Announcing her appointment, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde hailed the Mysore-born Gopinath as "one of the world's outstanding economists with impeccable academic credentials, a proven track record of intellectual leadership and extensive international experience".
Had Finance Minister Sitharaman thought a little more about the middle class, disadvantaged sections, and the poor who are struggling, it would have been an inclusive Budget that would have made history, notes Ramesh Menon.
The proclamation that comes into effect on June 24, is expected to impact a large number of Indian IT professionals and several American and Indian companies who were issued H-1B visas by the US government for the fiscal year 2021 beginning October 1.
Here's what could be ahead for India: A $10-trillion economy by 2030-32, a Sensex at 1,00,000 by 2025, monthly GST revenues at Rs 2 trillion by 2024-25, 100 new unicorns by 2025, and poverty below 5 per cent by 2030, predicts R Jagannathan.
In a US-India Joint Leaders' Statement issued after the first in-person bilateral meeting between US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on Friday, the two leaders underscored the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan.
It has been a difficult year for the world's second-largest economy.
Rajiv Kumar will continue as vice-chairman of the body, along with other full-time members V K Saraswat, Ramesh Chand and V K Paul.
The agency's poor track record in convictions is the only light at the end of a rather long tunnel for the couple, observes Shyamal Majumdar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lashed out at previous governments, saying they seemed to hate development and "looted" public money to win elections.
Chidambaram was remanded to two more days of CBI custody in the INX Media corruption case.
The Taliban knows that Washington holds the key, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Observing that there are "definite and proved" allegations that complaints of the victims of violence in the aftermath of the West Bengal assembly polls were not even registered, the Calcutta high court on Thursday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into all alleged cases of heinous crimes like rape and murder, while accepting the recommendations of a National Human Rights Commission panel.
Most economists were of the view that the NSSO should release the data, as any move to withhold it will dent the image of country's statistical system.
Bengali sub-nationalism is slowly emerging as a rallying cry ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections due next year.
Modi is seen as exceptional not only on account of his acts but also owing to his style. He appears to sacrifice his life for the people -- like a fakir, a figure he came to epitomize even more in 2020 by growing a long white beard. Charisma is above accountability, and Modi has grasped these dynamics.
'Government shouldn't be in the business of running airlines, instead it should develop the ecosystem of civil aviation.'
Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf traces the journey of PM-CARES from its founding to finally admitting it is not a government fund.
'If Asia does become a Chinese dominated space, it will not only be because India failed to get its economic act together but also because it did not stand up for its democratic credentials,' warns Shyam Saran, the former foreign secretary.
India shifted gears in rejuvenating strategic ties with its major partners like the US and Russia and focused on drumming up global support for its distinct strategy in the Indo-Pacific to check Beijing's increasing muscle-flexing in the region.
With the BJP continuing to be the constant combatant, centrifugal pressures will rise. Fractured relations between the Centre and the states as between BJP and non-BJP ruled states is a sizeable risk owing ahead, warns Shekhar Gupta.
'India is in a slowdown which most of us have not seen in our living memory.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that the Netherlands is a natural partner in India's economic development and thanked the key European nation for backing India's Missile Technology Control Regime membership.
The agreement is subject to approval by the IMF management and consideration by its executive board, which is expected in early April.
The manufacturing and construction sector accounted for 42.7 per cent of GDP while the farm sector accounted for 9.2 per cent.
The agreement provides for extensive cooperation in the civil nuclear energy sector including in research and development for peaceful uses of nuclear energy, they said.
Mallya's barrister, Clare Montgomery, reiterated the central defence that there had been no misrepresentation or fraud on the part of her client and that Kingfisher Airlines was the victim of economic misfortune alongside other airlines.
His brother Nishal, a Belgian citizen, also left the country on January 1, while wife Ami, a US citizen, and business partner Mehul Choksi, the Indian promoter of Gitanjali jewellery chain, departed on January 6, the officials said.
'Anyone can string together a few alliterative words, but are they a substitute for serious thought?' 'And do they make for a strategy or plan for coherent action?' asks T N Ninan.
After taking benefit of the scheme, jobs increased by around 11 mn in establishments that took loans.
Despite all of the PM's many strengths, it is increasingly clear that he does not necessarily have a coherent and clear worldview on matters of macro policy.
'Is baar vote jati par nahi, kaam par milega.'
The bench expressed displeasure over the trend of filing of sedition cases just after senior advocate F S Nariman made opening submissions on behalf of Singh, saying 'the gentleman has served as the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) and was acting as the Director of the Police Academy and now the proceedings under section 124A (sedition) of the IPC have been initiated against him'.
The senior Congress leader's role has come under the scanner of investigating agencies in the Rs 3,500-crore Aircel-Maxis deal and the INX Media case involving Rs 305 crore.
Modi said it is his 12th meeting with Abe since he first visited Japan as prime minister in September 2014
Analysts, however, predict it would be an uphill climb for export-reliant China's economy going forward as it faced intensified conflict with the US and the negative fallout on its external trade due to Beijing's increasingly aggressive policies towards countries like India resulting in bans of its products and services.
