As India prepares to launch its vaccine drive on January 16, here is a look at the options:
The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to place on record all relevant documents and file notings reflecting its thinking culminating in the COVID-19 vaccination policy, and the purchase history till date of all jabs including Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik V.
India conceding ground to bring only top 100 digital companies like Google, Facebook, and Netflix into the global taxation pact may have revenue implications. This will mean that New Delhi will have to withdraw the contentious 2 per cent equalisation levy on e-commerce operators by 2023. This may have revenue implications for India, experts pointed out, as the equalisation levy has a much lower annual revenue threshold of Rs 2 crore (euro 0.2 million) as against euro 20 billion agreed by 130 countries at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). India, along with other developing countries, was pitching for at least euro 1 billion threshold to cover at least 5,000 global entities. India collected Rs 2,057 crore from the equalisation levy in 2020-21, an 85 per cent growth over Rs 1,136 crore in the previous fiscal.
India Inc resorted to salary cuts to protect their profits in the June quarter, as revenues came under pressure due to the second pandemic wave that affected nearly the entire country, a report said on Wednesday. The "weak" wage growth will prove to be a drag on the overall economic recovery in the medium term as it will affect household consumption, the report by India Ratings and Research said. An environment of pandemic-led uncertainty and elevated inflation could impact the level of spending and hence the overall demand, it said.
The Orwellian surveillance State is here. And here to stay, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
'All enemy positions lay exposed, providing immense information to the Indian Army and IAF to conduct successful flushing out operations.'
The share of total health expenditure as part of the gross domestic product (GDP) went down to 3.3 per cent in 2017-18 from 3.8 per cent in the previous two years, according to the national health account data released on Monday by the health ministry. The share of government expenditure as part of total expenditure as well as GDP has gone up from from 3.78 per cent to 5.12 per cent between 2013-14 and 2017-18, which could also explain a decline seen in out of pocket expenditure in 2017-18. Health ministry also emphasised the increase in the government health expenditure as part of the total GDP from 1.15 per cent in 2013-14 to 1.35 per cent in 2017-18.
Twenty years after India's insurance sector was opened up, unshackling the control of state-owned companies, as many as 50 private players have set up shop. Along with their foreign partners, private players have brought about a sea change in the product offering, distribution and underwriting processes, and services levels. Yet, India's insurance penetration needle has not moved much.
Ramesh Menon, the veteran journalist suggests Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi what he should do if he wants to win 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
'There is no emergency of a third wave that we are rushing for booster doses.'
'The first year of the Modi government's second term has laid the roadmap for the future and we will embark on it with gusto,' promises Gopal Krishna Agrawal, the BJP's national spokesperson on economic affairs.
The temptation to get into businesses that are hot is perhaps too great for any politician, no matter what his public slogans are. Nehru plunged into hot sectors of his time -- engineering and iron and steel. Modi has plunged into digital payments -- the hot sector of his time, notes Debashis Basu.
The economy is gaining traction with gradual pick up in manufacturing activity and moderation in contraction of services, spurred by comfortable liquidity conditions, an RBI article on Tuesday said. Observing that the retreat of the second wave of coronavirus pandemic has been slow, the RBI in an article on the 'State of Economy' said, the aggregate demand conditions are buoyed by the release of pent-up demand post unlock, while the supply situation is improving with the monsoon catching up to its normal levels and sowing activity gaining pace. "Reaffirming the traction that the economy is gaining, the manufacturing activity is gradually turning around, while contraction in services has moderated.
As per the new privacy policy of WhatsApp, user information would be shared with Facebook
Intelligent tools are being deployed to detect content pirated from OTT platforms.
WhatsApp, last month, sued Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group, accusing it of helping those buying its spyware Pegasus break into the phones of roughly 1,400 users across four continents.
Without directly referring to the farmers' agitation, which entered the 17th day on Saturday, Modi said agriculture reforms as part of government efforts are aimed at removing roadblocks, and the new laws will also bring in technology and investment in the sector.
The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 543 and the number of cases climbed to 17,265 in the country on Monday, according to the Union health ministry.
The move is aimed at protecting investors from parking their money in dubious schemes.
Based on this price, state governments, private hospitals, industrial establishments, etc would be able to procure vaccine doses from the manufacturers.
With the Omicron variant of coronavirus slowly spreading its tentacles in the country, a number of states enhanced surveillance to trace, track and quarantine contacts of COVID-19 positive persons while Delhi began genome sequencing of samples of all infected people and has prohibited Christmas and New Year gatherings.
Capital dumping is being used by foreign e-commerce firms to subsidise and engage in predatory pricing, oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) has told the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) in an internal document. The document alleges that this is leading to massive unemployment and financial distress among small merchants and kirana stores. It consists of various recommendations and proposed changes that deal with Press Note 2 of 2018 (PN 2), which RIL wanted Assocham to present to the government, according to sources.
The RBI governor is focused on growth, and keeping rupee slightly depreciated is part of that 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' strategy.
The apex court's five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said Aadhaar is meant to help benefits reach the marginalised sections of the society and takes into account the dignity of people not only from personal but also from community point of view.
"Few nations are more vital to the future of American security and prosperity than India," Garcetti told the committee.
Though COVID-19 will wreak more damage to the finances of the Indian population, the insurance sector is unlikely to get hurt.
Addressing the 'Namaste Trump' event at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, Trump said that both the countries are in the early stages of discussion for an 'incredible' trade agreement to reduce barriers of investments.
Our government has failed the country on several counts. All this must change for India to redeem itself in six months, says Naushad Forbes.
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.
'What we are actually missing in India is a platform wherein the government engages with cybersecurity experts, gets them employed and then utilises their capability to deter such attacks.'
The situation inside the "bubble" stood in sharp contrast to outside, with a surge in infections fuelled by the Delta variant hitting daily records and for the first time crossing 5,000 in the host city, threatening to overwhelm Tokyo's hospitals.
Google is committed to complying with local laws and engages constructively with governments as they scrutinise and adopt regulatory frameworks to keep pace with the fast evolving technology landscape, its CEO Sundar Pichai said on Thursday.
'To selectively look at the operation of certain laws -- in a manner that ignores the realities of caste and gender injustice in India -- and conclude that they are being particularly misused, is plain wrong,' says Aakar Patel.
The state may have some power to put reasonable restriction, says the apex court.
Three experts on cyber security, digital forensics, networks and hardware were roped in by the Supreme Court on Wednesday to "enquire, investigate and determine" whether Pegasus spyware was used for snooping on citizens and their probe would be monitored by former apex court judge R V Raveendran.
FMCG firms such as ITC, Parle Products, Marico, Emami, PepsiCo India and CG Corp Global on Wednesday assured uninterrupted supply of their products based on the learnings from the last year's lockdown, even as surge in COVID-19 cases in India forced Maharashtra to declare a 15-day curfew while other states also imposing various restrictions.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said financial inclusion will continue to be a "policy priority" for the central bank to make the post-pandemic recovery more equitable and sustainable. The Reserve Bank of India will very soon be coming out with the first financial inclusion index, which will assess progress in terms of access, usage and quality, Das said, while speaking at the Economic Times Financial Inclusion Summit. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders to ensure that the financial ecosystem (including the digital medium) is inclusive and capable of effectively addressing risks like mis-selling, cybersecurity, data privacy and promoting trust in the financial system through appropriate financial education and awareness, he added.
The medical devices, which have been in high demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, will now see a drop in prices, as the earlier margins were up to 709 per cent for some of these products.
Sebi pointed out instances of misleading the investors by reporting incorrect data on investor complaints, instances of inappropriate utilisation of funds meant for investor education, such as spending on programmes meant for financial advisors, charging of expenses to the said funds for stationery items such as notebooks, planners and calendars, and charging of expenses without adequate records.
Doses of the vaccine were given to 1,077 healthy adults aged between 18 and 55 in five United Kingdom hospitals in April and May as part of the phase one clinical trial.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances