Debroy is expected to have a role and responsibility similar to the erstwhile chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council
Tightening the procedure for official foreign visits by bureaucrats, the Centre has said that proposals for trips abroad should go through the Prime Minister Office and screening committee of secretaries for approval.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met her US counterpart William Burns and discussed a wide range of bilateral issues, including counter-terrorism and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposed visit to America in November.
Prior to his departure, the prime minister attended a Congressional reception hosted jointly by Foreign Relation Committees (House and Senate) and India Caucus (House and Senate).
While the denial rate has dropped slightly to 21 per cent in 2019 from 24 per cent in 2018, the National Foundation for American Policy has said it is much higher for Indian IT companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro and very low for American companies like Amazon and Google. For instance, the denial rate for TCS and Infosys in 2019 was 31 per cent and 35 per cent respectively, whereas for Wipro it was 47 per cent and 37 per cent for Tech Mahindra. On the other hand, the denial rate for the new H-1B petitions in 2019 was just four per cent each for Amazon and Google. The denial rate for Microsoft during the same period was six per cent, and Facebook along with Walmart was just three per cent each.
"The Indian government approached asking us to open the airspace. We conveyed our concerns that first India must withdraw its fighter planes placed forward," Nusrat told the committee.
'The US-India relationship is in a different league altogether,' Obama administration officials tell Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in Washington, DC.
Meanwhile, Pakistan said the terrorist attack in Pulwama district is "a matter of grave concern" even as it strongly rejected Indian media and government's allegations of the country's link to the strike "without" probe.
Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf traces the journey of PM-CARES from its founding to finally admitting it is not a government fund.
The 457 visa programme, used by over 95,000 foreign workers, a majority of them Indians, was replaced on March 18 by a new Temporary Skills Shortage visa programme.
Even as India gears up for election results on May 16, a group of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have taken up an informal initiative to see how a 'Modi ministry' will look like, in case the party forms the government at the Centre.
For the second time since Press Note 2 and 4 were issued in February 2009, the Department of Economic Affairs in the finance ministry has raised questions on their implementation, this time over an application before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
'We give them a lot of money and they turn that money around and that goes to the bad guys that kill not only folks in America and Afghanistan, but you in India,' says United States Congressman Ted Poe.
Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon arrived in the United States on two-day visit to the US with a series of scheduled meetings including with officials at the State Department, the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns.
The External Affairs ministry has launched a mobile application named 'MEAIndia'
"We are not looking at increasing FII (investment) limit in government securities," Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters. Earlier in June, the government raised the FII investment limit in government securities to $5 billion from $3.2 billion.
India and the US may ink the landmark nuclear deal as early as Friday after President George W Bush signs into law the legislation on the initiative. The signing of the HR7081, the approval legislation for the US-India civilian nuclear agreement, into law by Bush on Wednesday will be followed by formal inking of the accord by the two countries, which will be done by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee.
The 10-year UPA rule came under sharp attack in the BJP's National Council meeting in on Saturday, which unveiled the new government's future plans and policy prescription in domestic and foreign affairs arena in a political resolution, which hailed the "strong and able" leadership of Narendra Modi.
Eases regulatory hurdles for Bharti-MTN deal.
The Cabinet can take a decision on the matter only after the Election Commission's approval.
India's MRP and Packaged Commodities Acts are dated and not in line with the modern world's digital price mechanisms and comparisons.
International air travel of passengers has been permitted in a limited manner under the Vande Bharat mission. Further opening-up will take place in a calibrated manner.
Dismissing as unreasonable a United States report on its democracy and human rights situation, China has asked Washington to pay more attention to its own human rights problems and stop interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.Qin said the US side should stop interfering in the internal affairs of other nations with issues such as democracy and human rights and urged it to 'do more things that are conducive to the advancement of Sino-US mutual trust.'
Even with a clear mandate, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government is unlikely to allow foreign direct investment in sensitive sectors such as retail and may like to revisit the recently issued norms that give companies elbow room in dealing with the FDI norms.
'The feeling is growing that if India slips in the realms of liberal tenets, it will be a tragedy not only for the country, but also for the world because it will lose a remarkable role model,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
Approval comes 6 months after Swedish clothing giant applied for India entry; FIPB now to consider on Oct 18.
Other measures being considered include relatively stringent KYC norms and a separate standard operating procedure for approval, renewal, and fresh investment from India's neighbouring countries.
'India appears to have stood its ground on strategic autonomy by resisting US pressure on Russia, China and Iran, but succumbed to the temptation to walk into a tighter embrace in defence cooperation, a high priority of the Trump administration,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The ministry of corporate affairs has raised questions on Etihad's rights to nominate three directors on the board and, despite being a minority shareholder in the company, decide on the vice-chairman.
Retail, telecom, media and a host of sectors in which foreign direct investment is restricted stand to gain from changes in FDI policy that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared on Wednesday linking approvals to the concept of control for the first time.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in its draft Cabinet has proposed to further tighten the rules for foreign direct investment in brownfield pharmaceutical sector.
The department of economic affairs in the Union finance ministry has suggested aggressive sterilisation of foreign capital inflows, tightening of government expenditure and intervention in key farm produce markets like wheat.
Both the Barack Obama administration and United States lawmakers on Capitol Hill have expressed concern over the Indian Supreme Court's decision to uphold a law that criminalises consensual homosexual conduct.
Delhi finds itself between the rock and hard place in the coming Sri Lankan election, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Russia has described the killing of Andrey Karlov at an art exhibition in Ankara as a terror attack.
A 'trend analysis' has shown that the target base for the special exercise would not be very large.
Indians at large harbour a notion that their country is cherrypicking out of the American basket of goodies, but the policymakers in Delhi and the political leadership are well aware that it can only be a pipe dream since a military alliance with a superpower is a profound irrevocable commitment, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Speaking at Assocham's international retail summit, Rakesh Kacker, additional secretary in the Department of Consumer Affairs, said the government would take a decision at an "appropriate time". He did not specify the time-frame. The move has been in abeyance due to protests from across the political spectrum.
FDI in the defence sector during 2000-2014 has been a meagre $4.94 billion, despite the total FDI flow into the country across sectors standing at $321.81 billion.
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