The economics and pricing of the Covishield vaccines and the government's own decision to pay higher prices raise more than a few questions, observes Prosenjit Datta.
'When fund managers talk of being bullish for the long term, they assume strong economic growth.' 'That is what they have assumed every year, naively believing the pronouncements and promises of ministers.' 'Unfortunately, they have been wrong year after year,' observes Debashis Basu, editor, www.moneylife.in.
It is impossible for anyone to explain how markets are hitting record highs during an economic recession. It is both mysterious and surreal, notes Debashis Basu.
In this exclusive interview with Rediff.com's Suman Guha Mozumder,Time International's new Editor Bobby Ghosh discusses Iraq, India and the New Journalism.
A fascinating conversation with one of the world's finest reporters.
'India imports 70 per cent of its bulk drugs from China. Are we going to live without antibiotics?' asks Debashis Basu.
The MPC headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will announce the resolution of the meeting at around noon on Thursday.
From small restaurants to mighty software companies, it is businesses, not the government, that create jobs. Yet, in a cruel irony, they have to fight extortive and brutal State power every step of the way, says Debashis Basu.
One Chinese source informed ANI that 10 million new infections are probably occurring daily in China.
If India wants to become a globally competitive manufacturing hub, it will have to rethink the notion that the traditional SMEs will form the manufacturing backbone, argues Prosenjit Datta.
'Strategy is to divide and polarise electorate on communal lines.'
The currency market won't care for our moans, groans, cries and sighs. The rupee will find its own level, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Israel and the UAE agreed to normalise their relations, and an agreement on the mutual establishment of embassies is expected to follow in the coming three weeks.
Nationalisation has served its purpose. It's time to move ahead, keeping majority ownership of the government in a few banks to serve the people, argues Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
An exclusive white paper by the Jamestown Foundation claims that the powerful figures arraigned against the President include former Vice-President Zeng Qinghong and current Vice-President Wang Qishan, The Hong Kong Post reported.
If it splits now, who takes what away and leaves what behind? asks Shekhar Gupta.
Only cash deposits of over Rs 250,000 in bank accounts will be scrutinised by the tax department and in case of mismatch with I-T returns, tax plus 200 per cent penalty would be levied
Indeed, there were frauds, and the politician-banker-industrialist nexus played a role in the rise of NPAs, but governance issues in Indian banking are far more nuanced and complex, reveals Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
I am not sure if Modi can ever act as a chowkidar, even if he wants to. But he can surely act as a thanedar, by ensuring a fast resolution of corruption cases once they come to light. Exemplary action is easier and will burnish his anti-corruption image, argues Debashis Basu.
Shifting to floating rate deposits can work as an anaesthetic gel for some customers, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Not only has the Mudra loan mela generated no jobs, it has frittered away trillions of taxpayers' money and it's time to bury the scheme, argues Debashis Basu.
Noted economist Arvind Panagariya says India is an emerging power. With liberalisation, Indian entrepreneurs have emerged and they are top class.
Dr Sanjaya Baru, editor, Business Standard, talks about the lack of respect for education and the need to reward excellence.
We are emphasising on an agricultural growth of 4.5 per cent to achieve a 9 per cent GDP growth, says Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
'Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is sincere about maintaining religious harmony in the country.' 'But for mysterious reasons, it does not reach the grassroots activists of her party.'
Perhaps the calculation is that economic recovery will have been achieved before the next general election comes around, but such assumptions can come unstuck if current directions are not reversed quickly, cautions T N Ninan.
The winners of the Natural History Museum's prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition were announced at an awards ceremony in London. American photographer Karine Aigner was announced as this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
Growth and economic reforms in India must take centre-stage again and acts of corruption or security concerns should not distract the attention of the government and the people, said Union Home Minister and former finance minister P Chidambaram recently.
But there are challenges, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Flagging the issue of lack of enough economists in the country, Reserve Bank India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has said the inability to get quality talent may be hurting policy making.
Byju Classes' founder Byju Raveendran, Zomato co-founder Gaurav Gupta, CEO of Antara Senior Living, Tara Singh Vachani, Vinati Organics' MD & CEO Vinati Mutreja and Swapan Mehra, CEO of Iora Ecological Solutions are among 115 young leaders.
Danish Siddiqui, in his early 40s, was killed during clashes in Spin Boldak district in Kandahar, Tolo News quoted sources as saying.
Eminent journalist B G Verghese, a Ramon Magsaysay award winner and former editor of leading dailies Hindustan Times and Indian Express, died on Tuesday at the age of 87 after brief illness.
Even when large businesses said they were flying blind in mid-2020, the markets rallied and an incredible business boom followed. This is not to say that the markets will continue to rally and there is nothing to worry about, observes Debashis Basu.
Chidambaram said this when he was asked by Financial Times Editor Lionel Barber on what he would he like to do beyond politics.
Rogue lending under political influence was rife in the Congress-led regime and is not happening in the Modi regime, certainly not on that scale. But if PSBs cannot lend as indiscriminately as they did last time in the name of 'credit expansion', how well will these banks do, asks Debashis Basu.
She would be the first Indian to be occupying the coveted post at IMF after former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan
Threats were often communicated to Pandit homes through notes tied to stones chucked through a window, or a notice pasted on a wall. Those sometimes came from neighbours eyeing that Pandit family's property. Those threats often worked in the atmosphere of terror during that awful season of vacuous exercise of State authority, writes David Devadas, longtime Kashmir watcher and author of two books on the Valley.
"High rate of economic growth has bypassed 77 per cent of population, which is living on a meagre income of Rs 20 per day... barely sufficient to survive," he said, while addressing the eighth Editors' Conference on social sector issues in New Delhi on Thursday.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is leading an official delegation on a three-day visit to India during which the two countries are expected to finalise a civilian nuclear deal and ink a major economic treaty. Harper arrived in Mumbai late Sunday night after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore.
