Tax benefit on WFH expenses, regulatory clarity on cryptos figure high on their wish list.
The number of poor people in India fell by about 415 million between 2005-06 and 2019-21, a "historic change" and a demonstration that the Sustainable Development Goal target of reducing at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty by 2030 is possible to achieve, even at a large scale, according to the UN.
To plug claims mismanagement, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) is bringing reforms in the mediclaim segment.
11 states were assessed for access to clean water, energy and sanitation and use of iodised salt.
Indian billionaires saw their combined fortunes more than double during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their count shot up by 39 per cent to 142, while the wealth of the ten richest is enough to fund school and higher education of children in the country for 25 years, a new study showed on Monday. In its annual inequality survey released on the first day of the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda summit, Oxfam India further said that an additional one per cent tax on the richest 10 per cent can provide the country with nearly 17.7 lakh extra oxygen cylinders, while a similar wealth tax on the 98 richest billionaire families would finance Ayushman Bharat, the world's largest health insurance scheme, for more than seven years. The COVID-19 pandemic saw a huge rush for oxygen cylinders and insurance claims during the second wave last year.
India's services sector activity moderated in December as business activity and sales rose at a softer pace, while price pressures and the possibility of new waves of Covid-19 affected business sentiment, a monthly survey said on Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted India Services Business Activity Index fell from 58.1 in November to a three-month low of 55.5 in December. The rates of expansion moderated but were nevertheless "marked" by historical standards, the survey said.
Even before Boris Johnson stepped out of 10 Downing Street on Thursday to deliver his resignation speech as Conservative Party leader and triggering a leadership race for a new British prime minister, at least one Indian-origin candidate is already lined up to compete for the "best job in the world".
The pandemic has changed the way people see the government. It has eroded trust in the administration's ability to tackle a crisis, any crisis, observes Devangshu Datta.
Less than 30,000 booster doses daily in December.
Taking away free healthcare facilities, as recommended by the Aayog, would place a huge burden on the people, especially in rural areas, says Devanik Saha.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Datta granted four weeks to the Delhi government counsel to file a further status report in the matter and listed it for hearing on May 4.
India's manufacturing sector activity was largely flat in April, as rates of growth for new orders and output eased to eight-month lows amid the intensification of the COVID-19 crisis, a monthly survey said on Monday. The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was at 55.5 in April, little changed from March's reading of 55.4. In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion while a score below 50 denotes contraction.
Over 21 per cent of the population, aged 10 years and above, showed evidence of past exposure to COVID-19 in the Indian Council of Medical Research's latest national serosurvey, the government said on Thursday, noting that a large proportion of people are still vulnerable to the infection.
"The issue is not whether India is first or third or fourth, the issue is that this perception should be taken seriously to set our house in order".
Sources in the Delhi government said the ministry of home affairs has stopped the Kejriwal government's budget and it will not be tabled in the assembly on Tuesday.
The Tamil Nadu government on Sunday said it was mandatory for people coming from Kerala, to the state to carry a negative RT-PCR test report or vaccination certificate of two COVID doses from August 5, in the wake of a spike in infections in the neighbouring state.
One in 15 individuals aged 10 years and above were estimated to be exposed to SARS- CoV2 by August 2020, ICMR's 2nd sero-survey said.
The country's manufacturing sector activity recorded another sharp deterioration in business conditions during May as new orders placed with producers continued to fall after April's record contraction, leading firms to cut jobs at the quickest pace on record, a monthly survey said on Monday.
Vardhan said the ICMR is actively researching on reports of COVID-19 reinfection and although the number of such cases is negligible at this moment, the government is fully seized of the importance of the matter, the health ministry said in a statement.
78 per cent moms who participated in the survey were worried about their kids getting sick amid the lockdown
A circular-cum-advisory issued by the state Directorate of Health Services last week said the second wave of the pandemic is likely in January-February, and asked officials concerned to ramp up COVID-19 testing in the state.
I suggest we build a Vigyan Mandir (Temple of Science) with the ambience of a place of worship, so that it becomes a destination for pilgrims. We should embed on its walls bronze plaques describing each scientist mentioned here along with about a dozen of our ancient mathematicians, recommends Professor Kalyan Singhal, historian of science and technology.
Kids mostly have mild illnesses and recover with just symptomatic treatment.
Ahead of the Union Budget for 2023-24, Budget makers have welcomed the global consensus view that India will remain one of the bright spots in calendar year 2023. But there is some alarm over the grim global situation and how that might impact the Centre's projections and assessments for next financial year. The big global headwinds include a deep and sustained recession in the West, including India's biggest trading partners in North America and Europe, continuing volatility in commodity markets, and renewed Covid-19 fears, as lifting of strict curbs by China could potentially lead to a massive spread again.
Bhagwat also expressed concern over Bitcoin and OTT platforms and asked the government to take efforts to regulate these things.
The most common symptoms were fatigue, post-exertional malaise -- worsening of symptoms after physical or mental exertion -- and cognitive dysfunction, often called brain fog.
Apart from 87 per cent people in urban areas of India, most people in Australia (84 per cent), Canada (81 per cent), Germany (75 per cent) and Italy (61 per cent) were of the view that their government handled COVID-19 crisis well, according to the survey.
Over 51% per cent of users feel they will probably continue virtual dating even after they will be able to meet up safely.
The much-awaited festive season is unlikely to bring any cheers to the travel industry, including the airline sector, as less than 20 per cent of people polled plan to travel during October-November amid the pandemic, a survey said.
This will facilitate availability of at least 2,400 more beds for patients in the city, the BMC said.
The Survey noted that while women account for almost half of India's population, their participation in labour market is almost one-third and has been declining.
"Excess deaths" captures not only confirmed deaths, but also COVID-19 deaths that were not correctly diagnosed and reported as well as deaths attributable to the overall crisis conditions.
"Coming festivals (Chhat, Puja, Dussehra, Deepavali, Id, Xmas, New year) pose a huge challenge in the pandemic control. It has been seen that Onam in Kerala and Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtra escalated the pandemic seriously. This must not be allowed to happen in Delhi," the report stated.
Government think tank Niti Aayog has suggested 100 per cent income tax exemption for donations and provision of working capital loans with lower interest rates for not-for-profit hospitals to strengthen healthcare services in India. In a report titled 'Not-for-Profit Hospital Model in India', the Aayog also pitched for involving high performing hospitals in public private partnership (PPP) models for managing primary health care (PHCs), operations of government facilities and PSU hospitals. "Income-tax exemption could be increased from the current 50 per cent exemption to 100 per cent exemption for philanthropy toward the identified not-for-profit hospitals.
"Any lingering concern that India's manufacturing recovery was tailing off should be put off. A second consecutive rise in PMI has taken the series to a new cycle high consistent on double digit rise in industrial production," said Robert Prior Wandesforde, senior asian economist, HSBC.
Seropositivity was the highest in the age group of 18-45 years (43.3 per cent), followed by those between 46-60 years (39.5 per cent) and it was the lowest among those aged above 60 (17.2 per cent).
The couple have requested a special wedding gift from their guests.
For the first time in seven years, respondents expressing dissatisfaction with the Modi government's performance outnumbered those satisfied with it.
ICMR's serological survey, whose findings will be made public next week, suggests that the rate of contagion may be a lot higher in most-affected cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune.
It's mostly because we want to avoid being judged.
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