A lot depends upon the composition of the monetary policy committee.
Maharashtra is in the beginning of a second COVID-19 wave, a central team report has said, highlighting that there is very limited active effort to track, test, isolate cases and quarantine contacts, and there is no adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour among people in rural and urban areas in the state.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday decided to leave benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent but maintained an accommodative stance as the economy faces heat of the second Covid wave.
India needs a National Trade Policy Council, chaired by a minister who reports directly to the PM, says Jayanta Roy, former economic advisor to the Union commerce ministry.
Why did the Chinese military take over the lab in Wuhan in end January? Did something go wrong? Claude Arpi glances at the mystery surrounding the origin of the coronavirus.
The salient features of the new OTT/social media policy announced by the Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar on February 25, 2021.
It is surprising that central bankers around the world have cautioned the US Federal Reserve against raising rates.
India's national security strategy needs to be revised periodically since the global and regional geopolitical situation is dynamic, points out Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
The prime minister held a meeting with chief ministers via video-conferencing, and said it was imperative to work on war footing, identify hotspots, encircle them and ensure that coronavirus does not spread out.
Second-line AIADMK leaders and cadres alike say that by starting the talks first with the BJP and committing the party to an alliance without discussing seat-sharing, the leadership might have commenced the coalition discourse at the wrong end. According to them, even 20 seats for the BJP may be too many, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'If one puts the context of what Xi Jinping said at the UN about not wanting a 'hot or cold war with any country', one realises that his speech was quite bizarre.' 'The world does not expect such statements from China, a nation aspiring to be a superpower.
A portion of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Sunday, triggering an avalanche and a deluge in the Alaknanda river system that washed away hydroelectric stations, leaving at least seven people dead and 125 missing who are feared dead.
It also said that the UK's decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation for the alleged attack was a 'just response'.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
The BJP and the Shiv Sena rule the state in coalition, apart from officially being partners in Delhi as well, while also never missing an opportunity to portray each other as a bungler deserving to be dumped.
State Health Minister K K Shailaja told reporters that the government has declared the epidemic as a 'state calamity' to take all necessary steps to ensure that the outbreak is effectively controlled. A medical bulletin issued by the government said the health status of all the three students, who tested positive for the virus, was 'satisfactory'.
'Rolling out the vaccine is not a major challenge in India.'
While asserting that the growth of coronavirus cases in the country has been more or less linear and not exponential, it also said testing has been ramped up consistently.
Over 20,400 foreign nationals have been evacuated from India amid the coronavirus crisis and any decision on bringing Indians from abroad will be taken at a later stage after reviewing the situation, the government said on Friday.
"Both India and China are victims of terrorism and the region was suffering from the menace. The prime minister said no country is immune from terrorism and on this issue, we cannot afford to have any differences," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters after the meeting.
'China physically occupies about 45,000 sq km of J&K as claimed by India, including 3,000 sq km captured in the 1962 War and never returned; and 5,180 sq km ceded to China by Pakistan in 1963.' 'It is hard to justify remaining silent about the return of China occupied Ladakh,' observes Ajay Shukla.
Unlike the regimes of Jayalalitha, Palaniswami and Karunanidhi, ministers are actually getting to make decisions on their own, with the unmentioned rider that they would be held responsible and accountable, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Mere shuffling of resources or cosmetic changes to prove a point would be counterproductive in the long run, observes Commodore Venugoptal Menon (retd).
The new minister must commit himself to supporting long-term defence plans or else defence modernisation will continue to lag and the growing military capabilities gap with China will assume ominous proportions, warns Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
A report submitted by the consortium of seven Indian Institutes of Technology on way to rejuvenate the Ganga river is at heart of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious plan to restore the glory of the river.
'This is a public institution, run on public money and our fees,' the students say. 'Yet, decisions that affect us crucially are being taken without consulting us.'
'Speaking this year from the ramparts of the Red Fort, he excelled himself in content, diction and delivery -- all extemporaneously flowing, replete with felicitous expressions and captivating word play. 'The only other Indian prime minister with whom he stands comparison is Jawaharlal Nehru who too shunned prepared speeches and established instant rapport with his audiences,' says B S Raghavan.
The tearing hurry to form theatre commands has to be replaced by a balanced and deliberate approach. We need to accept that this process will take time if executed correctly and in the best interests of the Indian armed forces, argues Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
The COVID-19 tests will be started at every polling station in the containment zones of Delhi in a few days
Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan said the vessel had more than 32,000 tonne of oil and has been emptied.
Ministers in the Narendra Modi government have been busy making presentations on their 100 days of work. But what these presentations do not mention is that decisions by ministers have been few, with plenty of papers and files moving to the Prime Minister's Office, which is increasingly emerging as a centralised clearance point, even for routine and ordinary issues. Though policy paralysis was a term used freely for the United Progressive Alliance regime, questions are now being raised about pending decisions across ministries and whether at least some ministers have turned redundant.
'The Modi government must create conditions to integrate millions into the rural economy as many migrants are certainly not going to return to live an undignified life,' notes Ramesh Menon.
General Singh assured the nation that the Indian Army is highly motivated and ready to respond to any threats to national security.
The court order is seen as a major embarrassment for the AIADMK as Palaniswami will be the first chief minister in the state to face a CBI probe over corruption charges.
The Urjit Patel committee on monetary policy framework has proposed setting up of a monetary policy committee (MPC) that will be headed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor and accountable for achieving inflation target set by it.
Orissa learnt its lessons from previous cyclones, particularly the 1999 super cyclone, whereas Uttarakhand has failed to do so from any of the previous natural calamities that hit the state, says Dinesh C Sharma.
'The BCCI is one of the best administrative bodies in the world.' 'In a democratic set-up there will always be a power struggle, that is part of every society or every association, but it does not mean we have done something bad.' 'We have done everything possible we could for the game.'
Managing expectations is a challenge for policymakers.
'I cannot conceive of any reason than my unsparing criticism of government policies that the government picked me to send a message to many who dare to take it on.'
If the Modi government is to keep its promise of change, it must bring in fresh faces.
