You'll need an extra pair of eyes for the content flood on OTT this week.
As the second wave sweeps through the country, restrictions on movement and public activity are not as strict, even though the caseload and death rate is worse than before, reports Abhishek Waghmare.
'The pandemic had a significant impact on child trafficking.' 'With economic hardships, traffickers exploited the situation to target desperate parents and children.'
Earlier, the CBSE also did away with the practice of issuing merit lists to avoid unhealthy competition.
The banking sector emerged as an outlier when the rest of India Inc witnessed a slowdown in earnings in FY23. The combined net profit of listed public and private sector banks was up 39.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) last financial year and their share in India's gross value added (GVA) or gross domestic product (GDP) at factor cost rose to a record high of nearly 1 per cent up, from 0.8 per cent a year ago. Listed banks' combined net profit grew to Rs 2.36 trillion in FY23, from Rs 1.69 trillion a year ago. In comparison, India GVA at current prices was up 15.2 per cent YoY at Rs 247 trillion in FY23; it was around Rs 214 trillion a year ago.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday slashed India's growth forecast for 2022-23 (FY23) by 80 basis points to 7.4 per cent, citing less favourable external conditions and rapid policy tightening by the central bank. In its update to the April World Economic Outlook, the IMF said that though a global recession in 2022 was ruled out with a growth estimate of 3.2 per cent, the balance of risks was squarely to the downside, driven by a wide range of factors that could adversely affect the global economic performance. "The risk of recession is particularly prominent in 2023, when in several economies growth is expected to bottom out, household savings accumulated during the pandemic will have declined, and even small shocks could cause economies to stall.
'Never in the history of Indian cinema did we have a distribution system for 240 countries, but we have it now.' 'And if we still keep catering to the B and C-tiers of our country, and not the whole world, then we are really being losers.' 'The visionaries of the industry must pull up their socks and say that now we will create for the world.'
Economies of Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana may have grown at a slower pace than the national economy during 2022-2023.
Former India strength and conditioning coach Shanker Basu believes maintaining fitness without running on the field is going to be quite tricky for the fast bowlers and advised the cricketers against too much screen time during the ongoing lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Basu, who oversaw the fitness transformation of the Indian team between 2015 to 2019, worked extensively with the potent pace attack comprising Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami, and ensured they don't break down often.
What tastes better with dahi-rice, dal-chawal or puris than the season's newly-made home pickle?
The slowdown in private consumption in the economy is taking a toll on the growth of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). The net sales growth of listed FMCG companies hit a 14-quarter low of 2.5 per cent in October-December 2023 (Q3FY24). This is the lowest revenue growth for the industry since the June 2020 quarter, when the FMCG firms in the Business Standard sample had reported a 13.2 per cent Y-o-Y decline in combined net sales owing to the lockdown.
Prof Ananth Narayan, well known financial expert who works as a faculty member at the SP Jain Institute of Management and Research and the RBI's nominee director on the board of Yes Bank, expects a double-digit contraction in India's GDP this fiscal year. In the first of a two-part interview to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com, Prof Narayan, below, says, "Giving liquidity and loan to cover the cash flow problem is not sufficient because you are essentially increasing the debt of many of these companies. And they might not be able to bear the burden."
Growth rate in per capita income is projected to fall to the lowest in 21 years this financial year - except for the financial years 2019-20 (FY20) and 2020-21 (FY21) - according to the first advance estimates. During the last 21 years, the two periods - FY20 and FY21 - saw growth rates in per capita income lower than 7.9 per cent, seen during FY24. This was despite the real gross domestic product (GDP) being projected to grow by 7.3 per cent in the current financial year by the first advance estimates.
'How do we ensure that the unlocking, which is desperately needed for earning income and livelihood, will not create ugly spikes in the infection rates?' 'And if it does, what then?'asks Omkar Goswami.
Scenes from a deserted Mumbai, something that most of us have never seen.
Sunny goes on a date... Sushmita goes on vacation... Sara is lost in thought...
The bench was hearing an application filed by the Foundation for Media Professionals seeking the publication of the review orders passed by a special committee headed by the Union Home secretary on internet restrictions in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
'Success is in the hands of the audience. I learn from what they like or dislike, and take the next step further.'
Now they are reinventing their strategies to stay afloat, as they see no sign of recovery for at least six months.
Radhakishan Damani is the only billionaire to see his wealth grow by around 20% during the lockdown.
Beauty technicians and hairstylists in PPEs. Constant disinfection of instruments such as scissors and combs, Disposable neck-wraps and fresh towels. That's what beauty may look like now, reports Amrita Singh.
'In our business, every time a seat goes empty, it is a perishable good.' 'We have lost the opportunity of earning revenue out of it.' 'It's impossible to recover what we have lost.'
The Centre on Monday blocked 16 YouTube channels, including six operating from Pakistan, and a Facebook account for spreading disinformation related to India's national security, foreign relations and public order, according to an official statement.
"India exercises with whomever it chooses to and it does not give a veto to third countries on these issues," the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said.
'Despite the pandemic, we aspire to maintain the momentum of last year.'
Five-time World champion Viswanthan Anand believes chess has adapted quite well to the coronavirus-forced shutdowns across the globe by simply going online just as he has been doing to stay in touch with family while being stuck in Germany for a couple of months now. Anand had gone to Germany in February to compete for SC Baden OOO in the Bundesliga Chess. However, travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have ensured that he has been unable to return home.
'One good thing that has come out of all this is that it shown people that online ordering is the way forward.'
'People don't know even 20 percent of what I did.'
'It is an extraordinary situation no doubt but we are all hoping for this to be brought under control by June', says BFI confident of COVID-19 storm passing.
Sandeep Chattoo got the phone activated with 'special permission'
While several international sporting events were cancelled in China because of the pandemic, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics were held behind closed doors under strict COVID-19 guidelines.
Missing their grandparents, not being able to go out and meet their friends.... These are just some of the things that kids, who have been confined to their homes due to the coronavirus lockdown, have revealed. From Tokyo to Buenos Aires, and New York to Kathmandu, youngsters have taken to their balconies or front lawns to display and explain the drawings they have made to Reuters photographers.
Aseem Chhabra lists his 10 favourite non-Indian shows streaming in India -- classics as well as recent shows.
Some companies argue that the culture of staying, working and learning at home will persist for a while, altering lifestyle habits of consumers.
One India is doing great against the coronavirus, lauding the gains of the lockdown and thanking the government, and the other lacks commitment, says Sumit Bhattacharya.
'If attacks escalate, there is a risk the Suez Canal may be closed.'
'A person can do Olympic lift of 100 kgs at this stage, but he or she is not guaranteed to be injury free or increase in performance unless there is transfer. Bowlers do take a hit during this phase for sure. Batters not much'
'We are calling companies to set up assembly plants for mobile phones while all the components are imported.' 'Only the last turn of the screwdriver is done here. And you call it self-reliance, Atmanirbharta, etc.' 'Unless you invest in research, you will not climb up the ladder. But this government is happy getting sub-contract work.'
A challenging phase on personal front behind him, which sidelined him for a few assignments, India seamer Deepak Chahar is ready for a comeback and has set his sights on the T20 World Cup to be jointly hosted by the United States and West Indies later this year.
The prime minister's insistence that his voice cannot be suppressed left me both puzzled and amused. He has at his call, the government's official news dissemination/publicity channels, the pliant newspapers and television channels that were eager to prostrate themselves before a powerful government and yet, the dominant voice thinks it is in competition with other voices! exclaims Shyam G Menon.
