Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as angry protesters stormed the prime minister's office in Colombo, hours after president Gotabaya Rajapksa fled to the Maldives on a military jet, amid the country's worst economic crisis in decades.
Presiding over the third Atal Bihari Vajpayee memorial lecture that was delivered by former Singaporean diplomat Bilahari Kausikan in New Delhi, Jaishankar also hailed Vajpayee's stint as an external affairs minister, and his role in strengthening India's ties with the United States and Russia.
'It is far too early to celebrate the numbers.' 'They are still fairly weak compared to the pre-pandemic level.'
'The question is really can we prevent half a million deaths.' 'We are fast approaching that number.'
'Unemployment barely figures in the Budget except as a derived demand from the industry and infrastructure.' 'There is no effort at direct attack on unemployment.'
'India resembles not just the more turbulent bits of its own past, but other 'managed' democracies, where all institutional strength and independence have been hollowed out to serve political power,' notes Mihir S Sharma.
'Many senior officers are unhappy with him, but many lower level officers are still supportive.' 'This is also not something that has happened for a long time. So this is certainly a milestone.'
If there was one event that made the month of August stand out, it was a strengthening of the dollar index to levels last seen only 20 years ago, as the Federal Reserve dispelled all doubts about its intention to continue raising interest rates. Predictably, most currencies suffered against the US unit, with the bulk of the losers belonging to the emerging markets pack. Amid the volatility, the rupee, however, has displayed significant resilience and fared much better than most of its peer currencies.
We have our own problems for sure and they are not trivial, but for now, our economy is in not too bad a shape, our politics is as personality-driven and authoritarian as that of most countries in the world. We must make the best of what we have and not be excessively unhappy looking at the grass on the other side of the septic tank which may not be greener after all!, observes Shreekant Sambrani.
Kashmir was indeed in need of a messiah that summer; 70 per cent of its population aged below 31 were up in arms against the Indian State. Every nook and corner of the land brought forth stories of youngsters with crushed bodies and an unfaltering spirit.
'Washington appears to be playing the long game, and making the argument to India that over the longer term, Russia -- sanctioned, cash-strapped, isolated by the West -- will no longer be a viable defence partner for India'
Reddy has worked to reform the economy.
The National Judicial Commission Bill, 2022, was introduced after the majority of voice votes were in its favour.
Group still far from coordinating monetary/forex policy
HR Guru Mayank Rautela offers practical advice.
Stating that India's economic stimulus was not adequate, Banerjee said, the measures did not increase consumption spending of lower income people as the government was not willing to put money in the hands of the low income population.
'The most important expenditure in the Budget that indicates employment generation is infrastructure.'
'Even if there is a third wave or a fourth wave, it is hard to see the economy will suffer like that (during the first wave).'
Asked about his remarks at the Udaipur chintan shivir earlier this year that the Congress' connect with the people had been broken, Gandhi insisted that he had stated that the connect had weakened.
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.
'Both Russia and the USA seek New Delhi's friendship, because for both -- Russia and the USA -- India is a certain counterbalance to China.'
The thinking at the Centre is that since the RBI has ramped up purchases of government bonds, the interest earned on them will be transferred to the exchequer as dividend.
The target of mopping up Rs 1.75 lakh crore from divestments of some of the public sector companies, including LIC and BPCL during the current fiscal, is on track and groundwork is being prepared for the goal, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian said on Monday. On the COVID-19 pandemic, Subramanian said the impact of the second wave is lesser than that of the first one. In an interactive session, organised by Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the CEA said robust GST collections, over Rs one lakh crore per month for eight months in a row shows that consumption is picking up indicating positive signal for growth.
The Taliban's main challenge comes on the financial and economic front and there Pakistan doesn't have the capacity to be of any meaningful help, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In a conversation with Kaushik Basu, professor in the Cornell University in the United States and India's former chief economic advisor, Gandhi said he is all for internal democracy in the Congress, which fought for India's independence, gave the country its Constitution and stood for equality.
Few people know Ratan Tata as well as R K Krishna Kumar does. Widely perceived to be among the managers closest to Tata, Krishna Kumar assesses Ratan Tata, the man and business leader, in this exclusive interview to Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Of the amount, the home-grown private equity player founded by Renuka Ramnath plans to deploy $8 billion in various companies as part of its blueprint for growth.
'Overtightening of monetary policy by central banks and the spread of new Covid variants, which may force governments to restart lockdowns or restrict mobility.'
'We have 100,000 students going abroad every year.' 'So, we have room for at least 100 universities of very high quality to service those 100,000 students.'
'We've never really been in the situation of having a difficult time with the Chinese and an increasingly difficult time with the Russians along with a relationship with the Americans which is important.'
In contrast, India's arms imports from France increased more than tenfold, making it India's second largest arms supplier in 2017-21, it stated.
After many false starts, India may well be at the inflexion point that Deng Xiaoping took China to post-1978. The window of opportunity is wide open right now, says Rajeev Srinivasan.
The Declaration for the Future of the Internet is in part a response to a rising trend of digital authoritarianism, including Russia's actions to block credible news sites
Rajiv Kumar will continue as vice-chairman of the body, along with other full-time members V K Saraswat, Ramesh Chand and V K Paul.
HR Guru Mayank Rautela offers practical advice.
Former President A P J Abdul Kalam kindly answered rediff.com's questions for an exclusive interview.
'These people jump up and down, excitedly waving their arms about to catch the attention of one political party or the other.' 'This mutant can be very dangerous,' observes T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
'We are passing through a very historical moment. The UP election next year and the Lok Sabha election of 2019 will decide the course of India.' 'Maybe the unlettered will save India again because they have inherited a different India and a different idea of India,' says eminent social scientist Achyut Yagnik.
India's most valuable company Reliance Industries was once fined for producing more than its licensed capacity, its owner and richest Indian Mukesh Ambani said on Monday as he pitched for a push to manufacturing to make the country 'Aatmanirbhar' or self-reliant.
...Is this a virus more dangerous than Covid-19, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
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