This perversity in vaccine distribution needs immediate correction. It requires a complete withdrawal of the 'Liberalised Vaccine Policy', and a 100 per cent takeover of the vaccine procurement by the GoI, asserts R Ramakumar.
'India serves itself poorly with its latter-day discovery of Pakistan as an instrument in domestic politics,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
Trump can afford to say that COVID-19 is a 'China virus', but we can't expect Modi to say that aloud while his actions may speak louder, says Rup Narayan Das.
Singh asserted that the domestic challenges of India's economy were daunting in their complexity and devastating in their impact on the society.
Highlighting that India's strong economy with a growth rate of 7.6 per cent per annum is creating 'new opportunities for mutual prosperity', Modi said transformative American technologies in India and growing investment by Indian companies in the US both have a positive impact on the lives of citizens of both countries.
'Shaheen Bagh is no longer a mere ghetto of lower middle class Muslims.' 'Now, it is a metaphor for resistance, secularism and struggle,' notes Md. Zeeshan Ahmad.
'... for two reasons: the poor quality of education, and the low rate of female participation in the labour force.' 'Unless something is done quickly to remedy these problems, India will just have a large population of low-skill, low-wage, males trying and failing to feed their families adequately.'
'China is constantly probing India's weaknesses.' 'The challenge is to implement a strategy that will allow India to buy time, gather its strength, and eventually counter China,' recommends Harsh V Pant and Vinay Kaura.
Nothing is going to dramatically open up on May 3. There will be too many ifs and buts and terms and conditions and guidelines in leading one's life in various zones, reveals Sheela Bhatt.
China is in no hurry to disengage at the border and the region and international community is moving on. The spectre of a long haul in Ladakh haunts India, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The budget-making exercise offers golden opportunities despite challenges, observes Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a historic moment for Andhra Pradesh, as he laid the foundation stone of capital Amaravati at the Uddandarayuni Palem on Thursday. More than 10,000 police personnels were deployed for the even in the city.
''Even without major reforms, with a business as usual scenario, and with current inflation trends, we should be clocking around 11 to 12 per cent nominal growth.' 'That is not happening and is a source of worry,' Rathin Roy tells Arup Roychoudhury.
'We aren't so unreasonable as to demand that he should have fully reversed Indira Gandhi's worst economic legacy, bank nationalisation.' 'But he could have made a beginning by selling off the two most stressed small public sector banks, and then announced that each year for the next 10, one government bank with the most messed-up balance sheet will be sold.' 'It would have electrified the markets, shocked his other banks into better behaviour, and marked his name among the great reformers,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
'Treating our ethnic cleansing with budgetary measures and financial doles is - one, not a prudent solution and second, an insult to our cause. Please understand the gravity of the situation. Our exodus is just a symptom of the malaise that has affected the valley. We would prefer to stay in exile than being sent back to be slaughtered again in a few decades. Please treat the disease and not the symptoms,' writes Lalit Koul 'Sharnarthee'.
Modi is seen as exceptional not only on account of his acts but also owing to his style. He appears to sacrifice his life for the people -- like a fakir, a figure he came to epitomize even more in 2020 by growing a long white beard. Charisma is above accountability, and Modi has grasped these dynamics.
An astrologer told Ramesh Menon that he was increasingly having worried parents asking him about the future of their children who were showing serious behavioural changes like lack of tolerance towards others, shunning social interaction, and even violent behaviour. They were worried because they had never ever seen such traits in their children before the pandemic.
Eurosceptics lined up to laud Greek democracy for disowning what some cast as the oligarchy
'In the time I have been an Indiawallah, I have seen three US Presidential visits to India, nuclear sanctions, nuclear cooperation, a border conflict with Pakistan, the growth of IT services, a government losing a confidence vote, and so much more,' Rick Rossow, the new Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies tells Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa.
Situated at a height of 15,200 feet above sea level, the pass sits on the top of a craggily formed Himalayan range that separates the Tibetan plateau from the Indian sub-continent.
The ecosystems of India and China today jostle against one another across Asia and much of the world.
He said the country has witnessed a journey from indecisiveness to clarity and decisiveness.
'Without bold action to deal with our banking crisis, count on the economy's doldrums to continue for much longer than most of us anticipate,' says Rahul Jacob.
The US election campaign has provided plenty of ammunition for the CCP to make its case that its political system is superior.
'Some of his decisions were not so good, but his intentions were always guided by a deep national interest.'
'What India needs to do is to re-build those cultural links in a way it didn't.' 'Clearly, India needs to wake up and spend more time on ASEAN.'
President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday cautioned that poor cannot wait for long and they need to get succour "here and now", in remarks that come against the backdrop of demonetisation which, he said, may lead to temporary slowdown of economy.
On the ground, rural medical infrastructure and more crucially, women's access to reproductive health services is practically non-existent in Uttar Pradesh, reports Geetanjali Krishna.
Joe Biden's B3W proposal aims to bring democracies together. India should come up with its own plans to contribute to the initiative, states Rahul Mishra.
While other states are becoming competitive, Gujarat, say experts is not paying enough attention to maintaining its own position in terms of business reforms.
Suu Kyi also was expected to meet other US officials including Secretary of State John Kerry and senior members of Congress.
Amid imminent phasing out of the fiscal stimulus by US Federal Reserve, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday called for an "orderly exit" from unconventional monetary policies being pursued by the developed world for the last few years to avoid damaging growth prospects of the developing world.
Dubs Modi government a "one trick horse" which will make the Hindu-Muslim issue the dominant one in political discourse; asks Opposition to field one candidate in every seat against BJP nominee in 2019 polls.
'Is baar vote jati par nahi, kaam par milega.'
Other strong men have stopped Modi and his hordes in states before, but none of them with a footprint or battle cry to shake up New Delhi, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The US has been, historically, a sleeping partner in India-China relations. Today, any attempt by the Modi government to make a bilateral move to improve relations with Beijing could upset Biden's apple cart, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In his fifth address as President, Pranab Mukherjee asked authorities and institutions of the State to adhere to the 'dignity' in discharging their duties.
'The moment the BJP loses a state, it announces some policy which never takes off.'
If the Puja as a brand can be marketed more effectively outside Bengal, even overseas, it might do wonders for the economy, says Atanu Biswas.
'The hardliners in Delhi are in for a big disappointment,' predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
