"This is very unfortunate, appalling for a prime minister to say so," BJP chief Rajnath Singh said.
The test kit has the advantage of testing 90 samples together in a single run of 2.5 hours, so that healthcare professionals can proceed quickly with necessary next steps.
"Indians will decide the fate of India, not the foreigners," Verma told the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations, a prominent think-tank.
The government said on Tuesday it plans allocate Rs 3 lakh crore (Rs 3 trillion) for the education sector under the 11th Plan, which would be a four-fold increase from the previous Five-Year Plan.
People in Bangladesh have welcomed the new interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, hoping it would restore order, end repression and hold a fair election to facilitate a democratic transition of power.
Schoolchildren will be taught how to spot extremist content and fake news online under proposed changes to the curriculum in the wake of far-right riots across United Kingdom cities fuelled by misinformation on social media.
Worried over slowdown of agriculture sector due to "technology fatigue," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday assured the Chief Ministers that the Centre was willing to support their plans for enhancing productivity in the segment.
India-born Gururaj Deshpande, chairman of Tejas Networks, A123 and Akshaya Patra, has been appointed co-chairman of United States President Barack Obama's National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He will support Obama's innovation strategy by helping develop policies that foster entrepreneurship, create jobs and drive economic growth.
The business council aims to give impetus to trade.
The Centre has already given packages to exporters, now states should come forward to compensate the affected export sectors, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said at the 54th meeting of the National Development Council in New Delhi on Wednesday. Besides giving some incentives to exporters, he said states should also initiate measures to improve functioning of the public distribution scheme. The Centre has to spend Rs 3.56 to given Re 1 benefit under PDS.
Referring to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and the likely slowdown of the global economy, Singh said, "this may impact both our exports as well as capital flows". Singh said with increased globalisation, the country's economy accounts for almost 40 per cent of the GDP and, hence, India cannot remain unaffected by global developments.
The central government is likely to extend the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) scheme beyond 2009 only to Indian information technology-enabled services/business process outsourcing (ITeS/BPO) firms. A proposal to this effect has been included in the 11th Five-Year Plan document, which will be put up for the approval of the National Development Council, headed by the prime minister, on December 19.
The government also approved the State Bank of India's Rs 10,000 crore equity issue.
Aiming to improve the living standards in the country, the 11th Plan draft document has set ambitious targets of per capita income growth of 7.6 per cent each year and an overall average economic growth of nine per cent. The Plan aims at an average growth rate of 9 per cent, accelerating it from 8 per cent in the first year of the Plan (2007) to 10 per cent by the end of the Plan period (2011-12).
The People's Democratic Party and the National Conference -- the two Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners in Jammu and Kashmir -- will be taking on each other on the three Lok Sabha seats in the valley.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has drawn the attention of chief ministers towards the Centre's pet project of food security special programmes of wheat, rice and pulses.
'The top 10 per cent of the population should adopt and handhold the bottom 20 per cent of the population as a social responsibility.'
The 15-member body strongly condemned North Korea's ballistic missile launches.
Sajjid Chenoy, India economist at JP Morgan is the new part-time member.
India, which has shipped 'Made In India' COVID-19 vaccines to around 25 nations, on Wednesday urged the international community to stop 'vaccine nationalism' and actively encourage 'internationalism', underlining that hoarding superfluous doses will defeat global efforts to attain collective health security and combat the pandemic.
In the first 100 days of the next government, the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship (MSDE) is planning to introduce new-age courses to suit the changing industry needs. It is set to standardise skilling courses to facilitate easier migration of workers and introduce counselling and mentorship on the Skill India Digital Hub (SIDH) portal. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi - during a Cabinet meeting - was reported to have instructed his ministers to draft roadmaps for the first 100 days and next five years of the next government.
The move will help address apprehensions as well as potential disputes on various computational and transitional issues such as the loss of input credits and pricing that were bound to arise on account of the change.
The government on Thursday said it would open up to 20 IIITs across the country in partnership with the industry, for which a sum of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) has been approved. Planning Commission member secretary Rajeeva Ratna Shah said the National Development Council (NDC) has approved setting up of the new IIITs, which will be co-funded by industry associations and other business houses.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday expressed optimism that the country would be able to sustain four per cent growth rate in the farm sector achieved during the past three years.
Yunus, 84, was administered the oath of office by President Mohammed Shahabuddin at a ceremony at the presidential palace 'Bangabhaban'.
The agenda would also include organisational polls and a fresh membership drive, though "national role for Nitish" is likely to dominate the narrative.
'BJP and RSS may have differences over minor issues but their hearts long for one common aim -- that of A Hindu Rashtra.' 'And this time to prove this point the RSS has prepared to help BJP win this election with all its might.'
Stating that there is no nomenclature for the three groups who have come together, Akato said they will approach the Centre for political talks.
Recognising the need for massive funds for the Plan, Dr Singh said that subsidies, open or hidden, would be contained for more resources.
The suggestions have been part of the final position paper on social sciences, which is a key perspective document that helps in the development of new NCERT textbooks on the subject. The proposal has yet to get a final nod from NCERT.
On the heels of neighbouring Orissa notching up the single largest FDI project in the country, Jharkhand has also bagged an investment of about Rs 28,000 crore (Rs 280 billion) from domestic steel and power utilities and is ready to sign MoU with Mit
'The Budget needs to focus more on social welfare schemes.'
Referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, Modi said India has always prided itself as the first responder in the region - a friend in need.
In retrospect, it appeared that the bitterness of the war was still strong and the Ukrainian success in occupying Russian territory just a few days ago had added to the complexity of the situation. The positive US response to the visit, however, remains a silver lining in the dark clouds, notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Departing from convention, the Planning Commission has sent the draft Approach Paper of the 11th Five Year Plan to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh first for approval.
Realtors split on possibility of price fall, gold may replace cash in secondary deals.
The future can only get better if we continue to break silos and work as integrated teams focussed on promoting national interests, recommends Sanjeev Nayyar.
