Nearly a decade ago, the first fully electric vehicle (EV) caught fire on the road in the US. It was a model from Tesla, the world's most admired EV maker. A metal fragment punctured the underbelly of the vehicle, penetrating its battery pack, leading to a fire. Indian lawmakers and automakers have had nine years to study the incident (in fact, three Tesla Model Ss caught fire in two months in 2013) but seem to have learnt little.
Why does the world's fastest-growing major consumer of energy fail to attract investments in oil and gas? This is a question worth pondering after private sector conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) failed to close a $15-billion downstream asset deal with Saudi Arabia's national oil company, Aramco. It's understandable if multi-billion dollar investments in oil and gas projects or deals involving state companies that need to traverse a complex bureaucracy at state and federal levels and the corridors of ministries unravel. However, Mukesh Ambani-run RIL, India's most successful energy company, is not typically known to fumble on closing deals (Ambani closed deals worth around Rs 2 trillion early last year in telecom and retail with blue chip investors).
Pompeo will travel to India, Sri Lanka, Japan and South Korea from June 24 to 30. His four-nation is aimed at deepening US partnerships in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
While the two leaders have met earlier when Biden was the Vice President of the country, this is for the first time that Biden will be meeting Modi after he became the 46th president of the US in January.
In his address to the nation on the eve of 73rd Republic Day, President Kovind noted that democracy, justice, liberty, equality and fraternity form the bedrock of India and stressed that the observance of Fundamental Duties mentioned in the Constitution creates the proper environment for the enjoyment of Fundamental Rights.
The Great Indian bustard is at the centre of another impending legal tussle. The government is planning to move the Supreme Court seeking a review of its order that asked Gujarat and Rajasthan to lay transmission lines linked to solar power units underground so as to not pose any threat to the endangered bird. The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) has sought a view from the law ministry and will move the court basing its arguments on estimates showing that the bird's population was declining even before solar power plants came to the region, said a senior government official requesting anonymity.
"Fifteen years ago, I was leading the efforts to approve the historic civil nuclear deal with India. I said that if the US and India became closer friends and partners, then the world will be a safer place," Biden, who was vice-president in the Obama administration, said while addressing the Indian-American community on India's Independence Day.
The president made a special mention of the threat to the environment and asked all citizens to take care of it for future generations.
Pelosi and House Democrats had pressed Pence and the Cabinet to remove Trump from office in the aftermath of the January 6 breach of the US Capitol by thousands of the president's loyalists.
Taking advantage of a Russian offer to sell its crude oil cheap and bear the cost of insurance and transportation, India may import as much as 2 million tonnes (mt), or roughly 15 million barrels of crude, from the sanctioned nation in 2022, Business Standard has learnt. This comes after reports that Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) bought 3 million barrels of Russian Urals from trader Vitol for May delivery. This will be on cost, insurance and freight (CIF) model, where the seller incurs the costs and pays the freight, including insurance charges.
The patience, discipline, and resolve displayed by 125 crore Indians, will play a critical role in shaping the future of the nation for years to come, the PM said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday unveiled a Rs 39.45 lakh crore Budget with a view to fire up the key engines of the economy to sustain a world-beating recovery from the pandemic. This was Sitharaman's fourth Budget. While the taxpayers were left in the lurch, once again, was she able to cheer Corporate India?
Cohn served as Trump's chief economic advisor since the beginning of the Administration. During his stay at the White House, he led coordination of Trump's pro-growth domestic and global economic policy agenda, including the passage of historic tax cuts and reforms in December 2017, the official said.
Russia has been grappling with sanctions slapped by the US and its allies over Moscow's invasion of Crimea.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga met in Washington, DC, on Thursday to discuss ways to further cement the bilateral strategic ties ahead of the first in-person Quad meeting to be hosted by US President Joe Biden.
Although the pact would focus mainly on the Pacific and the South China Sea region, any action designed to deter China with or without New Delhi's active participation is a welcome move, notes Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
The Obama administration said there has not been an "iota of change" on its policy on Kashmir, which considers it a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan, dismissing the latest Pakistani efforts to seek United States intervention in this regard.
'There is little appetite in the Democratic foreign policy establishment to pick a fight with India.'
Underlining that years of economic stagnation have given way to a "roaring geyser of opportunity", Trump said, "I knew that if we unleashed the potential of our people, cut taxes, slashed regulation, fixed broken trade deals and fully tapped American energy that prosperity would come thundering back ... and that is exactly what happened."
Bibhu Prasad Routray explains why the US is supporting Japan's resolve to release 'treated' radioactive waste water into the Pacific Ocean. And what role China plays in the US decision.
United States President-elect Joseph Biden has always been a strong supporter of India and India-US partnership since his days in Senate and later as a Vice-President.
The NPT expert also said the US was speaking on both sides of its mouth on nuclear non-proliferation.
Nehru's faith in science and technology, his genuine respect for Bhabha, and their burning ambition worked synergistically to place India on the nuclear map of the world. Atomic energy developed and prospered because of Nehru's vision fulfilled by Bhabha's mission, recalls K S Parthasarathy, former secretary of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, on the occasion of India's first prime minister's 119th birthday today.
At Lyngkhong village in East Khasi Hills district, the foundation for the single line fence has been built but the fencing has been stopped due to protests of the residents.
Trump Administration has "already wisely restricted assistance to Pakistan, but there is much more to be done
'During the course of these two years, as new people have joined, we have no mental picture to associate with them and hence, have little connection with them.'
The Tamil Nadu chief minister may have opened a Pandora's Box on the religion front with the appointment of qualified non-Brahmin temple priests, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
President Trump originally announced his intention to withdraw from the agreement in 2017 and formally notified the United Nations last year. The US exited the pact after a mandatory year-long waiting period that ended on Wednesday.
'Chinese experts estimate that the new US administration is 'at the crossroads of how to re-manage and control' Sino-American differences and strategic divergences and Biden's bottom line is that the US would have 'extreme competition with China, but won't allow competition to develop into conflict',' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The 2+2 was attended by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and their Indian counterparts S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh respectively.
The State Department said as India's number one overseas market, the US purchases close to one-fifth of its exports. India is also the fastest growing major market for American goods.
Hitting hard on the three and half years of the Trump administration during her first appearance after being picked as the vice presidential nominee of the Democratic party on Tuesday, Harris, 55, presented a long list of missteps taken by the current United States government.
Playing the character of Bheem in the blockbuster TV series Mahabharat made him a household name but much before that, Praveen Kumar Sobti was an athlete par excellence and remains India's first and only hammer throw medal winner at the Commonwealth Games.
The IMD has also issued a red-coded warning alert to the Odisha and West Bengal coasts.
West Bengal and Odisha have evacuated lakhs of people from vulnerable areas to safety as severe cyclonic storm 'Yaas' is nearing the coast and is expected to make landfall near Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district early on Wednesday morning.
The pandemic has brutally highlighted the inadequacy of India's administrative systems. And, the government has demonstrated its culpable inability to speed up vaccination in a timely manner, says Jaimini Bhagwati.
Though no peripheral burning is taking place at the moment at the well's site at Baghjan, the company has declared an area up to 1.5 km radius as "red zone" to avoid any untoward incident and harm to the general public.
Indian Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India has stopped importing oil from Iran after the United States refused to extend exemption from sanctions earlier this month.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first-ever in-person meeting with President Joe Biden raised a number of issues involving the Indian community in America, including access for Indian professionals in the US and speaking about the H-1B visas, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said.
T N Seshan believed that toughness at every level is needed to keep the flock under him strictly duty bound, recalls Dr K S Parthasarathy, former secretary, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.
