India's economic growth surged to 20.1 per cent in the April-June quarter of this fiscal, helped by a low base of the year-ago period, despite a devastating second wave of COVID-19. The gross domestic product (GDP) had contracted by 24.4 per cent in the corresponding April-June quarter of 2020-21, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Tuesday. The government had imposed a nationwide lockdown at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday raided the home of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and 30 other locations in connection with alleged corruption in the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy.
The salient features of the new OTT/social media policy announced by the Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar on February 25, 2021.
The Aam Aadmi Party has demanded the dismissal of Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad alleging a conflict of interest that has prevented him from issuing a notice to Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio on the 4G issue, a charge vehemently denied by Prasad who said he never gave advice or appeared for the company.
As a controversy raged over Narendra Modi's interview to Doordarshan, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said that the party's prime ministerial candidate had never said that Priyanka Gandhi was like his daughter and that the interview aired on the public broadcaster was deliberately "distorted".
According to Central statistics office press note, GDP at current prices in Q1 of 2015-16 is estimated at 32.43 lakh crore, as against 29.80 lakh crore in Q1 of 2014-15, showing a growth rate of 8.8 percent.
The intial round of efforts did not achieve the objectives fully.
The Adani Group on Friday said it has acquired 27.26 per cent equity stake in NDTV from Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy -- founders of the news broadcaster. "RRPR, an indirect subsidiary of the company and member of the promoter/promoter group of NDTV, has acquired a 27.26 per cent equity stake in NDTV from Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy by way of inter-se transfer...," said a regulatory filing from Adani Enterprises. On December 23, Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy had announced to sell 27.26 per cent out of their remaining 32.26 per cent shareholding in the NDTV to the Adani Group.
The ministry has also issued orders for blocking of two Twitter accounts, two Instagram accounts and one Facebook account involved in spreading 'coordinated anti-India disinformation'.
In Bihar, where a bandh had been called, a railway station and a police vehicle were torched, an ambulance attacked and security personnel injured in stone-pelting incidents on the fourth consecutive day of the agitation, while protesters vandalised Ludhiana railway station in Punjab and blocked roads and rail tracks in West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
On Wednesday, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal announced an across-the-board hike in fares of all classes from midnight of January 21 to net an additional Rs 6,600 crore (Rs 66 billion) a year.
"As a symbol to the rest of the country that I feel extreme confidence in the safety and the efficacy of this vaccine, and I want to encourage everyone who has the opportunity to get vaccinated so we can have a veil of protection over this country that would end this pandemic," Dr Fauci said.
Rahul Kulkarni, journalist with a Marathi news channel, was arrested by Mumbai Police on Wednesday, a day after several migrant workers gathered near Bandra station in Mumbai demanding that they be sent back to their home towns.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved 'Mission Karmayogi', dubbed as the biggest bureaucratic reform initiative, aimed at capacity building of government employees to make them more "creative, proactive, professional and technology-enabled". The core guiding principles of the competency-driven programme will be to support a transition from "rules based to roles based" HR management to prepare the Indian civil servant for the future, according to a government statement.
The wave of enthusiasm for digital technology had faded as we'd grown more and more worried about what smartphones and social media were doing to society and to us as individuals. Now that switchback ride between hopes for the technology and fear of it seemed to have taken us on another upward path, as the virus made us fall back in love with it. Read on for an intriguing excerpt from Rory Cellan-Jones's Always On: Hope And Fear In The Social Smartphone Era.
The services sector, which plays the biggest role in shaping the economy, is facing loads of issues currently. The largest segments, financial and real estate, are struggling to cope with bad debts and low demand for houses.
The Union home ministry has issued strict guidelines for the enforcement of the 21-day complete nationwide lockdown in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, invoking the National Disaster Management Act which may result in imprisonment of up to two years for any violation. All government offices, the offices of state and Union territory governments, autonomous institutions, public corporations, commercial, private, industrial establishments shall remain closed, the guidelines issued by the ministry said.
Most rating agencies had projected contraction in India's GDP for the first quarter of 2020-21.
The Taiwanese government is investigating whether Xiaomi Inc, China's leading smartphone company by domestic shipments, is a cyber security threat and will make a decision within three months.
Udayan Mukherjee, who stepped down earlier this week, was the first full-fledged market commentator Indian business television knew of.
'Historically, Qatar has done wonders as I don't think this will ever be possible with the new format of the World Cup.'
'People don't want to watch a screaming channel if given a decent alternative.'
Trai said, the operators should ensure that payout per month of the 'best fit plan' generally does not exceed the payout per month of existing tariff plan of the subscriber.
The fear that Mamata might snatch the mantle of Opposition leadership which the Gandhis firmly believe to be theirs by birthright seems to have persuaded Sonia and Rahul to give up their hoity-toity ways, observes Virendra Kapoor.
"In view of the above, the West Bengal government has been requested by MHA to initiate action against the officer and intimate the action taken in this regard," it said.
I Ramamohan Rao, former principal information officer of the Government of India, reminisces the day Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her bodyguards.
The coffin of the senior royal will be loaded into the Land Rover for an eight-minute procession to the gates of St George's Chapel, where the funeral is to begin with a national minute's silence at 1500 local time on April 17.
The fear of news tailored by private players is a surprise in the internet age. If news websites, run by any entity, can reach out to everyone, why not radio, asks Nivedita Mookerji.
The order restraining airing or broadcasting the interview of a December 16 gangrape convict, which was conducted inside the Tihar jail, will continue till further orders, a Delhi court on Wednesday said.
The Delhi government spent Rs 13.41lakh on the oath-taking ceremony of Arvind Kejriwal as Delhi chief minister at Ramlila Maidan and on the publicity of the mammoth function.
India displayed its military might and vibrant cultural heritage on Rajpath on Wednesday with the grandest flypast with 75 aircraft to mark the 'Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav' celebrations being the highlight of the 73rd Republic Day Parade, which was drastically scaled down in view of the Covid pandemic.
'Of the 202 debates, 79 were around attacking Pakistan and 66 attacking the Opposition and Nehru.' 'The PMC Bank scam where thousands of depositors lost their savings got just one,' points out Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
Advertorial: Selling News or Products?, a documentary film directed by journalist and academic Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and produced by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, looks at the blurring of lines between editorial and advertising in Indian news media.
The EC said any political content has to be permitted by the local media certification committee
But criticism of government will still be a no-no.
The economic activities that registered growth of over 6 per cent in the second quarter are manufacturing, electricity, gas, water supply, other utility services and trade, hotels, transport and communication, and services related to broadcasting.
The government is attempting everything it can to make sure that this does not happen, observes Aakar Patel.
It is for the first time in the history of Independent India that not a single Muslim is part of the Union Cabinet.
India's news broadcasters are a national shame that have polarised Indians, observes Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
India's GDP is estimated to contract by a record 7.7 per cent during 2020-21 as the COVID-19 pandemic severely hit the key manufacturing and services segments, as per government projections released on Thursday. Amid overall decline in economic activities, some respite was provided by the agriculture sector and utility services like power and gas supply, which have been projected to post positive growth during the current fiscal ending March 2021.
