'Wild animals lived in their natural environment.' 'So, viruses could not be communicated.' 'Then came mass production and mass quartering of animals -- whether it be poultry, pigs and cattle -- which gave rise to bird flu, SARS and the mad cow disease.' 'Vast amounts of animal produce are also being flown from one part of the world to another, which has helped to spread the virus.' 'All these changes have led to a new and deadly mutation of the virus that has immobliised human beings.'
Bihar to get roads worth Rs 50,000 crore.
The government's subsidy bill towards oil, fertilisers runs into lakhs of crores of rupees.
Narendra Modi's positive engagement with Barack Obama has well and truly washed away the doubts and slights of the past.
However, independent economists are not as gung-ho as the finance ministry over the likelihood of deficit target being met this time around, says Indivjal Dhasmana.
Vaccination against measles has been declining steadily over the last ten years in India. This must be reversed in order to avoid a serious outbreak of the disease, says Phalasha Nagpal.
'Whatever happens in any part of the world affects us.'
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.
'We know each other for quite some time.' 'He could provide stability to the country for five years.' 'But he could not provide confidence to the countrymen that he is our leader.'
FinMin plans tougher targets for bad loans, Casa and others in performance-linked pay for senior management.
Brushing aside opposition, the government on Tuesday moved to amend the anti-smoking law and proposed radical changes, including ban on sale of loose cigarettes and raising the minimum age of a person buying tobacco products to 21 years from existing 18.
N Sundaresha Subramanian digs deeper into what Catalyst, an Indo-US project, brings to the payments ecosystem.
The pandemic is set to become even more challenging, with migrant workers returning home, relaxations in lockdown rules, and the approaching monsoon. However, states are looking at community participation to ramp up testing and home treatment of patients
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has five key aspects to his style of leading -- total command over bureaucracy, direct approval on every decision, flexible approach to issues, importance of communication and adept at repackaging schemes, says A K Bhattacharya.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh interacts with readers on Rediff Chat as he discusses the period that changed India's history, forever.
Enunciating slew of measures initiated by the UPA to augment the sector, the finance minister said 19 oil and gas blocks were given out for exploration and 7 new airports are under construction.
Jaitley said the global volatility has thrown up challenges
'Indian nationhood is indeed at the cusp of alarming redefinition -- hate-filled, and exclusionary.' 'Nations are not built this way, instead these are the ways of liquidating nations.' 'We must pre-empt it.' 'Can we?' asks Mohammad Sajjad.
With President Pranab Mukherjee voicing his objection to the 'ordinance route', senior ministers met here on Tuesday to discuss how to ensure that the ordinances issued recently are followed up with legislative action in the upcoming budget session in February.
Dr Swarnim Wagle, the official behind Nepal's reconstruction strategy, speaks to Patrick Ward.
The government's disinvestment programme is set to get a boost this Diwali, with the finance ministry planning to hit the market to sell a five per cent stake in Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) by October.
India must change approach and have better access to networks to fulfil its digitisation dream.
Sebi directs freezing of all demat accounts not linked to Aadhaar by December 31
Far from the metros and big cities, the coronavirus crisis in the country's districts, towns and villages is being led by district magistrates.
The responsibility of keeping the pandemic under control lies with the DM or collector.
Subrat Kumar Sen, the young district magistrate of Saran, north Bihar, tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih how he and his staff are combating a crisis that no one has confronted before.
China, the world's most populous nation, will relax its controversial decades-long one-child population policy which restricted most couples to have only a single child, the ruling Communist Party announced on Friday.
'The PCA framework was revised and tightened in April 2017, but there was no discussion in any board meeting. The government does not know the rationale behind revising the framework and how the RBI arrived at it. Similarly, there was no discussion in the board meeting on the revised NPA framework,' said an official.
Apple Inc may have the best to offer in the near term.
Finance minister attempts a clean-up job, keeps projected expenditure growth low.
'We need to put aside our anxieties about the Budget for now and possibly for long, and carry on as best as we can,' advises Shreekant Sambrani.
'Instead of doing reforms and restructuring, the present government is busy with the perception that everything is fine and the economy is hunky-dory.' 'Such hollow perceptions are very dangerous for the Indian economy in the long run.' 'The real risk to India is the lack of decent employment opportunities for youth in general and educated youth in particular.'
For more than 23 years, Bhanwari Devi, who was gang-raped for speaking out against the marriage of two babies, has been fighting a lonely battle for justice. Rashme Sehgal traveled to Dausa in Rajasthan to meet the courageous woman, a winner of the Neerja Bhanot Award for bravery, a symbol of Indian women's struggle.
LG, Panasonic: Making in and for India LG and Panasonic are looking to revive their fortunes in India by building local insights into their new products.
'Gujaratis, among all Indians, are supposed to be born businessmen, but if more than 80% of them do not have the ability to do basic arithmetic, the future is grim.' 'The big issues are in society and they cannot be changed by an HRD minister no matter how brilliant she may be or think of herself as being,' says Aakar Patel.
Economy to grow by 7.2-7.5 per cent in second half of current fiscal, says FM.
Land acquisition costs have gone up to almost 50% of total project cost.
Govt seems to bullish to meet its disinvestment target in current fiscal.
Jaitley said focus is on larger expenditure on social sector.
One solution to India's challenges of education, employment, employability lies in state governments adopting apprenticeships on a large scale.
Is Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi opening another minefield with the introduction of mandatory pre-nuptial agreement before marriage or will this proposed legislation help streamline the dissolution process of a marriage given the spiralling divorce rates in our country? Rashme Sehgal speaks to lawyers on the issue.
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