New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg appointed Sonia Das as her chief of staff. She will take charge on January 1.
IIT Delhi is the first academic institute to have obtained the ICMR approval for a real-time PCR- based diagnostic assay. The development also comes against the backdrop of the Indian Council of Medical Research halting the testing for COVID-19 cases through China-made test kits because of massive variation in test results, compounding the challenge to check and contain the pandemic.
Subramanian was the Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Global Development in the US before joining the ministry.
Consolidation has begun, due to which some are trying to trim the business and others are seeking an exit. The situation would worsen after August 31.
'They have to be seen as being responsive to the employment woes and economic stagnation afflicting many young people.'
Moved by three-year-old Aylan Kurdi's death, Vidhya Ramalingam has kick-started a crowd-funding campaign to buy a rescue ship for immediate action in the Mediterranean.
While the consensus seemingly among Barack Obama administration and US congressional lawmakers and several policy wonks who deal with South Asia at leading think tanks is that Pakistan meets all of the criteria to be designated a state sponsor of terrorism, opinion is mixed among security experts if it would serve any purpose or be counter-productive.
'The pressure to work together is even greater than before, because the Chinese have launched a full-court press on the border, in the region, and globally to advance their geopolitical agenda.'
The school was run on strict Gandhian lines, with stress on students doing things themselves. Physical comforts were minimal, in keeping with the relatively backward geographical area. But it had a staff of teachers dedicated to educating their students, not just imparting them book-learning, remembers Shreekant Sambrani.
'There are three pillars of concern: The expansion of Hindu majoritarianism, the concentration of executive power and decay of independent institutions, and curbs on free expression and dissent.'
'I was living in a fools' paradise, thinking I could win over anyone with my good intentions.'
'A hotline between the Chinese and Indian military establishments is essential if the possibility of conflict is to be minimised.' 'When relations are uneasy, even minor incidents can spiral out of control,' warns former senior RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade.
'...but from those who control the narrative.' Powerful nations have mastered this art of narrative building. Those nations who aspire to become global powers must do so, observes Shanthie Mariet D'Souza.
In democratic India, a citizen can be a patriot and at the same time be critical of the government, unlike China which promulgated a national security law in Hong Kong prescribing patriotism to contest elections, observes Rup Narayan Das.
'Part of the problem lies in the US failure to stay focused on the goal of convincing Pakistan to crack down on terrorists that attack India.'
Stephen Cohen interacted with rediff.com readers on November 6 about the political and security issues in the subcontinent, and much more.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had a secret meeting with a group of senior Taliban operatives in April last year during which he expressed the Pakistan government's "support for their mission", a researcher studying developments in Afghanistan has alleged.
Brinkmanship in the Taiwan Strait will not only be a recipe for disaster to both China and Taiwan, but also to international peace and stability, warns Rup Narayan Das.
There is a sense of relief in Beijing that Modi will be at the helm of affairs in Delhi at a critical juncture in the geopolitics of the region, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'India will keep trying to avoid conflict.' 'This is the moment when we draw a line in the sand.'
The United States is in danger of losing its lead in technology and innovation sector to Asian nations such as India, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore, a senior foreign policy expert has said.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee might have to fall back on divestment and other non-tax revenue sources while presenting the Budget for 2009-10 on July 6, economists believe.
Indeed, there were frauds, and the politician-banker-industrialist nexus played a role in the rise of NPAs, but governance issues in Indian banking are far more nuanced and complex, reveals Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Although the Malabar is a routine exercise which has been carried out for several years now, security experts attach a lot of traction to it in view of China's assertive behaviour in the South China Sea, observes Rup Narayan Das.
'Cyrus was always very different. He would think before acting.'
The new organism -- Solibacillus kalamii -- was found on the filters of the International Space Station.
A new committee chaired by former Chief Economic Advisor Shankar Acharya will examine the feasibility of having a 'new financial year' to coincide with the calendar year.
With the unanticipated floods across Tamil Nadu catching the unprepared administration unawares, Stalin finds that some of the early positives that had rubbed on his initiatives have been lost, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Everybody says 5G and communication is important.' 'Everybody says automation, robotics, human computing interfaces -- people and machines working together -- is the future.' 'Everybody agrees that cybersecurity is something that is here to stay.' 'Everybody agrees that synthetic biology is important.' 'Instead of outlining thinking about industries for tomorrow and the future, let the evolutionary pathway be built in a way that it promotes robust, creative, thinking.'
An independent Taiwan under President Tsai Ing-wen's Democratic Progressive Party is anathema to China, observes Rup Narayan Das.
The truckers' strike, which entered the second day, can push inflation by 50 basis points on account of shortage of perishable goods and panic buying by traders, said economic think tank National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER).
Although the services sector is a huge success, the biggest challenge for the Indian government is to build public support for the sector.
NCAER said the monetary policy measures are unlikely to revive growth at this juncture and suggested providing fiscal stimulus, which too can be challenging unless it can be financed through better revenue generation.
Vardhan stated the government is taking full precautions in human trials of vaccines and the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 under the chairmanship of Dr V K Paul, member-health, NITI Aayog, is drawing up a detailed strategy on how to immunize the majority of the population.
'What if Kim is alive as the latest reappearance suggests, but unable to rule?' 'Will his sister be installed as the leader to continue with the Kims's hereditary dynasty that began with the present ruler's grandfather?' asks Dr Rajaram Panda.
Though Nobel Prize nominations have been a secret for 50 years, speculation abounds over the contenders for this year's prize in economics.
The fault line between the West and Russia has widened into a deep chasm and this is likely to endure in the foreseeable future. Far from forcing its way into the European tent, Russia may be reduced to the status of an even more sullen and weakened bystander on its periphery. The US appears to have won this hand with little cost to itself, observes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
The activities of the two secretariats over the years have increased many folds which involve manpower planning, judicious and prudent financial management, transfer, postings of senior officials, meeting the grievances of the officials and staff, reveals Rup Narayan Das.
Between 2001 and 2011, the number of rural habitations with population of less than 1,000 has declined sharply
