Prime ministers turning up with such frequency to launch trains is an indication of the political mileage resident in public transport. Will our railways step out of the government's shadow? After all, they are the ones manufacturing trains and running them, notes Shyam G Menon.
India maintained 43rd rank on an annual World Competitiveness Index compiled by the Institute for Management Development (IMD) that examined the impact of COVID-19 on economies around the world this year. The 64-nation list was led by Switzerland, while Sweden has moved up to the second position (from sixth last year), Denmark has lost one place to rank third, the Netherlands has retained its fourth place and Singapore has slipped to the fifth place (from first in 2020). At eighth, Taiwan reached the top-10 for the first time since the ranking began 33 years ago (moving up from 11th last year).
The G-20 leaders under the chairmanship of Saudi Arabia's King Salman held an extraordinary video conference in which they resolved to use all available policy tools to minimise the economic and social damage from the pandemic that has killed over 21,000 people and infected more than 470,000 globally.
'AAP is more acceptable to sections of the middle class because it has pragmatically tried to accommodate Hindu sensibilities.'
'Given the possibility that our unstable northern and western borders may become 'live' at short notice, any major systemic change which impacts combat effectiveness should be brought about in a cautious and progressive manner.'
Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran on Thursday said even though a "hybrid" model will be the new normal in future, India's largest software exporter TCS will ask employees to come to work once the pandemic is over as social interactions are a social necessity. "I do want to make the point that people need to meet people. It is a social necessity. "So, there will be a shift towards moving people to work when the pandemic gets over," Chandrasekaran, who also chairs TCS, said at the company's annual general meeting. At present, 97 per cent of the company's staff have been working from their homes because of the pandemic, he said, admitting that a "hybrid" model where people work from homes and also from offices will be the new normal.
The World Health Organisation said in its latest update that the XE recombinant (BA.1-BA.2) was first detected in the UK on January 19 and more than 600 sequences have been reported and confirmed since then.
The guidelines note that while there is not enough evidence yet to measure the impact of school closures on the disease transmission rates, the adverse effects of school closures on children's safety and learning are well documented. Gains made in increasing access to children's education in recent decades risk being lost and, in the worse cases, reversed completely.
The contentious Land bill passed the Lok Sabha test after the government carried out nine amendments.
While going back to the old bill is only a face saver, there is little in the bill that will excite industry or the markets, says Shishir Asthana.
The new land Acquisition Bill has many implications.
As he projected a grim outlook for the economy, RBI Governor said that amidst this encircling gloom, agriculture and allied activities have provided a beacon of hope on the back of an increase of 3.7 per cent in foodgrains production to a new record.
Dealing with the validity of OBC quota, the bench said, "Merit cannot be reduced to narrow definitions of performance in an open competitive examination which only provides formal equality of opportunity. Competitive examinations assess basic current competency to allocate educational resources but are not reflective of excellence, capabilities and potential of an individual which are also shaped by lived experiences, subsequent training and individual character."
'Today, there is no easy money to be made after the run-up in equities.'
The additional outgo to combat the impact of COVID-19 will significantly erode the fiscal consolidation achieved by the state governments in the past three years, an RBI report said on Tuesday. In its study of the state budgets of 2020-21, the RBI report which has dwelled on the theme 'COVID-19 and its Spatial Dimensions in India', said that Gross Fiscal Deficit (GFD) of the states would spiral during the current fiscal.
The UK's lockdown, which involves strict stay at home measures with movement allowed for limited urgent purposes only if "absolutely necessary" and for one form of daily exercise, came into force on March 23 after a televised address by Boris Johnson.
Stressing that the Covid virus may continue to transmit for a "very long time", senior WHO official Poonam Khetrapal Singh says the level of immunity in a community, through vaccination and previous infection, will determine whether it will become endemic in the long run.
Such measures are effective at slowing disease spread and preventing health systems becoming overwhelmed, they can also lead to job losses and social disruption, noted the study, published in the European Journal of Epidemiology.
Since no effective treatments or vaccine for COVID-19 is available, reducing virus transmission via measures like isolating suspected infected individuals, school closures, and lockdowns are crucial, according to the researchers, including Rajiv Chowdhury from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
'We don't expect any immediate impact on salaried jobs.'
Be brave to fail, learn, and lead, advises Abhilash R, founder and CEO, Bloombloom Dreambiz (P) Ltd and B-HUB Lifespaces.
Amnesty highlighted poll-related violence in the lead up to the May 2014 General Elections, communal clashes and failure of consultation on corporate projects as key concerns.
Developing more sources of supplies to guard against disruptions may emerge as the next big trend. But that may not necessarily mean flow of more investments into India, unless investors are assured, besides important economic factors and impartiality of institutions, that social disharmony will not cause unexpected disruptions.
Recruiters are now in search of candidates with soft skills alongside tech-based knowledge, says Ambrish Sinha.
Yes, India needs desperate measures to kick-start growth. But selling off its lungs to the highest bidder to hack away cannot be the way out, says Sumit Bhattacharya.
The possibility of the use of weaponised drones for terrorist activities against strategic and commercial assets calls for serious attention by the global community, India has told the United Nations General Assembly, a day after two explosives-laden drones crashed into the Indian Air Force (IAF) station at Jammu airport.
The Indian Council of Medical Research will start national-level sero surveys to assess the spread of Covid-19 and all states/Union territories should also be encouraged to conduct them so that information from all geographies can be collected, the Union health ministry said on Friday.
While the likelihood of these states going the Lanka or Greece way may be an alarming assessment, the financial situation of some states such as Punjab and West Bengal is indeed quite weak.
Experts consider Sebi's takeover code in its present form to be on a par with any foreign code governing public mergers and acquisitions.
Two weeks since the much talked about new income tax return filing portal was launched, technical glitches continue to mar the site, an issue finance ministry officials will take up in a meeting with Infosys -- the vendor which provided the IT solution -- at a meeting on Tuesday. Several stakeholders have submitted written inputs highlighting the issues facing the portal as well as areas that need to be fixed. At the company's annual shareholder meeting, Infosys had on Saturday stated that it is working to resolve the issues and has already succeeded on some fronts.
A BJP source admitted that a census will inevitably reconfirm the numerical majority of the OBCs. 'That will overturn social equations and consign the upper castes to a twilight zone of marginalisation. The RSS won't accept it.' Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Dr Nishant Joshi and his pregnant wife, Dr Meenal Viz, had initiated the legal action in April with a pre-action letter seeking answers from the UK's Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England. They decided to push ahead with the case in the high court in London on Wednesday because they feel they are "no longer willing to wait".
The Rs 3-trillion West Coast or Nanar refinery has all the potential to become India's flagship petrochemicals project, with the planet's largest oil producer Saudi Aramco as its biggest shareholder. Yet the locals don't see the plant as a harbinger of better times.
The Congress MP said the party may have underestimated the impact of national security as an electoral topic on the psyche of the voter in North India where the BJP had great success in trying to convert the election into a "khaki' referendum".
It said an estimated 42-66 million children could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis this year, adding to the estimated 386 million children already in extreme poverty in 2019.
'There is dissatisfaction and disaffection for the BJP, but there is no anti-incumbency against the government in UP.'
Scientists assumed a range of possible scenarios to carry out the simulation rather than predict exactly what will happen with the current pandemic.
Planning Commission had got into a big controversy on this issue.
Budding RTI activist from Chennai files request with ONGC. Instead of response, police comes asking about her.
