The meeting was convened by the Congress. Six major parties -- the DMK, the SP, the BSP, the TMC, the AAP and the Shiv Sena -- choose to stay away. The BJP took a swipe at the absence of major opposition parties at the meet and also said that their anti-CAA resolution must've made Pak happy.
'Why don't they suggest artificial intelligence training for SC/STs?' 'Why can't they be trained in computer programming?'
Six months after the lockdown was imposed, two dozen migrant workers were interviewed across five villages of Prayagraj. As the economy opens up, most of them are either hunting for a job or desperately waiting for a phone call from their previous employers. But the bruises of the lockdown are still fresh in their minds. Somesh Jha reports.
According to government's estimates, there are around 110 million APL families in the country, who get 11-25 kg of foodgrain a month.
'Thank you to those citizens of India who, every single day, quietly, anonymously, and decently refrain from targeting, hounding or murdering their neighbours, no matter how much they want to; and thanks also to those who loudly stand up for each other in the face of threat,' says Mitali Saran.
'With the Citizenship Amendment Bill, Hindus from Pakistan can come to India. They have got a way,' says Gurumukh Jagwani who came to India on his honeymoon, loved the country so much that he stayed back and got Indian citizenship.
'These protests are not just about the CAA. It is against allowing fascism and religious discrimination to creep into our legal system.'
AG Venugopal asserted that right to privacy could not be bundled as a single right in a developing country like India where a few persons, claiming right to privacy, override the fundamental rights of 60-70 million people, who did not have access to basic amenities like food and shelter.
Inundated with frivolous complaints in recent times, the BCCI's Ombudsman and Ethics Officer D K Jain has devised a mechanism to ensure that only genuine complaints are entertained.
'It's looking odds-on there won't be a data protection law before this edition of the Lok Sabha is dissolved.' 'This limbo has enabled all sorts of businesses that would be illegal in countries that do have data protection laws,' notes Devangshu Datta.
'The Jharkhand government is increasingly intolerant of voices of dissent.' 'Recently 20 persons, including activists, writers and academics, were booked for sedition.' 'Many of them have been critical of the government's apathy towards Adivasis,' notes Siraj Dutta.
The plan of UID/Aadhaar-based surveillance does not end with the collection of fingerprints and iris scan, it goes quite beyond it and poses a lethal threat to the idea of India, says Gopal Krishna.
Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com reveals how the BMC has contained the spread of COVID-19 in Dharavi, India's largest slum, which WHO wants to know more about.
The Right to Privacy judgment reinstates the individual as VIP, says Mitali Saran.
Its electoral triumphs in assembly polls, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, have made the BJP the single-largest party in the Rajya Sabha.
Referring to Article 124 of the Constitution, the sources said the notice should have grounds of 'proved misbehaviour or incapacity'.
Many factors have been identified as key drivers of the inequality between rural and urban areas in China and India.
The centre pays only an insulting Rs 200 per pensioner each month at a tight-fisted 0.04 per cent of GDP, among the lowest in the world. Instead, as illustrated by Jean Drze, one option is for NYAY to provide individual rather than household entitlements to all pensioners of at least Rs 1200 per month.
Attorney General K K Venugopal resumed his arguments before a nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar, stressing that it was not a fundamental right.
Stringent action should also be taken against persons involved in terrorism and their extradition should be ensured, he said.
Noting that the Congress was not able to win even a single Lok Sabha seat in 17 states, he said it was time for the Congress to introspect and "accept defeat".
The least the Opposition can do, for India's sake, is try to offer one, says Mitali Saran.
Like Indira Gandhi, even Narendra Modi seems to be relying on directing public-sector banks through ministry of finance supported by party cadres, says Debashis Basu.
The global ratings agency, however, cautioned that high debt burden remains a constraint on the country's credit profile.
A nine-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar, heard marathon arguments for six days over a period of three weeks and reserved its verdict on the issue whether right to privacy can be held as a fundamental right under the Constitution.
The prime minister lamented on the lack of unanimity amongst the member states on the issue of terrorism, saying it dents those very principles, that are the basis for the creation of the United Nations.
Rediff.com does a quick checklist on what the two manifestos have to say on hot-button issues of the day.
"Emerging fields, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of things, blockchain, and big data can take India to new heights of development, and improve the quality of life of its citizens," he said, adding for India, this is not just an industrial transformation, but a social transformation.
Jaitley also hinted that these very economic realities could decide whether the government sticks to a fiscal consolidation roadmap or not.
During the day, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan held a meeting to review preparedness for COVID-19 management, through video conference with health ministers, chief secretaries of all states and UTs, central ministers and representatives from the related organisations and stressed on the need for keeping testing and quarantine facilities, isolation wards, and labs in active readiness.
Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's customary address to the joining sitting of Parliament on the first day of the budget session.
Jean Dreze, a noted economist who was was a member of Sonia Gandhi led National Advisory Council, was dropped from the list of speakers at the Delhi Economics Conclave organised by the finance ministry and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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The first phase would comprise universal access to banking facilities. Under this, basic bank accounts with zero balance, RuPay debit card and financial literacy, will have to be completed in the next one year, officials said.
The Lok Sabha will start a discussion on the Budget on Wednesday.
Govt announces slew of schemes for rural India
New strategy for Infosys by October, says Nandan Nilekani. New chairman's other priorities: Hiring CEO, reviewing Panaya probe reports.
Acquisitions are done to synergise with existing offerings of firms; to strengthen or enter new areas, platforms or geography; find new customers for its products; keep parts of the acquired organisation, perhaps the digital in the case of Mindtree, and to sell others to increase its own value. Never is it to grow the acquired organisation more than itself, says Pankaj Chandra.
The Opposition on Monday charged the government with trying to promote crony capitalism, creating fear by giving "unbridled power" to taxmen, trying to snoop into people's lives through increased use of Aadhaar through the provisions of the Finance Bill.
'Modi's visit is path breaking in the sense that India has come out of the closet and is prepared to deal with Israel openly and in a host of fields, military as well as civilian,' says P R Kumaraswamy, one of India's leading experts on the Middle-East, currently in Israel.
One of the many contrasts that Kumar versus Nilekani highlights is that of a traditional career politician as against a highly successful professional entering politics for the first time. Rupa Subramanya reports
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