A 15 per cent corporate tax rate for services companies in SEZs, setting up a fund for deep-tech startups and establishing clusters to demonstrate design-to-manufacturing capabilities of tech firms were some of the key demands made by the IT sector at the pre-Budget consultation on Monday. The participants shared their views and suggestions regarding Big Data, incentives for encouraging setting up of data centres, fiscal incentives for data localisation, incentives for pushing digital penetration in rural areas, and corporate guarantee to startups for competing with other nations.
'If India does venture across the LoC, it will evoke a strong response.'
"Fifteen years ago, I was leading the efforts to approve the historic civil nuclear deal with India. I said that if the US and India became closer friends and partners, then the world will be a safer place," Biden, who was vice-president in the Obama administration, said while addressing the Indian-American community on India's Independence Day.
The bench also extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Chidambaram till September 5.
Enforcement Directorate alleged that he was not cooperating and sought his custodial interrogation.
The group was indirectly referring to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif calling slain Hizbul terrorist Burhan a martyr.
Last year, the US assistance to Pakistan was $534 million.
The bonhomie between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif seems to have also finally met its demise. Here's a look at their 'relationship'.
Aseem Chhabra lists the best non-Hindi language films he watched in 2020, with the hope that they will have a wider reach in the new year.
Even as demonetisation continued to be the hot topic in Parliament, forcing adjournments in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, other topics too were discussed in Parliament. Here are the other issues that were discussed.
More than 2,000 activists of various religious and jihadi outfits in Pakistan on Wednesday protested against the visit of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, accusing him for the unrest in Kashmir.
The two countries, among the very few fast growing large economies globally, also decided to boost bilateral trade and investment in areas of oil and gas, renewable energy, IT and pharmaceuticals, during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
The Shiv Sena passed a resolution not to align with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The report touches on variety of issues including consent, rights of children, data protection authority and right to recall data.
'It must be rendering Modi, Amit Shah and Adityanath speechless that the Indian diplomat who lifted the Azhar trophy at the UN in New York is also a Muslim. 'Yes, this is the wonder that was India,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Modi invoked Lord Shiva on Mahashivratri and said people, with their third eye, can see what is good for them and what is bad.
Hrithik Roshan was just 32 when he played a grandfather in Krrish!
Bangladesh handing over to India top ULFA leader Anup Chetia was a reflection of close bilateral ties particularly in security areas, the country's Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said in Dhaka on Thursday as he hoped New Delhi will return a wanted Bangladeshi national jailed in West Bengal.
Before Akshay Kumar takes centrestage in the courtroom this Friday, here's looking at filmi lawyers before him.
On the pitches of ramshackle football academies across West Africa, teenage boys chase one another in pursuit of the ball, the chance to impress, and the prospect of a lucrative contract with one of Europe's top teams.
"Just a handful of Indian youth have joined the ISIS. Some have also returned after being persuaded by their families," asserted the home minister.
This is possibly the last election in Bengal where two sides are squaring off against each other. Don't expect the BJP to be a bystander five years hence, says Devanik Saha.
Rijiju said the central government will rehabilitate all Indian citizens in the Naga group if they abjure violence.
'Pakistan persists in the belief that such attacks will enable it to obtain the territory it covets. Their plans will not succeed.'
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal believes the India-US nuclear deal is not in limbo and it is for India and Pakistan to set the pace for conversations to resolve their issues. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington, DC.
'Instead of isolation, India should respond militarily to every act of terrorism assessed to have come from across the border, unilaterally declare Pakistan a State that supports terrorism and cease all economic dealings with it.'
Israel on Tuesday bombed several mosques, a hospital and a stadium in Hamas-ruled Gaza even as international efforts intensified to broker a ceasefire to end the 15-day conflict that has killed 620 Palestinians and 29 Israelis.
It asked all nations to work together to expedite the adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the UN General Assembly without any further delay.
The very filmi Valentine's Day Special!
'When there are two hostile armies operating in close proximity, moral ascendancy is very important -- and that is something, I think, we achieved.' 'What is important is the will and determination of a country.' 'That you are willing to do something about terror that is coming from across the border and that is the message that was sent out.'
India's Muslims need to assert their educational and economic upliftment and political empowerment rather than be provoked by communal remarks, says Mohammad Sajjad, reflecting on the Malda riot.
Faced with the crisis of governance, the UPA's desperate strategy appears to be to communalise the polity and change the electoral agenda, says Arun Jaitley
Any attempt to defang Islamic State must first cut off its main sources of funding, especially its revenue from oil sales, extortion and crime, ransom payments, and support from foreign donors. This will also be need to be backed up by efficient forces on the ground.
In his last column for Rediff.com, Praful Bidwai joins issues with those lauding India's covert operation against Naga rebels based in Myanmarese territory.
A K Bhattacharya digs into the yet-to-be-public report on ways to curb black money and finds out that Modi's next moves could include action on dabba trading, hawala, and education.
Taki in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district is the last Indian outpost on the border with Bangladesh. It is one of hotspots for Bangladeshi infiltration into India. While most poor Bangladeshis cross over to look for work, terror groups take advantage to ferry their men and material into India. Indrani Roy/Rediff.com reports.
'There cannot be any compromise on that. After all, all instrumentalities of the State have been made to serve it. Why was the Constitution made? It was made to serve the cause of India.'
'It was only relatively recently that Subhash Kapoor was able to secure the sources in India, Afghanistan and Cambodia, that allowed him to get the really highest level objects, and that helped propel him in recent years up the ranks.'
This is the joint statement issued by the ministry of external affairs on the visit of US President Barack Obama to India.
