Massive restrictions on legal immigration - including restricting immigrants who contribute to medicine, science, and research in the United States, and who are working to develop treatments for coronavirus and other deadly diseases - will not only hinder efforts to save lives, but prevent job creation and hurt American economy as the country struggles to recover.
The Congress chief said citizens are making tremendous efforts for a better tomorrow, "therefore we must make all efforts to ensure that the purpose of the lockdown is not defeated by making the most vulnerable bear its cost."
The 1977-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer took oath in English after which he greeted the Chairman and other members present in the House.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting five measures to conserve money for the fight against COVID-19, including a complete ban on media advertisements by government and PSUs for two years and suspending the Central Vista beautification project.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hard sold his government's reforms spanning from manufacturing to taxation to labour, saying they have changed the world perception about the country from 'why India' to 'why not India' and went on to quote record foreign investment during the pandemic as a testimony to that. Speaking at industry association Assocham's Foundation Week event, Modi also said agriculture reforms brought by his government six months back have started benefiting farmers. The reforms in the last six years have influenced in changing the sentiment of the industry from 'why India' to 'why not India' in investing.
He said though there is a spike in new cases, the situation is under control as not many people are developing severe disease or require hospitalisation.
A feature of 'Third World-ism' is lack of accountability. Whether and how the Modi government is held to account politically is a matter for the future, observes T N Ninan.
Core to the planning is the rigidly-enforced closed loop that physically separates Games-related personnel from the local population
With the Omicron variant of coronavirus slowly spreading its tentacles in the country, a number of states enhanced surveillance to trace, track and quarantine contacts of COVID-19 positive persons while Delhi began genome sequencing of samples of all infected people and has prohibited Christmas and New Year gatherings.
With Democrats having an upper hand in US Congress, the Donald Trump administration will find it difficult to come up with any future legislative changes with regard to visa regulations.
"Vaccination is our big weapon in the fight against COVID-19," he said. He added that India is the fastest country globally to reach the landmark of 17 crore doses in 114 days and thanked all the states and UTs for their contribution in achieving this feat.
The department had launched searches against the 48-year-old actor and the Lucknow-based group of industries involved in infrastructure on September 15 and the CBDT said the action was continuing.
'There is lack of demand because people have no jobs, and no income.' 'Lakhs of people have lost their jobs and they have no income which has led to no demand in the market.'
This is the fourth consecutive day when COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 45,000.
India is struggling with a second wave of the pandemic with more than 3,00,000 daily new coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days, and hospitals are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds.
American CEOs expected to meet Modi on Sunday include Apple's Tim Cook, Walmart's Doug McMillon, Caterpillar's Jim Umpleby, Google's Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella.
The protests against farm laws saw a fair share of controversies as well with climate activist Greta Thunberg and pop sensation Rihanna making their way to India's prime time debates and terms such as 'toolkit' and 'andolanjeevi' entering the Indian political lexicon.
The draft calls for "impartial, independent and comprehensive" probe into the coronavirus crisis. Besides, an inquiry into the actions of the World Health Organization and "their timelines pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic."
The alleged use of the Pegasus software to spy on journalists, human rights defenders, politicians and others in a number of countries including India triggered concerns over issues relating to privacy.
As people crisscross the country, eager to return to their homes, the cases have raced past 80,000 with at least 2,649 deaths, according to the Union health ministry on Friday. While there is no exact count, this includes a large number of those who have returned to their states.
'A third wave is possible, but we must try to restrict it to a low level by adopting all personal protection and public policy measures to prevent viral transmission, while speeding up vaccination.'
"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 IMA feels that there is a dire need for a drastic change in health administration which can be realised by raising a new cadre of administrators, it said in a statement.
World leaders thanked India for its help and support in combating the coronavirus pandemic through "early and meaningful" shipments of COVID-19 vaccine doses, as they addressed the high-level UN General Assembly session this year.
According to the ministry's data, Maharashtra is on the top of the list with most COVID-19 cases, 5,652 cases of which 789 patients have recovered and 269 patients succumbing to coronavirus.
The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to place on record all relevant documents and file notings reflecting its thinking culminating in the COVID-19 vaccination policy, and the purchase history till date of all jabs including Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik V.
According to the ministry, Maharashtra remained at the top with the total cases at 1,985, including 217 patients who have recovered/discharged and 149 patients died.
This is the seventh consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50,000.
Interacting with state chief ministers, Modi underscored the enormity of what he described as the world's biggest vaccination exercise, which begins from January 16, saying over 30 crore citizens will get the jabs in the next few months in India against only 2.5 crore people vaccinated so far in over 50 countries in around a month.
"I will address a press conference tomorrow. I am happy that the Supreme Court passed the order granting bail," added Chidambaram.
