With the fresh wave of COVID-19 plunging the hospitality sector back into uncertainty, industry body HAI on Monday said it has asked the government to consider granting infrastructure status to hotels, extend moratorium on loans and rationalise taxes. In its pre-Budget memorandum, the Hotel Association of India (HAI) said policy interventions are imperative for the sector's survival and its early and quick rebound to normalcy. "The hospitality industry was slowly getting into a recovery mode on the strength of domestic tourism - leisure and events, only to be plunged back into uncertainty on account of the Omicron threat.
Making water available is always a serious challenge in the summer for all public authorities. This year, the challenge is higher when hand-washing at every opportunity has become a necessity. So keeping potable water lines running without a glitch has become most necessary.
Welcoming the latest round of stimulus announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday, experts said the measures will support the economic recovery boosting demand, job creation and by providing funds to the MSME and stressed sectors. The fiscal impact of the stimulus is likely to be around 0.25-0.6 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal, they said.
Earlier in the day, the Chinese embassy in Delhi first posted and later removed a statement on its website saying that the two met after the Congress denied it as "fake news".
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to accept in a sealed cover the Centre's suggestion on a proposed panel of experts for strengthening regulatory measures for stock markets in the wake of the recent Adani group shares crash triggered by Hindenburg Research's fraud allegations.
Severe heatwaves, responsible for thousands of deaths across India over the last few decades, are increasing with alarming frequency and soon the country could become one of the first places in the world to experience heatwaves that break the human survivability limit, according to a new report.
Amidst fear of layoffs across many IT companies, Saurabh Govil, bottom left, head of Wipro's Human resources, explains who are the affected lot and why it is essential to re-skill for employees in this sector.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday directed officials to speed up setting up of a commando training centre in Rampur and also form a skilled team of women commandos.
211 Conservative Party members of Parliament voted in favour of Johnson staying on as their leader.
The murder of Atiq and his brother and the police encounter with his son have raised many questions about the propriety of how crime is tackled by the Yogi government. But Yogi knows he has the support of the people who are fed up with crime holding the state to ransom for decades, asserts Ramesh Menon.
PV Sindhu while addressing the newly-appointed Assistant Directors of the Sports Authority of India through an online session, stressed on the importance of parents, coaches, administrators working as a team to build up a champion.
Asserting that Uttar Pradesh has undergone a complete transformation under his government, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday that there have been no riots since 2017, strict action has been taken against the mafia and the state is in the frontline of implementing welfare schemes, ensuring the ease of doing business and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the actual spending under the scheme in the fiscal year ending March 31 "would be highest".
Contentious issues such as the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, abrogation of Art 370 giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir and enactment of Uniform Civil Code have been included in the Bharatiya Janata Party's election manifesto with the party making promises on them.
Speaking during a video interaction with Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana beneficiaries from Madhya Pradesh, he also said that there was 'vikriti' (distortion) in the system of the previous government.
In the midst of third wave of COVID-19, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has come up with an impactful Budget which is balanced, fiscally prudent and growth-oriented, the USA India Chamber of Commerce has said. President of the Boston-based USA India Chamber of Commerce (USAIC) Karun Rishi, however, said it is a matter of concern that the budget lacks tangible measures to increase revenue generation. "Opting to keep the fiscal deficit at 6.9 per cent and increase capital expenditure by 35 per cent is a masterstroke. "The annual budget estimates the effective capital expenditure of Rs 10.68 lakh crore in 2022-23, making up about 4.1 per cent of the GDP," he said. "A phenomenal increase in the government's capital expenditure is likely to facilitate the expenditures on infrastructure and create jobs.
Amid uncertainties arising out of the second wave of COVID-19, the Reserve Bank on Thursday said that a durable revival of private consumption and investment would be critical for sustaining economic growth post-pandemic. Observing that 2020-21 has left a scar on the economy, RBI in its annual report said, "in the midst of the second wave as 2021-22 commences, pervasive despair is being lifted by cautious optimism built up by vaccination drives." The second wave of the pandemic has prompted revision of growth projections for the current fiscal and the consensus appears to be gravitating towards RBI's forecast of 10.5 per cent, the report added.
In May, Satpal Singh, who runs a dairy business with three buffaloes in Jewar, near Noida, was worried about the steep spike in input costs. Singh said dry fodder rates, which cost Rs 1,500-2000 per tractor trolley last year, were quoting at Rs 4,500-5,000. The price of other cattle feed ingredients (that include mustard meal and similar mixes) had also gone up from Rs 2,000 per quintal to Rs 3,100-3,200 per quintal.
A constitutional amendment bill to restore the powers of the states to make their own OBC lists was passed by Parliament on Wednesday, with the opposition and treasury benches joining hands in the Rajya Sabha to approve the legislation.
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.
Jairam Ramesh said the Congress has to be the "fulcrum" of any Opposition alliance to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections as it is the only political force with a pan-India presence.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday wooed Indian industry leaders to invest more in America, promising to reduce more regulations in his country as he looked for overseas investment to boost the economy there. Speaking at a high-profile CEO round-table which included captains of the Indian industry such as Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, Mahindra group chairman Anand Mahindra, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran and Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, Trump reassured that regulations "will only get better" for investment in the US.
Forty-nine migrant workers have been inducted by the state government as members of its 'COVID-19 Warriors Club' to assist the coronavirus patients.
In this weekly self-help series, mental health and life coach Anu Krishna tells you how to take control of your life.
Banerjee, who had been demanding a waiver of interest on the state's debts for a period of three years, said even a year's moratorium on repayment of interests on central loans would enable the state to create 10 lakh (1 million) jobs.
In a discussion in Lok Sabha on the COVID pandemic, members called for ban on international flights in view of the outbreak of the Omicron strain and demanded that the government 'accept responsibility' for deaths of lakhs of people during the outbreak.
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has written to his boss, Boris Johnson, to be referred to one of the British Prime Minister's independent advisers to review all his ministerial declarations of interest amid a row around his family's tax affairs. The Indian-origin finance minister, who has been fighting back attacks over wife Akshata Murty's tax arrangements in India and also Opposition allegations around his own finances, said in a Twitter post on Sunday that he is confident the independent review by House of Lords peer Christopher Geidt, the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests, will provide "further clarity". "My overriding concern is that the public retains confidence in the answers they are given and I believe the best way of achieving this is to ensure those answers are entirely independent, without bias or favour," Sunak states in his letter to Johnson.
Various indicators make it amply clear that there are grave challenges facing the new government of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, reports Indivjal Dhasmana.
Rahul knew this was coming. That 'dirt' would be dug up.
'It seems the action against Nupur was because the vice president was in Qatar and officials in his secretariat did not want any embarrassment.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said his government is using all channels including diplomatic to bring back high-profile economic offenders, leaving them with no option but to return to the country. Speaking at a symposium on credit flow and economic growth, he asked banks to support wealth and job creators with proactive lending while promising to stand by any loans given in right earnest. "In our attempt to bring back fugitive (economic offenders), we relied on policies and law and also used diplomatic channels.
13 eminent economists, including former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and current International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Gita Gopinath, in a report have asked the political establishment not to resort to populist tricks.
Stating that India's economic stimulus was not adequate, Banerjee said, the measures did not increase consumption spending of lower income people as the government was not willing to put money in the hands of the low income population.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her third Budget on February 1.
Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday took charge as the Congress' first non-Gandhi president in 24 years, citing Rahul Gandhi's slogan 'daro mat' to energise workers and declaring that the party will demolish the government's 'system of lies, treachery and hatred'.
Meanwhile, key BJP ally skips event to mark first year of Yogi govt.
Terrorism decreased, corruption and dynastic politics ended and an era of peace, development, prosperity started on August 5, 2019, said Shah as he reached out to the youths in the Valley urging them to stand up to disruptive elements and become ambassadors of peace.
We will find it difficult to exceed an average of 5 per cent growth in the medium term, warns Shankar Acharya, the former chief economic adviser.
Transcript of the Ganesh Natarajan chat on rediff on Friday.
'The cost of the lockdown so far is the loss of about 11 million jobs.' 'It is important that a fresh lockdown does not make this worse,' asserts Mahesh Vyas.
