Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that the Centre would soon take pragmatic steps to effectively manage the country's borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh to check the movement of militants and arms.
'Premature lifting of the lockdown will spread the disease from asymptomatics, and those undetected, to the whole community, ushering in prolonged misery, preventable and avoidable deaths, famine and social unrest,' warns Dr Debashish Danda.
'All parties and the government acknowledge that there we are in trouble and there is more trouble ahead,' observes Aakar Patel.
Bengal, where the electoral discourse has mostly steered clear of divisive agenda, has been drawn into the vortex with the TMC and the BJP accusing each other of fanning communal sentiments ahead of elections.
'Sounds familiar? Barring inflation, much else looks, sounds, and feels more than a bit like 1974.' 'A phenomenally popular leader, with a party of unquestioning followers, a broken Opposition, a nationalist high and an economy in free fall, crippling joblessness,' recalls Shekhar Gupta.
'The current budgetary practice of shifting expenditures off-balance sheet in order to be seen to be meeting fiscal targets should be discontinued; additional fiscal stimulus would be imprudent; individual income tax rates should not be cut; GST rates should not be raised now,' advise Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman.
Taking note of India's 'growing influence' in global affairs, the United States has said the country will be a net provider of security in the Indian Ocean and beyond with the growth of its military capabilities.
Monetising online readership, a deeper focus on content and getting revenue from the reader are ways to make the business future-proof, observes Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
England batsman Jos Buttler has vowed not to curb his attacking instincts after earning a "surprise" recall to the Test team for the opening test against Pakistan starting at Lord's on Thursday.
Pakistani authorities have arrested two militants and a Syrian national in Lahore for their alleged role in recruiting people to the Islamic State terror group.
Manoj Sinha's greatest asset is his capacity to get on with everyone regardless of political affiliation, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Reform of education and urban management, and priority for growth in the Gangetic belt are the key, says Nitin Desai.
'As of now, this one move seems to have precariously altered the balance of forces on the volatile ground, between separatists and the mainstream. 'The landscape today presents a fearsome picture of the future of mainstream politics in Kashmir. 'Conversely, the separatist ideology looks to have got an unearned boost,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs
The health ministry said that 86 per cent of the total active cases were recorded in 10 states of the country.
'While we may aspire to be a democratic if smaller version of China, we may only manage to become a larger, more accomplished Indonesia,' says T N Ninan.
'These three commodities have been chosen very well.' 'It is up to the state governments and central government to see how it is implemented.' 'The government has to do some hand-holding.'
The pandemic has forced us to reflect and re-evaluate our old habits and perceptions, says Anamika Sengupta.
While the new COVID cases and total active cases are going up, the administration is focusing on testing, contact tracing and treatment.
The UNICEF said an estimated 2.4 million children have been affected by the recent floods in the country.
What the UK is getting out of the Serum Institute is what India is losing. And the responsibility of the Indian State ought to have been to dictate where Serum Institute's vaccine doses should go, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Finding itself trapped in a cul de sac, all things considered, a negotiated climbdown at this juncture seems the only sensible course available for the Centre, suggests Virendra Kapoor.
Some believe the shift to mobile-based transactions will be seamless considering that the urban tele-density is 148%. In rural areas, it is touching 51%. But smartphone penetration in India is a mere 12%. Growth of mobile money has been extremely slow: It is currently 1%.
This is a national leadership gone so wrong that India's most powerful prime minister in four decades has personally taken charge of medical oxygen shortages, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Regardless of how the stalemate ends, the government needs to learn that regardless of its parliamentary strength it cannot take people for granted. A little bit of humility would do it a lot of good, recommends Virendra Kapoor.
Vice President Hamid Ansari said that there is no shift in India's foreign policy and asserted that it is participation that matters as it is "not a conference of Prime Ministers".
'Although Narendra Modi had no direct participation in the Ayodhya agitation, he would not have been in the dominant position he is now had it not been for the Ram Janambhoomi agitation.'
India is in the midst of its biggest crisis since Independence. It is a national emergency and begs to be dealt with. Politics can wait. Lives need to be saved. We need to vaccinate India at a pace faster than any country in the world, asserts Ramesh Menon.
A PTI tally of figures announced by states and UTs, as of 9.30 pm, showed the total number of confirmed cases having risen to close to 2.1 lakh and the death toll to approximately 6,000, showing an increase of nearly 9,000 cases since Tuesday evening and at least 273 more fatalities in this time period.
Kapil Mishra had been invited because he was an "anti-corruption crusader", one 'IIT B for Bharat' organiser said. But in his half hour-long speech, Mishra didn't mention corruption. His entire focus was on the long "battle" Hindus had fought for their identity.
Here's a quick compilation of items that could be impacted by the Budget, thereby affecting our personal finances. But do keep in mind that not all of these could happen, or happen in the magnitude that they are expected to.
A number of industrial countries are now resorting to populism and this has its own set of political implications.
'India serves itself poorly with its latter-day discovery of Pakistan as an instrument in domestic politics,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
The Survey adopts an unfettered approach in thinking about the appropriate economic model for India. This endeavour is reflected in the sky blue cover of the Survey, Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy V Subramanian said.
Teams of National Disaster Response Force were trying to find out any person still trapped under the debris, officials said.
The winds of nationalism laden with religion will now yield to those of concern over the stalled economy, unemployment, and a general malaise and unhappiness, predicts Shekhar Gupta.
Iceland retained the top spot while Afghanistan is now the least peaceful country in the world.
An article in China's Global Times warned Beijing that China needs to worry about the effect of industrial transfer to India on production chain
Stunned by the sudden saffron surge, daggers seems to have been drawn in the Trinamool Congress camp with local leaders blaming those holding top party posts for their "lack of foresightedness" and "arrogant approach" as primary reasons behind the poor poll show.
'Till now, many political parties indulged in Muslim appeasement.' 'This is one experiment, successfully carried out by the AAP, in indulging in Hindu appeasement.'
For decades, high school students in America have been able to take classes in Latin, Spanish, French and even German. But given a shifting global order and an increasingly diverse domestic population, high schools are finding it necessary to offer more 'exotic' options.
