Being a victim of recurring political unrest over three decades, low productivity and escalating production cost, the Darjeeling tea industry has not been in good financial health over a long time.
Spiralling prices pinched the pocket of consumer as edible oil, fuel and many other commodities turned dearer this year amid pandemic-induced disruptions but the inflationary pressure is anticipated to ease, though marginally, in the coming months. As consumers, at retail as well as wholesale levels, are willy-nilly learning to live with the new normal of curbs to contain the spread of coronavirus infections, experts are of the view that elevated inflation is likely to stay longer. After dealing with the devastating blows from the second COVID wave, especially during the April-June period, the economy is well on the revival path but the emergence of Omicron might unsettle the recovery trajectory in the short term.
His appeal came when certain organisations of the neighbouring Barak Valley region of Assam observed a 12-hour bandh on Wednesday and have been staging an economic blockade on the National Highway-306 that connects Mizoram with the rest of the country since July 26, disrupting transportation of goods to the state.
Farmers gathered at several national highways, key roads and some railway tracks in Punjab and Haryana on Friday morning as part of their nationwide protest against the Centre's new agri laws.
The Indian Meteorological Department, meanwhile, warned of intense spell of 30 to 50 mm rainfall per hour with strong winds in Mumbai and suburban areas.
Heavy fog engulfed parts of Delhi with the minimum temperature settling at a notch below normal.
Nearly 6,000 passengers were stranded as train services on the Konkan Railway route in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district were suspended on Thursday after a river overflowed following heavy rains, while incessant downpour badly hit road and rail traffic in several parts of the state, including around Mumbai, as authorities called in NDRF to help the administration in rescue efforts.
A court in Canada has ordered the seizure of amounts collected by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on behalf of Air India and the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Separate orders were passed on November 24 and December 21 on pleas by shareholders of Devas Multimedia Private Limited who have filed multiple petitions to enforce arbitration awards against the Indian government. According to a Devas spokesperson, more than $30 million has been seized to date under the IATA action.
The intensity of power crisis this season has hit a new high with average coal stock dipping to less than eight days. The first of a pan-Indian series, based on a ground report, shows how the Manesar industrial hub is coping with the challenge. As the scorching heat wave and the lengthy power cuts intensify in Haryana, the usually bustling labour chowk of the Industrial Model Township (IMT) of Manesar wears a deserted look.
Vegetable arrivals at mandis, especially in Maharashtra, have declined by more than 50 per cent since the beginning of the month.
The world's biggest lockdown that shut a majority of the factories and businesses, suspended flights, stopped trains and restricted movement of vehicles and people, may have cost the Indian economy Rs 7-8 lakh crore during the 21-day period, analysts and industry bodies said.
Normal life remained disrupted across the Kashmir Valley for the 26th consecutive day, with markets closed and public transport off the roads.
The Reserve Bank remains laser-focused to bring back retail inflation to 4 per cent over a period of time in a non-disruptive manner, Governor Shaktikanta Das stressed while voting for status quo in interest rates, as per minutes of the October policy meeting released on Friday. The central bank has been mandated by the government to ensure the Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation is at 4 per cent, with a band of 2 per cent on either side. The retail inflation, which was above 6 per cent during May and June, has started moving down and stood at 4.35 per cent in September.
Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members were on Monday evicted enmasse from Tamil Nadu Assembly with a couple of them being handed a two-day suspension for disrupting the proceedings.
With almost all opposition parties too backing the 'Bharat bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure peace is maintained.
'There will be other innovations coming, but, at the moment, this combination of the mobile phone and the Internet is such a disruptive way to deliver content.'
Metro rail services may be allowed from September 1 when the 'Unlock 4' phase in the graded reopening from the coronavirus-induced lockdown begins, but schools and colleges will not reopen immediately, an official said.
According to the local Brass Handicrafts Manufacturers Association (BHMA), some 800,000 people are directly employed in Moradabad's massive brass handicrafts and utensils manufacturing industry, which has some 30,000 small and micro-scale units and a total annual turnover of Rs 10,000 crore. The manufacturers are heavily dependent on export markets such as the US, Canada, Australia and the European Union. And exports account for nearly 70 per cent of their revenues. According to industry insiders, since this year's lockdowns, manufacturing has been at 65 per cent of normal levels.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday reviewed the preparations for Cyclone Yaas including the evacuation of people on the high seas as well as in vulnerable coastal areas and the safety of COVID-19 facilities.
A man was shot dead in police firing in Telangana's Secunderabad, trains went up in flames, and public and private vehicles attacked, as railway stations and highways turned into battleground in many states on Friday amid burgeoning protests against Agnipath, the contentious defence recruitment scheme.
Some of the protesters claimed that the police baton charged them when they were holding a peaceful agitation.
As a nationwide strike of trade unions hit banking and other services on Wednesday, business chambers pegged the loss to the economy at a staggering Rs 25,000 crore and said such "disruptive" actions can hit India's image as an attractive business destination.
New business received by Indian manufacturers expanded at the fastest pace since February.
Heavy rains accompanied by high velocity winds on Monday pounded Chennai and coastal districts of north Tamil Nadu due to severe cyclonic storm "Vardah" which made landfall around 3pm, uprooting hundreds of trees, disrupting land and air transport and throwing normal life out of gear.
Kashmir University, Central University Kashmir and Islamic University of Science and Technology have postponed all examinations scheduled for Wednesday.
Trains don't just transport from one place to another. Sometimes they can be a setting for a happily-ever-after. It sure happens a lot in the movies.
"All corona warriors deserve high praise," Kovind said in his televised address.
Water, mats and chairs, among others things, have been arranged for commuters at these schools which are located close to railway stations, he said.
Operating systems are increasingly subject to cyberattacks, as many are built around legacy technologies with weaker protocols
'Despite the pandemic, we aspire to maintain the momentum of last year.'
Normally, kharif sowing of vegetable seeds starts during the first week of May across the country. Farmers start preparing their fields to make them suitable for kharif sowing during the second fortnight of April. Now, however, faced with the lockdown, farmers are in a hurry to clear their fields of rabi crop and prepare for kharif planting. With a normal monsoon forecast this year, they are doing all they can to take advantage of pre-monsoon showers.
The capability of drones to evade radar, wreak devastation at strategic installations and transport weapons to terrorists has been a continuous concern for the country's security establishment, and in a maiden incident, these unmanned vehicles were used to strike an Indian Air Force base in Jammu on Sunday, officials said.
Core to the planning is the rigidly-enforced closed loop that physically separates Games-related personnel from the local population
Automobile dealers' body FADA on Thursday said passenger vehicle (PV) retail sales in March witnessed a year-on-year growth of 28.39 per cent to 279,745 units, as compared to the year-ago period which saw disruptions in the market due to COVID-19 led lockdown. According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), which collected vehicle registration data from 1,277 out of the 1,482 regional transport offices (RTOs), PV sales stood at 217,879 units in March 2020. Two-wheeler sales, however, declined 35.26 per cent to 11,95,445 units last month, as compared to 18,46,613 units in March 2020. Commercial vehicle sales also declined 42.2 per cent to 67,372 units, as against 116,559 units a year ago.
There is no direct impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis on India in terms of bilateral trade but a surge in oil prices poses considerable risk to the economy, an analyst report said on Friday. International oil prices which have surged past $100 per barrel "pose risks to external stability and currency movement," a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report said. Russia has launched military operations against Ukraine, stoking fears of significant disruption in the region, including loss of life. The West is ramping up financial sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine.
As Delhi hospitals faced a severe oxygen crisis for the third consecutive day, the DDMA roped in three senior bureaucrats on Thursday to ensure a smooth movement of tankers and facilitate oxygen supply to the needy establishments, and directed the police to provide the security logistics from the manufacturers' sites to various health facilities in the city.
They say that a stimulus package may not be necessary because, unlike last year's total lockdown, public transport, including the railways and airlines, is running and the restrictions on movement are localised and, in some cases, are partial rather than total.
Schools, public transport and other government offices remained shut after several organisations, including the Asom Gana Parishad, called for a bandh to protest police brutality in the Golaghat district. Anurag Kashyap reports
Besides regular buyers, there is lot of interest among those in essential services, such as health, banking, and IT. The sales will be helped by social distancing becoming the new normal in both urban and rural regions as people will be averse to using public transport.
'IndiGo 2018 is a harsh, ultra-lean, mean, zero asset, fighting machine with aspirations of taking on the global long-haul low-cost market.'
