About 6am last Tuesday, I got a notification on my mobile phone—a message from a friend’s son distraught by the Pahalgam attack. The message berated the government for not taking speedy retaliatory action and wanted me to build media pressure on the government into taking immediate action. I was shocked. I have known this person…
“Today on the soil of Bihar, I say to the whole world: India will identify, trace, and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the earth. India’s spirit will never be broken by terrorism. Terrorism will not go unpunished. Every effort will be made to ensure that justice…
The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die on Friday, ending the Budget session that began on January 31. As soon as the House met at 12 noon after an adjournment over remarks by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla read out his valedictory remarks and adjourned the House sine die – indefinitely…
US Republicans have long thought that what the federal government does can be done better, faster or cheaper by the private sector. So it should not shock anyone that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently revealed a larger agenda that sheds light on the Trump administration’s seemingly indiscriminate cuts to federal workers and agencies. President…
Gone are those simpler times when a finance minister of the country could tell Parliament, as Manmohan Singh had in 1992, that he does not lose sleep over stock markets. While those who invest in shares directly or via mutual funds are still relatively few—India has some 180 million demat accounts and a little over…
“It is not often recognized that behind every piece of statistical information lies the dedicated work of hundreds of NSS investigators who have conducted painstaking surveys and interviews, often in remote areas,” he said. The 1999-2000 NSS consumption expenditure survey suggested that poverty had declined sharply compared to the mid-90s, Vajpayee pointed out. Had any…
The remarkable insights into the changing pattern of household consumption thrown up by the latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2023-24 are of special relevance for a wide range of policy decisions. Take, for instance, an issue that seemed to have become a bone of contention between the government and the Reserve Bank of India…
If this golden rule is applied across the board, we will not have faced an embarrassment with the Swiss government over their withdrawal of our most favoured nation (MFN) status, because of our negligence. In October 2023, the Indian Supreme Court (SC) had decided in the Nestle matter that MFN treatment under India’s double tax…
Mumbai: State-owned Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (Ireda) has sought government approval to sell up to 10% stake, as the non-bank lender aims to raise about ₹4,500 crore in equity to fund growth. “We are seeking the Government of India’s approval for allowing natural dilution of their stake by up to 10%. The government will…
In Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste, senior journalist Ajaz Ashraf relooks the events that led to the Bhima Koregaon violence on January 1, 2018. Ashraf sees the incident as a clash between two worldviews, one striving to flatten the social hierarchy and the other perpetuating it, as he says in this interview. Dalits sitting by wall…
