NEW DELHI: The Centre is likely to reallocate to state-run firms such — as NTPC and Damodar Valley Corporation — as well as state government utilities their captive coal blocks that had been cancelled by the Supreme Court. This leaves only half of the mines for auction to the private sector in the first phase in December. The coal ministry has assured most of the central […]
PANAJI: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is considering the introduction of a new policy on the vexed issue of blacklisting defence equipment suppliers accused of corruption as well as reforming rules for lobbyists to balance the needs of the armed forces with transparency. Speaking to ET in the state capital at the chief minister’s residence, Parrikar said, “One of the ideas the government is thinking about is […]
By Harihar Swarup This was, perhaps, the worst beginning for Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra. His government would have easily won the trust vote with the NCP first deciding to abstain in voting, but, later, agreeing to vote with the government. Then whose idea it was to pass the motion through voice vote and cast a doubt on the legitimacy of first-ever BJP government in the state? […]
By Subrata Majumder At a recent economic summit organized by World Economic Forum, the investors bemoaned the absence of any big ticket reform under Modi government. They lamented that against all high hopes generated by the Modi model of development before election, the government failed to announce any major reform which could stoke investment. In the summit, the echo from the investors was clear. They were […]
By Garga Chatterjee If you have not watched the YouTube video Enna Da Rascalas: South of India, you should. It is a crisp catchy-tune video made by a talented group of artists calling themselves the Culture Machine and Stray Factory. It has gone ‘viral’, logging more than 1.2 million hits in 7 days. It humorously aims to inform people about the different peoples of ‘South of […]
By Kalyani Shankar The 25-year-old Shiv Sena-BJP break up in Maharashtra confirms the long-term plan of the BJP to go beyond the allies and emerge a dominant national party eclipsing others. In election rallies in both Maharashtra and Haryana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed the end of the coalition era in Indian politics to stress this point. Narendra Modi as well as the BJP chief […]
By Nora Chopra The clamour for Priyanka Gandhi in the Congress is growing by the day. .The latest to join the chorus is Hansraj Bhardwaj once known as a retainer of Gandhi family. Bhardwaj has gone public and said that Rahul Gandhi lacks the capability and charisma to attract the masses. He can only address a crowd of fifty students and no more than that. On the […]
By Anjan Roy China is riding the crest of its economic success currently. It has taken one more step to make its currency globally traded and thus acceptable. China has announced what is known as the Hong Kong-Shanghai Stocks Connect from November 17. This in effect means off shore trading in the Chinese currency for purchase of stocks in Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges. Earlier, […]
By S Sethuraman A Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), by no means a new concept, was successfully pushed by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC Summit in Beijing on November 11, projecting it as ‘historic’, in a move aimed at countering US-dominant trade moves in the region. The 21-member APEC, of Pacific rim nations, including the United States, China and Japan, now […]
By Upendra Prasad The emergence of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister and a national leader has changed the contours of Indian politics and it is a time of repositioning for the leaders of other parties to maintain their clout and relevance in the changed political scenario. Leaders of Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana are among those, who find themselves to be in wilderness […]
By Sankar Ray The grim battle waged by a small but well=meaning section in Pakistan for a sustaining and evolving democratic order has suffered a setback as some pseudo-democratic interests are working against the struggle for democracy. Needless to say, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its chief Imran Khan serve as catalyst in favour of the unholy combine of a section of army, the ISI and […]
By Amulya Ganguli The losers have banded together again. Their perseverance is admirable considering that repeated failures of the so-called Third Front or Janata experiment of constituting a non-Congress, non-BJP outfit haven’t dissuaded them. Probably, the success of the first memorable effort in 1977 which saved democracy in India continues to motivate them. As a result, whenever there is a low ebb in the political […]
By Barun Das Gupta KOLKATA: If one takes the trouble of rummaging through the archives relating to that part of India which is now called Arunachal Pradesh, one will stumble on a shocking document titled “Regulation 2 of 1880. The Assam Frontier Tracts Regulation, 1880.” It begins with the Preamble: “Whereas it is expedient to provide for the removal of certain frontier tracts in Assam inhabited or […]
By Harihar Swarup Another round of crucial Assembly elections are round the corner. While the polls are due in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand in December, in Delhi, where state assembly has been dissolved, the election is slated to be held in January. Doubtless, election in Jammu and Kashmir is of vital importance in the changed scenario. Both the ruling National Conference and the Congress are […]
By Nantoo Banerjee It is heartening to note that out of the world’s 2000 largest companies, figured in Forbes Global 2000, and their 3,30,000 subsidiaries worldwide characterizing their influence in the global market, as many as 30 are India’s much neglected and criticized State-owned enterprises (SOEs). India’s SOE numbers are only next to the People’s Republic of China’s. The People’s Republic of China had 70 of […]
NEW DELHI: HDFC Bank will not be able to raise much money by way of foreign investment even as the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on Friday regularised its current overseas investment structure. That is because the board turned down the bank’s plea to not treat the promoter stake as foreign investment. Besides, the bank will also have to deposit a penalty as it was in the […]
Mumbai: The finance ministry will meet chief executives of public sector banks on November 20 to take stock of the progress made under the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). There will also be a review of the performance of the lenders. Hasmukh Adhia, the newly appointed secretary of financial services, who took charge on November 8, will chair the meeting. Adhia, a Gujarat-cadre IAS officer of […]
NEW DELHI: Less than a day after Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) announced a hike in consumer power tariff through power purchase adjustment charges (PPAC), it withdrew the order. This is the first time a tariff order has been withdrawn in Delhi since DERC was constituted in 2001. While the regulator said the order stands withdrawn till it receives complete information from various power generators on fuel […]
NEW DELHI: After cementing trade ties with China, energy-rich Russia is now looking to strengthen its relationship with India by reviving discussions on a hydrocarbon pipeline, in addition to inviting ONGC Videsh (OVL) to invest in oil and gas projects in the Russian Federation. India and Russia have decided to form a joint working group to study laying a ‘hydrocarbon’ pipeline connecting the nations. Preliminary discussions […]
NEW DELHI: Eyeing joint-production of military and civilian items with a foreign partner, India and Russia could clinch deals on co-production of mid-range civilian aircraft as well as military helicopters during President Vladimir Putin’s trip to Delhi on December 11-12. During Putin’s maiden visit to Delhi for the annual summit after Modi became the Prime Minister the two sides might agree on joint production of the […]
Honda Motor Co.’s Accord, the best-selling car to U.S. individual buyers in the first half of this year, is being investigated by the U.S. after regulators received 24 complaints about power-steering failure in 2013 models. Some 374,000 cars could be affected, according to a statement posted today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defect Investigation. Four complaints allege that failures resulted in crashes, all […]
By Kalyani Shankar The Congress split in Tamil Nadu spells trouble for the 129 year old Congress party. Although the Congress high command has described it as a result of factional fight, there is more to it than meets the eye as it has far reaching impact on the state as well as national politics. With the state assembly elections scheduled for 2016, political parties […]
By S. Sethuraman Republicans, whose obstructionist role for six years, made life too tough for President Obama to push ahead with a liberal inclusive agenda and reshape the economic system, have now gained full control of the Congress, with a decisive majority in the powerful 100-member Senate while reinforcing their dominant strength in the 435-member House of Representatives. In effect, Mr Obama, who has still […]
By Nora Chopra Rahul Gandhi is now de facto president of the Congress party. The Congress president Sonia Gandhi has for all practical purposes already handed over the charge of the organisation to her son Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi last week presided over of series of meetings held at 24 Akbar Road and attended by senior leaders comprising party general secretaries, ex ministers as well as PCC […]
