Opinion
Appeal
The legacy of IPA, founded by Nikhil Chakravartty, the doyen of journalism in India, to keep the flag of independent media flying high, is facing the threat of extinction due to the effect of the Covid pandemic. Only an emergency funding can avert such an eventuality. We appeal to all those who believe in the freedom of expression to contribute to this noble cause.Cartoonists Hold A Mirror To Society
By Harihar Swarup It is believed that even dictators, apart from democratic governments, fear the political cartoonist and his strokes. You can thus judge the freedom in a country by judging the freedom of its cartoonist. But what is it about this apparently small sketch that makes it so...
CPI Calls Upon Akhilesh To Implement Programmes
From Pradeep Kapoor LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh State Council of Communist Party of India (CPI) has called upon its rank and file to organise demonstrations & rallies throughout the state at District Headquarters on 30th May against galloping price rise & corruption at high places. CPI has also demanded that...
No Allocation Of Captive Blocks At Market Price: Coal Ministry
NEW DELHI: The coal ministry has said captive coal blocks could not be allocated to private companies at the market price of reserves. This is despite the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) recently blaming the government for extending “undue gains” worth a whopping Rs 10.6 lakh crore...
Retail Inflation Rises To 10.4 Per Cent, Blame Is On Veggies, Oil & Milk
NEW DELHI: Pricier vegetables pushed up retail inflation into double digits in April, but core inflation remained steady, in line with the trend in wholesale inflation. Driven by higher prices of vegetable, edible oil and milk products, retail inflation rose to 10.4% in April, from 9.4% in March, data...
Land Acquisition For PPPs – Govt Role Must: Ramesh
NEW DELHI: Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has backed state intervention in acquiring land for public-private partnership (PPP) projects, going against the recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee that scrutinized the bill. “The government must have a role in land acquisition,” Ramesh told a news conference. “We must recognize...
Talking About India’s Lowliest Toilers – Scavengers
By Narendra Sharma NEW DELHI: The scavengers or sanitary workers belong to the lowliest of the toilers among the country’s 450 million workforce. Their working and living conditions which are worse than any other segment of the working class, have remained unchanged over centuries. With stick-broom and a tinplate...
Half Of Corporate India’s Forex Exposure Unhedged, Says RBI
NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank ofIndia’s (RBI) central board is expected to discuss next week the elevated levels of unhedged foreign currency exposure at private and state-owned companies, which has made them increasingly vulnerable to the sharp depreciation of the rupee. According to data submitted by the Reserve Bank...
Sops Likely On Exports To New Markets
NEW DELHI: The government is likely to offer incentives on exports of labour-intensive items and reward exporters who diversify into new markets as part of a slew of measures to revive the country’s flailing export sector. The sops, which will particularly benefit sectors such as textiles, handloom, leather and...
Parliament Panel Tightens Ambit Of Land Takeover Bill
NEW DELHI: Parliament’s standing committee report on the government’s land acquisition Bill has sought a thorough tightening of the provisions to ensure involvement of local institutions and an “informed and transparent process”. Tabled in Parliament on Thursday, it comes down heavily on the provisions allowing the government to acquire...
Falling Rupee A Ticking Bomb For Companies
MUMBAI: The slide of the rupee to record lows could tear up balance sheets of many corporates that have borrowed overseas in the last few years, nullifying the cost advantage they enjoyed earlier. The cost of repayment of overseas loans and bonds, estimated at more than $100 billion in...
Hectic Talks On Over Kishenganga Project
NEW DELHI: The Indian government is making all efforts to save the strategic Rs. 4,000-crore Kishenganga hydro-electric project on the Kishenganga River (known as the Neelum River in Pakistan), as it readies to file a rejoinder on Pakistan’s reply before the International Court of Arbitration (COA) at The Hague...
Cabinet Clears Signing Of Pact For Buying Gas From Turkmenistan
NEW DELHI: In what could prove to be a major corridor for energy sourcing in the future, the Union Cabinet, on Thursday, approved the signing of the agreement for buying gas fromTurkmenistanthrough the $7.6 billion Turkmenistan-Aghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline. The approval has given a concrete shape to the pipeline which...
India To Test Akash Sam Missile Defence System This Week
According to the Indian armed forces, the Akash surface-to-air missile will be tested this Sunday, from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, Orissa. The missile, which was first inducted in to the Indian Armed Forces in 2008, underwent several tests later, as technical issues and flaws were discovered later....
Piramal Bets On In-House Teams To Drive Big Buys
MUMBAI: Jonathan Sandler, Christian Planck and Shalin Shah are unknown names in India, but it is this team based out of Boston that has been responsible for helping Ajay Piramal, chairman of Mumbai-based Piramal Enterprises, pull off two transactions worth about 3,600 crore in the pharma space over the...
Banks Told To Crack The Whip On Loan Recasts
MUMBAI: Corporates whose managements have “diverted” funds or are perceived as “incompetent” will have a hard time persuading banks to rejig debt and throw in a lifeline. Even in cases where banks agree on a haircut, lenders will think twice before converting sticky loans into low-yielding securities. In a...
Current State Of Rupee Worrying
By Nantoo Banerjee Few will disagree that economic recession is better than splurging money and heading towards bankruptcy. A record current account deficit, a record public borrowing and a record trade gap are no way to sustain economic growth, leave alone to protect the value of a national currency....
Trust Deficit Harming Regional Collaboration
From Ashis Biswas KOLKATA: A major reason regional economic development has been stalled in South Asia is the enduring mutual distrust and hostility between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The abandonment of the vitally important linkage that the proposed Myanmar-Bangladesh -India gas pipeline would have provided, is a classic example....
RBI Digs Deep But Rupee Sinks Further
MUMBAI: The rupee slumped to an all-time low on Wednesday amid weak macroeconomic fundamentals and global uncertainty. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) limited intervention was not enough to lift the rupee, the worst performing Asian currency since March. The rupee touched all-time low levels in early trade when...
