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.The Big Show
New Delhi — The US pavilion at Def Expo 2012 stood out primarily for two reasons. One, for its largest industry delegation comprising America’s premier aerospace and defence companies; and two, the expansive displays showcasing their cutting-edge technology in support of land, sea and internal security operations. Inaugurating the...
LCA To Be Inducted Into IAF This Year
The indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) ‘Tejas’ will be inducted into the Indian Air Force this year, the DRDO chief, Dr V.K. Saraswat, has said. Tejas has completed almost 1,855 flying hours (flight tests), and all problems it encountered during the initial operational clearance have been solved. It...
IAF Targets 42 Aircraft Squadrons In Next 5-Year Plan
The Indian Air Force has expressed to achieve the target of 42 aircraft squadron over the next five-year plan as against the current inventory of 34. While delivering a speech at L M Katre Memorial Lecture here on Saturday, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne said:...
Agni-V To Be Test-Fired From A Canister
HYDERABAD: Imagine an Agni-V that can be fired from your neighbourhood! The armed forces will soon have an inter-continental ballistic missile ( ICMB) that can be fired from anywhere. No, it is not necessary to do it from the Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast. The long-range 5,000-km missile...
Birla to buy Biyani’s Pantaloons Format
Mumbai: Aditya Birla Nuvo (ABNL), part of the $35-billion Aditya Birla group, said on Monday it would purchase a majority stake in Future Group’s Pantaloons Format, which houses the apparel and fashion businesses of Pantaloon Retail, for for R800 crore. The move will allow Aditya Birla group company Madura...
India-Japan Ties Reach Unprecedented Heights
NEW DELHI: India and Japan broke all records today with an extraordinary interaction between their two establishments consisting of four dialogues across the economic and political spectrum, for which as many as seven Japanese ministers had flown in from Tokyo to meet their Indian counterparts. Japan’s Foreign Minister Koichiro...
All-Around Slowdown Drags March Core Sector Growth To 2 Per Cent
NEW DELHI:India’s key infrastructure industries grew at a sluggish pace in March, weighed down by a contraction in output of natural gas and crude oil, suggesting that broader industrial growth may remain muted. Output at eight core industries-coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizer, steel, cement and electricity-grew...
Investors Unlikely To Give Up On India Over GAAR
In a large and raucous democracy like ours, sometimes it becomes hard to execute progressive policies and offer investors an India which is an attractive investment destination, says Tarun Kataria, chief executive officer – India, Religare Capital Markets. But he is sanguine that issues like GAAR in itself will...
Panel Sets Its Face Against TRAI Proposals
NEW DELHI: Offering a glimmer of hope to telecom operators, the sector’s highest decision-making body has refused to endorse regulator Trai’s controversial proposals that included a 13-fold increase in the base price for spectrum auctions. The Telecom Commission on Monday said it will soon seek clarity from Trai on...
Moody’s Alert On LIC, 3 Top Private Banks
MUMBAI: Moody’s Investors Services on Thursday said it was reviewing ratings for ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank for a possible downgrade, following a change in its rating methodology. The agency, clarified however, that the debt and deposit ratings for these private sector lenders remained unaffected. In another...
Jayalalithaa’s First Year Keeps Her Poltically Formidable
By S. Sethuraman The AIADMK supremo, Ms. Jayalalithaa, building on the massive mandate she secured in the May 2011 elections, has put Tamil Nadu back on its growth trajectory to reclaim its place in the top league of states, with a slew of fiscal balancing measures, fulfilling her poll...
Nuclear-Tipped Missiles Don’t Give Security
By Praful Bidwai Such is the strength of chauvinist hyper-nationalism in India and Pakistan that the launch of the Agni-V, officially called an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), followed by the Hatf-IV-Shaheen-1 A launch in Pakistan, was greeted with machismo, raucous celebration and sabre-rattling. Most Indian political parties lavished praise...
Pakistan In A Conciliatory Mode
By B.K. Chum in Chandigarh The expected has happened. The optimism expressed in this column six weeks ago that Pakistan may shelve the Kashmir issue “temporarily” has been turned into a reality. The Pakistani establishment has now officially admitted having put the Kashmir issue on the backburner. Their focus...
‘Big Data’ Is The Future Business Currency
From K. Raveendran in Dublin The buzzword in the IT world, if there was one, in the eighties was the hardware, with the likes of IBM dominating the scene entirely. In the next decade, the focus shifted to software as Microsoft relegated everything else to insignificance. Then came the...
IUML Suffers Setback On Calicut Varsity Land Issue
From P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A concerted move by the Indian Union Muslim League’s (IUML), riding high after securing a fifth ministerial berth in the Kerala Cabinet, to strengthen its hold on the Calicut University has suffered a major setback. The setback is being construed as an offshoot of...
HPCL-Mittal Energy, An Excellent Example Of PPP Success In Oil & Gas: L N Mittal
NEW DELHI: Top Indian honchos today — Mr Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, Mr Mukesh D. Ambani, and Mr Anil Agarwal — are all vying for the biggest slice of India’s energy pie. So, when steel magnate, Mr Mittal, dived into oil refining, all eyes turned to the refinery project in...
HPCL-Mittal Open To Exports To Pakistan: Roy Choudhury
NEW DELHI: On March 29 this year, HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL) fully operationalised its nine million tonnes a year or 180,000 barrels a day Guru Gobind Singh Refinery at Phullokari, Bhatinda, Punjab. With this,India’s refinery capacity reached close to 212 million tonnes or 4.24 million barrels a day. Mr...
Bathinda Boost For Indo-Pak Trade Ties
BATHINDA: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will tomorrow inaugurate the Rs 21,500 crore joint venture refinery of the Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Lakshmi Narayan Mittal near here amidst hope of further cementing trade ties between India and Pakistan. The petroleum products of the refinery are expected to be exported...
