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.Citizens Insensitive To Domestic Servants
By Rashmi Saksena Many of us have seen under fourteen boys and girls scrubbing floors and cleaning in homes, cooking, being ordered around by children younger or their own age and running errands for their ‘masters’. Many of us have been served tea and snacks by innumerable ‘chotus’ at...
Bharti Airtel in talks to buy 4G licences from Qualcomm for about Rs 6000 crore
MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel is in advanced discussions with US chipmaker Qualcomm to buy its fourth-generation licences for about Rs 6,000 crore, an acquisition that will allow the country’s largest telecom firm to quickly launch 4G services in the key markets of Delhi and Mumbai. A person familiar with the...
Glum external sector data worry RBI
MUMBAI: Worsening external sector conditions have become a major reason for worry at the central bank, which is concerned about funding the current account gap, as foreign exchange reserves have depleted. According to several economists who attended the customary pre-monetary policy meeting with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)...
FEMA Set To Be Tweaked To Allow FDI From Pakistan With Riders
New Delhi: India is close to opening all domestic sectors except a few like defence, atomic energy and space to foreign direct investment (FDI) from Pakistan, a move that could help build confidence in normalising cross-border trade. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is said to have approved a commerce ministry...
Qatar Investment Authority Looks To Invest $10 Billion In India
NEW DELHI: Qatar Investment Authority, the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund, is looking to invest up to $10 billion in India every year, according to its executive director Hussain Al Abdulla. The authority, whose investment portfolio includes iconic brands like Harrods, Sainsbury, Volkswagen, LVMH and Porsche, had invested $29...
Govt May Allow 49% FDI By Foreign Airlines This Week
NEW DELHI: After 16 years, the government is set to again allow foreign airlines to take stakes in Indian carriers later this week. The move is expected to help ailing Indian operators like Kingfisher raise funds. More importantly, it could pave the way for joint ventures – like Tata-Singapore...
FII Norms For Commexes Relaxed
NEW DELHI: After much dithering, the government released the revised consolidated foreign direct investment (FDI) policy on Tuesday, relaxing norms of investment by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in commodity exchanges. Now, FIIs will not require government approval to invest in these exchanges. The cap on FII investment, however, remains...
Cabinet Decides To Go For Presidential Reference On Spectrum Auction Order
NEW DELHI: The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal of the department of telecommunications (DoT) to seek a presidential reference on certain issues pertaining to the Supreme Court judgment in the 2G telecom spectrum case. The issues include whether all telecom licences given on first-come-first-served (FCFS) basis before 2008...
Senior CPI(M) leader Varadarajan passes away
CHENNAI: Senior CPI(M) leader and former Central Committee member N. Varadarajan died here on Tuesday at a private hospital after a prolonged illness. Varadarajan, 87, is survived by his wife and two sons. A three time MLA, Varadarajan who was not keeping well for the past two to three...
A warm homecoming for Yuvraj
Cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who underwent three cycles of chemotherapy in the U.S. for non-malignant lung tumour, returned to India amid a rousing reception from his well-wishers.
SIT finds no evidence against Modi: Court
AHMEDABAD: The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team has found no evidence against Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 57 others in the complaint filed against them by Zakia Jafri in the 2002 Gujarat riots, a Magisterial court said on Tuesday. The court also ordered that Ms. Zakia Jafri, widow of former...
House Panel Summons Chiefs Of Army, Navy And Air Force
NEW DELHI: Taken aback by the revelations made by chief of Army staff (COAS) General V K Singh, in his confidential letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on the lack of critical weapons for the Army, Parliament’s standing committee on defence has summoned all the three service chiefs —...
Tank Ammunition Down To Four Days Reserve
NEW DELHI: Presenting a sobering account of long-term as well as immediate challenges, senior IAF and Army brass told a parliamentary committee that while India’s window to catch up with China’s defence modernization thrust could close by 2017 or earlier, stocks of certain types of tank munitions are down...
ED Begins Scrutiny Of Devas Deal
BANGALORE: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), entrusted with the probe into the controversial $300 million Antrix-Devas deal last month, has begun scrutinising documents related to the deal. ED officials said, “The focus is on the transactions of the deal more than the other aspects. We have collected documents and are...
Call To Develop Roads, Striking Capability Along Border
There is urgent need for India to develop infrastructure and striking capability along the border with China to face any eventuality, while unfortunately some major proposals for strengthening India’s striking power are pending before the Government for a long time. This was the observation of defence analyst Brig (Retd)...
New ISRO Centre To Control Launch Of Spy Satellite Radar Imaging Satellite
CHENNAI: The Indian rocket that will carry the 1,850 kg indigenous surveillance satellite – Radar Imaging Satellite (Risat-1) – to the skies this month will be controlled by the new mission control centre at Sriharikota, said a senior official of Indian space agency ISRO. “The second mission control centre...
Bukhari -Azam Khan Battle Hots Up
From Pradeep Kapoor LUCKNOW: The fight is on between cabinet minister Mohd Azam Khan and Imam Syed Ahmad Bhukari of Delhi Jama Masjid to emerge as Muslim face of Samajwadi Party. It would be worth mentioning here that Mohd Azam Khan, who had been in and out of Samajwadi...
Defence Ministry Finds China Army Profile & Pakistan's Take On Terrorism As Major Concerns
NEW DELHI: The growing profile of the Chinese army, Beijing’s attempts to expand its influence in India’s neighbourhood and Pakistan’s persistent refusal to crackdown on the terror groups operating from its soil have been identified as major concerns by the defence ministry. The ministry, in its annual report for...
