INDIA
COVID-19 | US support for waiving vaccine patents, India’s role and other questions answered
What does the US decision to support an initiative at WTO for temporary waiver of patent protection for COVID-19 vaccines mean for India? Below is a primer.
BUSINESS
Invoke emergency licence rules to rapidly ramp up COVID-19 vaccine production
Time to press for Sections 92, 100 and 102 of the Indian Patents Act. Vaccines are the only forceful arsenal to win this war. These need to be produced in hundreds of millions in rapid time
POLITICS
Congress-AIUDF alliance helped BJP appropriate greater ethno-nationalistic space in Assam despite CAA
Will the BJP be finally able to shed its ‘Hindi-speaking North Indian party’ image in Assam? The answer to this will depend on how well the AJP and the RD are able to politically mobilise themselves in the next five years within a complex matrix of ethnic identities
BUSINESS
Free vaccines from Centre’s quota and free to strike deals: Why states have no reason to complain
The focus should now move to making the most of this flexibility to vaccinate as many as possible. Politicking can wait until the storm settles down
INDIA
COVID-19 second wave | Smash bureaucratic barriers, allow voluntary licensing for Covaxin immediately
Granting access to technology and know-how to Indian generic drug makers to produce Covaxin can quickly help fill the gaps in vaccine supplies.
CORONAVIRUS
COVID-19 | Are we staring at a potential vaccine supply crisis in the race to 1.4 billion doses?
The ability to carry out the world’s mass vaccination exercise in record time, will depend on keeping vaccine supplies of hundreds of millions of doses flowing uninterruptedly for months.
BUSINESS
Private sector needs to demolish vaccine hesitancy among employees and workers
Organisations understand the cost of another lockdown. It is showing up in their balance sheets. They can play a big role in avoiding a repeat
BUSINESS
In defence of small savings rate cuts
In its decision to reverse the cuts and maintain status quo on small saving deposit rates, the government has knowingly established a saver-borrower trade-off when, in the broader analysis, the lines between them are, at best, blurred
BUSINESS
Opinion: BJP banks on welfare and infra record in Assam to offset NRC, CAA backlash
State GDP growth matches national trend line, but high unemployment rates stand out as big worry
INDIA
COVID-19: Severe crackdown on Covidiots, massive scale-up in vaccination run-rate needed to contain second wave
Mass masking up, strict enforcement of COVID-19 protocols are the clearest ways to contain the spread. Otherwise, the cost for lives and livelihoods will be too prohibitive for the country to bear.
POLITICS
Opinion: Fear of being a minority at home defines Assam’s complex ethno-nationalistic politics
Elections aside, the lurking fear that illegal immigrants will determine the state’s political future continue to the occupy Assamese mindspace
INDIA
Opinion: Vaccine and mask hesitancy can scuttle India’s urgency towards rapid recovery
India cannot afford another hard stop to the economy. For the recovery to sustain, the top 15-20 cities that account for bulk of economic value added, need to keep their wheels running.
BUSINESS
Assam’s pumpkins may have reached Dubai, but state still lags far behind in export competitiveness
As Assam prepares for elections, a look at its economic indicators shows that it fared well in highway and rural road construction despite being ravaged by floods.
BUSINESS
Finance minister seeks to achieve more with less in Budget 2021
The confidence about the ability to spend is predicated upon a few expectations, including an ambitious disinvestment receipts and strong tax collections, which may require companies to outpace pre-COVID-19 levels of income and profitability
ECONOMY
Union Budget 2021 | FY22 nominal GDP growth pegged At 14.4%
The gross market borrowing for FY 2022 is pegged at Rs 12.06 lakh crore, while the net market borrowing (for FY22) is pegged at Rs 9.25 lakh crore.
BUSINESS
From saints to scientists, CEA Krishnamurthy Subramanian digs deep into mankind’s vast knowledge pool in Economic Survey 2021
Krishnamurthy V Subramanian, chief economic adviser (CEA), takes recourse to wisdom spread over millennia from the Upanishads to Aristotle, from Gandhi to Einstein, from Subhashita to Thiruvalluvar and Tagore, to reinforce policy choices.
BUSINESS
Economic Survey Explained | Growth, recovery, pain points, what to watch out for and other things you need to know
Last year it was about Thalinomics and being pro-business versus pro-crony. The year before it was about nudge theory and behavioural economics. Could it be about Covidonomics and farm reforms in this year's Economic Survey?
ECONOMY
Moneycontrol Manifesto: Time for Finance Minister to go for broke in Budget 2021
Budget 2021: Sitharaman faces a fiscal war that will require her to deploy all the policy arsenal — unorthodox and conventional — to win this fight.
BUSINESS
Analysis: GST collections at record high, but wait until January numbers to fit a trend
Wedding-related spending, year-end vacations despite restrictions and backlog of taxes may have aided December GST collections.
POLITICS
Farmers Protest: Why Congress was right in 2019, and is wrong in 2020
For too long, the story of Indian agriculture has been a tale of market distortions. These seemingly insurmountable hurdles frustrated successive policymakers whose repeated counsel to dismantle these barriers often ran into political resistance, like now
BUSINESS
Nirmala Sitharaman’s Atmanirbhar 3.0 heavily relies on multiplier potential of infrastructure, real estate to drive growth
The middle class may feel a tad disappointed with no visible measures to raise their spending ability, but the pre-Diwali package seeks to address some structural infirmities
BUSINESS
Economy moving onto a faster lane, but conditions attached
The big question in August was: how long will the impact last? On the eve of Diwali, the question has turned to: Is the revival for real? The economy appears to have regained a significant part of its lost lung power
BUSINESS
Opinion | Why is Amazon pushing hard to stop the Reliance-Future deal?
Does Amazon intend to get into brick-and-mortar retail, or are these tactical moves to scuttle competition to remain a dominant player in one of the world’s fastest growing retail markets?
INTERVIEW
AWGs are the ideal solution for India’s drinking water problems: Avko Atmospheric Water Systems
The company’s founder and CEO, Navkaran Singh Bagga said that alternative technologies like atmospheric water generators (AWG) that do not depend on any water source can be installed at offices, buildings, factories, villages, for safe and pure drinking water
