POLITICS
How China is pumping millions to push India out of Nepal
Nepal has cosied up to China like never before, thanks to Beijing’s strategy of 'making them an offer they cannot refuse'. That presents a strategic dilemma for New Delhi
BUSINESS
Farm bills can fetch higher prices than MSP, says Ashok Dalwai
Time has come to explore India as one single market, says chairman of the Committee on Doubling Farmers’ Income.
BUSINESS
Farmer protests to intensify, guarantee needed that produce will be bought at price above MSP, says leader
VM Singh, convenor of the All India Kisan Sangarsh Coordination Committee, the country’s largest pan-India umbrella organisation comprising 250 farmer federations, which is at the forefront of the stir, says
INDIA
IMA lists 382 doctors who died due to COVID-19. That is a grossly understated number
Indian Medical Association list includes only those medics who have perished in designated Covid hospitals. There is no inventory of casualties of doctors, health volunteers, nurses and ASHA workers in other medical facilities throughout the length and breadth of the land. The fatalities could be the world’s highest.
INDIA
India-China border clashes: How the post of CDS has impacted the chain of command in Indian military
A look at how the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff — a long-pending reform — has come to bear on decision-making and strategy in the armed forces.
BUSINESS
Even with a harsh coronavirus lockdown, over 100 million Indians have been infected: Epidemiologist Laxminarayan
In an interview to this writer, Laxminarayan explained his methodology, which he believes was accurate.
TRENDS
After China clashes, India has a ‘how to handle Dalai Lama’ problem
Indian experts are miffed at New Delhi’s kid-glove treatment of China over Dalai Lama and Tibet, particularly in the light of Ladakh’s border standoff and China’s insensitivity towards issues close to this country.
POLITICS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s description sets 'expansionist' China thinking
One of India’s leading foreign policy mavens, G Parthasarathy, believes that the word has a special connotation, as countries, are, for the first time, questioning China’s hegemonistic behaviour.
BUSINESS
India’s concerns over Chinese apps legitimate, says JNU's China Studies professor Kondapalli
Srikanth Kondapalli, who has published in the world’s leading news outlets, including Xinhua and China Daily, points out that no Indian company has been allowed to be listed at the Shanghai Stock Exchange, despite best efforts of firms like TCS.
BUSINESS
Boycotting Chinese goods: A bridge too far
To be able to boycott Chinese goods, India needs to reduce its trade deficit with China and strengthen its manufacturing sector. That, however, is easier said than done.
TRENDS
From PPE kits to sanitisers to ventilators, COVID-19 has sparked off an indigenous cottage industry boom
Scores of firms of varying shapes and sizes are manufacturing essential protective gear since coronavirus was declared a pandemic in mid-March.
INDIA
Altering the border without firing a bullet — China and the art of war
While there are multiple triggers for this latest Chinese incursion, building of at least two major roads near the border and upgrading infrastructure by the Narendra Modi government are the principle catalysts.
INDIA
COVID-19 represents the most flagrant violation of Inter-State Migration Act, says Irudaya Rajan
One fallout of the pandemic is that the subject of bonded labour, till now confined to broom closets, is out in the open.
INDIA
COVID-19 pandemic: India battles to save its newborns in titanic struggle against coronavirus
Facing the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic are India’s newborn infants, a fact not first acknowledged when the virus broke amidst suggestions that it was only the old and infirm who were in the direct line of fire.
EXPERT-COLUMNS
Why PM Modi has not joined global chorus of countries baying for China’s blood for coronavirus spread
There are compelling reasons why India needs to shed its conventional stand, inviting greater Chinese investment in the country – never mind the naysayers.
BUSINESS
COVID-19 onslaught: India's hospitals look down the barrel of the gun
There is a good chance that many hospital chains could become open to acquisitions by private entities or even the government, once the crisis is over.
BUSINESS
Why Facebook picked Reliance Jio for alliance in India
Reliance is the only Indian firm to compete with global peers and the social media giant knows it well.
BUSINESS
Delhi Gymkhana: One of India’s most elite clubs has again sparked a bitter takeover battle
While disagreements in the management of the Delhi Gymkhana is hardly breaking news, things had never reached the pass it did this week when the central government moved a petition seeking a change of management.
EXPERT-COLUMNS
Coronavirus pandemic: Govt agencies redeem themselves in the battle against COVID-19
The government is at the forefront of fighting the pandemic with little sign of private medical honchos who like to wax eloquent before the electronic media on most subjects, except when it matters the most.
POLITICS
COVID-19 lockdown: Politicians lead the defiance act
After much reluctance, handwringing and public outrage, former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, has come to the conclusion that his son Nikhil’s wedding will be a low-key affair in the presence of close family members on April 17, given the compulsions of COVID-19.
TRENDS
Funerals and last rites in the time of coronavirus: COVID-19 steals even the final goodbyes
There are increasing cases of families not willing to accept bodies of coronavirus patients as the contamination levels are too high.
BUSINESS
Coronavirus: The neighbourhood kirana store is having a moment again
The old kirana stores are taking the coronavirus battle head on as large supermarket chains and online grocers are struggling to resume operations fully since the beginning of the 21-day lockdown.
INDIA
Doctors, the vanguard of COVID-19 response, face crippling shortage of protective gear
Shortage of protective health gear in India has forced some doctors to use raincoats and motorbike helmets while fighting the coronavirus, exposing the fragile state of the public health system ahead of an anticipated surge in COVID-19 cases.
BUSINESS
COVID-19 and India’s logistics, infrastructural nightmare
Scenes where Italian doctors had to choose between multiple patients to determine who would get a ventilator would increase multifold in India’s weak health system, adding to the country’s mounting infrastructural woes.
