Incredible India's!

What does India want? To be counted . India is the world's fastest growing major economy. By 2050 it will be the planet's most populous nation. As it attempts economic transformation, India needs everything from infrastructure to energy and education — the latter two imports which already dominate its trade with Australia. But more than any material demands, what India wants is recognition — as a country poised to become the world's third largest economy, and a power in its own right. As Malcolm Turnbull visits India for meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and business leaders, he is talking up the "tremendous opportunity" the nation's growth represents for Australia. Taken for granted? When Indian and Australian politicians stand up to give speeches in each others' countries, you bet on hearing "India and Australia have much in common ...". Perhaps. But "cricket, Commonwealth and curry" as an old ad

Another year. Another controversy surrounding the National Film Awards. On Friday, 7 April 2017, was initially announced that Akshay Kumar’s outing as naval officer Rustom Pavri in last year’s Rustom has won the A-lister his first Best Actor mention at the 64th National Film Awards. The actor even took to Twitter to thank the jury for the honour and to dedicate the win to his wife. A few hours later, the 64th National Film Awards 2017 jury head, director Priyadarshan, said, “Akshay has won the Best Actor award for both Airlift and Rustom. For technical reasons, only Rustom is mentioned in the list of awardees. But he has given contrasting and extremely sensitive performances in both Airlift and Rustom, and we thought it was only fair to honour him for both.” Interestingly, Priyadarshan has helmed four Akshay starrers, including Hera Pheri. How does an actor win an award for two performances? And, if the criterion was an actor’s range over multiple films in one year, did the

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=918xbxYPxE4 Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina met in Delhi today, signing 22 agreements including a 500 million dollar line of credit to Dhaka for the purchase of military hardware, the first such agreement of its kind between the two countries. India also extended another 4.5 billion dollars in a line of credit to Bangladesh for infrastructure projects, taking the total line of credit extended by India to over 8 billion dollars over the last few years. However, there was no pact on the Teesta water sharing treaty, a big disappointment for Dhaka in particular since West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is still opposed to it. The Teesta river runs through Bengal into Bangladesh and the treaty allows for 50:50 water sharing during the lean season. But Ms Banerjee feels it will be detrimental to her state's interests. In his statement to the media, Prime Minister Modi said, "I am very ha

As the Goods and Services Tax Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha, it also brought India at the center of the global economy. With the passing of the bill, many international newspapers published their views on how the GST Bill brings a new wave of economic reform in the country. The Washington Post, highlighting the unity in the country despite its diversity, said that the bill is a big step toward unifying the country even further, saying that an “economic legacy has to start somewhere.” It also remarked on the time that it would take for the bill to be implemented but had an overall positive outlook towards it. “As with all previous attempts to unify India in various ways, this law’s implementation will probably take years. Results may not be visible by the end of Modi’s first term, in 2019. But with only two years under Modi’s belt — a very short time in India — hopes are still high for a brighter economic future,” it said. In an op-ed piece, Global Times expressed its f

US President Donald Trump has condemned the killing of dozens of civilians in northern Syria in an apparent chemical weapons attack by Syria's air force. It was an "affront to humanity", he said, adding: "When you kill innocent children, innocent babies, little babies... that crosses... many lines." He did not mention Russia, Syria's ally, which says chemical weapons in rebel hands may have been released. But America's envoy to the UN accused Russia of covering up for Damascus. What we know Could there be "no-fly" zones at last? Images of dead children spread over social media Aftermath of attack in pictures  (Warning: graphic images) "Time and time again Russia uses the same false narrative to deflect attention from their ally in Damascus," Nikki Haley said during a heated UN Security Council debate in New York. Hinting at possible unilateral action by the US, she added: "When the United Nations consistently

What's the most popular profession in India besides engineering? It's MBA. If you are an MBA living in India, you are gold in the matrimonial market. There are MBAs everywhere. But somehow finding a job is still difficult. And even when you do find one, the pay you get is so mediocre, it won't even pay your MBA loan for the next 20 years. Well, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India ( Assocham ) has answered the question everybody is unwilling to answer.  According to the organization, except the top business institutions like IIMs and a few others, the rest of the business schools in India (over 5500 of them) produce graduates who are mostly ‘unemployable'.  And even if they do get jobs, the pay is really abysmal, often amounting to only Rs 10,000 a month.“Barring a handful of top Business schools like the government run IIMs and other few, most of 5,500 B schools in the country are producing sub-par graduates who are largely un-employable r

Reliance Jio on Friday made a slew of announcements related to its Prime membership,  including no tariff for the first three months under the scheme. To avail the offer, customers will have to first subscribe to the Prime membership by paying Rs 99 and also purchase Jio's Rs 303 and other plans. Following which, they will get the first three months as "complimentary" and their paid tariff plan will begin from July. "Every Jio Prime member - when they make their first paid recharge prior to 15th April using Jio's Rs 303 plan (or any higher value plan) - will get services for the initial 3 months on a complimentary basis. Your paid tariff plan will be applied only in July, after the expiry of the complimentary service," Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said. Jio Summer Surprise  While thanking customers who have purchased the Prime membership, Ambani termed the new offer as Jio Summer Surprise. "The Jio Summer Surprise is the f

The passage of the four GST Bills in the Lok Sabha is significant for two reasons. The first is political because it does appear that while the government was always open to taking suggestions, the opposition was keen on shouting it down by bringing in other extraneous issues. Hence, getting it through the House is satisfying. The second is that it now looks likely that the government will meet the target of 1 July for implementation which is what was intended to begin with. There is hence reason to feel sanguine about this development. Getting acquiescence from all states is a major achievement but the task really begins once it is implemented. The demonetisation drive, it may be remembered, had arguments on both sides from the point of view of ideology, but it was almost universally accepted that the implementation was far from satisfactory. This has always been a problem with Indian policies where we slip on implementation even though we are astute in design. As a diversio

One year before Vice President Hamid Ansari's term ends in 2017, the NDA government appears to have already identified his replacement. BJP MP and former union minister Hukmdev Narayan Yadav has been sounded out that he will be the next occupant of 6, Maulana Azad Road, the official residence of the Vice President of India. Yadav represents Bihar's Madhubani parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha and is in his fifth term in the lower house. An interesting mix of attributes is said to have made him emerge as the favourite. Firstly, his OBC credentials will help the BJP in sending out a message to the OBC vote bank throughout the country, the absence of whose support cost the party the Bihar assembly polls in 2015. Second, Yadav is a rare socialist in the BJP-RSS ranks, having begun his legislative career as a member of the Sanyukt Socialist Party (SANSOPA) in the Bihar Assembly in 1967. He is also considered to be a protege of iconic socialist leaders like Ram Manoha