India Today

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently promised to present a ‘never before’ Union budget. While we have to wait until February 1 to find out if she indeed does so, we know that the circumstances this budget is arriving in are truly never-before

CHAIRMAN AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Aroon Purie VICE CHAIRPERSON: Kalli Purie GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Raj Chengappa GROUP CREATIVE EDITOR: Nilanjan Das; GROUP PHOTO EDITOR: Bandeep Singh MANAGING EDITORS: Kai Jabir Friese, Rajesh Jha EXECUTIVE EDITORS: S

The BJP ticked more than a few boxes when it picked Tarkishore Prasad to succeed Sushil Kumar Modi as Bihar deputy chief minister last November. Not only portfolios, Prasad was also allocated the same official bungalow that Modi held in the previous

Actor and former Union minister U.V. Krishnam Raju is tipped to be the next governor of Tamil Nadu. Raju, who turns 80 on January 20, will be the fifth Telugu person since 1993 to occupy Chennai’s Raj Bhavan. As a popular movie star, he was called ‘R

Union railway minister Piyush Goyal finds honourable mention in Pranab Mukherjee’s recently released memoirs, The Presidential Years—2012-2017. In the book, the late president recounts how Goyal was one of the few BJP leaders to have accurately predi

The 2016 launch of Startup India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi captured the imagination of the younger generation and unleashed a wave of startups. There are now more than 30 unicorns (privately-held start-ups valued at over $1 billion) in India, w

The violent assault on the iconic American Capitol building by a marauding pro-Trump mob extinguished whatever little glow was left of the shining City on the Hill. The vulgar images of the ugly desecration of the citadel of American democracy will r

Researched by: AstraZeneca and Oxford University Manufactured by: Serum Institute of India Type: Chimpanzee adenovirus vector-based vaccine Efficacy*: 70% (based on phase 3 trial results) Status in India: Approved for emergency use. Around 5.6 millio

■ Stays implementation of the farm acts. The agitating farmers welcome it, but still adamant on repeal of laws ■ Sets up fourmember panel to hear concerns of farmers’ unions, asks for report in two months ■ MSP system to be maintained until further

Round 1, Oct. 14: 31 farmers’ organisations from Punjab walk out of a meeting with agriculture secy Sanjay Aggarwal, saying they’ll talk only to political leadership Round 2, Nov. 13: Agriculture minister Narendra Tomar gives presentation on farm la

How would you rate the auto industry’s performance in the recent past? The industry has been going through a rough patch, with a declining growth rate. From 2005 to 2010, the industry grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 12.9 per cent. From 20

Does the uptick in sales in the past two months signal a revival of demand? As ‘Mission Unlock’ was rolled out, economic activity gradually resumed. Structural interventions, such as the Maharashtra government reducing stamp duty, the lowering of in

Where do infrastructure projects stand in terms of the government’s focus and implementation? The Centre has broadened its focus from heavy construction projects like highways. In the past three years, there has also been major spending on 24x7 elec

❶ The government has implemented an emergency credit line for the sector totalling Rs 3 lakh crore. The available credit is 20 per cent of credit outstanding as of Feb 29, 2020 ➋ A similar measure is Rs 20,000 crore of subordinate debt for MSMEs. Und

Anil Bhardwaj, Secretary general, Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises How severe are the production issues in the MSME sector? Many factories have closed because of the lockdown. There has been a steep decline in production an

Sector size ₹ 32.5 LAKH CRORE Contribution to GDP 16 PER CENT Employment generated MILLION 120 ➜ Despite efforts by successive governments, manufacturing’s share of GDP has been stuck at 16 per cent for some years now ➜ Covid-19 brought most manu

How urgent is the need to recapitalise public sector banks? The RBI’s latest financial stability report has brought out the need to build up capital buffers in the banking sector. Public sector banks will find it difficult to raise capital from the

Is manufacturing seeing a recovery? What more needs to be done? Manufacturing depends on the overall health of the economy—we need to focus on that rather than on just manufacturing. In the second quarter, we saw a significant recovery, including in

Q. What are the three key measures you would like to see in the Union budget that will drive growth, given that the economy is in recession? A. ADITI NAYAR: Prioritisation of capital expenditure, especially projects already identified in the Natio

1 percentage point difference in vote share between AIADMK (40.9%) and DMK (39.9%) in the 2016 assembly poll Results of the 2019 Lok Sabha poll and the assembly byelections suggest that the DMK and its ‘Rising Sun’ symbol have an electoral edge. The

MTOW in excess of 30 tonnes NOW: Su-30 MKI FUTURE: Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) MTOW between 10 and 15 tonnes, usually single-engined and can be built in large numbers NOW: MiG-21 FUTURE: LCA Mark-1A MTOW between 15 and 25 tonnes NOW: Mir

The year 2020, everyone agrees, was a lousy one. Except, global lockdowns served, in very small part, as a reminder that reading is a means of escape, that the combination of a writer and your imagination can transport you to any place in any time an

When Taapsee Pannu wasn’t shooting the viral “Biggini Shoot” video with her sisters and boyfriend, Danish shuttler Mathias Boe, she had a floating breakfast, one of the key experiences offered by many resorts For some reason, feeding rabbits is on t

Q Tribhanga: Tedhi Medhi Crazy is an inter-generational family drama with assertive women at the helm. You know what it’s like to grow up in the presence of such women. Tell us about it. When people ask me who you idolise, I say it’s my great grandmo