Vinayak Barot

Business

Invasion of Ukraine: With renewed ‘grain deal’ Russia tries a face-saver

September 4, 2023 Vinayak Barot 0

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: After relentlessly bombing Ukraine for nearly 18 months, with no signs of victory or even a ceasefire, Russia now seems to be trying to save its face, increasingly isolated as the former superpower finds itself in the international arena and dependent on an unreliable China and even North Korea. That […]

Business

G-20 Summit: With Putin and Xi abstaining, the Modi-Biden duo to steal the show next week

September 4, 2023 Vinayak Barot 0

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Would the Group of 20 (G-20) be eventually overshadowed by the G-7, and become ‘irrelevant’ just like the erstwhile Non-Alignment Movement (NAM), the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)? Will the Global South, formerly the “Third […]

English

Roving Periscope: Pope Francis asks Chinese Catholics to be “good Christians”

September 4, 2023 Vinayak Barot 0

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Wrapping up his four-day visit to Mongolia, Pope Francis has appealed to Chinese Catholics to be “good Christians, good citizens” in what is viewed as indirect guidance to his faithful in China, which has been “Sinicizing” Christianity for decades, to reaffirm their religion. Mongolia has only about 1,500 Catholics vis-à-vis […]

Business

Digital India: 10 bn-plus UPI transactions in August; next target 100 bn per month

September 2, 2023 Vinayak Barot 0

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: India’s financial transaction miracle, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which has taken over 40 countries in the world by storm, is skyrocketing everywhere—replacing cash as a relic. In August, for example, UPI recorded a landmark more than 10 billion monthly transactions across India. It was a historic 50 percent year-on-year growth. […]

Business

Superweapon: Russia launches, deploys ‘deadliest’ Satan II ICBM

September 2, 2023 Vinayak Barot 0

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Nations facing multiple crises usually flex muscles to power up their people into xenophobic frenzy. Russia has done exactly that when it launched and deployed what it called the “deadliest weapon.” Losing international credibility and prestige, an isolated President Vladimir Putin’s Russia blasted off the nuclear-capable “Satan II” Inter-Continental Ballistic […]

Business

Microfinance: Obama, Hillary, and over 160 others urge Dhaka to acquit Nobel Laureate M. Yunus

September 1, 2023 Vinayak Barot 0

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Former US President Barack Obama, ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and over 160 other global leaders have urged Bangladesh to suspend ongoing legal action against Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Laureate and the Father of Microfinance. Concerned over a string of court cases against Professor Muhammad Yunus, 83, these global leaders, in […]

Business

Roving Periscope: After India, 4 more Asian nations reject China’s recycled “standard maps”

September 1, 2023 Vinayak Barot 0

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Imagine five countries rejecting in as many days an aggressive China’s ridiculous and unilateral claims on their borders—it happened this week but none of these countries dread an aging, toothless Dragon’s alleged fire-spitting anymore! But this is the surest sign of multiple crises gripping China. Not just its plummeting economy, […]

Business

Economy: Maruti Suzuki registers highest-ever monthly wholesales in August 2023

September 1, 2023 Vinayak Barot 0

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: In what is viewed as a significant indicator of the healthy Indian economy and customer’s comfort levels, the country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki on Friday reported its highest-ever monthly wholesales in the month of August. In August 2023, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) sold a total of 189,082 units, which […]

Business

Ukraine war: Russia may buy (Chinese) weapons from North Korea!

August 31, 2023 Vinayak Barot 0

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: How deadly and expensive Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has become was proved with reports suggesting that Moscow, once a major arms exporter, is trying to buy weapons even from North Korea to keep its fratricidal conflict going in the neighboring country. With no end visible to the ongoing 18-month-old “special […]

Business

Weather: The driest August since 1901 causes concern for Indian agriculture

August 31, 2023 Vinayak Barot 0

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: The driest month of August since 1901 is causing worries in India’s agriculture sector, the backbone of the national economy, as many farmers have been forced to buy more seeds to sow them again as fresh monsoon rains are expected in September. These monsoon showers are vital for India’s nearly […]