Food

Business

Pakistan: Food shortages stare at 33 million people as floods multiply miseries

September 3, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: Pakistan’s backseat driver, Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, after an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas, said this week it would take his country several years to recover from the natural disaster. India can offer help, and even Pakistan’s Finance Minister Miftah Ismael favors it, but Prime Minister Shehbaz […]

Read more

Business

Roving Periscope: Gotabaya’s return may plunge Sri Lanka into anarchy, again

September 3, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: Sri Lanka’s former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had fled his chaotic country on July 13, returned home on Friday from Thailand, where he was camping after the Maldives and Singapore denied him refuge. Rajapaksa, an ex-military officer, had become the Sri Lankan President in November 2019. Now, as a former […]

Read more

Business

Price rise: After banning wheat outgo, India to restrict wheat flour’s export also

August 25, 2022 virendra pandit

New Delhi: After banning wheat export three months ago, India on Thursday decided to restrict the export of wheat flour also to curb rising prices of this key commodity in the country. The Centre took this decision after a Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. An official […]

Read more

Business

Roving Periscope: Broke, Sri Lanka crushes protesting students, spurs professionals’ brain drain

August 24, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: Unable to face economic and political crisis any longer, those who can are moving out of Sri Lanka as the South Asian country, where a mass uprising since March forced the dominant Rajapaksa family out of power and country. According to the media reports, thousands of Sri Lankans are fleeing […]

Read more

Business

Energy: Crisis may worsen in cash-strapped South Asian countries

July 28, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: With suppliers hesitant to provide oil and gas without pre-payment, some of the South Asian countries—Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh—may witness a worsening energy crisis in the coming months, whose ripple effect may adversely further imperil their fledgling economies. Already, an unprecedented energy crisis has gripped some of South Asia’s […]

Read more

Business

Roving Periscope: Amid war, Russia, and Ukraine sign deal to ease world food crisis

July 23, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: Amid their 149-day-old ongoing war, Russia and Ukraine on Friday signed a deal aimed at relieving a global food crisis caused by the blocked Black Sea grain deliveries, the media reported on Saturday. The two countries, known as Europe’s Break Baskets, account for a quarter of global grain production, and […]

Read more

Business

Roving Periscope: Troops crackdown on protesters; Gunawardena’s new Lanka PM

July 22, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: As a veteran politician, Dinesh Gunawardena took oath as the new Prime Minister in crisis-ridden Sri Lanka on Friday; heavily armed troops took positions on key buildings across the capital Colombo and cracked down on protesters camping in the city since March against the island country’s bankrupt economy. Six-time Prime […]

Read more

Business

Roving Periscope: Amid protests, Wickremesinghe takes oath as SL President

July 21, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: Six-time former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was on Thursday sworn-in as Sri Lanka’s 8th Executive President, until November 2024, amid protests against his unprecedented “election” not by the people but by Parliament. The protesters opposed his presidency as a proxy of his predecessor, the ousted and fugitive Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose […]

Read more

Business

Roving Periscope: Presidential poll on Wednesday; Sri Lanka on edge, India worried

July 19, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: A day before Sri Lanka’s mid-term presidential election scheduled for Wednesday amid political stalemate, main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa withdrew from the race on Tuesday in favor of a ruling party dissident, Dullas Alahapperuma, as India braced for uncertainty in its neighborhood. A worried New Delhi has called for an […]

Read more

Business

Roving Periscope: India assures Sri Lanka to continue supporting democracy, stability

July 16, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay, on Saturday assured Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena that New Delhi will continue to support Colombo in democracy, stability, and economic recovery in the country, which is at a crucial juncture, amid the unprecedented political crisis and economic turmoil. Baglay called on […]

Read more