Political

Business

Roving Periscope: Jailed Imran cocks a snook at the Pak army and govt–twice in two weeks

January 6, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: Riding a sympathy wave after Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984, when her son Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress won a brute majority, winning 413 of 543 Lok Sabha seats and crushing the Opposition, the media took it upon itself the responsibility of a credible rival to the government. It challenged the arrogant […]

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Business

Economy: India outperforming peers, may grow at 6.2% in 2024, says the UN

January 5, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: A United Nations report has said India is projected to grow at 6.2 percent in 2024, supported by robust domestic demand and strong growth in the manufacturing and services sectors. The UN World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2024 report, launched on Thursday, said the gross domestic product (GDP) in […]

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Business

Wealth: With $97.6 billion, Gautam Adani is again Asia’s richest man

January 5, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: India’s billionaire Gautam Adani has reclaimed the top position on the Asian rich list after the Supreme Court reprieve this week. His net worth rose USD 7.7 billion in a day to USD 97.6 billion, making him reclaim the top spot in Asia from compatriot Reliance chief Mukesh Ambani, whose […]

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Business

Roving Periscope: Beware of China’s Modi praise—“Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai 2.0”

January 5, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: Idiots in India are going gaga over China’s latest praise of its Enemy Number One! In his famous treatise, The Art of War, ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (fifth century BC) advised the rulers to develop good information sources in the enemy country, specifying five types of intelligence gathering, […]

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Book Review

Roving Periscope: India politically ready to navigate the 2024 challenges, says EAM Jaishankar

January 4, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: India is ready and politically well-positioned with a fair deal of confidence to navigate challenges in 2024, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Wednesday. This year, 2024, would remain turbulent for the world but India is well-positioned politically and economically to navigate the challenges and maintain its rising global […]

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Business

Terrorism: Tasting its own medicine, terror-friendly Pakistan witnessed a 17% rise in violence in 2023

January 4, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: Pakistan, the state-supported global nursery of terrorism, is getting it back. In its coin. Actively supported by its all-powerful military-led establishment, home-grown and foreign terrorists are boomeranging on Pakistan to haunt it. Everyday. In 2023, the Islamist-infested South Asian nation witnessed a 17 percent spike in terrorist violence with 693 […]

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Business

Virtual crimes: Probing a pile of real rape cases, the British police now investigate into ‘digital rape’

January 3, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: Even as the British police and prosecutors are currently struggling with an enormous backlog of actual rape cases, they have started an investigation into a unique “gang rape” of a girl in Metaverse, the media reported on Wednesday. The case is said to be the first virtual “sexual offense” being […]

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Business

Roving Periscope: Going to NA polls in Feb, even a terror-friendly Pakistan fears ISIS’ entry

January 3, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: Terror, Pakistan’s state policy, is coming home to roost. The multiple terror ‘assets’ Pakistan has raised, networked, controlled, funded, sponsored, protected, and launched against India and others in the last four decades were like teenagers. The biggest bad boy of them all—the ultra-Sunni Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), […]

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Business

Hindenburg: SC dismisses the demand for an SIT, directs SEBI to probe if the US firm harmed Adanis’ investors

January 3, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: Nearly a year after a US-based firm’s claims caused mayhem in Adani share prices, the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed stock manipulation and accounting fraud allegations against the Indian conglomerate, and directed the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to probe in three months if the Hindenburg Research’s report […]

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Business

The Rs.2,000 notes: Over 97% returned; the RBI still awaits Rs.9,330 crores

January 2, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: Nearly 97.38 percent of the high-value Rs.2,000 denomination banknotes have returned to the banking system but Rs.9,330 crore worth of these notes are still with the public, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said. The Rs 2,000 banknotes were introduced in November 2016 following the demonetization of the then-prevailing […]

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