In her marathon 2 hours and 46 minutes speech introducing India''s 2020 budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman painted an optimistic picture of the Indian economy. She stated at the outset that her budget''s goal is to boost "incomes and enhanceÂ… purchasing power" of the people of India. "Only through higher growth can we achieve that and have our youth gainfully and meaningfully employed," Sitharaman added. The Finance Minister''s assessment that higher growth and employment … [Read more...]

  There has been much written and an outpouring of protests throughout 2019 against the Chinese internment of more than one million Uighur Muslims in the western Xinjiang region of China. In response, China has continuously rationalized its horrific treatment of the Uighur Muslims as an effort to contain and stop Islamic terrorism. It has also claimed that the internment camps are vocational skill retraining centres. The evidence clearly shows these are falsehoods. In a stunning November … [Read more...]

  Before returning to New Delhi recently after attending the annual IMF-World fall meeting, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman provided an upbeat perspective on the Indian economy. She asserted that its fundamentals are strong and attributed the majority of the problems ailing the Indian economy to a global slowdown. In the same time period, the World Bank announced that India had jumped 14 spots from 77th to 63rd on its Ease of Doing Business ranking. Together, these indicators might … [Read more...]

  Modi''s US visit: But is it Mission Accomplished? Prime Minister Narendra Modi has returned home to India from his six-day visit to the US to reach out to the Indian American community, buttress US-India trade relations, speak in a number of forums, hold meetings with country and business leaders to reassure to encourage and promote investment in India. And do all of this while avoiding or minimizing speaking about Kashmir. Based upon the results, it must be concluded that the … [Read more...]

Washington, Sep 12 Free press has been a cornerstone of American democracy and also an essential contributor to the US belief in government confined by a system of checks and balances, an eminent Indian-American philanthropist has said. "The overriding responsibility of the media is to separate facts from fiction and is to hold governments and leaders, including the President, to the same standards," Frank Islam told a Washington audience this past week during the Alfred Friendly Press … [Read more...]