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The ambitious 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at a historic UN Summit — has hit the road block due to the nationwide energy crisis in land-locked Afghanistan, caused by the decision to cut off of power supply by its northern neighbour Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan demands a cent per cent increase in the export price of energy. Afghan federal authorities contest the claim as a breach of inked agreement, meaning that the war-ravaged country being blackmailed by a neighbour.

DUBAI: Indians bought property worth Rs42,000 crore in Dubai from January 2016 to June 2017, making them yet again the top foreign property investors in the emirate, statistics released by the Dubai Land Department revealed.

The word “appropriate” is in the eye of speculation after an order passed by a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra on the PIL seeking an independent probe into the death of special CBI judge B H Loya said documents be “put up before an appropriate bench”.

When you take on the chief, empirical data shows the chief wins, always. And Tuesday morning A-G K K Venugopal made a U-turn and confessed that despite the morning tea, “differences” remain and the SC dispute has not been “laid to rest” as the Bar Council of India would like everybody to believe. Fact is, there is no saying if the Friday insurrection was just a storm in a tea cup or the kettle calling the pot black. Anyway, every grown man who has taken on a chief will have a ‘chief’ anecdote or two to narrate.

The revolt of the four senior Supreme Court judges, which targets the chief justice, Dipak Misra, has been a bolt from the blue for the BJP. The political scene has darkened even further for the party with the possibility of not faring too well in the Assembly elections being compounded by damaging revelations from the forthcoming inquiries into Justice BHLoya’s death.

With the presentation of the fifth budget of the NarendraModi government now only a fortnight away, the policy option at the highest level of the Government has zeroed in on giving a big stress on the removal of farm distress in the 2018-19 budget proposals.Prime Minister NarendraModi who is masterminding the direction of the last full budget of his present NDA regime before the Lok Sabha elections in April/May 2019, has given strict instructions to the officials that the speedy removal of the farm distress and the immediate measures to generate jobs for the youth have to be the two pillars of the 2018-19 budget strategy.In the process, the Government will organize more public investments without waiting for the domestic private investment to pick up.

Atheists have no business poking their nose in the affairs of god and his flock of whatever religious denomination. But a couple of the agnostic have done just that – they have mounted an attack on Kendriya Vidyalayas for starting the day by singing the Sanskrit hymn Asato Ma Sadgamya and ending the day with another Sanskrit prayer.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector has been at the epicentre of national debate. India, by allowing 100 percent FDI in single brand retail, has sent out a strong signal that reforms is picking up. Consumers are happy as they will now have access to well-established foreign brands. Global investors are happy as the Indian government is showing it is serious about bringing back an investor-friendly environment. For example, India has massively improved its ranking in terms of Ease of Doing Business, Global Competitive Index, and Logistic Performance Index. Couple this with reforms in single brand retail, and one would soon see brand likes IKEA, Walmart, Apple, Tesco etc. coming and setting up shops on their own. Earlier, 49 percent FDI was allowed in single brand retail, which means these foreign biggies had to tie-up with some Indian counterparts to open their stores in India. Also, there was a relaxation in domestic input content requirement (from the earlier 30 percent) for these foreign entities. Possibly, they couldn't have asked for more. What this would mean: A higher FDI inflow.

BHOPAL: Both Congress and BJP are treating two Vidhan Sabha bye-elections as semi-finals for the Vidhan Sabha elections, which are scheduled to be held at the end of this year.. The two seats – Kolaras and Mungawali – fell vacant due to the death of sitting members. Of the two, Mungawali was represented by Mahendra Singh Kalukheda, who was considered to be a Scindia loyalist. He was regarded as political secretary of Madhav Rao Scindia, who commanded great influence in MP politics. After Madhav Rao’s death in an air crash, Jyotiraditya Scindia filled the vacuum and Kalukehda continued to be loyal to the Scindia family. Thus Mungawali is a matter of personal prestige for Jyotiraditya Scindia. So, he is making all out effort to retain that seat.

India is facing a gigantic task of producing over 2.07 million medical doctors in the next 12 years if the country has to achieve a modest doctor-to-population ratio of 1:1,000 by 2030. Though, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the union health ministry, India has currently around seven doctors per 10,000 people, the actual number of practising doctors may be far less.