OPINION

Even though India can prove to be a powerhouse when it comes to vaccine manufacturing and with its first ever health programme to vaccinate adults in place, yet it faces logistical challenges pertaining to storage and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. The mere scale of this operation can be overwhelming to handle. 

2020 has been the year of a nosedive for diplomatic relationships between Australia and China and now with the latest tweet controversy adding fuel to this fire, the ever fragile Sino-Australian ties seem to be heading to a point of no return.

Founded in Karur, Tamil Nadu, by a group of seven businessmen, the bank's initial objective was to cater to the financial needs of people in and around Karur. However, post-independence, the bank obtained its banking license, started operating as a full-fledged commercial bank in 1958. The bank started expanding beyond Kerala around the 1960s when it took over 9 other banks as well .

Recently, according to recommendations of an internal working group of RBI released on 20th November, non-banking lenders with asset sizes of Rs. 50,000 crore might be given the permission to convert into banks, provided they've been operating for more than 10 years. As per experts, large non-bank lenders aka NBFCs stand to gain the most if the panel's proposals to allow large corporates and shadow lenders into banking services are accepted. 

​​​​​​​And not just Google, other tech giants including Facebook, Amazon have been on the target of regulators all around the world due to the fear of too much power being in the hands of too few companies. They have also been envied by several other small apps who are striving to establish their names in the market but are unable to do so over big brand names.

In simple words, recessionary phase for an economy arises when overall output of goods and services, i.e. GDP, contracts from one quarter to another, and it becomes 'recession' when the phase keeps on happening repetitively over several quarters. Economic activity can be measured by serveral other indicators apart from quarterly GDP, but when real quarterly GDP alone is considered a benchmark, the term becomes 'technical recession'.

India also became part of this story back in 2011 when negotiations began and the nineteenth round of RCEP negotiation was also held in the country on 24-28 July, 2017 in Hyderabad. But on 4th November, 2019, India decided to opt out of RCEP in ASEAN+3 summit fearing the adverse impact of the deal on its citizens.

​​​​​​​Also, with Indian economy shrinking by a whopping 23.9% in the second quarter of 2020 didn't help much to support the privatisation decision by the government. Even though it's not a bad decision altogether, it needs to wait and be postponed until some time at least. The only focus at this moment should be to revive demand in the economy and bring it out of the downward spiral growth.

The stir led by the agriculturists of Punjab against the recently enacted triple laws that were intended to reform the rural economy and enhance the income of farmers, predictably turned early into a political agitation against the Modi government .

Many recent developments in the Arab world and the change of guard in the USA, has led to many new permutations and combinations on the relationship front amongst western and the Arab world. One such changed consequence has been the relationship of the Palestinians with the rest of the Arab world, and in particular with Saudi Arabia.