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Here are some facts to mull over: the top 1% of Indians own 58.4% of the country's household wealth, defined as the value of financial assets plus real assets like housing owned by households minus their debts. The bottom half owns less than 3% put together. Among major economies, only Russia is more unequal. To get a sense of where you stand vis-à-vis the majority of the population look at these six charts and, in case you missed this, Facebook knows more about your wealth than you do.
Narendra Modi may be one of the most tech-savvy politicians in India, but the app named after him, which was recently put to use to test people's reaction to demonetisation, is of little good. Here's why the survey carried out by his government using the app is deeply flawed and based on unscientific parameters.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's impassioned speech in Parliament against the shoddily executed move to demonetise existing currency may be a turning point for the fortunes of the Opposition, writes G. Pramod Kumar. With his measured and scholarly analysis, Singh criticised the ruling government's decision point by point, in a statement that is believed to be a political game changer.
Adding to the chaos over the new currency notes, two variants of the new ₹500 note have emerged in the market. According to sources in the Reserve Bank of India, the rush to print the new notes have led to the discrepancies. Experts fear this will not only add to the public's headache but also abet counterfeiting.
As though the confusion in India over demonetised currency was not enough, Nepal's Rastra Bank banned the use of the new currency notes of ₹500 and ₹2,000 denomination, calling them "unauthorised and illegal", until such a time India issues a FEMA notification as per the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has set a steep target to public and private sector banks to convert cash into online transactions. The aim behind demonetisation, he said, is to reduce the use of physical currency and to that end, he has asked banks to convert cash transactions worth ₹200,000 crores into digital transactions by 30 December.
Amazon will sell leading dairy brand Amul's products in nine markets across the world from today, starting with the US. Amul products will debut on the Global Selling platform on Black Friday and will include the UK, Japan, Canada and France among other countries, covering a total consumer base of 300 million.
The family of Nikki Haley, the American Indian who was named by the US President-Elect Donald Trump as the ambassador to the United Nations, is immeasurably proud back in India. The parents of Haley, who was born Nimrata Randhawa in South Carolina, come from Punjab and lived in Amritsar before they moved to the US in the early 1960s.
Weeks after the air pollution index in Gurgaon hit severe levels post-Diwali, the region saw dense smog once again yesterday. The air quality worsened three times overnight though the Haryana Pollution Control Board is yet to figure out the reason behind it.
In The Hindu, Makarand Waingankar hold up Virat Kohli as a role model and inspiration for the youth in India. Drawing on a conversation with the veteran Chandu Borde in Pune, he goes on to evaluate the ace cricketer's sporting skills, leadership qualities and unique standing among his contemporaries.
An editorial in Mint remarks on India's gradual transformation into a mature economy, one that not only aspires to the levels of growth achieved by Western societies but also to emulate their values. A major change in this regard is the move away from "throwaway living" -- signified by the rejection of plastic, for instance -- towards more sustainable modes of consumption and recycling.
After seven years of waiting, the Indian army has started receiving supplies of bulletproof jackets, which they were in dire need of for a while. In the Hindustan Times, Gurmeet Kanwal uses this moment to discuss the lack of military modernisation in the army and what the government has done so far to address them.
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