USA - The Purbottar

08 Apr

Net-zero goal for 2050, which the US wants India to be on board on: Explained

editor0 CommentsBusiness, Healthclimate, INDIA, net zero, POLITICS, USA

John Kerry, the US President’s Special Envoy on Climate, is currently on a three-day visit to India trying to rekindle a climate change partnership that had been all but put on hold during the four years of the Donald Trump administration. The immediate purpose of the visit is to exchange notes ahead of the virtual Climate Leaders’ Summit convened by US President Joe Biden on April 22-23 where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is one of the invitees. This is Biden’s first big international intervention in climate change, and his administration would be keen to ensure a substantive outcome from it. In…

31 Mar

India has many human rights issues says US report

editor0 CommentsNorth Easthuman rights, INDIA, USA

India has several significant human rights issues, including unlawful and arbitrary killings, restrictions on freedom of expression and the press, corruption and tolerance of violations of religious freedom, a US report said on Tuesday. In its ‘2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices’ to the US Congress, the Department of State noted the improvement in the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir. “The government continued taking steps to restore normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir by gradually lifting some security and communications restrictions,” said the State Department in its India section of the report. The government released most political activists…

03 Sep

India registers record single-day spike of 83,883 cases, tally over 38 lakh

editor0 CommentsHealthCoronavirus, Covid-19, Health, INDIA, USA

India registered a record spike of 83,883 cases on Thursday, taking the tally over 38 lakh. Active cases in India are over 8 lakh while almost 30 lakh recoveries havetaken place. 1043 deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 67,376, as per the Health Ministry. According to Indian Council of Medical Research, India also tested a record 11,72,179 samples for coronavirus. Total number of samples tested so far are over 4 crore. Meanwhile,US states have been told to be ready to distribute corona virusvaccines by November 1. Global tally of corona virus stands a…

15 Jul

Donald Trump says he will soon approve new merit-based immigration act

editor0 CommentsNorth EastIMMIGRATION, USA, VISA

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he will soon sign a merit-based immigration act that will also take care of the immigrants brought to the country illegally as children and protected under the DACA programme. "We are going to be signing an immigration act very soon. It is going to be based on merit, it is going to be very strong," Trump told reporters at a Rose Garden press conference at the White House. "We are going to work on DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) because we want to make people happy and I will tell you even conservative Republicans want to…

24 Jun

Why Trump’s H-1B visa freeze will hurt India most

editor0 CommentsNorth EastUSA, VISA

Illegal immigration has long been the subject of fervid debate in the US. Now President Donald Trump is making "legal immigration a scapegoat" with an eye on the upcoming election, says Poorvi Chotani, a managing partner at Law Quest, an immigration law firm with offices in the US and India. "How can the US recover more than 17 million lost jobs due to the pandemic by keeping out a little more than half a million foreign workers for the rest of the year?" she told me. Ms Chotani is mainly alluding to the H-1B visa programme that currently admits 85,000 immigrants each…

11 Jun

Rupee Drops To 75.82 As Dollar Off 3-Month Low

editor0 CommentsBusinessECONOMY, INDIA, USA

The rupee declined by 23 paise - or 0.31 per cent - to hit 75.82 against the US dollar on Thursday, as the greenback steadied after hitting a three-month low initially following the Federal Reserve's statement that policy would have to be proactive with rates near zero out to 2022. The rupee moved in a range of 75.73-75.82 during the four-hour session, having started the day weaker at 75.80 compared to its previous close of 75.59. Analysts awaited consumer inflation data due on Friday for more clarity on domestic monetary policy going forward. Domestic stock markets fell amid selling pressure in financial and pharmaceutical stocks.…