State governments want the Centre to direct the 14th Finance Commission to compensate states for implementing pay scales, to be recommended by the pay panel.
According to the final recommendations of an expert committee, the weight of primary (unprocessed) food items will go down by 0.5-1.0 percentage points in the new series compared to the current one
For 2014-15, the bill on this account is likely to be 12.8% more than in 2013-14.
India will extend the visa-on-arrival facility to all countries except eight with effect from September. The countries not covered under this single-entry e-visa facility, meant for purposes other than paid employment and education with a one-month time limit, are Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Somalia. The facility is currently available to 11 countries, including New Zealand, Singapore, Luxembourg, Japan and Finland.
Community will now avail of exclusive schemes run by the ministry of minority affairs.
Infrastructure investments in politically-expedient sectors such as water supply, sanitation and irrigation have seen an increase during the first year of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-13 to 2016-17), but the same did not get replicated in other critical sectors.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has called a meeting of chief ministers of party-ruled states to chalk out the party's strategy in the run-up to the general election. The leaders would focus on setting up of Lokayuktas in a time-bound manner in states and curbing food inflation.
Cabinet note being readied, on basis of study, to ensure against foodgrain shortage; might require buffer of up to 50% more.
Survey likely to be tabled in July by the new government.
Private detectives forge relations with policemen and unsuspecting people in telecom companies, as they have access to call data, says Sahil Makkar
Security is a worry but the Gujarat chief minister will continue is campaign ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.
Govt floated import tender, allowed import without fumigation.
According to a senior Planning Commission official, according to the new criteria evolved by members Abhijit Sen and Mihir Shah, henceforth BRGF amounts will be allocated on the basis of backward blocks and not just districts.
Rumour has it that former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad had once misbehaved with Amit Khare, the then district commissioner of Chaibasa in south Bihar, in full public view. The incident was enough to enrage the strong lobby of Indian Administrative Service officers to take on the all-powerful chief minister.
As the country faces the possibility of a fractured mandate after the 2014 general elections, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia is of the view that in an era of coalition governments, special steps are needed to build consensus around policies or else, India will not be able to grow at its full potential.
For the past few weeks, the government has been in an overdrive, pushing stuck projects with the larger aim to improve the country's economic growth, which had fallen to a four-year low of 4.4 per cent in the first quarter of this financial year.
Ledger entries in NSEL books show no record of T+2 leg of the paired trades with borrowers.
In the past two decades, the country's economic growth slipped below five per cent in only three years - in 1997-98, 2000-01 and 2002-03.
The government had pegged food subsidy at Rs 90,000 crore (Rs 900 billion) in the 2013-14 Union Budget.
Laxity in enforcing KYC and allied norms suspected; money laundering gaps also on probe panel's mind