In a major technology push, Indian Army has envisioned construction of "permanent defences" along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh using cutting-edge 3D printing technology, a move that will save time and improve its defence preparedness, sources said on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider listing a plea challenging the grant of remission by the Gujarat government to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case.
The CBI has closed a case against former Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav and others over alleged corruption in the appointments of general managers after the central government refused to grant its sanction to prosecute him, officials said. The agency had booked Jadhav, then general manager L P Nakhwa (now retired), and then additional general managers A Kathpalia, Amitabh Singh and Rohit Bhasin after a year-long preliminary enquiry, they said. It was alleged that Jadhav had constituted illegal/irregular promotion panel to recommend suitable candidates for promotion to the post of general manager (operations), they said.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered setting up of a six-member committee headed by former apex court judge Justice A M Sapre to investigate the recent Adani group shares crash triggered by the Hindenburg Research's fraud allegations and other regulatory aspects related to stock markets.
Omicron has started replacing Delta variant in the country in terms of the number of COVID-19 cases and positive international travellers are almost 80 per cent Omicron now, official sources said on Friday.
Union minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday said states have not been sponsoring adequate number of officers for central deputation which has prompted changes in the service rules.
The RBI on Wednesday asked banks to provide an option to jewellery exporters and domestic manufacturers of gold jewellery to repay a part of Gold (metal) Loans (GML) in physical gold. As per the extant instructions, banks authorised to import gold and designated banks participating in Gold Monetisation Scheme, 2015 (GMS) can extend GML to jewellery exporters or domestic manufacturers of gold jewellery. GML are repaid in Indian rupees, equivalent to the value of the yellow metal borrowed.
The Election Commission on Tuesday ordered the delisting of another 86 'non-existent' registered unrecognised political parties, raising the number of such organisations red flagged by the poll panel for failing to comply with electoral rules to 537.
'Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of the extant advisories/provisions is attracted'
The Centre has also listed 24 bills, including the Cantonment Bill, the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill.
The counsel appearing for the Centre told the top court on Friday that they have written to the secretaries of the ministries of external affairs as well as health on the issue.
India's top oil and gas producer ONGC wants the government to scrap windfall profit tax levied on domestically produced crude oil and instead use the dividend route to tap into bumper earnings resulting from surge in global energy prices. The firm also favours a floor price for natural gas at $10 per million British thermal unit -- the current government-dictated rate -- to help bring deposits in challenging areas to production, two sources aware of the matter said. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) management during discussions with government officials stated that levying windfall profit tax on domestic oil producers, while at the same time reaping rich savings from buying discounted oil from Russia was unfair.
There are two such seats in Tamil Nadu and one each in West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Madhya Pradesh.
The top court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by undergraduate medical students of first to fourth-year batches in their respective foreign medical colleges/universities.
The polling body said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not violate the model code or its advisory on armed forces in his speech in Varanasi. It also found nothing wrong in his comments made in Nanded, Maharashtra where he reportedly dubbed the Congress as a 'sinking Titanic'.
Under pressure from passengers over hike in fares, the Railways on Friday issued an order to discontinue the 'special' tag for mail and express trains and revert to pre-pandemic ticket prices with immediate effect.
Sixty-six such parties claimed IT exemption in FY20 without complying with statutory requirements under the Representation of the People Act and 2,174 have not submitted contribution reports, the EC said.
It also recommended that the RBI accounting year (July-June) may be brought in sync with the fiscal year (April to March) from the financial year 2020-21 as it could reduce the need for interim dividend being paid by the central bank.
The Reserve Bank on Friday accepted most of the recommendations of its working group on corporate ownership of private sector banks, by allowing unrestrained promoter shareholding in the first five years of operations and hiking the same to 26 per cent after 15 years from the extant 15 per cent and also the new capital requirements. The move will benefit leading banks like Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank, among others, which have been seeking more time from the regulator to divest their stakes for many years now. Accepting 21 of the 33 recommendations of the internal working group, the central bank said the remaining suggestions are under its consideration.
The income tax department has found alleged manipulation of account books for reducing taxable income in India by Chinese telecom company Huawei whom it raided recently, sources said on Thursday. The searches were conducted on February 15 at the main business and residential premises of "key office bearers" of a multi-national group, engaged in distribution of telecom products and providing captive software development services, the CBDT said in a statement. Sources identified the company as Huawei.
The Supreme Court on Friday suggested that the Centre assist the medical students who had returned to the country from Ukraine in view of the war with Russia by creating a web portal giving details of the foreign universities, where they could complete their courses as per the government's academic mobility programme.
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has received the insurance regulator's nod for time till January-end 2023 to dispose of investments in pension, group and life annuity funds, which do not fall in the "approved investment" category. Had the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irdai) denied more time to transfer the investments to shareholders' fund at amortised cost, the loss that would have accrued in the profit and loss account (shareholders account) would have been Rs 5,365.83 crore as of September 2021, LIC said in its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP).
The ministry also decided to dispense with the requirement of the Integrity Pact Bank Guarantee to reduce the financial burden on the Indian defence industry, a move aimed at promoting domestic manufacturing.
Global oil majors may be teaming up with investment funds that are already in the race to acquire Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), a document detailing steps needed to complete India's biggest privatisation showed. Billionaire Anil Agarwal's Vedanta group as well as two US funds -- Apollo Global and I Squared Capital - had last year submitted initial bids to buyout the government's entire 52.98 per cent stake in India's third-biggest oil refiner and second-largest fuel retailer. Detailing the 'Next Step', the 'Brief Note on BPCL Disinvestment' said Transaction Advisor and Asset Valuer are to submit an inception report, bidders have to complete due diligence of the company and sale purchase agreement has to be finalised.
Biennial elections to the legislative councils in Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh from 42 local authorities' constituencies will be held on December 10, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved revision in guidelines for providing direct to home (DTH) services in the country under which licenses would be issued for 20 years, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said. The Union Cabinet has also approved 100 per cent FDI in the DTH broadcasting services sector, Javadekar said, adding that while the commerce ministry had spoken of 100 per cent FDI in the DTH sector, the guidelines of the information and broadcasting ministry needed to be changed.
Remdesivir is considered a key anti-viral drug in the fight against Covid-19. In addition, the government has taken three steps to ensure easy access of hospitals and patients to Remdesivir.
An internal working group set up by the RBI has proposed to raise the cap on promoters' stake in private banks from the current 15 per cent to 26 per cent in 15 years. The group has also recommended that large corporate or industrial houses may be allowed as promoters of banks only after amendments to the Banking Regulation Act and strengthening of the supervisory mechanism for conglomerates, including consolidated supervision. The Reserve Bank of India had constituted the internal working group (IWG) on June 12, 2020, to review extant ownership guidelines and corporate structure for Indian private sector banks.
The commission also directed political parties to adhere to the provisions of the model code of conduct and broader guidelines on Covid-19.
Armed with necessary macro and micro growth drivers, India is on its way to becoming the fastest growing major economy in the world, a finance ministry report said. Rapid vaccination and teeming festivities will push India's ongoing recovery resulting in narrowing of demand-supply mismatches and greater employment opportunities, as per the monthly Economic Review prepared by the ministry.
Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday that the number of public grievances received by the government has increased from 2 lakh in 2014 to nearly 22 lakh at present, and added the 10-fold rise reflects the trust people have shown in the current dispensation.
Agniveers once enrolled into the Indian Air Force, will be governed under the Air Force Act 1950, for a period of four years.
Addressing a rally in Krishnanagar in West Bengal, Shah reportedly said when Indian Air Force jets pounded terror camps in Balakot, the act was mourned in Pakistan and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's office. He also reportedly said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "sent his air force" to destroy terror camps in Pakistan after the deadly Pulwama attack in February this year.
The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (Irdai), the regulator for insurance companies, is set to allow the insurers to offer wellness programmes along with life insurance policies that can earn reward points for the policyholders. These reward points can be redeemed for getting a discount during renewal. The insurance regulator has circulated draft guidelines to insurance companies for feedback before issuing the final guidelines, as is the norm.
Praful Patel has no mandate to continue as All India Football Federation (AIFF) president as he has already served three terms and the national body should hold elections without further delay, the Sports Ministry informed the Supreme Court.
The RTI exemptions cited by the CPIO to deny information relate to intellectual property rights, trade secrets and information in the nature of commercial confidence, fiduciary relationship, threat to life and safety of persons who give information to law enforcement agencies in confidence, impediment to investigation, prosecution or apprehension and privacy of an individual.
As many as 14 central government services have already been integrated with the e-biz portal.
During a poll rally in Barmer on April 21, Modi had said India is no more afraid of Pakistan's nuclear threats.
CAG recommended fixing a definite time frame for rolling out simplified GST return forms.
"In view of the above, the West Bengal government has been requested by MHA to initiate action against the officer and intimate the action taken in this regard," it said.
