"I have been the chief minister twice with your blessings. I have decided that the 2023 assembly election will be my last fight. It is not for me to come to power or become the chief minister," he said.
The top court said the distinction between married and unmarried women under the abortion laws is "artificial and constitutionally unsustainable" and perpetuates the stereotype that only married woman are sexually active.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday, invited the global manufacturers of vaccines to come and make vaccines in India, stressing that the country's "faith is to serve people".
Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, the Indian Medical Association has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting that vaccination be allowed for all people above the age of 18 years.
'One thing we have learnt is that a pandemic can be arrested at any stage.' 'Not suddenly, of course, but slowly with steady unwavering focus.'
The highly virulent 'Delta plus' variant of the novel coronavirus could stoke a third wave in Maharashtra, according to a presentation made at a meeting attended by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress MP and nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was questioned for about nine hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in New Delhi on Monday in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal pilferage scam in the state.
80% of the surveyed districts did not show any change in migration
The housing stock demand may increase further
In a letter to the states and union territories, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan advised implementing strategic interventions for containment like imposition of night curfew, strict regulation of large gatherings, curtailing numbers in marriages and funerals besides increasing testing and surveillance.
A bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday to widen the beneficiary net for disabled children in Right to Education and provide those with severe disability the option of receiving education at home.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said he ordered to stop the water outflow from the Bansagar dam so that the water level in the canal can go down, which will aid in rescue operations.
Ushering in a big wave of reforms by implementing the four labour codes, setting up the national social security fund to cover over 38 crore informal sector workers and improving the ease of doing business will top the agenda of the labour ministry in the New Year. In a major move, the ministry launched the e-Shram portal on August 26, 2021 for creating a national database of over 38 crore informal sector workers. It will help the government to ensure last-mile delivery of benefits of various social security schemes to the informal-sector workers.
Facing an acute shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, the Odisha government on Monday decided to float a global tender for procuring the vaccine to inoculate the states entire population, Chief Secretary S C Mohapatra said.
An important focus of the dry run will be on management of any possible adverse events following immunisation.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said India will be benefitted economically by having peace with his country as it will enable New Delhi to directly access the resource-rich Central Asia region through Pakistani territory.
The PM's visit would signal a strong intent towards making sure India becomes a beneficiary as vaccines become a massively traded commodity in the coming years.
IT major Infosys on Tuesday said it has seen no major impact on client deliverables due to the ongoing pandemic, and has been working proactively with clients to mitigate any potential impact. The Bengaluru-based company has also enabled vaccination for 14,150 employees and their family members through its centres, and is in the process of setting up additional facilities across its campuses in India. Besides, Infosys is providing financial support, exploring training and job opportunities for the next of kin and offering necessary assistance to support dependents of deceased staff members.
In a big relief for thousands of stranded Indian professionals in America due to the coronavirus pandemic, the US government has decided to allow applications by H-1B visa holders for an extended stay in the country. The US department of homeland security in a new notification has said it recognises that there are immigration-related challenges as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic.
'If Pinarayi Vijayan gets another term, Kerala will be a state where everybody has a house.'
Each state will plan it in two districts and preferably in five different session-type settings -- district hospital, community health centre or primary health care centre, urban site, private health facility and rural outreach.
The strident support from the hotels comes at a time when the industry is itself caught off guard with a sharp dip in both in-bound traffic from foreign markets, reduced domestic traction as well as a total shut-down of MICE business that has led the country top players by market cap to lose over half their value in just a little over a month.
The central government has agreed in-principle to Air India employees' main demands. It fears an industrial dissension now could impede the process of privatisation. It has agreed to bear the cost of liquidation loss on account of transfer to the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) from company-owned trusts, inclusion of employees in the central government health scheme (CGHS), and encashment of leaves. The template of the Air India process will be followed for other public sector undertakings up for privatisation at a later date.
Government think tank Niti Aayog has suggested 100 per cent income tax exemption for donations and provision of working capital loans with lower interest rates for not-for-profit hospitals to strengthen healthcare services in India. In a report titled 'Not-for-Profit Hospital Model in India', the Aayog also pitched for involving high performing hospitals in public private partnership (PPP) models for managing primary health care (PHCs), operations of government facilities and PSU hospitals. "Income-tax exemption could be increased from the current 50 per cent exemption to 100 per cent exemption for philanthropy toward the identified not-for-profit hospitals.
'Economic issues do not matter during elections; it is the emotional connect that helps swing votes.'
PM asks states to check laxity in containing COVID-19; calls for vaccine festival from Apr 11-14
"India is not a country to lose courage. We will fight and win," he said.
For Duflo and Banerjee, an important part of their work has been ensuring that the agency of the "beneficiaries" -- usually, in developing countries like India, poorer individuals -- is put at the centre of any policy design. This is a crucial way in which experimental results are often better than large scale data-based inference, says Mihir S Sharma.
India has been the single biggest beneficiary of the decades-old US Generalized System of Preferences programme, allowing the country to export $ 5.7 billion worth of duty-free goods in 2017, according to figures from US Congress.
The Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill on providing 10 per cent reservation in jobs and education to the general category poor was passed by Parliament on January 9.
States are now gearing up to implement the scheme, integrating it with their own public health insurance plans and tying up the loose ends.
The scheme initially envisaged conferment of proprietary rights of around 20.55 lakh kanals of land (1,2,50 hectares) to occupants of which 15.85 per cent of land was approved for vesting of ownership rights.
'Today, the State is permanently going after politicians, but also civil society, academics and all those it is threatened by or irritated with.'
The prime minister held a meeting with chief ministers via video-conferencing, and said it was imperative to work on war footing, identify hotspots, encircle them and ensure that coronavirus does not spread out.
'The vaccine policy should be such that all people should get the vaccine free.'
'In India, there's currently evidence the Centre has not managed a smooth vaccine rollout.' 'It is now falling back on blaming states, which are facing vaccine shortages,' points out Devangshu Datta.
A committee suggested that CSR expenditure be made tax deductible, in order to incentivise spending by companies. It also said that CSR should not be used as a means of resource-gap funding for government schemes.
'There is a deep stigma or taboo attached to COVID-19 in rural areas.' 'People don't want to test because they fear social exclusion.' 'Even those who test positive may not reveal and not follow the quarantine protocol.'
B V Srinivas and his team of volunteers are able to procure and pass medical supplies, including oxygen cylinders delivery at doorsteps and securing hospital admissions for COVID patients.
