The Union Cabinet has approved amendments to the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, paving the way for privatisation of government-owned insurers. The amendments, approved by Cabinet, will remove the clause for the Centre to hold at least 51 per cent in public sector insurance companies at any given time. It will also have an enabling provision for the transfer of management control from the government to the potential buyer of the public sector insurance company. The finance ministry will move amendments to the insurance Act in the ongoing Parliament session.
Patole, the MLA from Sakoli in Bhandara district, had resigned as speaker of Maharashtra assembly on Thursday.
India is celebrating its 72nd Republic Day, the day its Constitution came into force in 1950.
The ropeway like system runs on electricity and driverless pods and comes down at designated stations, removing the traffic burden from congested roads.
Nitin Gadkari led BJP delegation on Sunday met President Pranab Mukherjee over Kerala violence issue.
'Our automakers export 50 per cent of what they manufacture and once the policy comes into play, which is in the next 2-3 years, we would become a Rs 10 trillion industry.'
When Nitin Gadkari took charge as Road Transport and Highways Minister in 2014, he had set a target of constructing 40 km a day in two years. But construction at this point is a mere 16 km a day. Megha Manchanda on what ails the road sector.
For the past one week, Modi has been holding in-person meetings with Union ministers apparently to take stock of the work done by the government in the last two years and to discuss various issues.
Bommarabettu Laxmijanardhana Santhosh is the only south Indian and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's representative in the BJP's senior decision-making hierarchy.
Faced with stiff opposition on the land bill, the government on Thursday reached out to leaders of opposition parties, including Sonia Gandhi, and activist Anna Hazare inviting them to an open debate on the issue while asserting that the bill was "very much in farmers' interest".
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday said he would file a defamation case against Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejirwal, who has dubbed him as a dishonest man after the Enforcement Directorate carried out raids at many places, including at the premises of the Congress leader's nephew.
The Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry on Wednesday said the states and union territories (UTs) will provide up to 25 per cent rebate on road tax for vehicles that are purchased after scrapping old vehicles under the new National Automobile Scrappage Policy. The ministry in a press note said that in the vehicle scrapping policy, it is proposed to have a system of incentives to nudge vehicle owners to discard old and polluting vehicles. "As an incentive for scrapping, concession is stipulated in the motor vehicle tax for a vehicle registered against submission of Certificate of Deposit, which is issued by a Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility.
Maharashtra and Haryana voted in assembly elections on Monday. Several prominent personalities also exercised their franchise.
Maharashtra chief minister-designate Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday met Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari at his residence in the national capital.
'The BJP's real weapons are Hindutva, organisation and finance.'
Billionaire Gautam Adani on Tuesday did an hour-long session of yoga exercises in the open air as he led corporate India to join the International Day of Yoga celebrations. Several public and private sector companies held yoga sessions at their offices to promote the adoption of exercise in daily routines to stay fit and healthy. Adani, chairman of logistics-to-energy conglomerate Adani Group, and his wife Priti, who heads the Adani Foundation, "participated with more than 1,000 members of the Adani Parivaar team to celebrate health, mindfulness and meditation," the group said in a statement. The session was held at a football ground at Adani Shantigram in Ahmedabad. Several other business leaders tweeted pictures of their yoga sessions.
'Curiously, Pinarayi's approach, stressing the imperatives of development, is robustly backed by Nitin Gadkari.'
'I stand next only to Gadkari, one of the few outstanding ministers in the Modi government, in applauding Pinarayi's political courage and vision,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari will head a committee which will reach out to social and volunteer organisations while his Cabinet colleague Sushma Swaraj will head a group that will produce literature for the polls.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed the company's plans to enter the Indian market, within days of the electric vehicle maker registering its arm in the country.
Deb, whose name was proposed by party MLA Sudip Roy Burman in the meeting, will be the new chief minister of Tripura, Gadkari said.
The 94-year old former Tamil Nadu chief minister was under continuous monitoring and treated with active medical support, a press release by Kauvery Hospital said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday listed India's "corrupt politicians" who, he said, should not be allowed to contest elections.
Brisk polling began on Thursday morning in 91 constituencies spread across 18 states and two union territories in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections. As people queued up across the nation to cast their vote, there were some famous faces in the lines at different polling stations. Take a look.
If the Opposition has any chance at the prime minister's job, it can happen only if they all stop dropping names and work at the grassroots-level, state-wise, suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
'If they come to power, they will try to change the Constitution. They are destroying Babasaheb's name. They are fundamentalist people,' says Surai Sasai, the Buddhist monk who has issued an edict that Nagpur's Buddhists not vote for the BJP or its candidate Nitin Gadkari. The Buddhist areas in Nagpur, Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel discovers, have a special identity and a firm thinking of its own. Additional reportage and Photographs: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com
'Despite the pandemic, we aspire to maintain the momentum of last year.'
According to an official statement, Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said the 19 other places in the country include Phalodi-Jaisalmer road and Barmer-Jaisalmer road in Rajasthan, Kharagpur-Balasore road in West Bengal, Hashimara-Guwahati road in Assam, Bhuj-Naliya road in Gujarat, Leh/Nyoma area in Assam and on the Jorhat-Baraghat road, among others.
Raj said on Monday that he had tried to talk to BJP chief Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi about his ticket but did not get any response.
Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde died in a road accident while on his way to the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Tuesday.
As the election season approaches, bad ideas seem to gain currency. Here's analysis of promises election parties have made.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Sunday said he has tested positive for coronavirus and will work from isolation while the central bank will continue to function normally. Das said he is asymptomatic and has alerted those who came in contact with him in recent days.
Union ministers Rao Inderjit Singh and Prahlad Patel, Subramanian Swamy, known for his strong views on a host of issues, Suresh Prabhu, Dushyant Singh, who is the son of former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, Vijay Goel, Vinay Katiyar and S S Ahluwalia are among those who have not found a berth in the new list while Union minister V K Singh is no longer a regular member and has been named as a special invitee.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met the top brass of Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party to discuss strategy for next Lok Sabha elections but former party president Nitin Gadkari was conspicuous by his absence.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday pitched for formulating a policy for using the Reserve Bank of India's rising foreign exchange reserves for funding road projects, saying the country needs low cost finance for such infrastructure projects. Addressing a virtual event organised by industry body CII, Gadkari further said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) should also have a financial arm like the power ministry's Power Finance Corporation (PFC). "We have a surplus of dollar reserves in the country. I have decided to talk with the RBI Governor, about how we can formulate a policy by which we can use this foreign exchange reserves for development of infrastructure in the country," he said.
Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said highways sector continues to be a focus area for the government and announcements of multi-modal logistics parks and multi-modal passenger stations will be a game changer.
The BJP, whose campaign was focussed more on issues related to nationalism and Shaheen Bagh, failed to find support among voters.
A little over three months after taking charge as president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajnath Singh has managed to annoy his predecessor, Nitin Gadkari, by not standing by the former party chief in his fight against corruption allegations.
Top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa will attend the swearing-in ceremony in which Narendra Modi will take oath as Gujarat chief minister on Wednesday. Heavy security arrangements have been made at the Sardar Patel Stadium where Modi will be sworn in as Chief Minister at a grand function at around 11 am.
India and China needed to develop mutual trust and respect to strengthen bi-lateral relations, Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari said in Itanagar on Thursday.
In his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in the party mouthpiece Saamana, Raut said state Chief Minister and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray in his address to Shiv Sainiks on January 23 had turned the tables on the BJP, which was criticising him over his illness.
