Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing the nation for the seventh time from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day on Saturday and it will be his second speech of the second term in office.
Experts attribute the lower target to increased allocation under the credit guarantee scheme for small businesses. Out of the Rs 3.21 trillion worth loans sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) in the last financial year, Rs 3.12 trillion were disbursed to entrepreneurs, according to official data.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
While investing in PPF, investors must remember to put in the money at the right time to maximise the return they earn from it.
Anil Rego, CEO, Right Horizons, answers your personal income tax queries
'Economic issues do not matter during elections; it is the emotional connect that helps swing votes.'
Sources in the Rural Development Ministry said the actual expenditure incurred in 2020-21 will be higher than the allocated funds and it will at least be at par with this year's total estimated expenditure of MGNREGS.
In the three months leading up to the Assembly elections, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's government distributed over 1.4 million tonnes (MT) of wheat, 0.95 MT of rice, 0.10 MT of chana (gram), 101.9 million litres of soybean oil and 100,000 tonnes of salt as free ration. This was part of the Covid relief package, officials said.
ESIC board has relaxed norms to double payment of unemployment benefit under the scheme to 50 per cent of average wages of three months to cope with job loss between March 24 and December 31 this year in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman on Friday met her counterparts in Singapore and Canada and discussed various issues, including economy, health and opportunities for collaboration. Sitharaman met UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, Singapore Finance Minister Lawrence Wong and Canada's Deputy Prime Minister & Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on the sidelines of the G-20 Joint Finance and Health Ministers' meeting. "Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman had an engaging discussion with @cafreeland Dy. Prime Minister & Finance Minister of Canada on the sidelines of #G20 Finance & Health Ministers Meeting in #Rome. The Ministers discussed various issues, including economic and health cooperation," a Finance Ministry tweet said.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to extend distribution of 5 kg foodgrains per month for free under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) to over 80 crore ration card holders for four months till March 2022, a decision that will cost an additional Rs 53,344 crore to the exchequer.
Sitharaman said that the government keeps 'Antodaya' (development of all) at the centre of all its programmes.
Kumar said the Commission will follow the time-tested methods of consultations and consensus building in bringing about any reforms and will not shy away from tough decisions, according to an Election Commission (EC) statement.
With funds more readily available, Fitch expects a portion of stalled housing projects to resume construction, and this will feed into its forecasts for India's buildings sector growth in the short term.
In a relief to savers, the government on Wednesday kept interest rates on small savings schemes, including NSC and PPF, unchanged for the second quarter of 2021-22 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Provident Fund (PPF) and National Savings Certificate (NSC) will continue to carry an annual interest rate of 7.1 per cent and 6.8 per cent, respectively, in the second quarter as well. "The rates of interest on various small savings schemes for the second quarter of the financial year 2021-22 starting from July 1, 2021, and ending on September 30, 2021, shall remain unchanged from the current rates applicable for the first quarter (April 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021) for FY 2021-22," the finance ministry said in a notification.
According to BJP strategists, PMJAY and the PM Ujjwala Yojana will form the nucleus of the Modi government's re-election campaign.
"I can say with confidence that the BJP will form the government in the state," he reiterated.
'Is baar vote jati par nahi, kaam par milega.'
There was an environment of "indifference" towards the use of technology in governance before 2014 due to which the poor and the middle class suffered the most, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday. He asserted the current government has ensured last-mile delivery of services with the help of technology, including drones. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating India's biggest drone festival in Delhi, he said, "At a time when we are celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, it is my dream that everyone in India should have a smartphone in his or her hand, every farm should have a drone and every house should have prosperity." The enthusiasm being seen in India about drone technology is amazing and indicates possibilities of an emerging sector of employment generation, the prime minister said.
'Decide on an asset allocation you are comfortable with and stick to it for the long term.'
The proposed population control policy will, however, not be applicable in all the schemes in Assam immediately as many of the benefits are offered by the central government, Sarma said at a press conference in Guwahati.
Under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana announced by the Centre to incentivise formal sector job creation, all 'new employees', who were never a part of the EPF system in the past, and those who made an exit from employment during the Covid-19 pandemic from March 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020, will be eligible for the benefit.
"GOI's inaction is killing many innocent people," Rahul said.
'There is dissatisfaction and disaffection for the BJP, but there is no anti-incumbency against the government in UP.'
The government's food subsidy in the ongoing fiscal year is expected to be a little less than Rs 4 trillion.
India has helped the world discover the true potential of democracy and the keyword for the country today is compassion for the downtrodden, needy and those on the margins, President Droupadi Murmu said on Sunday.
'The new cabinet intends to create an impression in people's minds that even if it is new, it is performing from day one.'
Modi praised Tamil Nadu as a special place and lauded the Tamil language as eternal and its culture as global.
Nirmala Sitharaman's maiden Budget has not disappointed but vision and details, particularly for the revival of agriculture, are missing.
Omkeshwar Singh, head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the residential property market during the April-June period last year but sales have improved in affordable homes segment since July onwards, reflecting economic recovery in the real estate sector, according to the Economic Survey. The National Housing Bank's (NHB) Housing Price Indices (HPIs) are a broad measure of movement of residential property prices observed within a geographic boundary. The NHB-RESIDEX captures two housing price indices -- HPI@ Assessment Prices and HPI@ Market Prices - Under Construction Properties based on the data available for 50 cities with quarterly updation.
Trains were set afire and blocked, and public vehicles attacked as protests over 'Agnipath' swept across several places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu on Thursday amid partisan political voices in favour and against the new recruitment scheme for the defence forces that has set off a firestorm.
On the heels of the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), which revealed new demographic trajectories including the replacement level of fertility, the government will, on Monday, unveil extensive economic data related to health and the broader economy. New data will relate to per capita spending on health and proportions of the GDP to health spending. Health ministry sources said the NFHS-5 marked some areas for celebration but also some markers that should cause concern.
He also asserted that the freedom of press has to be preserved at any cost in a democracy but media should remember that freedom comes with responsibility.
This will cost the government Rs 3.1 trillion, about 10 per cent of its annual expenditure, and higher than any other spending item in its Budget.
"I used to say 'jab tak davai nahi dhilai nahi' but now our mantra for 2021 should be: Davai bhi, kadaai bhi (yes to medicine and yes to caution)," Modi said.
Amid the surge in coronavirus cases, the Uttar Pradesh government is providing oximeters and thermal scanners for cows housed in the state's 'gaushalas'.
Eight out of about 40 schemes are with the nomenclature starting Pradhan Mantri, but except Gramin Sadak and Rozgar Yojana, most others go barely acknowledged.
The meeting will review annual financial performance of public sector banks, credit offtake in the economy, priority sector lending and progress made under various social sector schemes, including Atal Pension Yojana (APY) and Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.
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