Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to meet heads of public sector banks (PSBs) next week to review performance of the lenders and progress made by them to support the economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Banks would be urged to sanction loans for productive sectors to accelerate revival of the economy, sources said. According to sources, the two-day meeting would commence on November 17 and undertake a comprehensive review of various segments, progress in government schemes including Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
El-Sisi welcomed Modi, who is on a two-day state visit to Egypt, at the Presidential Palace where the two leaders were closeted for one-on-one meeting after which the two sides signed a memorandum of understandng.
A top Republican lawmaker has welcomed India signing a trade deal with Australia, and urged the Biden administration to enter into a similar arrangement with New Delhi that can advance Washington's strong economic agenda in the strategically vital Indo-Pacific region. "I'm pleased to see #Australia & #India sign a strong trade deal," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch said in a tweet. "The US needs to do the same and advance a strong economic agenda in the #IndoPacific. "The Biden Admin's failure to lead hurts US growth and our partnership in the region," Risch said in another tweet.
In many parts of central and north India, monsoon reaches only in July.
Tamil Nadu's latest budget offers path-breaking initiatives and major boost for social infrastructure, which other state governments are sure to follow in the coming years, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said whenever BJP came to power, prices of essential commodities saw a fall.
The deceased, an unfortunate first casualty of the ongoing protests against the Centre's new recruitment policy for the Armed forces, hailed from Dabeerpet village in Warangal district of Telangana.
Fifteen Cabinet ministers and 28 Ministers of State were sworn-in by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday evening.
'The President of India, as advised by the prime minister, has accepted the resignation of Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect,' the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement.
Farmers have been availing crop loans upto Rs 300,000 at 7%.
About 150 years ago, in British India, big farmers in the western region of Maharashtra agitated over unfair lending practices and demanded a more fair and inclusive financing structure. People say this is where the seeds of the cooperative movement, now omnipresent in the country, were sown. Today, more than 800,000 cooperative societies thrive in India, with 300 million members, a number close to the population of the United States. Despite a reach this deep--grass roots as they call it--cooperatives do not occupy a lion's share in the Indian economy.
And the only answer one can think of is that this is being done to preserve the image of toughness and 56 inches and all the rest of it, notes Aakar Patel.
The farmer representatives were unanimous in seeking repeal of the 3 laws.
The increase in stubble burning has kicked off a political slugfest, with Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday saying that there had been a 19 per cent rise in farm fires over 2021 in Punjab and that the Aam Aadmi Party had turned the national capital into a gas chamber.
Nine MLAs, including Babul Supriyo, took oath as ministers in West Bengal on Wednesday, in a major reshuffle of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's cabinet.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain DoPT, Atomic Energy as well as all important policy issues and portfolios not allocated.
The five ministers in UP government are: Kokab Hamid, Anuradha Chaudhary, Babu Lal, Thakur Tejpal Singh and Swami Omvesh.
Reacting sharply to the Global Hunger Report 2021, the Women and Child Development Ministry said it is 'shocking' to find that it has lowered the rank of India on the basis of FAO estimate on proportion of undernourished population which is found to be 'devoid of ground reality and facts, and suffers from serious methodological issues'.
A memorandum with over two lakh signatures of people favouring a complete ban on the weedicide has been submitted to Union minister for agriculture and farmers welfare Narendra Singh, SJM co-convenor Ashwani Mahajan said.
Shipments from Russia rose nearly 33 per cent to $1.1 billion in March from $831.17 million in the previous month, which was when the country mounted aggression on Ukraine and faced sanctions from Western nations, the data accessed by Business Standard shows. Growth in imports was largely on account of oil, people aware of the matter said. The Department of Commerce is learnt to have written to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), seeking details of imports, including the payment mechanism, which India has not made public.
The finance ministry on Tuesday cited "green shoots" of recovery in agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors, and said the prompt policy measures taken by the government and RBI have helped reinvigorate the economy with minimal damage. Stating that the agricultural sector remains the foundation of the Indian economy, the ministry said that a normal monsoon, as has been forecast, should support the rebooting of economy.
Portfolios were on Tuesday allocated in the new Bihar cabinet headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who, predictably, retained the all-important home department which helps him keep direct control on the state police.
Flour millers want import duty exemption.
Rationalisation of income tax slabs, infrastructure status for digital services and incentives to hydrogen storage as well as fuel cell development were some of the suggestions made by various stakeholders at the pre-Budget consultation meeting convened by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The customary pre-Budget consultation meetings were held with the finance minister virtually between December 15 and December 22, as per the finance ministry statement. More than 120 invitees representing seven stakeholder groups participated in eight meetings, scheduled during this period, it said.
However, demand was still much higher compared to the previous years, underlining the scheme's vital role in providing employment to the rural poor, a vast majority of whom are migrants.
The government will announce minimum support prices for kharif.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is determined to implement the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project despite the Centre's indifference.
The most immediate challenge for growth is the disruption of the global economy brought about by the Ukraine war and related sanctions, the Covid shutdowns in China and the rising tide of inflation, points out Nitin Desai.
The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) on Friday opposed a regulatory body's recommendation for environmental release of genetically modified mustard, calling it "dangerous" and urged the Centre to ensure that the crop's seed is not allowed to be planted "now or ever". In a letter to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, the RSS-affiliated organisation accused the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) of functioning in an "irresponsible fashion" and said the claims made in support of genetically modified (GM) mustard were "completely untrue, unsubstantiated and wrongly projected". "Swadeshi Jagran Manch has all along been opposing this dangerous and unneeded GM mustard being brought in through the backdoor as a public sector genetically modified organism (GMO)," organisation co-convenor Ashwani Mahajan said in the letter.
In his address after more than 75,000 people were given appointment letters for various government jobs in the first tranche, Modi acknowledged the challenges facing the economy the world over with many countries hit by a record inflation and unemployment and said India is making every effort to come out of the situation unscathed.
Most of the 40 MLAs in the Shinde camp don't have enough legislative experience to conduct business in the House and so the first ministry expansion needed induction of veterans.
Besides Bonde, Amravati district BJP president Nivedita Chaudhary, city Mayor Chetan Gawande, BJP state spokesperson Shivrai Kulkarni were also arrested.
The ministry of external affairs said Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told the envoy that discussions in the British Parliament on India's agri reforms represented a gross interference in politics of another democratic country.
Yield loss due to natural calamity is calculated based on field reports and assessment of crop-cutting experiments by district and block agriculture officers.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and discussed issues related to the Maratha reservation, pending GST compensation and the proposed Metro car shed in Kanjur.
'You have come out with a package for the kisan.' 'You have a package for industry.' 'But has anyone addressed the issues concerning small traders?'
Over 1.4 lakh jobs are estimated to be created between March 2019 and March 2021 in various central government departments, according to the Union Budget presented on Monday. The strength of government establishments was 32,71,113 as on March 1, 2019, which is estimated to increase to 34,14,226 by the first day of next month - an increase of 1,43,113, it said. The budget documents have given a break-up of the jobs estimated to be created in central government departments between 2019 and March 2021.
In the retail markets, fresh onion is sold between Rs 10 and Rs 12 a kg. Now, farmers have to sell onion at a loss of Rs 2-3 per kg if transport cost is included.
'It is almost certain that in the absence of note-bandi, the party would have lost in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh,' points out Amulya Ganguli.
Of these 8.5 million additional people employed in September, 6.5 million were in rural India, reveals Mahesh Vyas.