At a time when none in Kerala's Left politics questioned the chief minister's authority, MLA P V Anvar hurled a series of accusations against Pinarayi Vijayan's government, notes Shyam G Menon.
'Healthcare is not an industry.' 'The government is only encouraging insurance as they are not able to provide healthcare to people.' 'Opening new medical colleges is not what is needed.' 'You have to invest in public sector hospitals.' 'You cannot hand over healthcare to the private industry.'
The government on Monday budgeted Rs 1.75 lakh crore from stake sale in public sector companies and financial institutions, including 2 PSU banks and one general insurance company, in the next fiscal year beginning April 1. The amount is lower than the record Rs 2.10 lakh crore which was budgeted to be raised from CPSE disinvestment in the current fiscal year. However, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the government's CPSE stake sale programme, and the target has been lowered to Rs 32,000 crore in the Revised Estimates.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who has been part of several landmark Supreme Court judgements such as scrapping the electoral bonds scheme and upholding abrogation of Article 370, will be sworn in as the 51st Chief Justice of India on Monday.
Ahead of the Budget, the government has achieved almost half the divestment target of Rs 65,000 crore. FY23 divestment receipts are unlikely to be anywhere close to the budgeted target.
The employees are demanding salary parity with state government employees, seeking a pay scale adjustment to match that of their counterparts in the state sector.
The government on Saturday said a committee will be formed to propose safety measures for healthcare professionals even as OPD services were hit across the country as doctors joined the 24-hour nationwide strike called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to protest the alleged rape and murder of a trainee medic in Kolkata.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration has transferred five Kashmiri Pandit employees from Kashmir to Jammu, a step welcomed by the community members who have been on a strike for over two months in support of the demand for their relocation over safety concerns.
Delhi's public works department will set up 35 metre-high national flags at 75 locations across the city by January 26, officials said on Wednesday.
Citing complaints against Rajshekhar for 'running an extortion racket and demanding protection money', Delhi vigilance minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on May 13 ordered withdrawing all work assigned to the officer with immediate effect.
The water level of the Yamuna reached 205.92 metres at 4 pm on Monday and remained above the danger mark of 205.33 metres, officials said.
Healthcare services remained affected at state-run hospitals in West Bengal as junior doctors continued their cease-work protest.
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
An angry Banerjee slammed a minister, a former Trinamool Congress mayor and a few bureaucrats for their "below-par performance".
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and the Union Territory of neighbouring Puducherry are likely to go to polls in April or May.
A peek into the life of a public-sector banker who did well professionally, but paid a price for it, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The finance ministry (FinMin) has asked Infosys to work on ways to extract and access taxpayers' real-time data faster and accurately as it is crucial for taking decisions on policy changes. While reviewing progress of the income tax portal 2.0, which had faced glitches, the officials also told the Infosys team to increase the scope of pre-filled data in the ITR forms. Senior officials in the ministry held a review meeting last month with the Infosys team and officials of the Central Processing Centre (CPC).
Some India states are likely to record a significantly higher number of heatwave days, according to the national weather body.
Bharadwaj said it has not rained in Delhi in the last 3-4 days, yet still the water level in Yamuna reached 208.66 metres.
The Union health ministry has issued new 'Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to contain spread of COVID-19 in offices' and according to these, if one or two cases are reported, the disinfection procedure will be limited to the areas occupied and visited by the patient in the last 48 hours.
The raids continued for nearly seven hours during which the ED sleuths seized a number of documents.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday pitched for front loading of capital expenditure, saying it is critical for revitalisting the economy post the coronavirus pandemic. During a virtual meeting with senior government officials to discuss the infrastructure roadmap ahead, she also asked ministries to aim to achieve more than their capital expenditure (capex) targets. The Union Budget 2021-22 provided a capital outlay of Rs.5.54 lakh crore, a sharp increase of 34.5 per cent over the Budget Estimate of 2020-21.
After 118 days of unauthorised stay and a bitter stand-off with the government, former union Minister Ajit Singh today finally vacated the 12 Tughlaq Road bungalow in New Delhi.
Following the Supreme Court verdict which clipped the powers of the LG, the bone of contention between the Delhi government and his office continues to be control over the services department.
The Centre has taken a major step towards increasing efficiency in decision-making by empowering joint secretaries to report to secretaries directly, officials said on Wednesday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday assured the Delhi high court it will not arrest Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav this month, after which the politician agreed he will appear before the probe agency on March 25 for questioning in connection with a case related to the alleged land-for-jobs scam.
The President's House will also be lit with such a system within three months, an official said.
Finance Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday asked various ministries to try to spend more than their capital expenditure targets as well as explore public private partnerships for viable projects. During a meeting with senior government officials to discuss the infrastructure roadmap, she also urged the ministries and their CPSEs to ensure clearance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) dues at the earliest. This was the fifth review meeting by the finance minister with ministries and departments on the infrastructure roadmap.
Some low-lying places like Hindmata, and areas in Dadar and Sion, including the Gandhi Market and road number 24 in Sion, were inundated, forcing pedestrians to wade through the water and making it difficult for motorists to commute.
Five members of the Muslim side also participated in the survey. Its advocate Tauheed Khan said advocates of the Intezamia Masjid Committee Akhlaq and Mumtaz accompanied the survey team.
The Punjab chief minister said he was asked by Kejriwal to visit different places for campaigning for INDIA bloc candidates.
Phogat and Punia joined the party in the presence of Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, spokesperson Pawan Khera and Haryana Congress chief Uday Bhan.
Salim-Javed became the first Hindi film writers who could be considered brands, and they are still boldface names, celebrities in their own right, chronicles Dinesh Raheja.
Sources close to her said she would be staying for a few days in her Gurugram penthouse before shifting to central Delhi, where she has finalised a house.
'The aim is also to probe how the ministry and testing agencies made negligence in examining these OEMs, so that such negligence is avoided in the future.'
The India Meteorological Department said Delhi recorded 139 mm of rainfall, the highest one-day rain for August in at least 13 years.
You don't prep for 2028 but for 2040, or even 2044. Sustained sporting excellence is based on mass support, grassroots development, and funding - and it is this trifecta India needs to work on, systematically, asserts Prem Panicker.
Few in Varanasi expect the result to be different from 2014 and 2019. The only point of interest is whether Narendra Modi will increase his winning margin against his rivals.
'Das is friendly, but he finally does what he does. The quality of engagement is very good.'
Sisodia was unhappy with the recommendations, so he asked the then excise commissioner Rahul Singh to seek public opinion by placing the Dhawan Committee report on web site, the agency alleged in the chargesheet.
