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.
State Food, Civil supplies and Consumer Affairs minister has rushed to New Delhi to take up the matter and explain the gravity of the situation in view of the reduction of rice quota with the Centre on Monday.
Retail prices of gram, sugar, mustard oil, vanaspati and onion have increased by up to 11 per cent in the national capital in last one month, fueling the inflation rate to rise to 39-month high of seven per cent. The prices of gram (chana) rose by 2.7 per cent to Rs 38 per kg on April 1 as against Rs 37 a month earlier, according to the data provided by the Department of Consumer Affairs.Sugar prices increased by nearly 6 per cent at Rs 18 per kg.
The government is unlikely to come up with the IPO of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in the current financial year ending March 2022, as the valuation of the state-owned behemoth is taking more than anticipated time, and the preparatory work is still far from complete. There are still some issues that need to be addressed with regard to the valuation of LIC, a senior official of one of the merchant bankers said. Even after the valuation, there are several regulatory processes that have concluded, the official said.
Breaking a long tradition, the PMO has ensured that specific divisions in each ministry are allocated to junior ministers.
No more a paper tiger, the Advertising Standards Council of India will partner the Department of Consumer Affairs to enforce better compliance.
Five days after the induction of 18 ministers into his cabinet, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday allocated portfolios, keeping Urban Development and 11 other ministries with himself, while giving the crucial Home Department to Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
The guidelines, which have made service charge "totally voluntary and not mandatory", will be sent to states for necessary action
India's MRP and Packaged Commodities Acts are dated and not in line with the modern world's digital price mechanisms and comparisons.
The prices of tomato are continuously moving up with the onset of monsoon due to strained supplies and higher wholesale prices in key producing states.
The government and Life Insurance Corporation's (LIC's) strategic stake sale in IDBI Bank is expected to move to the second stage by the first quarter of FY24, said two people in the know. They added that considering the progress of the ongoing deal, financial bids are expected to come in by June this year. The proposed IDBI Bank stake sale is divided into two sequential stages.
Apart from the chief minister and deputy chief minister, 13 cabinet and 10 ministers of state were allocated portfolios.
The reshuffle is aimed at speeding up the implementation of the government's ambitious programmes like the SmartCity project and focus on key sectors like Mines, Information Technology and Road Transport.
In order to check the abnormal surge in edible oil prices during Diwali festivities, as many as 18 states are in the process of imposing stock holding limits on oilseeds and edible oils after being empowered by the Centre for doing so. Of the 18 states that are in the process of imposing stock limit on my edible oils apart from UP, include Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Kerala, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Of the 18, Uttar Pradesh, has already imposed stock limits on edible oils, the Centre was informed with as many as 23 states to discuss ways and means to ensure further easing of edible oil prices.
The health and family welfare ministry spent 70 per cent of its allocation till October. The ministry may need additional funds for the vaccination drive which is expected to be kicked off from January.
According to Santosh Kumar, the superintendent of police of Saran district, three persons each have died in Isuapur and Mashrak police station areas after allegedly consuming spurious liquor on Tuesday night.
In fresh troubles for Nestle over safety standards of its famous Maggi noodle brand, the Uttrakhand Food Safety Department has collected samples of the 'two-minute' noodles from the company's Pantanagar plant and other places in the state.
Paswan, one of the most prominent Dalit leaders of the country who had been a part of several governments headed by rival parties, died on Thursday at the age of 74.
The top court made this observation while ordering premature release of a woman convicted for murder of two children.
Recently, the finance ministry waived off basic customs duty and health cess on imported oxygen and related equipment for three years.
Nestle relaunched its instant noodles Maggi in the country after satisfying the conditions laid down by the High Court.
Poor rain threatens recovery in production this season, sugar prices at three-month high
The move follows an arrangement with the dept of consumer affairs.
Onion is currently trading between Rs 70 and Rs 80 in retail markets across the country.
The 17 related ministries have been combined into seven different groups, including some infrastructure departments, in a bid to ensure synergy and better results.
What is aggravating the situation is that e-commerce firms are facing huge shortage of delivery personnel. They have not been able to bring back their staff to work, despite offering higher pay and Covid-related insurance packages.
Strengthening the portfolios of the home minister and the finance minister is a message that should not be missed, points out A K Bhattacharya.
As India looks to mend its Covid-battered economy, one thing that will grab the attention of all concerned is the path that both wholesale and retail inflation will follow. Even the Reserve Bank of India in its latest policy statement said, "Going forward, the inflation trajectory is likely to be shaped by uncertainties impinging on the upside and the downside.
Sale and consumption of alcohol was completely banned in Bihar by the Nitish Kumar government in April, 2016.
FCI's suspension of tur under MSP is likely to force farmers to undergo distress sales of the commodity.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain DoPT, Atomic Energy as well as all important policy issues and portfolios not allocated.
A total of 16 secretaries have been appointed to various central government departments.
Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan appealed to people to boycott products from China and also directed officials of his ministry not to procure any Chinese products for day-to-day office use while his ministerial colleague Ramdas Athawale said all restaurants and hotels that sell Chinese food in India should be closed down.
As many as 12,394 complaints of alleged corruption were received against railway employees.
In its new avatar as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), it will directly be responsible for 'the welfare of traders and their employees'.
Despite admitting to price pressures both from food items and input prices, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday hoped that a normal Southwest monsoon will have a "soothing impact" on inflation pressures and ruled out any wide variations in medium-term inflation forecast from what was given in April. In an unscheduled address earlier in the day amidst the raging pandemic, Das said the overall outlook for the economy is highly uncertain and is clouded with downside risks. He offered a slew of relief and liquidity measures to individuals and small businesses apart from a Rs 50,000 crore special liquidity window to the healthcare sector.
There has been a quantum jump in the number of complaints of corruption received by the Central Vigilance Commission last year as against those in 2011.
How has the NDA government fared in tackling price rise, an issue it raised hell over in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections? The Rediff Labs team finds out.
Claims of a spike in poverty and inequality in India during the Covid-19 pandemic are patently false as such claims are based on uncomparable different surveys, according to a paper co-authored by eminent economist Arvind Panagariya. The paper also noted that inequality fell in the country during Covid years, both in rural and urban areas as well as nationally. Panagariya, Columbia University Professor and former vice chairman of NITI Aayog and Vishal More of Intelink Advisors, New Delhi have co-authored a detailed paper 'Poverty and Inequality in India: Before and After Covid-19'.
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