The Uttarakhand government on Friday decided to waive for six months electricity and water bills of families and individuals affected in the subsidence-hit Joshimath.
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has the task of bringing clean tap water to all households by 2024.
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.
Vishwajit Rane, who had unsuccessfully lobbied for the CM's post, has been given crucial Health and Town and Country Planning Portfolios along with Urban Development, Women and Child, and Forest departments.
In a step towards diversifying its resource base and securing green energy minerals, India is poised to launch its first-ever offshore mineral auction in the first quarter of 2024, announced Union Minister of Mines Pralhad Joshi during the launch event of the National Geoscience Data Repository portal. The government plans to hold auctions in March, offering 10-15 blocks for bidding. Meanwhile, the ministry of mines is currently developing rules and regulations for offshore mining.
The Maharashtra government on Tuesay banned digging of borewell below 200 feet in view of the acute water crisis in the state.
A 14-member council of ministers was sworn in Patna by Governor Phagu Chauhan on Monday and the BJP bagged seven berths.
'A person weighing 68 kilograms on the Earth would weigh only over 11 kg on the Moon'
With this allocation of portfolios, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP has got most of the 'plum' ministries.
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.
Pant, a 1991-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Rajasthan cadre, is currently secretary in the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways.
Even as the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi dispensation is currently facing a survival crisis due to a rebellion by Sena minister Eknath Shinde, the departments -- mostly controlled by ruling allies Nationalist Congress Party and Congress -- have issued government orders for the release of funds for various development-related works worth thousands of crores in the last four days.
With different agencies showing divergent predictions regarding the southwest monsoon, the central government and states are gearing up to face adversity with various line ministries reportedly being directed to undertake mock drills and hold preparatory meetings. Around 56 per cent of the net cultivable area of the country is rain-fed, accounting for 44 per cent of foodgrain production. The June-September rains contribute around 73 per cent of the annual precipitation.
The three-day meeting between the two commissioners of PCIW completed discussions on all agenda items on Wednesday.
The wall broke up after being forcefully hit by the Ganga river waters when the pump was switched on for a trial run.
Terming it a "very sorry state of affairs", the apex court said the state was just trying to find some excuse or the other.
The Bihar state government on Thursday sounded a high alert in the state flood affected districts following heavy rains in the state and the catchment areas of Nepal. The rising water level in major rivers in north Bihar has hundreds of thousands of people in the state.
As per norms, sanction for prosecution of government employees accused of corruption has to be given within four months' stipulated time.
The heavy rains led to water level in various dams in the state rising to the red alert mark, prompting the government to open one of the shutters of Cheruthoni dam of Idukki reservoir in the afternoon.
A recent study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar has established the presence of coronavirus in water samples from the Sabarmati river and two lakes in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat.
The flood situation in Bihar is showing signs of improvement after the swollen rivers started receding on Friday. For nearly a week major rivers like Ganga had wreaked havoc in the state.
Ramesh asked the PM why river Ganga is "dirtier than before" even after spending Rs 20,000 crore on the Namami Gange project.
Full list of the rejigged Union Council of Ministers
"We are apprehending a major flood in the Mahanadi system as a huge volume of water is heading downstream," Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy told reporters in Bhubhaneshwar.
City-based irrigation department whistle blower Vijay Pandhare, who blew the lid off alleged irregularities in various projects across Maharashtra, has sought voluntary retirement from service.
The Arunachal Pradesh government has launched an ambitious plan to build 50 mini hydropower projects along the border with China for electrification of remote villages that are facing challenges of poor connectivity and mountainous terrain.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Tuesday allocated portfolios to the new ministers, keeping 14 departments with himself and giving home affairs to deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and health to other deputy O P Soni.
'In the last 55 years India and Pakistan have gone to wars, but nobody spoke about scrapping the Indus Waters Treaty.'
The Maharashtra government day informed the Bombay high court that a white paper on the alleged multi-crore irrigation scam, involving bureaucrats of the water resources department and the Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation, would be ready within three weeks.
Flood victims have been fighting for survival and living in temporary shelters nearby railway tracks with lack of food items. They are yet to get any help from the government, reports M I Khan.
The state government will seek technological help from the United States to plug the breaches in embankments and roads caused by floods.
In Punjab, more than 9,000 people were evacuated in Patiala, Rupnagar, Moga, Ludhiana, Mohali, SBS Nagar and Fatehgarh Sahib districts, officials said on Tuesday.
The overall flood situation in Bihar remained grim on Monday with major rivers in spate. Around 1.5 million people have been affected by the deluge in 11 north Bihar districts, where floods have claimed 52 lives so far, official sources said.
At the bottom of the water index for 2016-17 are Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh (UP), and Haryana, which are major producers of paddy, wheat, along with a host of horticulture crops.
The Cauvery River Authority headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would meet in New Delhi on September 19.
The finance minister was speaking after launching the maiden IDF scheme of IIFCL Mutual Fund in New Delhi on Tuesday.
While there was a brief respite from the incessant downpour on Tuesday, collaborative efforts from the defence, national, and state disaster response forces took the lead in executing rescue and relief operations.
The Group of Ministers, set up to look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, met on Monday for discussion with Union ministry secretary-level officers.
CAG says Rs 43,270.01 cr was spent by the water resources department on 426 incomplete projects.
