Survey likely to be tabled in July by the new government.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has distanced itself from controversial remarks made by its senior leader and West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim regarding the Muslim percentage in the population. Hakim, in a speech, had claimed that Muslims constitute 33 per cent of the population in West Bengal and 17 per cent nationwide, adding that they could become a numerical majority if they empower themselves. The party issued a statement on Monday condemning Hakim's remarks, asserting that they do not reflect its ideology and commitment to communal harmony. The remarks have sparked a political storm, with the opposition BJP accusing Hakim of attempting to stir communal sentiments. Hakim later clarified that his remarks were misinterpreted and that he was advocating for the empowerment of minorities through education and skill development. However, the controversy has caused ripples within the TMC and complicated the party's messaging.
The government has approved the 'Terms of Reference' for the 16 Finance Commission, which makes recommendations on sharing of tax revenues between the Centre and states. The recommendations would cover a five-year period commencing April 1, 2026, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said on Wednesday, giving details about the decisions taken at the Cabinet meeting last evening. The commission would submit its report by October 31, 2025, Thakur said.
'By his words, actions, and body language during their joint press appearance wanted to convey his personal respect and, more broadly, his desire to work closely with India.'
'Trump has no more elections to fight and his soaring ambition, which is no secret, will be to carve out a presidential legacy that outshines by far all his mediocre predecessors.' 'Trump's turnaround on the H-1B visa debate shows that he can take tough decisions and there are no holy cows in his domain,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'We have to keep a watch because India-Sri Lanka has a history that whenever there has been a change in government, either the connectivity projects have been questioned or cancelled or revived.'
The finance ministry on Friday withdrew expenditure curbs on various departments and ministries imposed in June in the wake of the COVID-19 second wave, reflecting improvement in public finances and the urgency to step up growth.
The government has allowed the Enforcement Directorate to share information about economic offenders with 15 more agencies, including SFIO, CCI and NIA, a move that will expedite nailing of law-breakers. The finance ministry notified changes to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, on November 22. Through the notification, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which deals primarily with cases of money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws, would be able to share data with a total of 25 agencies, including the 10 specified earlier.
At a time when the government is nudging the private sector to ramp up its capital expenditure (capex), the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is poised to kick-start the first-of-its-kind annual survey on the status of private sector capex from next month. "The inaugural edition of the annual exercise will start in October and will be completed by December. "The results will be made public by February next year," said Geeta Singh Rathore, director general, National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), at a data users' conference on Thursday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced plans to significantly reduce the number of immigrants coming to Canada for the next two years.
Many were so disillusioned with AAP that they left it in droves. A 10% drop in AAP's vote share is a pointer to that. To assume that if AAP had teamed up with the Congress, the Congress' 6.3% vote share would have helped AAP retain control of Delhi is erroneous, argues Sudhir Bisht.
This will be the first budget presented by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in its third term amid high anticipation following President Droupadi Murmu's assertion that it will be marked by many historic steps.
Do we have enough trained oncologists and medical professionals in India to man these over 4,500 beds in the public sector?
Ukraine and Russia need to engage with each other to find a solution to the ongoing conflict between them, India said on Friday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv under the shadow of the raging war.
Many were hoping that with Vajpayee's NDA gone, there would be a return to the Congress normal. Nobody was prepared for the opposite. Sonia Gandhi was sceptical. This became the only issue over which Manmohan Singh took on his party bosses and risked his government. Politically, it was riskier than the 1991 reform, recalls Shekhar Gupta.
First things first: For those wondering if they need to reapply, the answer is no.
'The revenue projection arises out of all sectors doing well and the formalisation of the economy helps in making sure the tax domain gets widened.'
With general elections on the horizon, the government's privatisation bandwagon has almost but stalled as a government wary of being accused of selling family silver opts for minority stake sales on stock exchanges over outright privatisation. The result -- the divestment target for current fiscal year is again likely to be missed. Big ticket privatisation plans such as that of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) and CONCOR are already on the backburner and analysts feel meaningful privatisation can happen only after April/May general elections.
China has approved the construction of the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, close to the Indian border. The USD 137 billion project, which is expected to dwarf even China's own Three Gorges Dam, has raised concerns in India and Bangladesh, the downstream riparian states. Concerns in India are centered around China's potential to control water flow, potentially enabling the release of large amounts of water to flood border areas in times of hostilities. The dam is part of China's 14th Five-Year Plan, and the Chinese government claims that the project is safe and prioritizes ecological protection.
Three years after India declared its goal to become a net-zero economy by 2070, the policy design for achieving the target has begun, with the NITI Aayog forming dedicated multi-sectoral committees to prepare a transition plan. In 2021, India joined a select group of nations that set a target year for becoming net-zero carbon economy. At COP26 in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined a five-pronged 'Panchamitra' climate action target for India and committed to a net-zero target by 2070, joining nations like the US, the UK, and China.
The announcement for the QUAD Caucus came from Congressman Ami Bera, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Indo-Pacific Subcommittee, Congressman Rob Wittman, and Senators Tammy Duckworth and Pete Ricketts, both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The Bombay high court on Friday upheld the tender awarded to an Adani Group firm by the Maharashtra government for the Dharavi slum redevelopment project in Mumbai, ruling there was no 'arbitrariness, unreasonableness or perversity' in the decision.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved seven multi-tracking projects of Indian Railways at an estimated cost of around Rs 32,500 crore, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. The proposed projects, which will be fully funded by the Centre, will help increase the existing line capacity, smoothen train operations, reduce congestion and facilitate ease of travelling and transportation. The projects covering 35 districts in nine states -- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal -- will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by 2,339 km and provide employment of an estimated 7.06 crore man-days to the people of the states.
Tata Sons will likely choose Singapore as a "key partner" for its semiconductor plans, a senior minister from the city-state said on Friday. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran earlier in the day, Singapore's minister for home affairs and law K Shanmugam said semiconductors was a "big discussion" point during the meeting. "If they (Tatas) want to, they can do business with anybody in the world.
She said India was asked to waive diplomatic and consular immunity and cooperate in the investigation but refused.
India should encourage the second coming of SAARC with climate change as an urgent agenda and keeping Indian security concerns in mind as the subtext, suggest Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil Athale (retd).
United States President-elect Donald Trump's plan to overhaul the government with a new department headed by tech billionaire Elon Musk and Indian-origin entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will be a biggest threat for China as it has to compete with far more efficient US political system, a policy advisor to the Chinese government said.
At least 47 Indians trapped in cyber scam centres in Laos have been rescued from the Bokeo province of the country, the Indian embassy in the Southeast Asian country said on Saturday.
Waltz after being elected as the Co-Chair of India Caucus in January last year had said that India is the world's largest democracy and an important strategic partner for the United States.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged CEOs of US majors to take advantage of India's growth story as the country is making all efforts to become the third largest economy of the world in his third term. India is currently the fifth largest economy of the world after the US, China, Germany and Japan with a GDP of around $3.9 trillion. India has been the fastest growing large economies of the world with GDP growth rate of over 7 per cent for the last three consecutive years.
Rejecting the criticism of the CAA, Jaishankar said, "There are people who publicly said on record that because of CAA, a million Muslims will lose their citizenship in this country."
The National Informatics Centre uses AI to automate document analysis and detect fraud in government departments.
The panel will include Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg and RBI Deputy Governor N S Vishwanathan.
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has named Ravneet Kaur, a Punjab cadre IAS officer of 1988 batch, as chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Kaur will hold the post for five years or until attaining the age of 65. She is the second woman to serve in an 'economic regulator' role after Madhabi Puri Buch, who was appointed chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India last year and the first woman to head the country's chief national competition regulator.
Jaitley's team presents a quintessential mix of foreign-educated, intellectual technocrats and seasoned bureaucrats
Putin's remarks came within two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic visit to Ukraine where he held talks with President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Two days ago, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asserted that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was, is and will always be part of India.
Recently, Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached assets worth Rs 757.8 crore of Amway India Enterprises in connection with an alleged marketing scam. It claimed that Amway was running a multi-level marketing scam. The ED provisionally attached immovable and movable properties worth Rs 411.83 crore and bank balances of Rs 345.94 crore from 36 different accounts belonging to Amway. Data from the Department of Economic Affairs shows that in 2021-22 (until December 2021), ED had provisionally attached Rs 8,989.3 crore worth of assets.
The warmth and respect for India were evident wherever I went and noticed how most Latin Americans have Indian gurus either directly or online and yoga was very much in vogue, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The Wrestling Federation of India conveyed to the world governing body UWW that the sports ministry is interfering with its autonomy.
