The National Advisory Council, chaired by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, met for the second time on Thursday after its recent revival and unanimously endorsed the idea of universal access to the public distribution system (PDS) in rural areas.
The National Advisory Council, chaired by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, met for the second time on Thursday after its recent revival and unanimously endorsed the idea of universal access to the public distribution system in rural areas. It was agreed that a universalised PDS should be implemented initially in 150 districts, a member said.
The industry needs a 10 year extension of tax benefits for standalone R&D entities.
A core member of Team Anna and expert of food security, Devinder Sharma, told rediff.com that there is a debate going on within Team Anna whether the Gandhian should hold his proposed fast to press for a stringent Lokpal Bill from December 27 in Mumbai.
A nationwide agitation was held on the call of 'December 8 Kisan Mahaandolan' as protesting farmers vociferously reiterated their demand of repealing the new farm laws, which they have termed as "kala kanoon".
Union Cabinet committee on accommodation has allotted 6 Krishna Menon Marg -- the prestigious type 8 bungalow -- to the Jagjivan Ram Foundation.
The CBI's case against Mulayam has been killed by politics, says Sreenivasan Jain
The United Progressive Alliance's growth story' and food security scheme dominated a Congress workshop on Monday where its media managers from across the country were given training to disseminate party's message on key issues ahead of next Lok Sabha polls.
Siemens's share price has lost ground in the past few sessions following weak management commentary. The management indicated challenges to the growth outlook due to stagnant private capex and concerns over semiconductor shortages for digital industries. Government infra-spending may regain momentum from January 2025.
'The BJP lacks a credible mass leader who matches Mamata Banerjee's popularity.' 'Given the division of votes among Opposition parties, the West Bengal government's dole-giving strategy, and the consolidation of the poor, significant sections of scheduled caste groups and Muslim minorities behind the ruling party, it will be difficult to dislodge the Trinamool from power.'
Charging the Central Bureau of Investigation for not probing role of a Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, the Bharatiya Janata P Party on Thursday alleged that the agency was acting at the behest of the Congress with a one-point agenda to frame the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The government's subsidies on food, fertilisers, LPG and kerosene are pegged at Rs 5.96 lakh crore in the current fiscal, over 2.5-fold jump from the initial budget estimates as the Centre distributed additional foodgrains free of cost to help poor mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2020 Budget, presented in the pre-COVID scare, the government had estimated the subsidy bill at Rs 227,794 crore. However, all the budget estimates, have undergone major revisions as the country imposed strict lockdown to check the spread of COVID-19.
As hard bargains continue for the next four days at the picturesque tourist resort of Indonesia, the ministers., including from the influential developed countries will try and reach agreements on providing windows to the developing nations for their food security programmes and a pact to free the global trade from the procedural hassles at the customs.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday left for the US for medical check-up.
Aditya Mhatre shares some practical and actionable tips to save money and focus on what matters most when you are studying abroad
The Congress has ruled India for 54 of the last 67 years; that it took the party over six decades to come up with bills that provide citizens their basic needs is a shame, not a moment of triumph, says Amberish K Diwanji.
Will help in reviving the economy and push investment.
The opposition in Lok Sabha on Monday tore into the controversial Land Acquisition Bill
Shiv Sena, a constituent of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, on Monday defended Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's "Hindu nationalist" remark, saying the Janata Dal-United's decision to snap ties with the party was "wrong".
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare said on Friday he will start a 'satyagraha' in New Delhi on the first day of winter session, for the passage of Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament.
The Congress president was on August 26 admitted to AIIMS hospital after she was taken ill in the Lok Sabha where her dream welfare legislation and UPA's ambitious Food Security Bill was in the final stages of adoption.
This is the highest in the past five years and almost 24 per cent more than last year.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi was on Monday night admitted to AIIMS hospital after she was taken ill in the Lok Sabha where her pet welfare legislation and UPA's ambitious Food Security Bill was in the final stages of adoption.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said that the United Progressive Alliance government's policies and programmes for rapid and inclusive growth are showing good results and the country has seen a record average economic growth in the last nine years.
With Lok Sabha polls not too far away, Congress President Sonia Gandhi signalled that the ambitious Food Security and Land Acquisition Acts brought in by the Centre would give a new deal to the people, especially the farmers and the poor.
'The finance minister missed yet another opportunity to simplify the income tax structure in the Budget.' 'This was an opportune moment to get rid of the old tax system entirely and move fully to the new system,' asserts M Govinda Rao, member of the 14th Finance Commission.
After the exit of Aruna Roy, government has reconstituted the National Advisory Council by inducting renowned sociologist Virginius Xaxa into the 12-member panel chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
This is a formidable task which the Centre may find hard to shoulder without substantial involvement of the states.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav attacked the Congress over the food security ordinance, accusing it of indulging in vote bank politics and said its intentions were not good.
Hundreds of Congress workers on Monday clashed with the police during a protest against the BJP government's Land Acquisition Bill, saying it was anti-farmer.
The United Progressive Alliance government's confidence about getting legislative business done in the monsoon session of Parliament, beginning August 5, might be misplaced.
Renu Mittal explains why United Progressive Alliance government's crucial legislative plans may not work despite all its efforts.
In the chair was Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader of the old school with friends across parties unlike the duo who currently run the BJP.
.JPG)
The partially convertible rupee closed at 66.24/25 per dollar after hitting a record low of 66.30, and down 2.9 per cent from its close of 64.30/31 on Monday.
Three bills were introduced in Lok Sabha on Tuesday amid uproar with members from Left parties trooping into the Well to protest against rising prices of onion while other members raised the Telangana issue.
The government's subsidies on food, fertilisers and petroleum are estimated to decline by 39 per cent to Rs 4,33,108 crore this fiscal and fall further by 27 per cent to nearly Rs 3.18 lakh crore in 2022-23. In its revised Budget (RE) estimate for the 2021-22 fiscal, the government has pegged total subsidies to be at Rs 4,33,108 crore against the actual Budget estimate of Rs 7,07,707 crore in the previous financial year. Out of which, the food subsidy is estimated to decline to Rs 2,86,469 crore in the current fiscal from Rs 5,41,330 crore in 2020-21, while petroleum subsidy is estimated to fall to Rs 6,517 crore from Rs 38,455 crore in the said period.
Whether it was the MGNREGS or the NFSA or the Aadhaar-based DBT scheme for cash transfer, the Modi government has built on the basic architecture created by the Singh government. Policy makers in the Modi government, instead of discarding them as products of the previous political regime, worked on them, expanded their scope and reach, and used new tools to improve their performance, explains A K Bhattacharya.
.jpg)
The CPI(M) on Thursday slammed the Planning Commission estimates on poverty levels in the country, saying these made "a mockery of life and death struggles" of the people, amidst continuous rise in prices and "massive" slashing of subsidies for the poor.
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Terming the rejection of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation-2013 Bill by the state legislature as the Brahmastra (a mythological weapon of great power), Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has expressed confidence that President Pranab Mukherjee would take into consideration that matter before sending the bill to the Parliament.
