'As of now there are no mining activities,' but 'who knows the future?'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced the doubling of the upper limit of Mudra loans to Rs 20 lakh to promote entrepreneurship in the country. "The limit of Mudra loans will be enhanced to Rs 20 lakh from the current Rs 10 lakh for those entrepreneurs who have availed and successfully repaid previous loans under the 'Tarun category', she said while presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha.
From the word go, Bihar growled its needs out when an MP from the state said aloud: "Give something for Bihar also, Madam." Every time the Budget mentioned cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh, "Kursi Bachao" was the call from Congress MPs.
'The Congress in the past backed the demand, but will not support it now since the SP opposes any division of UP.'
Vinesh has been training with Woller Akos, her personal coach from Belgium and has also worked with South African mental conditioning coach Wayne Lombard.
The passage of the women's reservation bill has ignited hope among stakeholders about attaining gender equality in India's political landscape, especially at the policy-making level, even as some raised concerns over its effectiveness given the uncertainty in the deadline for its implementation.
A second road linking Tsomgo lake and Nathula border pass with Gangtok -- christened as 'Narendra Modi Marg' -- was officially inaugurated by Sikkim Governor Ganga Prasad.
Ahead of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections, keeping food prices under check has emerged as one of the topmost priorities for the government. Food prices would likely have a bearing on the preferences of voters. In the past, there have been instances when governments have been voted out over rising food inflation.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday took note of religious conversions, saying that an anti-conversion law should be made to stop such acts.
Kolkata hangs its head in shame as the hope of a government with a moral compass and a heart in the right place recedes into the distance, notes Payal Singh Mohanka.
'There are legions of unemployed degree holders across rural and semi-urban belts in Maharashtra. Now, they aren't finding brides.' 'This issue has now snowballed into a social crisis. In 2014 and 2019, they had voted for the BJP.'
The farmers of 10 villages in Lohandiguda block have now refused to hand over their land for Tata's proposed 5 mtpa steel plant until their 13-point demands are addressed by the administration.
Two-time chief minister and five-time MLA Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy has once again demonstrated his political acumen by bagging a seat in the union council of ministers, despite his party joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance just last year.
The specter of how the Munambam issue was exploited during the November by-elections is proof of the price Kerala is paying for its emergent politics. Controversies become the stuff of slow-burn and brinkmanship. The former promises mileage; the latter searches for an advantage, notes Shyam G Menon.
The Madhya Pradesh government has issued a new notification after the amendment in the MP Religious Freedom Rules 2021 for the same on Thursday.
Phogat and Punia joined the party in the presence of Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, spokesperson Pawan Khera and Haryana Congress chief Uday Bhan.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that polls can be rigged through social media, and that if social media companies want, they can make any party win an election.
After tasting electoral success in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday said it would contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls from 20 states, including Uttar Pradesh, where it would field candidates from all 80 constituencies.
'The BJP alliance needs to handle the Maratha quota issue skilfully and address its root cause, which is agrarian distress. Then there is stalled industrialisation. If these issues are addressed, caste fault lines would wither away. But, this is next to impossible in a short span of three-four months.'
High drama was witnessed during the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet meeting on Saturday with ministers Jagat Negi and Rohit Thakur leaving midway following a 'heated debate' over policy decisions, sources said.
Shashi Tharoor, who is eyeing a fourth consecutive win from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat, has declared assets of over Rs 55 crore in his nomination papers.
Local station house officer Ashok Chakravarty said the decision to not offer namaz in public place was taken by the community itself after a meeting was held on Wednesday to maintain peace.
Dharashiv, earlier Osmanabad, is among the eight districts that comprise the state's Marathwada region, where activist Manoj Jarange has led an agitation demanding reservation for Marathas in education and government jobs.
Under the stewardship of the then TMC national general secretary Mukul Roy and North 24 Parganas TMC district president Jyotipriyo Mullick, he joined the party and quickly ascended in power, becoming a close associate of Mullick.
'Is the Agniveer scheme or their post-retirement re-employment in paramilitary forces or in the state governments the BJP's answer to the crying need on the job front?' 'Or, even Finance Minister Sitharaman's one-year internship scheme in the public and private sector, is it a permanent solution, either?', asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Ministry readies draft to dilute tribal rights to help India Inc
'The BJP is not as mighty a political force in Odisha as it is made out to be.'
Celebrations, of course, will happen when Congress scion, Rahul Gandhi, who anointed himself as the 'sepoy of Niyamgiri tribals in Delhi' at a public meeting here in 2008, visits the area again shortly.
She has also demanded Rai's removal from the MLA's post. When contacted, Rai told media persons to themselves inquire into Thakur's allegations.
Better living conditions must be an integral part of all political campaigns. But this will only happen if the public pressures the political class to understand the irreversibility of climate change and make the environment a crucial part of their manifestos.
Even as this village on the slopes of the rugged Niyamgiris gets ready to host the maiden gram sabha on Thursday to decide the fate of a bauxite mining project on the hills, life for the local Dongaria Kondh tribals, who consider the hills sacred, continues as usual.
Of the 20,831 voters in this assembly constituency, an overwhelming majority of around 18,000 are not tribals.
'BJP has lot of money. Even a rich person like me is scared of taking on the financial muscle of the BJP.' 'What is the point of throwing money? Result toh aane wala nahi hai.'
Almost every home in this area has a slogan 'Jal, Jangal, Jameen' painted outside. Rashme Sehgal reports for Rediff.com on the four-year battle to save the Mahan forest in Madhya Pradesh.
In the midst of electioneering, the Janata Dal-United candidate from Jagdishpur assembly seat Sushumlata Kushwaha delivered a baby girl, drawing rich praise from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday.
The BJP has played the social engineering card in Rajasthan with an eye on the Lok Sabha election where the party will try and retain all the 25 seats that it had won in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
The Union health ministry has directed states to identify all left-out people and ensure everyone gets their Covid jab through initiatives such as workplace vaccination, as part of the government's "Har Ghar Dastak" campaign. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a review meeting on vaccination progress with Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Puducherry on Monday. In a tweet, the minister said, "Spoke about augmenting Govt's #HarGharDastak vaccine campaign. Requested help from religious leaders, NGOs & political groups to speed-up vaccination coverage." Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has asked state officials that workplace vaccination should be organised for targeting people due for their doses.
The most significant development over the last 10 years is that such organisations have accepted the need to operate on the basis of the principle of FPIC, namely Free, Prior and Informed Consent, by the local people whom a mining project affects.
A tribal woman Sarpanch was allegedly prevented by some unidentified persons from hoisting national flag at the village office on Independence Day.
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