Even as the government seeks to recruit one million people in 18 months, it is interesting that the record of its flagship skill development programme, which aims to enhance the employment potential of Indians, has been poor. To be sure, the progress was not great to begin with, and it inevitably deteriorated during the two years of the pandemic. When the government announced its first skill development initiative in 2015, it aimed to train as many people as possible and provide them with placements.
The number of rape cases in 2020 was 28,046, while it was 32,033 in 2019, the National Crime Records Bureau's 'Crime in India 2021' report showed.
Saxena has also approved engaging Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to represent the Delhi government in the case, a senior official said.
'The power sector accounts for much of the financial burden of state governments in India.'
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that primary schools will be closed from Saturday in view of spike in pollution levels in the national capital.
Authorities in Nuh district Sunday razed some illegal structures including a hotel from where stones were allegedly pelted on a religious procession last week, even as a mahapanchayat was held in support of four men arrested over arson at a mosque and the death of its junior imam.
Knocking out Congress from its bastions, the Modi wave placed BJP on the cusp of forming a government in Maharashtra with unexpected support from Nationalist Congress Party while it stormed to power on its own in Haryana.
The government has no plans to import wheat as it has sufficient stocks to meet the country's requirements, official sources said. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has enough stock for public distribution, they added. "There are no plans to import wheat into India. "The country has sufficient stocks to meet our domestic requirements," a source said.
The probe will be completed within a month and former SDM Ayush Sinha will remain on leave during the time.
The move came after the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government on Monday approved an amendment to the British-era Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have been claiming that "more than 100 people" have died. Most media reports have put the death toll to be more than 50.
In Bihar, where a bandh had been called, a railway station and a police vehicle were torched, an ambulance attacked and security personnel injured in stone-pelting incidents on the fourth consecutive day of the agitation, while protesters vandalised Ludhiana railway station in Punjab and blocked roads and rail tracks in West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
The government on Monday said there is sufficient wheat stock in the country and that it will take action against hoarders, if needed, to boost domestic supply. The Centre may consider steps like asking for disclosure of wheat stocks by traders and imposing stock limits to augment domestic availability. Addressing the 82nd AGM of Roller Flour Millers Federation of India, food secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said there is no problem of wheat in the country and the Centre has 24 million tonne of wheat in godowns of state-owned FCI. The secretary pointed out that wheat prices have gone up due to "speculative trading".
The Delhi high court on Thursday reserved its judgment on a batch of petitions challenging the Centre's Agnipath scheme for recruitment in armed forces.
'This goes against the letter and spirit of Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966. Punjab will fight strongly for its rightful claim over Chandigarh'
The central government on Thursday sent a formal letter to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) agreeing to accept their pending demands and prompting the farmers' body to suspend their over a yearlong agitation.
The Union health ministry on Friday urged eight states and Union Territories to take up immediate containment measures including preventing crowds, conducting widespread testing as well as increasing vaccine coverage on a priority basis in districts where the Delta Plus variant of coronavirus has been detected.
On Tuesday, Mandaviya had written to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot asking them to strictly follow the COVID-19 guidelines during the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The action came after investigations carried out by an inter-ministerial committee formed by the home ministry in 2020.
In a statement, the SKM alleged that the government had not fulfilled any of the promises, including setting up a committee on minimum support price and withdrawal of cases against protesters, made to the farmers.
The Delhi high court on Thursday set aside the AAP government's doorstep ration delivery scheme -- Mukhymantri Ghar Ghar Ration Yojna.
The Centre said bird flu has been confirmed so far in Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat, and asked these six states to contain the disease as per the action plan.
Amid criticism over the formation of foam in the Yamuna -- a sign of its hazardous water quality -- the Delhi government on Tuesday deployed 15 boats to remove the froth with the help of ropes.
Union minister Jitendra Singh assured the members of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that there is better nuclear safety in India as compared to many other countries and there are enough safeguards in the Indian nuclear plants.
The country's wheat output is estimated to drop by about 3 per cent to 106.41 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year (July-June) from the previous year, agriculture ministry said in its latest estimate released on Thursday. The production is, however, lower by 4.61 per cent from the earlier estimate of 111.32 million tonnes projected for the 2021-22 crop year, the data showed. Wheat production stood at a record 109.59 million tonnes in the 2020-21 crop year.
India's wheat production is projected to have declined nearly 3 per cent to 106.84 million tonnes while the overall foodgrain production is estimated to have touched record 315.72 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year. The wheat production is estimated to have declined due to heatwave that resulted in shrivelled grains in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana. Releasing the fourth advance estimate for the 2021-22 crop year, the Union agriculture ministry on Wednesday said a record output is also estimated for rice, maize, gram, pulses, rapeseed and mustard, oilseeds and sugarcane.
The Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday that religious freedom does not include a fundamental right to convert other people to a particular religion and that it certainly does not embrace the right to convert an individual through fraud, deception, coercion or allurement.
Officials have admitted that the problem of frothing will continue until sewage treatment plants in Delhi are upgraded to meet the new standards.
At present, perpetrators of such acts often get away unscathed as the penalty for the first time offender is just Rs 50 under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960.
Today six months and one day have passed. Where is the chargesheet," Sidhu asked.
The Delhi government has approved the withdrawal of 17 cases registered during the anti-farm law stir, including one involving last year's Republic Day violence, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Some sportspersons of Punjab and Haryana have been returning their awards (Padma, Dronacharya, and Arjuna award ) in order to show solidarity with the farmers.
In an open letter, they said, "We are witnessing a frenzy of hate filled destruction in the country where at the sacrificial altar are not just Muslims and members of the other minority communities but the Constitution itself."
'Only then will we withdraw the agitation.'
The Centre has sought five names from the Samkyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) to be included in a committee for discussion on a host of issues, including MSP, and the umbrella body of farmer unions will decide those in its December 4 meeting, farmer leader Darshan Pal said on Tuesday.
Even as Union ministers allay misgivings over Agnipath, figures show a meagre 2.4 per cent of the ex-servicemen who applied for a government job could get one as the Centre and the states have been unable to recruit against the reserved quotas. Public sector undertakings (PSUs), ministries, and officials of Sainik Boards have blamed it on the lack of skill among ex-servicemen. They say veterans' inability to qualify in selection exams is one of reasons for this. Also, non-recognition of qualifications obtained from the military are reasons why their recruitment has remained significantly low, pushing them towards low-skill jobs.
Tinu escaped from the custody of the Crime Investigation Agency unit of the Mansa Police on Saturday night when he was brought on a production warrant from Goindwal Sahib jail in Tarn Taran district in another case.
In a show of strength in Jind by protesting farmers, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday warned the government that it could find it difficult to stay on in power if the new agri-marketing laws are not repealed.
'The government knows our demands and knows well about our peaceful demonstration. It can address our concern and we will be gone'
The Centre on Friday said that no farmer died due to police action during the year-long protests by farmers.
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