The Budget for 2018-19 has at least five takeaways that are yet to receive adequate attention, says A K Bhattacharya.
As the virus continued to spread its tentacles across India, several parts, including Kashmir valley headed towards a virtual lockdown with the administration restricting movement of people in several parts and banning all public transport in Srinagar city.
The initiatives intended to benefit the common man include e-ticketing, catering on demand, bio-toilets, food for infants, better stations.
According to the ministry's website, more than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities.
The tally of 114 includes two fatalities and 17 foreigners as well as 13 people who were discharged after they recovered from the infection.
Rediff.com brings you the government's Yoga Day photo album.
In his first comments since the militaries of India and Pakistan jointly announced on Thursday that they have agreed to strictly observe all agreements on the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and other sectors, Khan said Pakistan remains ready to move forward to resolve 'all outstanding issues' with India through dialogue.
The estimated cost of the metrino is Rs 50 crore per km and each pod can accommodate three to four persons, Megha Manchanda/Business Standard reports from New Delhi.
While Modi will be performing yoga along with thousands of people at the Capitol Complex in Chandigarh, his cabinet colleagues Singh and Jaitley have been assigned the task of leading the 2nd IYD programmes in Lucknow and Mumbai respectively.
Outlining the Budget estimates for the coming year, the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu put the plan size at Rs 1.21 lakh crore.
Medical experts feel an aggressive containment strategy in red zones and insulation of green zones is a must while giving relaxations.
Hygiene and cleanliness of trains and stations a must
"We now realise that the so-called farmer agitation hardly remains a farmers' agitation. It has almost got infiltrated by Leftist and Maoist elements, a flavour of which we saw over the last two days when there were extraneous demands to release people who have been put behind bars for anti-national (and) who have been put behind bars for illegal activities," Goyal, the Minister for Railways, Commerce and Industry and Food and Consumers Affairs, said at FICCI's annual meeting.
He will lay foundation stone for the 'Urja Ganga' project, aimed at providing piped natural gas to all the households in the city.
Pakistan parliament on Thursday adopted a unanimous resolution against the caricatures published by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, saying it is a deliberate attempt to 'widen misunderstandings among civilisations' and incite violence.
Kerala has recorded 24 cases including two foreign nationals.
After Pakistani Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the "blasphemous caricatures" published in French weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, dozens marched against the publication in Lahore.
The protesters set ablaze the private residence of the deputy chief minister at Niti Vihar and ransacked the office of the deputy commissioner of Itanagar.
The Punjab government has suggested anambitious multi-crore project to the Centre.
The chief minister said the Delhi government was implementing from November 19 its decision to reserve 80 per cent of ICU beds in private hospitals for COVID-19 patients.
Jaitley, 66, has become 'very weak' as his health has deteriorated over the past few weeks, sources said, adding that he has developed some throat condition as well that prevents him from speaking for long.
'If the mandis were not working in Delhi, or the onion market in Nashik got affected, or there were disruptions because of unloading or loading in any sector in south India, we intervened.'
The people suspected that Khan was smuggling cows but the allegation is yet to be verified, police said.
Normal life was partially affected in West Bengal on Thursday following a state-wide 12-hour general strike called by Left Parties and trade unions, with the Bharatiya Janata Party also calling a 10-hour bandh to protest against alleged violence by ruling Trinamool Congress in the recent civic polls.
Gilgit Baltistan's large frontage with Kashmir and Ladakh across Kargil and the Siachen Glacier gives Pakistan and China the perceived scope for conduct of collusive operations against India and wrest control of the major course of the Indus and Shyok, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
India and the United Kingdom on Thursday announced deals worth 9 billion Pound (Rs 90,550 crore) as they signed a civilian nuclear pact and decided to collaborate in the field of defence and cyber security besides launching a railway rupee bond in London.
Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiagarajan has proclaimed his determination to set Tamil Nadu's fiscal house in order in five years, and Friday will show how he plans to go about it when he rises to present the Stalin government's maiden budget, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Expect Modi to speak about internal security, terrorism, agriculture, the Triple Talaq Bill, the SC/ST Bill and, of course, the controversial NRC.
Long queues outside grocery stores, inflated prices, difficulty in getting important items -- these were some of the problems encountered by people in the National Capital Region (NCR).
It took a lockdown for us in India to even recognise that the plight of migrants needs to be addressed. They were faceless and unrecognised. They were unappreciated and even hounded. They were poorly paid and exploited, notes Ramesh Menon.
The Gujarat tourism department is planning to convert the erstwhile house of Modi's family into a museum, reports Sohini Das.
DMRC-like SPV to be floated in a month for the Rs 98,000 crore Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor.
Budget forces last minute change in finance minister's plans.
Bihar became the first non-NDA state and overall second after the BJP-ruled Assam to pass GST bill.
In a nearly 25-minute televised address to the nation, Modi said implementation of the lockdown will be strictly ensured in its second phase and detailed guidelines will be brought out on Wednesday to ensure that outbreak does not spread to new areas.
'The Chinese have been moving in step by step; inch by inch for the last 40 years.'
'The logical step is to challenge the very legitimacy of the Chinese claim over Tibet,' recommends Inspector General Gurdip Singh Uban (retd).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain DoPT, Atomic Energy as well as all important policy issues and portfolios not allocated.
Going by the number of changes Mr Jaitley's next Budget is likely to see, he will go down in the history of Budget-making as the finance minister who ushered in the largest number of changes in a single Budget, says A K Bhattacharya.
'Fiscal purists would quarrel with the idea of selling assets to pay for current expenditure -- such as the payout to farmers and the health insurance programme -- for the obvious reason that the process cannot go on forever.' 'At some point, the list of assets available for sale will run out,' notes T N Ninan.consultations -- something already aired in connection with the lease of airports to the Adani group, says T N Ninan.
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