The ICMR-National Institute of Virology has been regularly undertaking studies to understand the protective efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines against emerging variants.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has seen a reduction in fighter squadrons due to the phasing out of ageing MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-27 aircraft. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence acknowledged the "shortage" and highlighted the multi-pronged approach being taken to address it. This includes the induction of indigenous Tejas fighters and the procurement of additional LCA Mk-1A aircraft. The report also addresses concerns over "incidences of spying" within the IAF and details the action taken against those involved.
During the debate on the 'Motion of Thanks on the President's Address', Leader of the House Piyush Goyal and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman strongly objected to 'insinuations' against the prime minister, who was also present in the House.
In his Marathi autobiography Lok Maze Saangati published in 2015, Pawar has lavished praise on Adani describing him as 'hard-working, simple, down to earth' and with ambition to make big in the infrastructure sector.
Union ministers Virendra Kumar, Kiren Rijiju and Anurag Singh Thakur have been included in the rejigged Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, according to a notification issued by the Cabinet Secretariate last night.
He said the people are looking for an alternative and the Congress' victories in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka elections are clear proof of this.
'Under this amendment, in any dispute over Waqf properties, the Waqf Board cannot approach the court.' 'This is very surprising because the government instead of protecting Waqf properties they are snatching it away and not allowing them to go to court.' 'The third biggest landowner in India is the Waqf Board after the Indian Army and Indian Railways.'
This is the fifth consecutive day that the Parliament has been adjourned without transacting any business since the second part of the Budget session began on Monday due to uproarious scenes in the House.
On the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's press conference on Friday, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday asked him some probing questions, including how he thinks history would judge his tenure, "failure" to assert himself against corruption and "subversion" of constitutional institutions.
Chidambaram said he feels that Dassault 'is laughing all the way to the bank', as the NDA government gave a 'gift'.
The prolonged delay over electing J P Nadda's successor possibly stems from the RSS leadership wanting a person who is at least equidistant from the Sangh as well as the Modi/BJP edifice, observes BJP-RSS watcher Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
e of them requires MPs to follow the norms including the Code of Ethics, which mandates them not to take gifts that may interfere with honest and impartial discharge of their official duties.
Without naming Adani group specifically, the capital markets watchdog said in a statement that unusual price movement in the stocks of a business conglomerate has been observed in the past week.
Why are DIIs holding such a high stake in Zee, which is beset with alleged governance issues? Perhaps they think Zee is a deep-value stock, observes Debashis Basu.
At a time 20-odd opposition parties, many of them regional rivals, joined forces over the Adani issue, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar's open support for industrialist Gautam Adani has put a question mark on the durability of a non-Bharatiya Janata Party block in the run-up to the 2024 parliamentary elections.
It rejected Mann's apology saying his statements to the panel were contradictory with the MP from Sangrur denying the charge that he had breached Parliament's security arrangements.
'Somebody was using somebody to make statements that will stir the stock market and lead to a surge.' 'A sudden surge and a sudden crash is always an ideal situation for people to make illicit gains and then siphoning off the money.'
After a three-and-a-half-hour meeting, which was stormy at times, the Congress Working Committee, the party's highest policy making body, authorised incumbent chief Sonia Gandhi to schedule the internal elections after the conclusion of assembly polls in five states due to be held in April-May.
The disqualification of wrestler Vinesh Phogat in the Olympics after being found overweight before the final bout also saw the government and Opposition come to blows in Parliament.
Lok Sabha could function for only 45 hours this Budget Session against its scheduled 133.6 hours because of daily disruptions and frequent adjournments, a think tank data has shown.
Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar on Saturday said he is not completely opposed to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the charges against the Adani group, but a Supreme Court committee will be more useful and effective.
While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.
One of the reasons why the TMC decided not to demand a JPC is that the chairperson and most of its members would be from the BJP, he said, adding JPC means putting the issue under the carpet.
A fresh political war of words erupted on Tuesday over the Rafale issue as the Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress leadership of corruption citing claims of a French media report on 'commissions' being paid during the United Progressive Alliance rule and said the Indian National Congress should be renamed 'I Need Commission' party.
The bill, named 'Shakti' and modelled on the Disha Act in Andhra Pradesh, also provides for completion of investigation and filing of chargesheet within 15 days, and completion of trial in 30 days.
Leaking of official secrets of military operations is treason and those involved in it must be punished, the Congress said on Wednesday on the purported WhatsApp chats of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and demanded that the prime minister must come clean.
The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) on Thursday trained its guns on the Adani Group, alleging hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded group stocks through Mauritius-based 'opaque' investment funds managed by partners of promoter family, charges the conglomerate denied vehemently.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M Karunanidhi on Tuesday chose to keep the cards close to his chest on the issue of which political outfit his party would strike an alliance to fight next year's Lok Sabha polls.
'A brief statement was made by the Army on the sensitive issue. But no questions were taken,' a member said.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna's (JVP) broader front National People's Power (NPP), on Sunday consolidated his lead in the Sri Lanka's presidential election.
The final report was to be submitted in March but it got an extension till the second week of the monsoon session that began September 14.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera sought to know that in an inter-governmental defence deal, where there cannot be any middlemen or corruption, when the beneficiary of any "corruption" has ordered a probe, why has a country, which has lost public money, not ordered one?
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the current logjam in Parliament could end if the Opposition and the government sit for a discussion and both move two steps forward.
In the event of the BJP's poor performance in the assembly polls this year and in early 2025, Modi's hold will get further weakened because he will no longer remain the invincible electoral persona tightly controlling the machine at his disposal, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Ramesh stressed that the prime minister should participate in the debate on Manipur.
'Losers who cannot influence people even in their own party keep cribbing that the entire world is controlled by the BJP and RSS'
The plenary session in Chhattisgarh's Nava Raipur will start from February 24 and is expected to be attended by around 15,000 delegates.
The Union home ministry has recommended the special CAG audit taking note of a May 24 letter by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena which pointed out 'gross and prima facie financial irregularities' in the 'reconstruction' of the chief minister's official residence, they claimed.
However, the AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the SC committee has limited terms of reference and 'cannot bring out the deep nexus between' the prime minister and the billionaire businessman.
Moitra brought two birthday caps in the House to press her argument that the businessman being most talked about had "topi-pehnau-ed" the government.
