Past recipients of the award include Mother Teresa, cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, actors Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor and Rajesh Khanna, among others.
Poet, artist and award-winning diplomat Abhay K will release his second book of poems Remains Thursday, June 28.
Effective from midnight of January 21, the hike will help railways earn an additional Rs 6,600 crore a year. Railway Minister P K Bansal said it was imperative.
In a written reply to the House, Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the recommendations are presently under examination by the ministry.
Worried over Baba Ramdev's indefinite fast from Saturday, the government on Wednesday took an extraordinary step to woo him by deputing Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and three other senior ministers to the airport for talks but he appeared not to relent on his plans.
The much-hyped Lokpal Bill could be tabled in Rajya Sabha in the ongoing monsoon session if a parliamentary panel looking into the legislation gives its report before the end of the session, the government said on Thursday.
Ahead of Anna Hazare's dharna in New Delhi on Sunday, government on Friday said Team Anna should await the passage of the Lokpal Bill before going ahead with any agitation on the issue.
The Centre on Wednesday appealed to Tamil Nadu and Kerala to amicably settle the issue of Mullaperiyar Dam between them and expressed its willingness to play a role of "facilitator".
After introducing the controversial nuclear liability bill in the Lok Sabha amid opposition protests, the government on Friday said it hopes to bring it for consideration in the Monsoon session of Parliament.
The United Progressive Alliance is seriously considering increasing the strength of the proposed Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 2G scam from 21 to 30 members to accommodate more parties, but it is in no mood to expand its scope of the JPC to cover Commonwealth Games (CWG) fiasco, the Adarsh Society scam and the cancelled ISRO S-band spectrum sale.
With the washout of winter session of Parliament weighing heavily on its mind, the government on Sunday appealed to the opposition to ensure a smooth budget session beginning next month expressing readiness to discuss all issues, including 2G spectrum, "on priority".
Hectic political activity is on in New Delhi with the government upset with what it terms as Team Anna's attempts to seek political consensus on its Jan Lokpal Bill. There is also uncertainity surrounding the scheduled debate in Parliament over the draft bill.
These ministers are meeting select group of editors and senior reporters every week to put forward their viewpoints. The wooing of journalists at the ministerial level is unprecedented and shows the defensive mood prevailing within the government.
The complainant accused Kejriwal and his brother-in-law of indulging in corruption.
The high court said instead of giving a quietus to their disputes, the woman had chosen to continue with divorce proceedings by making unsubstantiated allegations.
With no breakthrough in the over three-year-old Samjhauta Express blast case, the Centre has decided to handover its probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to unravel the conspiracy.
Accusing Punjab of running a campaign blaming it for floods in its territory, Haryana on Monday sought the Centre's intervention over the issue and defended construction of the Hansi-Butana link canal.
A move is afoot to extend the session of Parliament by three days from December 27 to 29 after a five day break from December 22, when it was scheduled to conclude, to facilitate adequate time for consideration of the Lokpal Bill. The Lokpal Bill is expected to be brought in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has sounded Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Party leader L K Advani on the move and has promised to get back.
Due to paucity of time, the UPA government will drop the traditional scrutiny of the Budget by the Parliamentary standing committees. Instead, Pranab Mukherjee is in touch with BJP and the CPM, while Pawan Kumar Bansal and Anand Sharma have been asked to liaise with the smaller parties to ensure the Budget moves smoothly through Parliament.
Governor E S L Narasimhan met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath to apprise her of the prevailing situation in Andhra Pradesh.
A Delhi court on Wednesday awarded a four-year jail term to ex-Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, his son Devender Darda, and businessman Manoj Kumar Jayaswal in a case related to irregularities in the allocation of a coal block in Chhattisgarh.
The delegation, to be led by Home Minister P Chidamabaram, is expected to meet a cross-section of people of the troubled state before arriving at a package of solutions
"We are here to welcome Modi ji for giving us new employment under pakoda yojana. We want to sell pakodas at Modi's rally, so that he knows how great it is to sell pakodas for the educated youth," a woman protester said.
Nomination forms for the post of Congress president poll have been collected by Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and All India Congress Committee (AICC) treasurer Pawan Bansal, but Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has not done so yet, the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said on Tuesday.
The counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha elections was delayed on Friday in Maharashtra and Haryana over alleged violation of rules, officials said.
A delegation of Congress leaders comprising Pawan Kumar Bansal, Vivek Tankha and Ranjeet Ranjan met the Election Commission and handed over a memorandum by Ajay Maken, its candidate for the Rajya Sabha poll in the state.
However, the final decision on the date of presentation of the Budget will be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.
A much talked about bill seeking a three-fold hike in salaries of MPs from Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000 and doubling their two key allowances to Rs 40,000 each was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The discussions are mostly one-on-one, party insiders said on Thursday, a day of many meetings.
The government on Friday said that 92.6 per cent bank deposits are fully protected under the Deposit and Insurance and Credit Guarantee scheme.
After the Amendment Bill is passed by Parliament and comes into effect, businesses like casinos would also come under a legal obligation to report their activities in the country. For fighting the menace of terrorism, the Bill introduces new category of offences which have cross-border implications. The draft legislation also empowers the Enforcement Directorate 'to search premises immediately after the offence is committed.'
The government said on Friday there is no proposal to ban participatory notes, which are instruments through which unregistered entities invest in the Indian securities markets.
On joining the party, Kumar said, "I am joining Congress because it's not just a party, it's an idea. It's a country's oldest and most democratic party, and I am emphasising on 'democratic'...Not just me many think that country can't survive without the Congress..."
The study of the Targeted Public Distribution System, which covered 18 states, held that though the offtake per household has shown improvement yet only about 57 per cent of the below the poverty line households are covered. The information was given by minister of state for finance Pawan Kumar Bansal in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Based on evaluation studies and feedback received from states, a nine point action plan has been jointly formulated.
The collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sanjiv Khanna, met on Thursday and its decision was uploaded on the apex court website.
Liberhan report debate in LS rescheduled to Dec 7.
Each bottle of pickle that leaves FarmDidi, headed to a consumer, has a little kahani behind it -- it's linked to the tale of a life, the life of a simple, striving village woman who created it, and that's what gives Manjari Sharma satisfaction and happiness.
Three Pakistani banks, including Habib Bank, National Bank of Pakistan and United Bank, have expressed interest in opening branches in India.
Coach of the silver medal-winning Indian team at the Azlan Shah hockey tournament A K Bansal says the fact that he had three drag-flickers -- Sandeep Singh, Diwakar Ram and V R Raghunath at his disposal provided him a luxury few Indian coaches afforded.
Responding to a supplementary during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, minister of state for finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said there was no proposal to waive loans of the landless. Indian Banks Association have asked its members to provide loans to the landless so that they can pay back the money-lenders, the minister said.
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