An Indian commerce ministry team has reached Washington for another round of talks from Monday on the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), an official said. Chief negotiator of India and special secretary in the Department of Commerce, Rajesh Agrawal, will join the team on Wednesday.
If the US' renewed closeness with Pakistan ends up strengthening Pakistan's military, it will clearly show that Washington no longer wants a strong India and could be ready to let China dominate Asia, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'The largest listenership for Vividh Bharati outside the country is in Spain.' 'The labourers who go there for the tomato-picking season feel cut off from their country and listen to Vividh Bharati to overcome their loneliness.'
Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom said Trump is "pulling a military dragnet" across Los Angeles.
Two bodies were recovered from the Manuni Khad in Kangra district while around 15-20 workers stationed at a labour colony near the Indira Priyadarshini Hydroelectric project site were feared swept away following a surge in water level in the Khaniyara Manuni Khad.
With no money or staff, here's how Batskhem Thabah, a teacher, transformed an abandoned village school in rainy Raibah into a lively place for learning.
Joe Root's patient unbeaten 99 led England to 251-4 on an attritional and compelling first day of the third Test against India at Lord's on Thursday.
rediffGURU Ashwini Dasgupta tells you how to deal with a colleague who brings a pet to work and distracts you.
While two bodies were recovered on Wednesday, the death toll climbed to four on Thursday after the recovery of two more bodies from the Indira Priyadarshini Hydroelectric project site in Kangra district.
An Indian commerce ministry team will soon visit Washington for another round of talks on the proposed trade agreement with the US to iron out differences in sectors, like agriculture and automobiles, a government official said on Thursday.
Since the onset of monsoon on June 20 to date, rain-related incidents have claimed 23 lives in the state, according to the state emergency operation centre.
United States President Donald Trump said a 'very big' trade deal is on cards with India, hinting at significant progress in the negotiation process of a long-awaited bilateral trade agreement between the two countries.
Unless Donald Trump takes a major U turn, this is possibly the beginning of the end for Trumpian politics, argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd). Unless President Trump takes a major U turn, this is possibly the 'beginning of the end' for Trumpian politics driven by TV trp's, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Bank unions on Friday deferred their two-day nationwide strike beginning Monday after they received positive assurance from both the finance ministry and the IBA on their demands, including a five-day work week and adequate recruitment in all cadres. The strike call for March 24 and 25 was given by United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine bank employees' association.
'I am not an aspiration-oriented politician.' 'This is the time to redefine politics.' 'Politics of power is not real politics.'
The Telangana government has issued a circular allowing Muslim employees to leave offices an hour early during the holy month of Ramzan. The move has been criticized by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which termed it "appeasement politics". The BJP questioned why similar measures are not extended during Hindu festivals. The ruling Congress party defended the decision, stating that such facilities are provided during various festivals and are not unique to Ramzan.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights with the Association of Voluntary Action, also known as Bachpan Bachao Andolan, led the crackdown at Som Distillery on Saturday, a release stated.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will lead a team of senior Indian officials to Washington starting May 16 for discussions with their US counterparts on the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), an official said on Tuesday. Goyal is expected to hold meetings with US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during his visit.
A team of senior officials from India will again visit Washington this month to hold discussions with their US counterparts on the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), government sources said on Thursday. To give impetus to the talks, India's chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal, special secretary in the Department of Commerce, and Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch had last month held three-day talks in Washington.
A village in Madhya Pradesh's Dindori district is facing a severe water crisis, leading to a woman abandoning her husband and leaving with their children. The husband, Jitendra Soni, appealed to the district administration during a public outreach program, prompting authorities to take action. The Public Health Engineering department has been directed to resolve the water shortage, including connecting the village to an overhead tank in a neighboring village.
A man killed during a recent anti-Naxal operation in Madhya Pradesh's Mandla district was a tribal and not a Maoist, an official said on Saturday. The opposition Congress claimed he was innocent and demanded a high-level probe and a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Indian and US officials will begin deliberations on the proposed bilateral trade agreement in Washington from Wednesday with an aim to iron out issues and give an impetus to the negotiations.
A three-hour heavy downpour accompanied by a dust storm hit Delhi-NCR early morning on Friday, causing flight delays and traffic disruptions as seven people were killed in rain-related incidents across north India.
Forty-one Border Road Organisation labourers working to clear snow near the high altitude border village of Mana in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district were trapped under an avalanche on Friday.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Datta granted four weeks to the Delhi government counsel to file a further status report in the matter and listed it for hearing on May 4.
A class 10 student gave birth to a baby at the hostel of a state-run residential school in Odisha's Malkangiri district, prompting an inquiry. The girl delivered a baby girl on Monday after returning to the hostel following board exams. The headmaster of the school, run by the ST & SC Development, Minorities & Backward Class Welfare Department, said that men are not allowed in the girl's hostel and that the incident suggests a lapse in health worker duties. Both the child and mother are stable. The girl's parents have questioned the school authorities about the pregnancy remaining undetected until labor. A departmental inquiry has been initiated, and a man suspected to be involved has been detained by the police.
Senior officials of India and the US will begin three-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement in New Delhi on Wednesday amid threats of reciprocal tariffs from the Trump-administration, an official said. To formally start the negotiations on the pact, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, along with a team of officials, is in New Delhi.
The bodies of the last four of the trapped labourers were pulled out from the site of the avalanche-hit Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp in Chamoli on Sunday, taking the death toll to eight as authorities ended the nearly 60-hour rescue operation.
An Indian official team is likely to visit Washington next week to iron out differences on certain issues before formally launching negotiations for the proposed India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA), an official said. The visit, which comes within weeks of a high-level US team visiting India, indicates that the talks for the BTA are gaining momentum.
Sanjay Roy, convicted for the rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2022, will initially work as a gardener at the Presidency Correctional Home where he is lodged. He will later be trained for other jobs such as tailoring, carpentry, or manufacturing of aluminium utensils. As an unskilled worker, Roy will be paid a daily wage of Rs 105.
Rescue efforts to reach eight people trapped inside a partially collapsed tunnel in Telangana have been intensified with an increased deployment of personnel and equipment. Scientists from the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) have located four of the trapped workers using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). The damaged conveyor belt is expected to be repaired by Monday, allowing for easier removal of debris. The Chief Minister is scheduled to visit the site and hold a review meeting with officials. The condition of the four located workers is said to be grim.
Samsung India is willing to sign a long-term wage settlement and negotiate directly with its workers for an amicable resolution of the dispute, the company's lawyer said on Friday, terming the ongoing employees' strike at the Sriperumbudur plant "illegal". Lawyer Anand Gopalan, who is representing Samsung India in the high court of Chennai and the Kanchipuram District Court, said the company would only negotiate with its workers and not with any third-party leaders.
The Indian industry is paranoid about the USA's plan to impose reciprocal tariffs and wants early conclusion of a bilateral trade agreement, sources said on Wednesday. They said that the talks for the proposed bilateral trade agreement are going well.
There is a Trade Union Act and the Industrial Disputes Act but they are not being used in the interest of the workers.
The newly-formed Delhi Cabinet in its first meeting approved the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme in the national capital. The cabinet also decided to present 14 pending CAG reports in the first session of the assembly. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said that the previous AAP government did not allow the health scheme in the city, preventing the people from availing its benefits.
States are mandated to develop and implement 'heat HAPs' for prevention of heat-induced diseases. But most do not go beyond standard advisory on heat prevention.
Shiv Sena's Dadaji Bhuse is the new school education minister while Uday Samant continues to be the industries minister.
'A person is supposed to do 40 to 42 hours of work a week.' 'If a person is working more that, it is exploitation.' 'And it is because of this exploitation that employees experience stress which affects their mental health.' 'Sometimes it even leads to ending their lives. It is very unfortunate.'
Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan, the US has called on both countries "not to escalate" the conflict. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to speak with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India as early as today or tomorrow. The US State Department said Washington is reaching out to both India and Pakistan "regarding the Kashmir situation" and telling them "not to escalate the situation."
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has distributed portfolios among the new ministers, keeping key departments such as Home, Personnel, and several others to himself. The Congress' Radhakrishna Kishore was given Finance, Commercial Tax, Planning and Development Department, and Parliamentary Affairs departments. JMM's Deepak Biruwa was allotted the departments of Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms (non-registration), and Transport. Chamra Linda, another JMM leader, was allotted the departments of Schedule Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes (except Minority Welfare). RJD's Sanjay Prasad Yadav was given the departments of Industries, and Labour, Planning, Training and Skill Development. The Congress' Irfan Ansari got Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare, besides Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs, and Disaster Management departments. The chief minister also kept to himself the departments of Cabinet Secretariat, Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Official Language, Road Construction, Building Construction, and those departments yet to be distributed to anyone. Among the other ministers, JMM's Ramdas Soren was given the School Education and Literacy, and Registration departments. Party colleague Hafizul Hasan was allotted the departments of Water Resources, and Minority Welfare Department. Panchayati Raj, Rural Works, and Rural Development departments were given to Congress MLA Deepika Pandey Singh. The CM gave Drinking Water and Sanitation, and Excise and Prohibition departments to JMM's Yogendra Prasad. JMM legislator Sudhivya Kumar became the minister for Urban Development and Housing, Higher and Technical Education, and Tourism, Art Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs departments. Shilpi Neha Tirkey of the Congress was allotted Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperative Department. A total of 11 MLAs took oath as ministers in the Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand on Thursday.
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