Jairam Ramesh said the Congress has to be the "fulcrum" of any Opposition alliance to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections as it is the only political force with a pan-India presence.
Gujarat, for the second consecutive year, has topped the Niti Aayog's Export Preparedness Index 2021 which is aimed at assessing the readiness of the states in terms of their export potential and performance. Gujarat was followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana, according to the government think tank's report. Union territories and states like Lakshadweep, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Ladakh and Meghalaya were placed at the bottom.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will commence day-to-day hearing from August 2 on a batch of petitions challenging abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution that bestowed special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The rate of doubling of COVID-19 cases has increased to 12.6 days
Restoration of peace and the normal routine of daily life, compared to the past, stands out as its most significant achievement, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs, four years after the abrogation of Article 370.
Jammu and Kashmir has been without an assembly since November 2018 when the then legislative assembly was dissolved by then Governor Satya Pal Malik after the People's Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government fell apart earlier that year.
'A threatened people should not be forcibly held in a place where their lives may be at risk.'
For the last four years since abrogation of Article 370, Kashmir-based political parties have been struggling to forge an alternate narrative to the one forcibly snatched from them. The BJP is bound to go hammer and tongs at them now that their armoury is reinforced with the Supreme Court judgment, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it has held consultative meetings with all state governments, Union territories and other stakeholders on the issue of identification of minorities at the state level and 14 states have furnished their views so far.
Citing multiple surges in coronavirus cases in several countries, the Union Health Ministry has written to 13 states and union territories, including West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra and Punjab, expressing concerns over declining weekly testing rates and spiking positivity rates in some districts.
He also assured people of J&K that they will get opportunity to elect their representatives in a transparent way.
Citing media reports, KPSS chief Sanjay K Tickoo claimed that the Hindus living in Kashmir wanted to leave the Valley but the government was not allowing them to do so.
The era when anyone could encroach on India's land has passed and no one can dare to eye its border, Home Minister Amit Shah said in Kibithoo, Arunachal Pradesh, on Monday.
The value of the vote of a member of Parliament has gone down to 700 from 708 in the presidential poll scheduled for July 18 due to the absence of a legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir.
Responding to a question, Abdullah said elections can be held whenever the government wants.
His resignation came on the day the Union Territory marked the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which scrapped Jammu and Kashmir's special status.
The number of terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir has shown significant decline since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Kerala has retained the top rank in Niti Aayog's SDG India Index 2020-21, while Bihar has been adjudged as the worst performer, according to a report released on Thursday. The Index for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) evaluates progress of states and union territories on social, economic and environmental parameters. Kerala retained its rank as the top state with a score of 75. Both Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu took the second spot with a score of 74. Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst performing states in this year's India index.
he Centre on this day in 2019 had revoked Article 370, which gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated it into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Shah said nobody can stop him from introducing a resolution on Kashmir in Parliament.
Maharashtra has reported the highest daily rise of 40,414 COVID-19 cases, followed by 3,082 in Karnataka, 2,870 in Punjab, 2,276 in Madhya Pradesh, 2,270 in Gujarat, 2,216 in Kerala, 2,194 in Tamil Nadu and 2,153 in Chhattisgarh, the ministry said.
He would be the first non-Jammu and Kashmir cadre officer to be posted in Srinagar after the cadre was merged with the Assam, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre following the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh on August 5, 2012.
The Centre, however, noted that the last national serosurvey findings have shown that over 70 per cent of the population is still susceptible to the disease.
Home ministry officials told the parliamentary panel that those detained under the PSA can challenge their detention in a designated tribunal.
The states and UTs having a recovery rate higher than the national average include Ladakh (85.45 per cent), Delhi (79.98 per cent), Uttarakhand (78.77 per cent), Chhattisgarh (77.68 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (76.59 per cent), Haryana (75.25 per cent), Chandigarh (74.6 per cent), Rajasthan (74.22 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (73.03 per cent) and Gujarat (69.73 per cent).
According to the orders of the commission, set up under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, the Union territory will have 90 assembly constituencies -- 43 in Jammu Division and 47 in Kashmir -- with nine of them being reserved for the Scheduled Tribes.
The apex court was hearing a plea of the NGO seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against the Union home secretary and chief secretary of J-K for their alleged 'wilful disobedience' in complying with the court's May 11 order. The top court told the administration that with the change of L-G, nothing changes as the special committee is there to look into the issue.
Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab have shown a steep rise in daily COVID-19 cases
From the beginning of next month, the bench will commence hearing to examine the constitutional validity of the scrapping of the article's provisions and the subsequent presidential orders on it, an official source said.
The spectator size too has been reduced to 25,000, officials said.
Ten states including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Kerala and Punjab have shown a steep rise in the daily COVID-19 cases accounting for 84.21 per cent of the 1,26,789 new infections, the health ministry said on Thursday.
The issue of pilgrimages to the Amarnath and Vaishnodevi shrines, both located in Jammu and Kashmir, was discussed at a high-level meeting attended by Union ministers G Kishan Reddy and Jitendra Singh and senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Jammu and Kashmir administration. The Amarnath Yatra is likely to commence on July 21.
Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind accepted Murmu's resignation as the Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
'The Chinese have been moving in step by step; inch by inch for the last 40 years.'
Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have emerged as the poorest states in India, according to Niti Aayog's first Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report. As per the index, 51.91 per cent population of Bihar is poor, followed 42.16 per cent in Jharkhand, 37.79 per cent in Uttar Pradesh. While Madhya Pradesh (36.65 per cent) has been placed fourth in the index, Meghalaya (32.67 per cent) is at the fifth spot. Kerala (0.71 per cent), Goa (3.76 per cent), Sikkim (3.82 per cent), Tamil Nadu (4.89 per cent) and Punjab (5.59 per cent) have registered the lowest poverty across India and are at the bottom of the index.
Petrol and diesel price on Sunday was hiked again by 35 paise a litre and the auto fuels now cost a third more than the rate at which ATF is sold to airlines. The fourth straight day of 35 paise per litre hike sent petrol and diesel rates to record highs across the country. The price of petrol in Delhi rose to its highest-ever level of Rs 105.84 a litre and Rs 111.77 per litre in Mumbai, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.
Any reduction in devolution could aggravate the strained relations between the Centre and some opposition-ruled states on a number of issues, including CAA.
The Republic Day parade, which will begin at around 1030 am, will be a unique mix of the country's military prowess and cultural diversity, depicting the country's growing indigenous capabilities, Nari Shakti and emergence of a 'New India'.
The further distribution of vaccine to the districts will be done as per the registered beneficiaries, for which a separate communication will be done shortly, the letter stated.
Empowerment of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) with extra territorial jurisdiction and declaration of Maulana Masood Azhar, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Dawood Ibrahim as terrorists after legislative amendment were counted among its achievements by the MHA, headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
