The finance ministry is working on a second relief package for the Indian economy hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and the 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the contagion, sources said. Last month, the government announced a Rs 1.70 lakh crore relief package in the form of foodgrains and cash transfers for the poor and vulnerable section of the society to help them deal with the hardships caused by the lockdown. Now, the government is working on a stimulus to be given to hard-hit sectors of the economy after the lockdown is lifted, sources said, adding that an announcement is expected in the next few days depending on the severity of the pandemic.
The ministry of petroleum and natural gas has granted seven authorisations to companies for selling automobile (auto) fuels in the country. These new approvals are under the relaxed guidelines for authorisation to market transportation fuels that were revised in 2019. This is expected to make the competition more intense in India's petroleum retail business. According to a top oil ministry official, a fresh marketing authorisation has been granted to Reliance Industries (RIL) under these norms. This is being done since RIL's existing retail marketing authorisation has been transferred to its subsidiary Reliance BP Mobility
The Finance Ministry expects the economic growth in the current fiscal to improve to 5.5 per cent from 5 per cent last year on back of likely pick up in agricultural output on account of good monsoon rains.
Modi and Deuba discussed ways to strengthen ongoing cooperation and develop new areas in the multifaceted bilateral partnership.
In the third reshuffle since coming to power, Prime Minister Modi raised the strength of his Council of Ministers from 73 to 76.
While rising food inflation is a matter of grave concern for a significant chunk of the population and for policy makers as well, it marks a turnaround in the fortunes of the farmer, reports Sanjeeb Mukherjee.
Non-performers were not punished, performers were not rewarded, points out Utkarsh Mishra.
"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.
Thousands of farmers are protesting on various borders of Delhi since November 26, seeking repeal of three farm laws enacted in September.
Developers grappling with labour shortage and getting construction material to sites could be among a list of problems.
Foodgrains production in 2020-21 is projected to be a record 144.52 million tonnes, which is 0.80 per cent more than the production in 2019-20.
Rajiv Kumar will continue as vice-chairman of the body, along with other full-time members V K Saraswat, Ramesh Chand and V K Paul.
Prices have continued to move up in Delhi's markets, wholesale and retail, on supply worries and spoilage due to record cold weather.
The chief minister, who had on Wednesday expanded his new cabinet by inducting 29 ministers, had played it safe by and large retaining old faces, as 23 of them were Ministers in the previous Yediyurappa cabinet, while six were new.
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.
India's fuel demand in May slumped to its lowest in nine months as restrictions to curb the second wave of COVID infections stalled mobility and muted economic activity. Fuel demand fell 1.5 per cent to 15.1 million tonnes despite the low base of May 2020 and was down 11.3 per cent when compared to the previous month, according to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry. India was under one of the world's strictest lockdowns in May last year, which brought all mobility and economic activity to a grinding halt.
Following several instances of poor drafting of Cabinet notes and bills in the recent past, on September 11, the Cabinet Secretariat wrote to all ministries and departments to read up paragraph 55 of the 'Handbook of Writing Cabinet Notes'. Archis Mohan reports.
Agri experts are meeting FinMin ministry officials on Monday to give their inputs on the Budget.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Wednesday gave marching orders to cabinet minister Ashok Kumar Dohre for allegedly committing forgery and financial irregularities, it was officially disclosed in Lucknow.
There's a need to train 40,000 pilots over the next year-and-a-half.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to bring out a report on the state of Indian agriculture, to be presented to Parliament every year before the Union Budget.
The government will announce minimum support prices for kharif.
'Why has this turned out to be one of the greatest humanitarian crisis that has caught the Centre and the states in a bind with no answers to this unexpected tsunami?' asks Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
The MHA on Friday, while extending the lockdown for two more weeks till May 17, lifted many restrictions in green and orange zones. There are no restrictions on sale of non-essential items by e-commerce platforms in green and orange zones, a home ministry spokesperson said, adding barber shops and salons are also allowed to open in these areas.
Faulting previous governments for not taking adequate measures to economically empower women in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said his government was constantly creating an environment in which women self-help groups can connect villages with prosperity as he released Rs 1,625 crore as capitalisation support fund to over four lakh such groups. In a virtual interaction with the women self-help groups (SHGs) under the "Aatmanirbhar Narishakti se Samvad" (dialogue with self-reliant women) initiative, Modi said in a changing India, opportunities are increasing for women to move forward. The movement of woman SHGs has intensified in the last 6-7 years with over 70 lakh of them working across the country, a figure over three times more than earlier, he said, adding over eight crore women are connected with these groups.
Almost 30% or a third of the agriculture ministry's budget, is spent on premium for the PMFBY every year
The highest water-use efficiency of more than $ 50 per cubic metre is in Oceania, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Israel, Denmark, Finland, and Great Britain while the lowest is in Central and South Asia, including India, at less than $ 10 per cubic metre.
While consumers feel that petrol pinches directly, diesel hurts indirectly, as it is an input in almost all the goods and services we use.
It was 55.3 per cent for the same period last year, and data shows the fiscal deficit for April-May was kept in reasonable check in spite of heavy frontloading of expenditure.
The agriculture ministry projects India's tomato output at 19.69 million tonnes in 2016-17 (July-June)
DEA is currently headed on an interim basis by Corporate Affairs Secretary Tapan Ray
At an average national price of Rs 90 a kg in the retail market, it shows a jump by 20% in the last two months.
Nangiohbok Rymbai, a graduate in economics who works as a daily wage labourer in Shillong, tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar what he would like to see in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget.
The Union home ministry on Tuesday allowed opening of shops selling school books and electric fans, services of bedside attendants of senior citizens and public utilities including recharge facilities for prepaid mobile phones during the ongoing lockdown.
A day after his ministry rebuked Twitter for not complying with its orders to take down inflammatory content, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said social media platforms cannot give differential treatment while handling problems on Capitol Hill and the Red Fort.
In a pre-budget meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the experts suggested timely implementation of the BJP's election manifesto promises to fix higher support prices. They also favoured a Kissan TV channel, an efficient procurement policy, priority for farm mechanisation and the linking of rivers.
However, under the new provisions, OCI cardholders need to carry their new passport.
This was the one Budget that required radical departures on all these fronts, when it had none, asserts, Shreekant Sambrani.
The Union home ministry's notification giving effect to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021 came on Tuesday night, as the city battles a ferocious COVID-19 wave and its healthcare system is stretched to breaking point.
As India looks to mend its Covid-battered economy, one thing that will grab the attention of all concerned is the path that both wholesale and retail inflation will follow. Even the Reserve Bank of India in its latest policy statement said, "Going forward, the inflation trajectory is likely to be shaped by uncertainties impinging on the upside and the downside.
