After bumbling for years since 2014, the Modi government seems to believe that massive government expenditure will lead us to prosperity supported by 'seat-of-the-pants' decision-making, observes Debashis Basu.
It is for the first time in the history of Independent India that not a single Muslim is part of the Union Cabinet.
The Union government has approved the renaming of Maharashtra's Aurangabad city as 'Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar' and the Osmanabad city as 'Dharashiv'.
Protesting wrestlers joined several of their colleagues to prepare for the Asian Games trials.
Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) chairman Bibek Debroy on Tuesday said the government was losing revenue due to the GST, which should be revenue neutral with a single rate. Speaking at an event organised by the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, he however said that GST has led to a lot of simplification. "The ideal GST is one that has a single rate, and it was meant to be revenue neutral.
In Bihar, where a bandh had been called, a railway station and a police vehicle were torched, an ambulance attacked and security personnel injured in stone-pelting incidents on the fourth consecutive day of the agitation, while protesters vandalised Ludhiana railway station in Punjab and blocked roads and rail tracks in West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
The deceased, an unfortunate first casualty of the ongoing protests against the Centre's new recruitment policy for the Armed forces, hailed from Dabeerpet village in Warangal district of Telangana.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Tuesday insisted that they have not withdrawn their support to the wrestlers and they have postponed the June 9 demonstration against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh only on the request of grapplers.
The company also said it has reduced supplies of direct sale of diesel to the railways, state road corporations and other large consumers from April 2008 to restrict heavy under recoveries on these sales. In the annual report sent to the shareholders , the company said it has approval to set up 500 retail outlets across the country. The company had opened its first retail outlet in Karnataka early this year.
Way before the rains arrived at Talwandi Sabo Power plant in Punjab, the one check the coal ministry was carrying out was the availability of coal stock with the generator. Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL), the 1,980-Mw thermal power plant of Sterlite Energy, part of the Vedanta Group, which supplies about 15 per cent of Punjab's power, is one of the most difficult locations to manage coal supplies. It is nearly 1,700 km from the mines of Mahanadi Coalfields in Odisha, the longest coal route in India and possibly the trickiest as it cuts through the traffic heavy rail lines between Delhi and eastern India.
Railway Budget is the first indicator of possibly better days
The Lower House of Parliament took up the Demands for Grants and Appropriation Bills after two adjournments as the ruling and Opposition MPs engaged in a matching duet over demands for an apology by Rahul Gandhi and the Adani issue.
The train crash on Friday, involving the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a goods train, is one of the deadliest such accidents since independence.
Modi said the aim was to turn India's villages into smart economic hubs and connect our farmers better to markets, making them less vulnerable to the whims of weather.
India logged 18,000 new coronavirus infections in a single day after a gap of 130 days, taking the COVID-19 tally to 4,34,52,164, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Thursday.
There is no reason for keeping an entire ministry with a total staff strength of 2,300, just for the oversight of a few aviation sector laws and regulatory bodies, notes A K Bhattacharya.
Announcing the resignation of Dinesh Trivedi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he regretted the departure of the railway minister who had presented a budget which promised the "vision" outlined by his predecessor Mamata Banerjee.
The change in leadership at the railway ministry comes at a time when the national transporter is grappling with low passenger earnings even as it is trying to increase freight loading and open up its doors to private investment. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw took charge from Piyush Goyal who got the railway portfolio in 2017 after Prime Minister Narendra Modii dropped Suresh Prabhu from the Union Cabinet. Completing freight corridors, negotiating land for the bullet train, and speeding up monetisation plans would be some of the major focus areas for Vaishnaw.
The suburban network, called Mumbai's lifeline, use to ferry over 70 lakh commuters daily before the coronavirus outbreak.
First Rajya Sabha approved the Rs 45 lakh-crore spending proposed in the Budget, followed by the nod to the Finance Bill that contains tax proposals.
Dearness Allowance for central government employees has been hiked to 31 per cent of the basic pay from 28 per cent with effect from July 1, 2021, the Finance Ministry said. In an office memorandum, the Department of Expenditure, under the Finance Ministry, said the term 'basic pay' means the pay drawn as per the 7th pay commission matrix and does not include any other type of pay like special pay, etc. "....the Dearness Allowance payable to central government employees shall be enhanced from the existing rate of 28 per cent to 31 per cent of the basic pay with effect from July 1, 2021," said the office memorandum dated October 25.
The government also stated that the people working in essential sectors must be fully vaccinated and should have completed the 14 days post-inoculation before they can be allowed to board local trains.
The government has developed an asset monetisation dashboard for monitoring real-time progress of its ambitious Rs 2.5 trillion-plus pipeline, and providing visibility to investors. The portal has been prepared as the government tries to provide a one-stop shop to investors keen on taking over assets of government departments and ministries.
The second wave of the coronavirus has put huge pressure on the country's health system, with hospitals facing shortage of oxygen, medicines and equipment to treat COVID-19 patients, besides beds.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will visit AIIMS, Jhajjar on April 10 to oversee the mock drill, officials said on Sunday.
A railway station and a police vehicle were torched and several law enforcers injured in stone-pelting incidents on the fourth consecutive day of protests against Agnipath scheme on Saturday when a bandh was also called to press for the demand for rollback of the new scheme for recruitment in armed forces.
The death toll climbed to 5,24,941 with 38 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
A total 17,336 coronavirus cases were reported in a span of 24 hours, taking the total infection tally to 4,33,62,294, while the death toll due to the disease has climbed to 5,24,954 with 13 new fatalities being reported, data updated by the ministry at 8 am showed.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday asked the public not to panic about COVID-19, but be alert and follow the directives issued by the government from time to time.
The death toll has climbed to 5,24,157 with 54 fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
India will kickstart on Tuesday a two-day multi-agency military exercise covering the country's 7,516 km-long coastline and exclusive economic zone with the twin aim of checking the preparedness of various agencies to deal with any eventualities and bolster overall maritime security, officials said.
Nepal witnessed political turbulence in 2022 that dramatically turned rivals into allies and throned former guerrilla leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' as the prime minister for a third time, as Kathmandu made efforts to balance ties with immediate neighbours India and China with high-profile talks and visits.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the Indian Railways' wholly-owned listed subsidiary, is eyeing partnerships to offset recurring costs incurred in train operations, which is part of its two-year-old diversification from core catering and ticketing businesses. To this end, it is courting public sector undertakings such as Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) and others to create a special purpose vehicle for the routes for which IRCTC has bid. The Railway ministry opened bids for public private partnerships in passenger train operations in July 2021 and received bids to operate 29 pairs of trains with around 40 modern rakes that would entail an investment of Rs 7,200 crore.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the revamped Vadnagar railway station where he sold tea during childhood and recalled those days, expressing a desire to visit the new-look facility.
If 4,000 workers could work round the clock for the construction of the new Parliament building, then there is no reason why all infrastructure projects too cannot follow that model, asserts Dr Sudhir Bisht.
The active cases comprise 0.04 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.75 per cent, the ministry said.
The health ministry said that 5,22,149 deaths have been reported so far in the country.
Hours after 21 ministers took the oath of office and became a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ministry, speculation began on which minister would be handed which portfolio. However, all speculation ended after the list was announced.
An increase of 4,578 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The active cases comprised 0.04 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was 98.75 per cent, the health ministry said.
