If the threat from the 'Maovadis' (Maoists) is fading, the danger now lies with the 'MoUvadis' -- those who might exploit the resource-rich Abujhmad region through corporate or State-backed projects.
'The BJP's numbers in this government are almost the same as those enjoyed by the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao when the reform process was kicked off in 1991.' 'As before, the only constraints on the prime minister's actions are internal, not external.' 'They come from his own assessment of the political consequences of any action,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
Following the lacklustre growth numbers in the second quarter (Q2FY25), economists believe the upcoming Union Budget for 2025-26 should focus on reforms that will stimulate consumption, manufacturing and spur employment. India's growth unexpectedly slowed to 5.4 per cent in the second quarter, due to low capital formation, weak consumption, besides adverse weather impact.
'Make-in-India played a key role in India's effective action against terrorism during Operation Sindoor.'
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced plans to relocate Tihar Jail to the city's outskirts, allocating Rs 10 crore in the 2025-26 budget for survey and consultancy services related to the move. The decision comes amid severe overcrowding at the prison complex, which currently houses over 19,000 inmates despite being designed for approximately 10,025. The Delhi government has also initiated the development of new prison complexes in Narela to alleviate congestion. While a short-term proposal for retrofitting and vertical extension of the jail has been made, the chief minister did not disclose any date for the shifting plans. Additionally, the government will prioritize procurement of products manufactured by inmates in Tihar, Rohini, and Mandoli jails, aiming to boost their earnings and provide them with better opportunities for rehabilitation.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the government will arrange identity cards and registration on the e-Shram portal to assist 1 crore gig workers. Presenting the Union Budget 2025-26, the finance minister also said a scheme for the socio-economic upliftment of urban workers will be implemented.
'The government is actively engaging with EU to ensure that concerns of Indian companies and hard-to-abate sectors are adequately addressed under CBAM'
'This year overall hiring has seen a slight improvement as compared to the dip seen during the last financial year.'
Not all listed companies above a threshold have spent on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the way they were required to do. The aggregate unspent amount in 2022-23 (FY23) stood at a five-year high of Rs 1,475 crore. In FY23 listed companies spent Rs 15,602 crore while the amount to be expended was Rs 15,787 crore, according to the data from corporate tracker primeinfobase.com.
The need for a manufacturing policy, reining in food inflation and raising investment in the country were among key suggestions given by economists who met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior ministry officials in the first round of pre-Budget consultations on Friday.
In a double-dose bid to boost growth and employment prospects, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a Rs 2.07 trillion outlay for a research development and innovation (RDI) Scheme to fund private sector innovations, and an employment-linked incentive (ELI) to create over 35 million new jobs over the next two years.
The Bombay Stock Exchange says it will train 6.5 million people in the next 10 years to work in the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sector, the largest employer in the Indian private sector.
Citing evolving needs and aspirations of the citizens, he said that the civil service must adapt to contemporary challenges to remain relevant.
Among the new entrants to the Union cabinet, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been given the agriculture and rural development portfolios, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda the health portfolio and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar the power portfolio.
Census exercise with caste enumeration will be carried out with the reference date of October 1, 2026, in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and of March 1, 2027, in the rest of the country, the Home Ministry announced on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he is willing to discard old ideas and embrace new ones as long as they fit into his essential ideology of 'nation first'.
'This is not just the IREDA's IPO. It is the success of the ministry of new and renewable energy and of the renewable energy industry.'
'This agreement will help the Indian workforce to move to non-traditional sectors of employment like teaching, nursing, and manufacturing.'
The government may save over Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion) on capital and revenue expenditure allocated towards new schemes in the FY25 Budget that are yet to be implemented.
'We will start reaching out to researchers, academics, and experts on AI from top universities and companies from across the world.'
The Budget assumes significance as it comes on the back of lower-than-expected growth numbers during the second quarter and geopolitical uncertainty.
During a five-hour meeting with his entire Council of Ministers, Modi specifically asked for faster and better communication of the government's decisions.
With this decision, Malik will be left with no portfolio in the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
Here is the complete list of ministers in Modi 3.0 and their portfolios:
Rising skills gap, falling exports, low productivity, rising debt and low foreign investment is jeopardising the target set for the textile and apparels sector
While there are some new faces in the cabinet, leaders such as BJP president JP Nadda and Jual Oram have returned as ministers.
'They think quick fixes like internship in the private sector will help. 'In fact, internships have been going on for the last one decade.' 'In 2014-2015 itself, we had a ministry of skill development. None of the programmes have yielded results, still they are continuing with such schemes under some other name.' 'We don't see any seriousness on the part of the government to attack the problem of unemployment.'
'If his health was good he would have become CM again after polls.' 'Those who are with Nitish Babu today will remain with him till the elections to use his name for votes and would definitely play games with him after the polls.'
The labour ministry on Monday rebutted a recent report by Citigroup which forecast that India will struggle to create sufficient employment opportunities even with a 7 per cent growth rate. The ministry in a statement said the report "fails to account for the comprehensive and positive employment data available from official sources such as Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and the Reserve Bank of India's KLEMS data."
'The government should come back as a job creator as it did in the 1960s and the 1970s.'
The Indian government has scrapped the 'no-detention policy' for classes 5 and 8 in schools it governs. This means that students in these classes who do not pass the year-end exams will be allowed to fail. The decision comes after the amendment to the Right to Education Act (RTE) in 2019, which has already led to 18 states and union territories doing away with the 'no-detention policy' for the two classes. The new policy will be implemented in over 3,000 schools run by the central government, including Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navaodyala Vidyalayas, and Sainik Schools.
rediffGURU Rohit Gupta, co-founder and COO of College Vidya, provides a list of competitive exams that can help you land a job in the public sector.
The ministry of minority affairs informed the Lok Sabha that in 2022-2023, it had been allotted Rs 5,020.5 crore (Rs 50.20 billion); in the Revised Estimates, it had got Rs 2,612.66 crore (Rs 26.12 billion); and had spent, until the end of March this year, Rs 712.5 crore (Rs 7,12 billion).
As many as 37 ministers have been dropped from the government in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's third term and these include seven with cabinet rank -- prominent among them being Smriti Irani, Anurag Thakur and Narayan Rane.
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
India's second nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine was commissioned into the Navy on Thursday in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who said this will further strengthen the country's nuclear triad and enhance nuclear deterrence.
His resignation as chairman of the government's skill development agencies triggered talk that he may be headed back to the Tata Group where a search committee is looking for a full-time chairman.
'Peninsular Indians could ask 'Why should we contribute half of India's tax revenues if we account for only a quarter of the seats in the Lok Sabha?'.' 'The rest of the country seems likely to counter that 'democracy means one vote per person irrespective of where that person resides in India'.' 'With no easy answers to this thorny debate, the south's economic ascendancy could end up creating a Hobson's choice.' A revealing excerpt from Nandita Rajhansa and Saurabh Mukherjea's book, Behold the Leviathan: The Unusual Rise of Modern India.
Under the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme, close to 1 million apprentices will be trained in FY24.
The Indian Diaspora has been able to carve a niche in their adopted countries as a result of their talent, perseverance and hardworking nature, asserts Rup Narayan Das.
