The recent agreement between the RBI and the Centre marks a significant step forward toward financial inclusion.
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.
Sources said the joint statement was like a summary of what was actually said and agreed upon at the meeting and that it was signed by the Pakistani side.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Friday took a dig at the Congress, stating that "instead of trying to find fault with the prime minister's coalition government, the party should find its missing leader."
'People were looking for leadership for the country. For a long time it was perceptible to everybody that India lacked a leader. Without strong leadership you cannot get a direction for the country,' Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju tells Claude Arpi and Sheela Bhatt in the second and final part of an exclusive interview.
The 24th CPI(M) Party Congress commenced in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, with interim coordinator Prakash Karat emphasizing the need for Left unity to combat "Hindutva neo-fascism." He criticized the BJP-RSS government, accusing it of representing a "Hindutva-corporate nexus" and displaying "neo-fascist characteristics." Other Left leaders, including CPI general secretary D Raja and CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, echoed calls for unity and condemned the current political climate in India.
The Supreme Court, by a majority view of 3:2, upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitution amendment providing 10 per cent reservation to people belonging to economically weaker sections (EWS) in admissions and government jobs.
'Hindutva will not win any elections. Hindutva as a political plank never works.'
His comments come against the backdrop of a campaign by Opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, which has claimed that applying for CAA would turn legal citizens into foreigners.
All eyes are on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as he prepares to present his first Budget. The authors decode the powerful politician.
Gadkari's lawyer, Balendu Shekhar, said his client was shocked to know about, hear and see the contents and posts from the official handle of the Congress on the microblogging platform.
Nishant Kumar's demand that the NDA name Nitish Kumar as its chief ministerial nominee is seen as a gambit to consolidate the CM's position in the ruling alliance.
Uttam Ghosh and Dominic Xavier offer their respective takes on the Modi Sarkar's decision to hike cooking gas LPG prices.
With its age-old fascination for education, southern states have done better than the North. Start-ups, IT hubs, and industry majors setting up shop have changed the face of the South. Nearly 79% of global offices set up by international conglomerates in India are in the South. Almost 46% of tech unicorns are from the South. The GDP per person in the South is 4.2 times higher than the North. None of these indicators can be ignored by any central government, whatever the political compulsions, notes Ramesh Menon.
In 11 out of 29 coal mines successfully e-auctioned, a number of qualified bidders in the e-auction stage were from the same company/parent subsidiary company coalition/joint venture, CAG said.
With the reality of coalition politics staring the BJP in its face, this was inevitable, points out Ramesh Menon.
Take Rediff.com's Pulse of the Nation poll and let India know what you think of Mr Modi and his government.
Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
The Congress wants to reinforce the tax more powerfully now after its four generations reaped benefit of the wealth passed on to them, he said.
The new government has asked all its ministers not to appoint officials who had served in key positions in the United Progressive Alliance government as their personal staff.
Ramesh asked the PM why river Ganga is "dirtier than before" even after spending Rs 20,000 crore on the Namami Gange project.
The meeting comes a day after the US President had shared the dais with Modi to address nearly 50,000 Indian-Americans at 'Howdy, Mody' event in Houston.
Dominic Xavier asks who will blink first? The Modi Sarkar? Or the farmers?
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
Dominic Xavier asks when the Modi Sarkar will heed the plight of the protesting farmers who have been agitating for more than forty days in freezing temperatures.
Dear Reader, what do you think of Narendra Modi and his government's performance?
The decision to rethink the ban on porn Web sites is the latest reversal of decisions by the Modi Sarkar. Has the Modi Sarkar become a regime of U-turns, asks Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Rediff.com takes a look at the progress of schemes initiated by the government.
In a poor village of daily wage earners in Siwan, Bihar, people speak about their hard lives and why they vote.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said "surprisingly" the prime minister is grounded in New Delhi on Wednesday and not travelling around the country for new "inaugurations", for rebranding, or for claiming credit for past work.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on the protesting farmers' tractor parade on Republic Day and hopes the Modi Sarkar will finally see the light.
In order to implement big ticket ideas which are likely to come via the Budget of 2015, Modi needs better political talent around him, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
'He doesn't think anyone else has his brilliance or integrity. And he cannot bear to stand a rival,' says journalist Aakar Patel, a long-time Modi observer who has translated Modi's poetry and his biographies of RSS leaders.
'This is what happens to a party when it gets trapped in the vicious circle of nepotism and dynastic politics'
Cameron, on the last leg of campaigning for the May 7 general election, also hailed Modi as a 'dynamic' leader who is 'taking India forward'.
The former Congress president alleged that PM Modi had a "monopoly over corruption".
Dominic Xavier is puzzled by the government's reluctance to take on the Chinese unless the Modi Sarkar believes that in its interactions with Xi Jinping's Communist junta in Beijing, discretion offers better possibilities of resolution.
The TMC-led West Bengal government has already started laying the groundwork for the election, setting the tone with the recent Bengal Global Business Summit and the state Budget.
For the past, blame the Congress. For the present, blame the Congress. For everything, blame the Congress. But for your future, vote BJP.
Sunny Deol-starrer Gadar 2 was screened for all Lok Sabha members over three days starting August 25, marking the first time that a movie screening was arranged in the Parliament.
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