'There is a conscious move by the BJP to distance itself from the current state leadership.'
The National Rural Health Mission scam in Uttar Pradesh has turned murkier with another health official found murdered at his home, the fifth victim in the last one year after the alleged bungling of over Rs.10,000 crore of central funds surfaced.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested former Lucknow Chief Medical Officer A K Shukla in connection with the murder case of his predecessor Vinod K Arya in October 2010.
Highlighting that the nation is close to administering a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses, the Centre has urged states and Union Territories to focus on increasing the coverage of the second dose in light of adequate availability of shots.
Here are the key highlights of the BJP's 'Sankalp Patra' for the 2024 parliamentary polls.
'The BJP lacks a credible mass leader who matches Mamata Banerjee's popularity.' 'Given the division of votes among Opposition parties, the West Bengal government's dole-giving strategy, and the consolidation of the poor, significant sections of scheduled caste groups and Muslim minorities behind the ruling party, it will be difficult to dislodge the Trinamool from power.'
Agri experts are meeting FinMin ministry officials on Monday to give their inputs on the Budget.
Each bottle of pickle that leaves FarmDidi, headed to a consumer, has a little kahani behind it -- it's linked to the tale of a life, the life of a simple, striving village woman who created it, and that's what gives Manjari Sharma satisfaction and happiness.
Two applications were filed before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Monday seeking the inclusion of earlier chief ministers in the ambit of the probe into the National Rural Health Mission funds scam. A division bench comprising Justice Pradeep Kant and Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi were hearing arguments on a PIL moved by journalist Sachidanand Gupta, demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the irregularities.
Wielding a broom, the prime minister took part in the drive along with fitness influencer Ankit Baiyanpuriya.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday pledged to make 30 million 'Lakhpati Didis', up from the 10 million rural women who have already achieved the feat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday released the BJP's manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The manifesto says the ruling party will continue the quarterly financial disbursements under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM KISAN) yojana.
The Supreme Court Thursday said that courts should not interfere in policy matters unless it is clearly discriminatory and arbitrary.
Elections are not won or lost by expounding on such macro-economic matters. For the aam admi, what matters in manifestos are promises that will improve their quality of life, notes Vinayak Chatterjee.
Experts recommend awaiting the findings of the 2021 Census, which is yet to be conducted, before introducing population control policies.
Mayawati said that she will address the media on her reported involvement in the National Rural Health Mission scam.
The government, they said, will launch a mega drive, Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, across all 2.7 lakh panchayats in the country to reach out to beneficiaries and enrol them.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government over the Central Bureau of Investigation's decision to question her on the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission scam, claiming she had no connection with it and that the Centre was misusing the agency ahead of Bihar elections for political gains.
With the reporting of Omicron, a highly mutated variant of SARSCoV-2 virus and its classification as a Variant of Concern (VoC) by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Union Ministry of Health revised its 'Guidelines for international arrivals', Mandaviya said in a written reply.
The prime minister will be part of the launch of several development initiatives on his birthday.
Wielding the broom, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched the country's biggest-ever cleanliness drive that is expected to cost over Rs 62,000 crore, asserting that the "Swachh Bharat" mission is "beyond politics" and inspired by patriotism.
The World Bank report said India has done well in terms of mobility in adulthood, as greater levels of urbanisation have provided more employment opportunities.
The Budget outlay for health and well being is Rs 2.23 lakh crore in 2021-22 as against BE of Rs 94,452 crore and marks an increase of 137 per cent," she said while presenting 2021-22 Budget in the Lok Sabha.
I did not take up research for any award.' 'What is more important is the medicine that I have developed.' 'This helps the patient recover and the family is happy that their relative has survived and they go back to their lives.
Additional infrastructure for dining rooms in each of the school has been recommended.
Here's the full text of address to the nation by President Droupadi Murmu on the eve of the Republic Day 2023.
President Ram Nath Kovind addressed the nation on the eve of India's 75th Independence Day. Here's the text of what he said:
Ending open defecation by 2019 will require changing minds, not just allocating money to build latrines for people that will either go unused or not be built at all.
'The prime minister took a meeting recently and he asked for suggestions and ideas for a plan till 2047.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a pitch for electing a strong and stable government in an uncertain world beset by geopolitical tensions as the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday released its manifesto, prioritising development and welfare while shunning populist measures and contentious issues like the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The government's largesse was widely expected after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lost power in the recent assembly polls in three Hindi heartland states, where rural distress was cited to be one of the reasons for the defeat of the saffron party.
Plagued by desertions, internal rifts, and with the image of being a "family party", it remains to be seen how Gowda's son and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy would steer the party in the May 10 assembly polls.
Indian billionaires saw their combined fortunes more than double during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their count shot up by 39 per cent to 142, while the wealth of the ten richest is enough to fund school and higher education of children in the country for 25 years, a new study showed on Monday. In its annual inequality survey released on the first day of the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda summit, Oxfam India further said that an additional one per cent tax on the richest 10 per cent can provide the country with nearly 17.7 lakh extra oxygen cylinders, while a similar wealth tax on the 98 richest billionaire families would finance Ayushman Bharat, the world's largest health insurance scheme, for more than seven years. The COVID-19 pandemic saw a huge rush for oxygen cylinders and insurance claims during the second wave last year.
Shortage of ICU beds, oxygen, ventilators, vaccines, doctors, nurses and crematorium space in India has dominated headlines around the world in the past few weeks with Covid-19 cases surging beyond control and the government failing to deliver. Yes, election rallies, Kumbh Mela, blatant flouting of social distancing and mask protocols coupled with a messy vaccination process are said to be responsible for the health crisis of colossal proportions that India is facing today. But an analysis of Budget speeches made by finance ministers over 75 years also offers a glimpse of how low on the priority list healthcare has featured for the political class and policy-makers, which is a significant reason for the current situation.
'Make sure your public hospitals work.' 'Don't allow people to go shopping for expensive services; provide them yourself as the government and then charge them very little or nothing at all.'
Even as Central Bureau of Investigation investigators were busy unfolding the much talked about National Rural Health Mission scam in Uttar Pradesh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday pointedly blamed the Mayawati government for large scale swindling of the Rs 9000 crore given to the state for augmentation of health services for the poor and the downtrodden across the state's vast rural expanse under the program.
Mandaviya said this is the second phase of the Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package as the Central government had given Rs 15,000 crore earlier for setting up Covid-dedicated hospitals and health centres across the country.
A dipstick survey covering 30 villages in Rajasthan threw up some worrisome numbers. About 250 children missed their regular vaccination schedule in March alone. These numbers are alarming, since India has around 600,000 villages according to the 2011 census. Sohini Das reports.
Had Finance Minister Sitharaman thought a little more about the middle class, disadvantaged sections, and the poor who are struggling, it would have been an inclusive Budget that would have made history, notes Ramesh Menon.
The mission - unveiled by Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad -- will enable strengthening of technological infrastructure for education, health, entrepreneurship and development.
There should have been a focus on sanitation and not on littering or garbage. Absence of sanitation affects the health of children, explains Aakar Patel.
