The states fear they would end up funding both their own scheme as well as the newly-announced National Health Protection Scheme.
The most immediate challenge for growth is the disruption of the global economy brought about by the Ukraine war and related sanctions, the Covid shutdowns in China and the rising tide of inflation, points out Nitin Desai.
The session started on January 29 and was originally slated to end on April 8 but several members had urged Speaker Om Birla to end the session earlier as they focus on electioneering for the five assemblies.
In an indication of easing financial stress among borrowers, the number of unsuccessful auto-debit requests through the National Automated Clearing House (NACH) platform declined in July, reversing a three-month trend that started with the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the NACH data, of the 86.4-million transactions initiated in July, 33.23 per cent, or 28.7 million transactions, failed, while 57.7 million were successful. Compared to June, this is a significant improvement in bounce rates.
The 2022-23 Budget has projected a disinvestment target of Rs 65,000 crore for next financial year. This is significantly lower than the estimated Rs 1.75 lakh crore budgeted for 2021-22. In the revised estimates, the target for 2021-22 has been cut to Rs 78,000 crore.
Piramal Enterprises on Friday claimed that its bid for resolution of debt-ridden mortgage lender DHFL is highest and fully compliant with regulatory norms. Since the conclusion of the fifth and final round of the bidding process last month, Piramal Enterprises and the US-based Oaktree Capital are claiming that their bids are the highest and fully implementable. According to sources, suitors have submitted bids in the range of Rs 35,000-37,000 crore.
Working while studying is an incredible way to build your professional network, learn hands-on experience, and understand the global working environment, suggests Ajay Sharma, president and founder, Abhinav Immigration Services.
Titled the King, Pele made football and Brazil a household name and Brazilian football, a benchmark.
The recent protests by employees of Urban Company and the case of a a Zomato delivery executive who died in a road accident point to the severely straitened condition of gig workers during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Budget 2021 had promised several measures to help the cause of gig economy workers, but most of them are yet to see the light of day. Even after a year, the country's gig workers continue to be without any social security cover or a minimum wage guarantee. "In Budget 2021, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that the government is looking toward including migrant and gig workers for social security benefits," says Srinivas Kotni, managing partner, Lexport, a consulting firm. Parliament had passed the Code on Wages in 2019 and Code on Industrial Relations, Social Security and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions in 2020.
The scheme is aimed at slashing the salary and pension bills of the three services, which have been increasing rapidly.
There is no official announcement yet on the fate of the 123 passengers and nine crew members as hopes receded about finding any survivors, considering that the plane crashed and exploded in a mountainous area.
The Budget emphasises on capacity building and empowerment of marginalised sections of society including farmers.
Launching the Ayushman Bharat scheme via a video-conference to extend health insurance benefits to all residents of Jammu and Kashmir, he said the three-tier panchayat system has fully taken shape in the UT, describing it as a realisation of Mahatma Gandhi's dream of 'gram swaraj' (village self-rule).
According to the law, the contribution "should not be more than 5 per cent of the amount paid to gig workers. The government is likely to start seeking contribution from gig companies towards the fund from April 1, 2021.
Merely stating that parking was 'at owner's risk' would not absolve the hotel of its liability.
The 39-year-old was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate from Ranchi after the agency conducted multi-city raids against him, Singhal, her businessman husband Abhishek Jha and others, on May 6.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday allowed payment system providers, prepaid card issuers, card networks and white label ATM operators access to its Centralised Payment Systems (CPS), such as real time gross settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) systems in the first phase of its plan bring non-banks in the same platform. "Direct access for non-banks to CPS lowers the overall risk in the payments ecosystem.
Parts of electric cars are costlier and repairing often means replacing an entire system, which drives insurance premium rates up.
A notice issued to the foreign journalists on Wednesday said they can get the Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine, developed by Sinopharm's China National Biotec Group. Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine has been granted conditional market approval by China's National Medical Products Administration.
'Those who say that conventional war is a thing of the past or that war is not an option, or that diplomacy alone can prevent war -- are wrong and we see that in Ukraine.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the contribution of doctors in saving lives from coronavirus and asserted that his government gave paramount importance to augmenting healthcare infrastructure to combat the pandemic.
The talk of governance reforms at public-sector banks seems to remain on paper, as a majority of them continue to be working with just a handful board members. Half of the board seat at these banks have been vacant. Ten of the 12 public-sector banks, even large ones like Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and Union Bank of India - all except State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of Baroda - don't even have a chairman. In 2014, while splitting the post of chairman & managing director (CMD), the government had decided to appoint non-executive chairmen at these banks. SBI, which has an executive chairman and four managing directors, was an exception.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday said the country's farm production and procurement increased during 2020-21 crop year despite the pandemic and agricultural exports reached a record level of Rs 3 lakh crore during the same period. In his address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament at the start of the Budget session, Kovind said the government is focusing on making the country self-sufficient in edible oils besides making special efforts to promote organic farming, natural farming and crop diversification. "My government is working continuously to empower the farmers and the rural economy of the country... I would like to give maximum credit to the small farmers of the country for this consistent success and strengthening of the agriculture sector," he said.
Ushering in a big wave of reforms by implementing the four labour codes, setting up the national social security fund to cover over 38 crore informal sector workers and improving the ease of doing business will top the agenda of the labour ministry in the New Year. In a major move, the ministry launched the e-Shram portal on August 26, 2021 for creating a national database of over 38 crore informal sector workers. It will help the government to ensure last-mile delivery of benefits of various social security schemes to the informal-sector workers.
The states and Union territories were also urged not to store, reserve, conserve or create a buffer stock of the COVID-19 vaccines, the Union health ministry said in a statement, a day after the start of the second phase of India's inoculation drive in which the coverage has been expanded to include everyone above 60 and those over 45 with specified co-morbidities.
The country's largest lender State Bank of India has seen a perceptible increase in the number transactions happening at its multiple digital channels, with the percentage moving from 60 per cent in the pre-pandemic period to 67 per cent currently, chairman Dinesh Khara said. The rise in the number of digital transactions at the bank was largely driven by pick up in e-commerce during the pandemic-induced lockdown, which restricted movement, he said.
It could be a matter of concern that foreign shareholders of the NSE are registered in tax havens such as Mauritius and Cyprus.
Budget for 2022-2023 has returned to its agenda for protectionism in the name of creating a self-reliant India, points out A K Bhattacharya.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the country's economic growth is picking up pace again and the domestic industry needs to enhance its risk-taking appetite. Noting the recent reforms taken by the government, the Prime Minister said that bringing reforms is a matter of conviction for his government, which is ready to take all risks in the national interest. "We have taken bold decisions. Reforms continued even during pandemic. "The government is doing reforms not out of compulsion but out of conviction," he said while addressing the CII's annual meeting.
An amount of Rs 100 will be paid in case the delay is for over an hour and Rs 250 for delay of over two hours, the IRCTC said ahead of the launch of its first train. The train is scheduled to make its first commercial run on October 5.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that fugitive businessmen Vijaya Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are "coming back" to India" to face the law.
Anil Rego, CEO, Right Horizons, answers your personal income tax queries.
What is aggravating the situation is that e-commerce firms are facing huge shortage of delivery personnel. They have not been able to bring back their staff to work, despite offering higher pay and Covid-related insurance packages.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday said it appeared that the Centre wanted people to die as according to the new protocol on use of Remdesivir for Covid-19 treatment, the drug was to be given only to those on oxygen support.
I got to know that every referred case for angiography and angioplasty got a kickback of Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 respectively. Seeing this trend, doctors started paying referring doctors Rs 1 lakh in advance and adjusting it as and when patients came in. This menace slowly spread its tentacles all over the medical field, including radiological diagnostics and biochemistry laboratories. For every test ordered, 20 per cent of the bill was given back to the referring doctor. This led to doctors recommending unnecessary tests. The pharmaceutical companies also saw burgeoning business. Acclaimed doctors were given televisions sets, refrigerators, air conditioners and cars depending upon the prescriptions. General practitioners would prescribe unnecessary drugs, and were given returns in cash. A fascinating excerpt from Dr Upendra Kaul's When The Heart Speaks.
India's equity markets are on a roller-coaster ride, after delivering spectacular returns for two consecutive years - in 2020 and 2021. The benchmark National Stock Exchange's (NSE's) Nifty50 is down 1.5 per cent in the first nine months of the current calendar year 2022 (CY22) as foreign portfolio investors sold Indian stocks due to rising bond yields in the US and across global markets, including India. The sell-off in the Indian equity markets has, however, not been broad-based and largely limited to sectors facing earnings headwinds from rising interest rates, lower commodity and energy prices, and likely economic recession in advanced economies.
Auto-debit payment bounces have gone up for the second consecutive month in May, emphasising the stress building up due to a halt in economic activities as authorities lock down various parts of the country to stop the spread of the virus in the second wave. According to the National Automated Clearing House (NACH) data, in May, of the 85.7 million transactions initiated, 35.91 per cent, or 30.8 million transactions, failed.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and discussed issues related to the Maratha reservation, pending GST compensation and the proposed Metro car shed in Kanjur.
Nearly 45 per cent of this value is likely to be delivered by 3 sectors - consumer goods and retail, agriculture and banking and insurance, the Nasscom report said.