The first meeting of the newly-reconstituted Central Employment Guarantee Council last week, meant to oversee the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, saw two prominent members, Jean Dreze and Aruna Roy, object to various new ideas of the government, beginning with the one of using it to build Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendras, meant to serve as offices for panchayats.
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) was launched by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in the first flush of its commitment to the 'Aam Aadmi' agenda.
The supplementary demands for grants include a gross additional spending of over Rs 2 lakh crore, which would be matched by savings of over Rs 1.21 lakh crore.
After a strong run in the midcap and smallcap indices, which surged 46 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively, on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) during Samvat 2080, analysts suggest that the rally in these segments may pause to catch its breath in Samvat 2081.
Ayush refers to the six Indian systems of medicines, namely Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Homeopathy are majorly prevalent in the country.
'Do films today even have the courage to question the establishment?'
A man suspected to have contracted Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) has died in Maharashtra's Solapur district, while the number of cases of the immunological nerve disorder in Pune rose to 110, health officials said on Monday.
'India has the maths talent, academic institutions, and research institutions to do the next big thing.'
We the people are left in the wind, waiting on the whims of an unengaged president and an oligarch with a nearly bottomless wallet, observes Sree Sreenivasan.
"If implemented 'honestly and sincerely', the programme would increase the rural income and 'certainly we will be able to soften very considerably the harsh edges of extreme poverty," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.
'There is also a possibility that Andhra Pradesh may demand a similar package. But as of now, we are only working on a package for Bihar.'
As RBI governor, Sanjay Malhotra will have to give the highest priority to the interest of the economy while deciding on the growth-inflation trade off at Mint Street.
A young Indian man was arrested in Pakistan after illegally crossing the border to meet a Facebook friend he wanted to marry. However, the woman told police she was not interested in marrying him. The man, Badal Babu, was arrested in the Mandi Bahauddin district of Pakistan's Punjab province on December 28. He had crossed the border to meet his Facebook friend, Sana Rani. Rani, in her statement to police, said she had been friends with Babu for the past two-and-a-half years but was not interested in marrying him. Babu's family has appealed to the Indian government to intervene for his release.
Rahul Gandhi, along with a dozen Congress leaders, had met the prime minister on Wednesday to demand that the scheme, which guarantees 100 days employment to each rural household, be extended to the entire country.
'If you want to win you need to perform.' 'Governments have found a way to buck anti-incumbency, but one policy intervention will not pay in all elections.'
As the Union Budget 2025-2026 (FY26) inches closer, the Indian real estate industry is seeking stamp duty cuts, revised home loan limits and updated affordable housing norms through Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY), single-window clearance and eco-friendly policies, among others. Industry leaders and consultancy firms, including Anarock, Raheja, Gaurs, Kanodia Group, Reach, Urban Space, Justo and Eros Group, have shared their expectations.
Top officials from the US department of labour, organisers of the event, said the innovative 100-day rural employment guarantee scheme has been successful beyond the expectations of almost every one.
Around 7.4 per cent of Indians aged 60 and above are affected by dementia. This number is expected to rise from the current 8.8 million to 17 million by 2036, marking a 97 per cent increase.
The Supreme Court of India has directed all high courts, state governments, and union territories to ensure the availability of separate toilet facilities for men, women, persons with disabilities (PwDs), and transgender persons in all court premises and tribunals across the country. The court stressed the importance of public health and the right to privacy, stating that adequate public toilets protect women and transgender persons. The court also expressed concern about the condition of public toilets near toll plazas on national highways and emphasized the need for proper sanitation facilities in court premises for judges, advocates, litigants, and staff members. This decision highlights the importance of access to basic amenities in ensuring a fair and dignified justice system.
Expressing condolences on the demise of the doyen of Indian industry and Chairman Emeritus of Tata Group, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said he has left an indelible mark on society. "Saddened by the passing away of Shri Ratan Tata, a leader par excellence, visionary industrialist, and philanthropist whose contributions have left an indelible mark on our society," Sitharaman said in a post on X.
State governments yet to act on sorting MGNREGA wage delays
Allocation for National Rural Health Mission stepped up from Rs 8207 crore (Rs 82.07 billion) to Rs 9947 crore (Rs 99.47 billion).
His cinema of compassion inspired me, gave me tools to develop empathy for others. But it also made me understand that serious, socially committed cinema with deeply engaging narratives and great performances is an art form to admire, appreciate and explore. Aseem Chhabra remembers Shyam Benegal, who passed into the ages on Monday evening.
An increase in the farmer income support scheme PM Kisan Nidhi, the introduction of a 'robot tax' to fund reskilling of people who lose their jobs to artificial intelligence (AI), and a reduced income-tax (I-T) to bring relief to the middle classes - these are some of the items in the Budget wish list submitted by Sangh Parivar affiliates to Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman. Representatives of the affiliates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), such as the farmer organisation Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS); trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS); Laghu Udyog Bharati, which works for micro and small industries; and Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), which works on economic and policy issues, met the FM and other officials over the last couple of weeks as part of the pre-Budget consultations.
The provision for additional Rs 10,500 crore (Rs 105 billion) was made in the first batch of supplementary demands for grant, which was approved by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The amount has been provided, "to meet the additional requirement of the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme," stated the supplementary demand for grants.
Retail inflation breached the Reserve Bank's upper tolerance level, soaring to a 14-month high of 6.21 per cent in October mainly on account of rising food prices. Inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI) was 5.49 per cent in September and 4.87 per cent in the year-ago month. Retail inflation trended below the RBI's upper tolerance band of 6 per cent since September last year.
US hopes to learn from these innovative and dynamic programmes in India.
Nitin Desai, who has known Dr Singh from 1971, extends his 'deepest condolences to his wife Gurcharan Kaur and to his three talented daughters Upinder, the historian; Daman, the writer; and Amrit, the human rights activist.'
As a leader, he was ambitious, not for himself but for India and its people. His was not the short-term election cycle calculation of individual political gain. His was a practical vision of how to better the lives of his fellow citizens, asserts Ambassador Shivshankar Menon, who served as foreign secretary and national security advisor when Dr Singh was prime minister.
The Kudumbasree, which was the first pioneering effort by the government of Kerala to promote women self-help groups, is all set to become a model for the National Rural Livelihoods mission. The project will be considered as a model for several states with a mission to bring changes in the fortunes of many women.
The United Kingdom extracted USD 64.82 trillion from India over a century of colonialism between 1765 and 1900 and USD 33.8 trillion of this went to the richest 10 per cent -- enough money to carpet London in notes of 50 British pound almost four times over.
The juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
Core sector companies have seen volumes drop to single digit in the first nine months of FY16.
MNREGS labourers are usually engaged in irrigation projects.
Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies has been picked as India's official entry for Oscars 2025.
Making India a developed nation by 2047 is an ambition of every Indian, and states can play an active role in achieving this aim as they are directly connected with the people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday. Modi is chairing the 9th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog.
Apart from this, the health sector as a whole has an allocation of Rs 4,447 crore (Rs 44.47 billion). The finance Minister said the response for Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, which was operationalised last year, has been very good.
Unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above has remained unchanged at 3.2 per cent in July 2023 to June 2024, according to the labour force survey annual report released on Monday. The unemployment rate (UR) is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force. The report stated that while the UR for male has shown a marginal decline from 3.3 per cent during July 2022 - June 2023 to 3.2 per per cent during July 2023 - June 2024, among female it has increased from 2.9 per cent to 3.2 per cent during the same time span.
Eight out of 10 ministers under the Nayab Singh Saini government faced defeat in the Haryana assembly polls.
It has raised rural consumption, created new markets and shored up growth when investment falters.
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