The apex court within hours took suo motu notice of it and a five-member bench started hearing the case on Monday.
The Cabinet on Wednesday approved public private partnership mode for the rollout of BharatNet project for broadband services in villages in 16 states with viability gap funding of Rs 19,041 crore, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said. Prasad said the decision to involve private players was taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on August 15, 2020 that around 6 lakh villages in the country will be connected with broadband in 1,000 days. "The Cabinet has in-principle approved implementation of BharatNet in 16 states in a public private partnership model with total expense of Rs 29,430 crore.
A plan for projects to be awarded in the year 2010-11 is to be launched soon.
The government expects to realise Rs 35,100 crore from the partial sale of Bharatnet fibre assets and around 13,500 mobile towers owned by state-run telecom firms as part of its national monetisation pipeline released on Monday. Government think tank Niti Aayog has valued over 2.86 lakh kilometre of optical fibre assets laid by BBNL and BSNL under rural broadband project Bharatnet at Rs 26,300 crore, according to the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) document. According to the document, BSNL's 13,567 mobile tower assets and MTNL's 1,350 towers have been valued at Rs 8,800 crore.
The Opposition parties need 172 members in the 342-member house to orchestrate the downfall of Prime Minister Khan.
Since January this year, Indian exporters have begun to dread the shipping news. That's because most of it would be about another lot of shipping companies deciding to avoid Indian ports on account of delays.
India has retained its position as the fourth largest economy in the world on the basis of Purchasing Power Parity, behind the United States, China and Japan.
Is India really one of the cheapest nations to live in?
The move came hours after Khan was removed from office through a no-confidence vote held early Sunday morning, becoming the first premier in the country's history to be sent home after losing the trust of the House.
Veteran banker K V Kamath on Friday said it is "time to be brave" for the government, and it should stretch the fiscal deficit target set in the budget if need be, to push growth. He said benign interest rates of under 8 per cent and abundant liquidity are also necessary to seize what he called as a 25-year growth runway opportunity awaiting the country. The government has targeted to get the fiscal deficit at 6.8 per cent for FY22 in the Budget presented early this year.
There is lack of scientific basis in computing the poverty line, says govt.
Pakistan's popular hill station Murree was declared a calamity-hit area on Saturday after at least 21 people, including nine children, froze to death in their vehicles due to unprecedented snowfall and rush of tourists to the picturesque town in Punjab province.
Though the Railways is yet to declare any five-year action plan, it is clear the government is not in a position to hand-hold it for any major expansion or upgrade. The issue, however, is how far the Railways can function within the PPP format. Recent history highlights some of the challenges.
Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and other ministers took charge of their respective offices on Thursday, a day after taking oath at a ceremony held in the Darbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The ruling Pakistan People's Party on Friday condemned as 'despicable' the claim by an Indian author -- that its late party chairperson Benazir Bhutto had confided to him -- that she participated in the nuclear black market.In a statement, PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the claim that Bhutto had "made such an acknowledgement to an obscure journalist is a tasteless and cheap exploitation of her tragic assassination".
Yes. Whilst public expenditure is kicking in, the key reason is the decline in private investment
One of India's most seasoned diplomats on Pakistan, who has had extensive and deep interaction with the Pakistani elite, told rediff.com, "Americans are likely to encourage a deal between the PPP and Musharraf. But we will have to wait and watch."
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Monday a record sum of Rs 1.10 lakh crore for the Railways, out of which Rs 1.07 lakh crore is for capital expenditure, and said the national transporter would monetise the dedicated freight corridors after its commissioning. Presenting the Union Budget 2021-22, Sitharaman also applauded the services provided by the Railways to transport essential goods across the country during the coronavirus lockdown.
The Kerala high court on Monday dismissed petitions filed by Kerala government and others challenging the Centre's decision to lease Thiruvananthapuram international airport to Adani Enterprises.
Stepped up public expenditure must be accompanied by focused policies, advises Vinayak Chatterjee.
The government was going in the "wrong direction" and it was "highly condemnable" that it did not discuss the proposed changes with trade unions and other stakeholders, says BMS, trade union arm of the RSS.
'India is ahead only of Pakistan in the amount spent on each soldier a year.' 'The Indian military is a manpower-heavy throng that is poorly armed, equipped, and trained,' observes Ajai Shukla.
The Major Ports Authority Bill, 2020 was passed through ballot votes in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday with 84 votes in its favour and 44 against it. The Lok Sabha had passed the bill on September 23 last year.
The recent release of the updated index for comparing the value of currencies across countries - generally known as purchasing power parity, or PPP - will have far-reaching implications.
Pakistan's National Assembly has passed a government-backed bill that will provide the right of appeal to Indian death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav, according to a media report.
Pakistan Muslim League, a key partner in Pakistan's ruling coalition on Tuesday withdrew 17 of its ministers from the federal cabinet, saying the Pakistan People's Party-led government had failed to honour its commitments and to resolve the problems of the people.
In the current year, India's economy will grow to become $ 3 trillion economy, sixth largest in world.
India has much paranoia in India about a new 'Terroristan' coming up between Pakistan and a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Pakistan has zero ability economically, diplomatically, geostrategically or militarily to create one. If they try, it will be great for India as they will destroy themselves yet again, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'They are also sitting on huge public sector assets without many returns.'
Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari stayed away from the country as his mother and former premier Benazir's death anniversary was observed on Saturday across the country, giving credence to reports that he is having serious differences with his father Asif Ali Zardari.
Smaller parties in Pakistan have launched a bid to patch up differences between President Asif Ali Zardari and the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif before matters reach a point of no return.
The scheme is expected to activate the measures announced for the housing construction sector under the economic stimulus packages. It will increase the stock of houses ranging from 300 sq ft to 1,200 sq ft plinth area built at affordable rates on land provided by state governments.
Banks might not have realised the exact implication of risky projects under PPP projects, which were getting implemented under high leverage
While India is witnessing slowdown, many countries have not yet been able to come off the last decade's financial crisis.
The youth, Rahul Dev, has been recruited as a General Duty (GD) pilot officer in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Daily Pakistan reported. Dev hails from Tharparkar, the largest district in Sindh province, which is the home to a large population of Hindu community, local media reported on Monday.
Sadiq, who was the Speaker of the National Assembly during the PML-N government, made a similar statement earlier on Wednesday in Parliament that Foreign Minister Qureshi had said in an important meeting that if Varthaman was not released, India would attack Pakistan 'at 9 pm that night (sic)' and 'for God's sake we should let him go'.
In the latest draft of the Code on Social Security Bill, 2019, the government has decided to stick to the current thresholds for providing social security benefits to workers by industry.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, eminent personalities, politicians described Lata Mangeshkar as the "nightingale of the subcontinent"
"We believe that all the difficulties the country is facing can be resolved with the support of all the political parties," Zardari told journalists after meeting Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The PML-N has indicated that it will support the PPP-led government from outside. Zardari has been working to get the backing of all parties, including the Jamiat, for the government and his meeting with Rehman was part of these efforts.
Presenting the Narendra Modi government's maiden Rail Budget, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda announced setting up of logistic parks and private freight terminals on PPP model.
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