Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh passed away at a hospital in Chennai on Tuesday after suffering from multiple organ failure.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has retained key portfolios of finance, industries and energy, while K J George would be the new home minister.
While there are some new faces in the cabinet, leaders such as BJP president JP Nadda and Jual Oram have returned as ministers.
Amid multi-tier security, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday will dedicate India's first 'carbon neutral panchayat' to the nation apart from inaugurating and laying foundation stone of development projects worth over Rs 20,000 crore to give fillip to speedy development of Jammu and Kashmir.
These include home, industrial development (mining), justice, labour, excise, environment conservation and climate change, disaster management and rehabilitation and civil aviation.
Ramesh wants Maharashtra to be a pace setter.
Amid escalating tensions over the Sinjauli mosque in Shimla, a Muslim welfare committee on Thursday urged the municipal commissioner to seal the unauthorised portion and also offered to demolish it in accordance with a court order.
Days after being inducted as a minister in Rajasthan, Rajendra Singh Gudha has shot his mouth off comparing roads to the cheeks of actors Hema Malini and Katrina Kaif.
While condemning the incident of Manipur where two women were paraded naked and molested, Modi on Thursday made a reference to states like Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in context of law and order.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday said 'vested interests' were responsible for the recent killings of Sarpanches and Panches even as it said it is duty-bound to empower Panchayats in the state and has taken steps in this regard.
The spokesman said it was learnt that an active terrorist of Hizbul, Farooq Ahmad Bhat, had received directions from terror handlers based in Pakistan to target the members of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Kulgam.
Due to heavy rains and waterlogging over the tracks at several locations on South Central Railway network, as many as 99 trains were cancelled and four trains were partially cancelled while 54 trains were diverted, an SCR official said.
Talks have begun for the safe release of two Italian nationals abducted by Maoists in Odisha and the state government is making all efforts to get the hostages released. The Odisha government on Thursday evening began talks with two of the Maoist nominated mediators, Dandapani Mohanty and BD Sharma, for the safe release of two Italian nationals abducted by the ultras.
Intensifying efforts for the release of the abducted Malkangiri Collector R V Krishna, two Maoist-chosen mediators on Thursday left for Koraput for talks with the rebels even as the Orissa government said it is hopeful of some positive developments soon.
All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference on Wednesday said none of its members would contest the MLC election from panchayat quota. "We make it clear that no member of AJKPC shall contest the MLC's election and we shall continue our fight for the empowerment of the Panchayati Raj institution in the state of Jammu and Kashmir," chairman of AJKPC, Shafiq Mir, told reporters.
Is small beautiful? Are small states better governed? Here we present a debate featuring two veteran political leaders in the wake of the Telangana statehood row.
The Constitution (116th Amendment) Bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha by a determined Opposition, helped by the absence of parties supporting the government from outside like the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abullah was summoned by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday and pulled up for not including the 73rd and 74 amendments in the Panchayati Raj despite the fact he had earlier committed to do the same.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday complimented the panchayat system of Leh saying this model should be practised in the entire country.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday dismissed reports of a tiff between Rahul Gandhi and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over empowering sarpanches in the state but insisted that they should be given power across the country "without any exception".
The Centre has expressed displeasure over improper implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in some states, pointing to inadequacies like failure to put in place monitoring, auditing and accountability mechanisms.
Sources in the Rural Development Ministry said the actual expenditure incurred in 2020-21 will be higher than the allocated funds and it will at least be at par with this year's total estimated expenditure of MGNREGS.
In a startling development, a Union minister and Congress leader has dashed off a letter to the Andhra Pradesh governor, urging him to take action against the state government ruled by his own party
Former Rajasthan minister Mohammad Ameen Khan, who was forced to resign from Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's cabinet following his controversial remarks against President Pratibha Patil, claims that his opponents had blown the issue out of proportion with the connivance of the media.Khan had created a furore by allegedly stating that Patil was made the President due to her loyalty to the Gandhi family and cited instances of her association with Indira Gandhi.
Chowdhury said he has directed Congress workers to extend all cooperation to the CPI-M in fighting the July 8 polls.
In the continuing war of words between Congress and Trinamool Congress, the two ruling allies in West Bengal, Union Rural Development minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday defended his comment that Congress had not taken a VRS from the state and said it would continue to speak its mind on the state's affairs.
The group will recommend schedules of activities for bilateral exchanges between the two countries.
The government on Friday renamed its flagship rural job guarantee programme - National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) - after Mahatma Gandhi.
The move comes after Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday resigned after he was chosen as the National Democratic Alliance's candidate for the vice presidential election.
Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said his ministry can address the water woes faced in parts of the country.
Under Pressure for quite some time from his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, as well as the rank and file and leaders of the party, Rahul has apparently given the go ahead and agreed to join the Manmohan Singh government as a minister. It is expected that he would become a cabinet minister and may even take oath before the monsoon session of Parliament.
Four more Congress leaders, including former deputy speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly Gulam Hyder Malik, and a dozen prominent workers of the Apni Party resigned from their respective parties on Monday in support of veteran politician Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Describing Mayawati as a "living goddess", the ruling BSP in Uttar Pradesh, facing a hail of criticism over the garland issue, says it will continue to weigh its party supremo in gold and silver.
'The President of India, as advised by the prime minister, has accepted the resignation of Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect,' the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement.
Slamming the new Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare on Friday said the government should involve people in lawmaking and invoked Rajiv Gandhi's name to tell the Congress-led dispensation that he had written to all village heads before coming out with the Panchayati Raj Bill.
government approved on Thursday expansion of community radio stations by non-profit organisations after ensuring security clearances from the defence and home ministries.
In the last Cabinet meeting held a few days ago, there was a virtual face off between Union Human Research and Development Minister Kapil Sibal and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister C P Joshi, with Joshi objecting to the setting up of an education tribunal being installed by Sibal.
After taking over as the new Panchayati Raj Minister, Deo disapproved of the actions of Andhra Pradesh MLAs and MPs who have resigned on Telangana issue.
Newly-appointed Tribal Affairs and Panchayati Raj minister V Kishore Chandra Deo on Tuesday asserted that no development can take place at the cost of people's rights and said the mindset that tribals can be displaced for mining projects will have to be changed.
Terming India's fiscal decentralisation as 'flawed', the World Bank has mooted six broad strategies, including strengthening the state finance commissions, broadening tax base and greater devolution of power to Panchayati Raj institutions.
