The government on Saturday announced a host of measures such as setting up of a new Fund of Funds Scheme (FFS) with Rs 10,000 crore corpus; and extension of period of incorporation by five years with a view to promote growth of budding entrepreneurs.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday warned of "another language war" amid the ongoing Hindi imposition row, stating that the state is "ready" for it. He also expressed concerns about the potential loss of Lok Sabha seats due to the proposed delimitation process, which he believes will disadvantage states that have successfully implemented population control measures. Stalin has called for an all-party meeting on March 5 to discuss the issue, urging unity across political lines to address the perceived threat to Tamil Nadu's representation in Parliament.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday took a major step to implement its key plank of "one nation, one election" as the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the constitutional amendment bill to roll out the concept of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, sources said.
The Reserve Bank of India is slated to announce its monetary policy review on January 29, amid industry demand for lowering of interest rates to spur growth.
Power utilities may report moderate growth in earnings for Q3FY25. Generation is up 3 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in Q3 on lower cooling demand and high base, to 429 billion units (BU). Peak demand was steady at 224 Gw in Q3FY25, a 10 per cent decline from the record highs of 250 Gw in May 2024.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has flagged possible anti-competitive concerns with respect to the proposed USD 8.5-billion Viacom18-Star India merger and has sought detailed responses from the parties concerned, sources said.
The opposition on Thursday criticised as mere "fluff" and "gimmickry" the government's decision to restructure Planning Commission and rechristen it "Neeti Ayog" and voiced apprehension that it will discriminate against the states and help "corporates call the shots" in policy making.
The government also announced creation of a special open forum on the website mygov.nic.in for suggestions on the new institution.
Banerjee expressed skepticism about the BJP's ambitious target of achieving 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
Chief ministers of three Congress-ruled states -- Karnataka's Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh's Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Telangana's Revanth Reddy -- have announced they will not attend the NITI Aayog meeting over alleged bias against their states in the Union Budget.
Dr T V Somanathan is the first finance secretary to be appointed Cabinet secretary since 1985. His appointment at this juncture seems to carry much meaning for the forthcoming trajectory of reforms and restructuring of India's steel frame.
According to the Approach Paper to the 12th Plan, the Commission has pegged a plan expenditure of Rs 5.83 lakh crore (Rs 5.83 trillion) for 2013-14, which is around 12 per cent more than the budgeted plan expenditure for the current fiscal.
The Aayog has been mandated to serve as a policy think-tank for the central as well as state governments
'The work is already on with various data being studied.'
She also slammed the Centre for its decision to observe January 23 as 'Parakram Diwas' to commemorate the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and said the Narendra Modi government did not consult with her before announcing it.
'Paris 2024 was the first time that both the men's and women's team qualified for the team championships.' 'The women's team made it to the quarter-finals, just one short of the medal round, and the men's team also did well.' 'The mixed doubles is another event where India is doing very well.' 'So these three events are events where there is a possibility of us winning medals at the Olympics.'
From bhikshus of Ashokan 3rd century BC and medieval Sufis to Oxfam, Omidyar and Soros now, non-State actors have any real power only when they work in conjunction with a real State, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The Planning Commission is interacting with grassroot-level health workers to invite specific suggestions and incorporate the same in policies to tackle malnutrition in India.
The TMC-led West Bengal government has already started laying the groundwork for the election, setting the tone with the recent Bengal Global Business Summit and the state Budget.
As about the need to set up such a fund, a top plan panel official said the proposed fund would be one of the way to earn higher returns as compared to those investing in domestic projects.
'Additionally, the significant employment multiplier will boost direct and indirect jobs of up to 1.1 million.'
Although the credit for acquiring the technological skill must be given to India's outstanding nuclear scientists, the decision to go nuclear was a political one that entailed clarity of vision, courage and resolve, points out Rup Narayan Das.
'Buyers should be provided either a fixed possession date or a firm date for the start of construction.'
Economist Abhijit Sen, a former Planning Commission member and one of the country's foremost experts on rural economy, died on Monday night. He was 72.
It may be recalled that recently differences flared up between the Planning Commission and the road transport ministry after the latter's minister Kamal Nath questioned the quality of reports produced by the Plan panel.
Sources said the duo attackers -- Rohit Rathore of Jaipur and Nitin Fauji of Haryana's Mahendragarh -- had planned to flee the country and had been allegedly promised Rs 50,000 each to kill Gogamedi.
New body to replace Plan panel might retain 40% of existing staff
The Tata Group-owned Air India has readied a five-year transformation plan, which is expected to take its domestic market share to 30 per cent, up from 8.4 per cent logged in June. IndiGo leads with a market share of 58.8 per cent. The transformation plan--Vihaan.AI-unveiled on Thursday revolves around tripling the domestic market share with investments in new aircraft, technology and improvements in customer service.
Some residents have already taken this step to relocate, either temporarily or permanently, some to their native places and others to clean-air destinations like Goa and Himachal Pradesh.
In July, the Planning Commission said that the number of people living below poverty line has come down both in rural as well as urban areas.
Russia's state-owned oil firm Rosneft has agreed to supply up to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to Indian upstream oil and gas major Reliance Industries (RIL) in the largest-ever energy deal between the two countries, Reuters reported on Thursday. The 10-year agreement amounts to 0.5 per cent of global oil supply and is valued at roughly $13 billion per year at current prices, it said.
ISRO's vendor policy and quality control processes are under scanner.
Banerjee said her microphone was stopped after five minutes, while other chief ministers were allowed to speak for longer durations.
Assessment note says panel acts as control commission, especially in fund allocations to states.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron have called for enhancing trade and investment ties between their countries and committed to further deepening their engagement in the Indo-Pacific. They discussed a full spectrum of bilateral relations, including key global and regional issues, and stressed the urgent need for reform in the United Nations Security Council. The leaders also underscored their commitment to ensuring the global AI sector can drive positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating the involvement of Canadian colleges and Indian entities in a money laundering case linked to the trafficking of Indians into the US from the borders of Canada. The probe stems from the death of an Indian family who died trying to illegally cross the Canada-US border in January 2022. The ED has alleged that accused individuals arranged admissions for Indians in Canadian colleges, but the students never joined the institutions after obtaining student visas. The ED has conducted searches at multiple locations in India and found that two entities were involved in facilitating admissions for Indians in foreign universities on a commission basis. The agency suspects that several Canadian colleges near the Canada-US border are involved in the trafficking racket.
Around 600 non-flying staff of Air India and Vistara are likely to be impacted by the two airlines' mega-merger, and efforts will be made to provide job opportunities to the affected employees within Air India group and Tata companies, sources said on Wednesday. Tata Group-owned loss-making full-service carriers -- Air India and Vistara -- together have more than 23,000 employees.
Investors should match their investment horizon with the fund's portfolio duration.
Life insurers shifted their focus to selling high-value policies in October as the transition to new surrender value norms, effective October 1, limited their ability to roll out all products in their portfolio. This led to a 40 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) drop in the number of policies sold in October. Additionally, distributors engaged in a fire sale of policies in September due to uncertainty about the impact of the new norms on their commission structures.
'I had to persuade him. I think he was a sceptic to begin with, but later on he was convinced that what we were doing was the right thing to do, that there was no other way out.'
