Dismissing the talk about early elections, the Congress said the food security measure is a game changer that will provide right to cheap food grains to 82 crore people.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the Centre of pursuing vindictive politics and using central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to terrorise people in the non Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.
The initiative would provide double the relief announced by the states of UP and Maharashtra, the Punjab CM said.
'Defence, development and democracy is the formula to defeat Naxalism.'
While the motives of the Bill are of course laudable, there is every likelihood that the consequences of its passage will be dire.
Ushering in the biggest programme in the world to fight hunger, Parliament on Monday gave its nod to the landmark Food Security Bill which seeks to provide highly subsidised foodgrains to the country's two-third population as a right.
When KV Thomas took over as minister of state for food and consumer affairs (independent charge) on January 19, 2011, he was tasked with taking forward one single, important objective: expedite the implementation of the National Food Security Bill.
'I am sceptical of the Indian economy returning to a sustained high-growth trajectory any time soon'
rediffGURU and financial planning expert Colonel Sanjeev Govila will answer your personal finance-related questions.
Union finance secretary T V Somanathan recently said the Centre had saved Rs 10,000 crore in FY22 on interest payments after adopting new accounting mechanisms for central government agencies and centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) for state governments. Speaking at an event, Somanathan said due to these, there was an unspent balance of Rs 1.2 trillion with state agencies from CSS as on March 31, 2022. This means this amount will be reduced from the Centre's borrowing for now and it can be considered a short-term saving for the exchequer.
The vaccination drive was only one important part of India's globally recognised pandemic management and response strategy, observes Dr Vinod K Paul.
From NITI Aayog to industry leaders to the Reserve Bank of India, all are apprehensive that any major increase in MSP, following the 2018-19 Budget announcements, would push up prices, if not immediately, in the next six to eight months after the decision is taken.
The remarks by Naidu in his last address as the country's Vice President came even as Telangana's ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi RS said the welfare of poorer sections of society is not a freebie and that welfare measures taken by governments should continue.
The Punjab government blames the slow growth on tax concessions in neighboring Himachal Pradesh and Haryana's proximity to Delhi.
At a time when finding out who is paying for labourers' train tickets is a task for Sherlock Holmes, Hemant Soren's Jharkhand government has flown in stranded workers from Ladakh, and is probably the only state that has tried to give 'migrant workers' a modicum of respect, observes Debashish Chatterjee.
Aadhaar now has legal backing but it still faces challenges of privacy and data sharing
Nowhere on the planet, nowhere in mankind's history has such an idea taken the concrete shape in form of a law. The National Food Security Bill, which will come via ordinance and not after the debate in Parliament, is an incredible economic tool to tackle the hunger of poor Indians. Also, it has already been condemned widely as a political gimmick.
'The question is, how soon we can expect to re-attain the pre-lockdown levels of output and income.'
Several Indian banks have alerted their customers not to download apps from any source other than official app stores. Banking customers are being targeted by a new type of mobile banking malware campaign using SOVA Android Trojan. This malware captures the credentials when users log onto their net-banking apps and access bank accounts. The new version of SOVA appears to be targeting more than 200 mobile applications, including banking apps and crypto wallets.
The world's largest cash transfer programme has eliminated around 40 million ghost connections
'We have to go through the process of obtaining informed consent.'
'Completely disregarding ground reports of starvation deaths owing to Aadhaar and potentially disguising these deaths to look like accidents appears brutal,' says Rajendran Narayanan.
'Mumbai's corroding infrastructure, Delhi's pollution, Bangalore's rain water drainage, Kolkata's electricity -- these are all real and serious life threatening situations.'
The area-based income compensation scheme says that farmers should be paid the difference between the actual price they get and the state-mandated MSP. The compensation will be determined on a per acre basis by using district-level estimates of marketable surplus and prices in the harvest season.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharama on Thursday stated the government is planning to provide a relief package of Rs 1.7 lakh crore to the underprivileged, poor and migrant workers affected by the lockdown amid the coronavirus outbreak. The scheme has been named the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Scheme.
'Everybody should be given rations. Nobody should be excluded.' 'Without an income, the present ration quota is not enough.' They should increase it so that one person can eat adequately for a month.'
'There have been many cases where clients have indicated that they feel suicidal as they feel they have no other options to deal with their financial hardship.'
Banks do extensive investigation before declaring an account fraud; they owe it to us as they deal with our money. Why would they try to fix an innocent borrower? asks Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday appealed to the people of Manipur to maintain peace and promised that justice will be ensured to all sections of the society.
Ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament, former Congress ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday indicated its support to the UPA's 'game-changer' Food Security Bill even though it has wanted a few changes in it.
Stressing that the Covid virus may continue to transmit for a "very long time", senior WHO official Poonam Khetrapal Singh says the level of immunity in a community, through vaccination and previous infection, will determine whether it will become endemic in the long run.
'You have come out with a package for the kisan.' 'You have a package for industry.' 'But has anyone addressed the issues concerning small traders?'
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das kept the red flag on cryptocurrencies flying, warning that the next financial crisis can be triggered by private cryptocurrencies if such speculative instruments are allowed to grow.
The United States has described as "discriminatory and restrictive" the Indian government not allowing American carriers operate chartered flights on Indo-US routes even though Air India was doing so under the Vande Bharat Mission.
The 1,600-member crew and a slew of civilian workers were working like busy bees on Friday preparing the majestic warship IAC Vikrant for its commissioning on September 2.
The government does not seem inclined, at least in the petroleum sector, to effect sudden and steep upward price revisions to tame its huge subsidy burden and rein in fiscal deficit.
The ED said its investigation also revealed that from 2019 to 2022, the sale of 'unaccounted illicit' liquor was almost 30-40 per cent of the total liquor sale in the state.
As the pandemic enveloped various parts of the US, Kinsa's app alerted its team and wherever possible, the company made the data public. Between March 1 and November 1, 2020, the company captured close to 15 million fever readings and 1.7 million symptom inputs on its app. Several researchers and The New York Times downloaded the company's data, which showed that it was in general three weeks ahead of the surge.
As the COVID wave gradually shifts to rural areas, several states are gearing up to check its spread through self-proclaimed lockdowns by Panchayati Raj institutions, creating a database of migrants and providing free online medical consultation to the sick.
The promoter-brothers, distant cousins to IndiGo's Rahul Bhatia, are eyeing Air India's ground handling subsidiary to augment their aviation services business even as they make a big play in EVs.
