Concerned over the fallout of the Red Sea crisis and severe shortage of containers against the backdrop of a steep decline in merchandise exports in August, the Union government is pulling out all the stops to find a solution. To begin with, the government has devised a strategy aimed at boosting container supply and supporting exporters.
Road awards were muted in Q1FY25. But the pace will accelerate with a bidding pipeline of Rs 1.1 trillion (September 2024), mostly dominated by HAM (Hybrid Annuity Model) projects, which contribute 47 per cent and engineering procurement and construction or EPC projects, which have about 36 per cent share. Hence, infrastructure companies mostly reported revenue decline on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis in Q1FY25.
This was one of the toughest years for Indian Railways.
Railway ministry will spend Rs 2300 crore (Rs 23 billion) in fiscal 2003-04 for enhancing safety and security of passengers, Minister of State for Railways Bandaru Dattatreya said on Wednesday.
The 17 related ministries have been combined into seven different groups, including some infrastructure departments, in a bid to ensure synergy and better results.
Hit by Covid waves and slowdown, the Indian Railways has still not been able to return to its pre-pandemic passenger traffic, data by ministry of Railways has revealed. In February, the national transporter received 413 million ticket bookings - 43 per cent higher than the previous year, but only 61 per cent of the 675 million in February 2020. According to the statistics, that was the last time the Railways saw more than 500 million bookings in a single month.
The discount will be given on the base fare and charges like GST, reservation fee, superfast tariff and others will be levied separately.
Key infrastructure sectors -- from railways to power, and from coal to petroleum -- will not only be part of the achievements but promises too, as the BJP fights to get a third term at the Centre.
Out of the 40 different cleanliness parameters passengers rated stench at stations as their top concern, followed by lack of dustbins and unclean platforms
Going a step ahead, the state government has suggested laying of very fast tracks to facilitate a speed of up to 350 kmph in the public-private partnership.
The suburban network, called Mumbai's lifeline, use to ferry over 70 lakh commuters daily before the coronavirus outbreak.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday directed X Corp and Google Inc to remove prima facie defamatory social media posts against Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) officer and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's daughter Anjali Birla.
Railways on Friday withdrew the Rs 4 crore water bill sent to the Latur district administration and promised to continue to run water trains to cater to the need of the people in the parched areas of Marthahwada region till the crisis is over.
'Efforts are on to make the data readily available so that it proves useful for policymakers.'
The railway ministry has decided to install Closed-circuit television cameras in ladies' compartments in phases in order to provide enhanced security to women passengers, the Rajya Sabha was told on Friday.
Shah said the Modi government has given highest priority to peace and development in the Northeastern region.
The move is line with the railway ministry's efforts to compete with low-cost airlines.
The much-hyped public private partnership motto of the railway ministry seems to have gone nowhere, as the ministry continues to sit over proposals from at least three state governments to start luxury trains.
There has been a growing demand for high axle load wagon trolley and the proposed factory is expected to cater to the demand.
The government on Thursday allowed state-run oil majors to fix diesel prices on their own in order to reduce an expanding subsidy bill and budget deficit. Oil companies announced a dual price mechanism while hiking the rates.
Bids for the proposed Rs 1,290-crore (Rs 12.9 billion) Madhepura electric locomotive factory in Bihar will be opened next week, say railway ministry officials.
While there are some new faces in the cabinet, leaders such as BJP president JP Nadda and Jual Oram have returned as ministers.
The second-sleeper class cancellation charge has been increased from Rs 60 to Rs 120.
A source in the know said realistically two-three of the seven bullet train corridors could be included as a practical election promise.
Not keen to take any chances in the wake of the derailment of the Gyaneshwari Express on Friday, the railway ministry has decided to suspend the running of passenger trains for seven hours in the night in Naxal-affected areas, during the Black Week declared by the Left-wing extremists. The decision came after Maoists derailed the Howrah-Kurla Gyaneshwari Express in West Midnapore district of West Bengal in the wee hours of Friday, killing more than 100 people.
In an interview with rediff.com's Anisha Ralhan, M G Arora, former executive director of safety, Indian Railways, explains how lobbyists and deflectors operating at different levels have corroded the lifeline of the nation.
'With the deployment of a higher degree of mechanisation, awarding contractual mining to MDOs and operational efficiency, we feel confident of achieving the desired target.'
Both were rescued from the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express that derailed near Bahanaga Bazar Station on June 2 that had claimed 275 lives and left around 1,200 injured.
The ministry of information and broadcasting is working on a proposal to set up a mega movie production studio -- akin to those in Hollywood -- with an investment of Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion), which will be supported by the government.
With Suresh Prabhu taking over, the Railways has initiated a number of steps to bring about efficiency with former Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan also being roped in as part of this process.
In a move to deepen manufacturing in electronics in India, the Centre is targeting 35-40 per cent value-addition through the yet-to-be launched production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for electronics components, sources in the government
'The BJP's numbers in this government are almost the same as those enjoyed by the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao when the reform process was kicked off in 1991.' 'As before, the only constraints on the prime minister's actions are internal, not external.' 'They come from his own assessment of the political consequences of any action,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
The notification of the Act comes just a day after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was asked when the legislation would be implemented. The minister had said the law ministry was framing the rules.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rejigged his team only once, in July 2021, in his second term, unlike in his first stint, when he reshuffled and expanded his council three times.
'The local support from our MP is nil. He never comes to see our farms.'
The total revenue earnings from May 1 and 10 stood at Rs 2,207 crore (Rs 22.07 billion) as compared to Rs 2,156 crore (Rs 21.56 billion) during the corresponding period last year, said a senior railway ministry official. Of this, it earned Rs 1,474 crore (Rs 14.74 billion) from goods traffic, which was an increase of 1.70 per cent as compared the corresponding period last year and Rs 629.44 crore (Rs 6.29 billion) from the passenger revenue earnings.
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
The Madhya Pradesh government has written to the Union ministry of home affairs on renaming the recently redeveloped Habibganj station after Rani Kamlapati, the 18th century Gond queen of the region.
The Rs 63,000-cr Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor and Rs 14,000-cr CSTM-Panvel suburban corridor are two of the largest projects.
'I think governments -- whether this one or the ones earlier -- have not understood the strength of the Indian Railways... that it can easily add 2.5 per cent to GDP.'
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