Faced with a challenge to his traditional Other Backward Class-Muslim vote base from the ruling National Democratic Alliance in poll-bound Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad appears to be making inclusion of caste in census and opposition to women's reservation bill his major planks to woo the electorate.Strongly pitching for incorporating caste in census, he said opposing it could spark a 'mass agitation'.
"Though we welcome the amendments to Succession Act, passing of Domestic Violence Act, women quota in NREG Act and the announcement of extension of maternity leave to six months, we are critical of the failure of the UPA government to introduce the bill on 33 per cent reservations of seats to women in Parliament and state assemblies," the resolution, adopted on the penultimate day of the ongoing 20th Congress of the CPI, noted.
Manmohan Singh represented the finest aspects of India, asserts Aakar Patel.
In a historic transition, the Parliament moved into a swanky new complex on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging MPs to forget all past bitterness and start a new chapter and the introduction of the women's reservation bill taking centre stage.
The Biju Janata Dal on Tuesday opposed the no-confidence motion against the government on the Manipur violence, saying what happened in the state is due to "legacy issues" running back several decades.
The dramatic moves of Donald Trump, which have shaken up the global order, dominated the discussion. A sense of bewilderment prevailed, but there was also expectation that President Trump would settle down to a more traditional style of governance after a time of shock and awe, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, an attendee at literary festivals in Calicut, Jaipur, Kochi, Sharjah and Thiruvanathapuram.
Social changes take a "little time" and sometimes it is easier to bring a law but difficult to persuade society to change with it, the Supreme Court observed on Thursday while deliberating upon the issue relating to the dissolution of marriages.
The decision by SP, with 21 members in Lok Sabha, and RJD with four will, however, have no impact on the stability of the UPA government. The SP and the RJD were outside supporters of the government.
Better protection for depositors and investors was one of the chief considerations in Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introducing, on Friday, the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, in the Lok Sabha to amend four pieces of legislation. This amendment is also to improve audit quality in public-sector banks (PSBs), offer consistency in reporting by banks to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and provide for an increase in the tenure of directors in cooperative banks.
'When our daughters, wrestlers Sakshi Malik and Vignesh Phogat, were protesting at the Jantar Mantar, the police kicked them with their shoes.'
Amid protests by Opposition members seeking a debate on price rise, the Lok Sabha on Friday passed the Indian Antarctic Bill, 2022, which seeks to extend the application of domestic laws to research stations set up by India in the Antarctic region.
The Parliament on Tuesday unanimously passed the bill to restore the power of states and union territories to prepare and maintain their own list of socially and educationally backward classes (SEBCs).
Consensus continued to elude the Women's Reservation Bill which is unlikely to see the light of the day during the current session of Parliament.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) may extend the deadline to whitelist URLs (Uniform Resource Locators), APKs (Android Package Kit), or OTT (Over The Top) links - through which it intends to curb their misuse -is likely to be extended by 30 days as only over 3,000 registered senders (businesses) have complied, officials indicated. According to Trai officials, over 3,000 registered senders have whitelisted more than 70,000 links, but many more (thousands of others) are yet to comply with the directive as the mandatory norms are set to come into effect from October 1.
The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the 10.5 per cent reservation provided to Vanniyars, a Most Backward Community (MBC) in Tamil Nadu, in government jobs and admission to educational institutions.
In a major decision, the RBI on Friday announced that UPI payment limit to hospitals and educational institutions will be raised to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh at present and hiked the cap for e-mandates for recurring payments to Rs 1 lakh. Unveiling the December bi-monthly monetary policy, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said the limit for various categories of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions has been reviewed from time to time. "It is now proposed to enhance the UPI transaction limit for payment to hospitals and educational institutions from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per transaction," he said.
UPA managers say cooling of tempers, passage of Budget are bigger priorities.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas challenging the validity of the 103rd Constitution amendment providing 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker sections (EWS) persons in admissions and government jobs.
The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Constitution amendment bill to restore the power of states to make their own OBC lists after a thaw in the logjam as Opposition parties backed the legislation but demanded the removal of the 50 per cent cap on reservation, with many of them also calling for a caste-based census.
Apparently addressing concerns that it was encroaching into parliamentary territory, the Supreme Court has said the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the OBC reservation bill will be placed before it after it is tabled in the House.
The firebrand OBC leader, who is clearly keen on projecting her status as a backward caste leader, is seeking quotas within the legislation and a thorough discussion in the party on the issue before formulating its stand
As the adjournment of Parliament for an indefinite period with the Rajya Sabha also adjourning sine die kickstarts the final countdown for the general elections, Modi said the last five years were a period of "reform, perform and transform" with the country moving towards "big changes" at a fast pace.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he had rejected a request of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to join the NDA, after the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections in 2020, citing his "deeds".
When in Landour, discovers Supriya Newar, one of the most important things to do and that too in large measures, is to do nothing at all.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal, a key ally in the United Progressive Alliance, on Wednesday strongly opposed the Women's Reservation Bill in its present form. The party did not rule out withdrawing support from the Congress-led coalition at the Centre if its demand for quota within quota, for Dalit and minorities in the legislation, was not conceded. RJD's rigid stand might throw a spanner in the efforts of the UPA to ensure passage of the Bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
He said that medical courses in India will now have a reservation for Other Backward Classes under the All India Quota Scheme.
On Wednesday, the Bihar Cabinet in a meeting chaired by the chief minister passed a resolution on asking the Centre to include the provision in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution, Siddharth said.
Amid opposition Congress's protest and walkout, the Karnataka legislative assembly on Wednesday okayed the anti-conversion bill, passed by the legislative council last week with minor amendments, that seeks to replace the ordinance that was in place to give effect to the bill.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday threw its weight behind the Women's Reservation Bill, saying the quota for women in Parliament and state assemblies is an idea whose time has come.
The ties between India and the Maldives came under severe strain since Muizzu, known for his pro-China leanings, took charge of the top office in November.
He also sought framing of a law to identify Kunbis as Marathas, and warned of fielding candidates from all 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra in the upcoming state polls if his demands were not approved.
Stalin called on Ravi at the Raj Bhavan here and urged him to expeditiously send the Bill to exempt Tamil Nadu from the purview of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for getting Presidential assent, an official release said.
'Within India, people want high-quality, personalised banking services, and the demand for such services has exploded.'
'We see that a BJP MP abuses a Muslim MP in the Parliament. People are saying that he should not have said all this in the Parliament, they are saying that his tongue was bad. This is the representative of the people for whom you voted'
Modi said he believed that a big section of the country's democracy-loving people will appreciate the conduct of those MPs who used their wisdom and talent and showed their concerns for the masses, even though they might have been critical in their views.
The Maratha community is not backward and hence it does not require reservation in government jobs and education, a petitioner argued before the Bombay high court on Wednesday.
The introduction of tax deducted at source (TDS) on income from central government securities and state bonds may not lead to a significant effect on retail participation, according to market participants. The Union Budget proposed that starting October 1, 2024, investors may face a 10 per cent TDS on investments in central government securities and state development loans (SDLs). "Last Budget, TDS on interest on securities was reintroduced.
The principal opposition party though appeared content securing 99 of the 543 seats in the 2024 national elections as against its all-time low of 44 in 2014 and then 52 in 2019.
The results of the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are likely to play out during the winter session of Parliament beginning Wednesday.
Currently, there is no regulation or any ban on the use of cryptocurrencies in the country.
