BBPS allows you to pay electricity, telephone, water supply, gas and DTH bills. Its scope will be expanded to include other payments like school and university fees, government taxes, insurance premiums, mutual fund investments, even credit card bills.
Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi got a snub from the party on Wednesday with Sonia Gandhi rejecting his suggestion for ending quota based on caste saying there should be "no doubt or ambiguity" over the party's stand of continuing the system of reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs.
Leading bourses BSE and NSE and money markets will remain closed on Thursday on account of Eid al-Adha also known as Bakrid. Earlier, the holiday was scheduled for June 28. The markets are now open on Wednesday. The change came after the Maharashtra government declared June 29 a public holiday as the festival of Bakrid falls on this day instead of June 28 declared earlier.
Attorney General K K Venugopal told a bench headed by Justice Bobde that the Constitution (103 amendment) Act, 2019 granting 10 per cent reservation to EWS is intended to uplift around 200 million people who are still below the poverty line.
'Bihar's caste survey has bolstered the Opposition parties, but one shouldn't forget that the BJP is also trying to present itself as a party that cares for the OBCs more than other parties,' points out Sanjay Kumar.
The bench has divided the hearing on Kejriwal's petition against his arrest into two parts. His main petition challenges his arrest by the ED and seeks it to be declared as illegal, while the second aspect pertains to grant of interim bail keeping in mind the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. The court has reserved the order on the issue of grant of interim bail.
"The provisions of the said bill are nothing short of draconian and promote gross incompetence and mockery of professionals currently working day and night and sacrificing their youth for this broken system," said the protesting doctors.
Time is running out for a hapless UPA govt over the Telangana bill, and the latest observation by the Rajya Sabha secretariat -- that the bill has financial implications and so must be introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha first -- has only worsened the crisis for the ruling alliance. Anita Katyal reports.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday opposed in Rajya Sabha the government move to put in place a single examination for medical and dental courses through National Eligibility cum Entrance Test
Bihar has fertile grounds for caste to emerge as an electoral issue.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present at the all-party meeting convened by the government.
The new Lokpal Bill was introduced by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal in Lok Sabha on Thursday after an hour-long acrimonious debate among members of various political parties.
Modi wants the BJP to gets an additional 10% of the vote share from what it won in 2019. Plans are afoot to get new faces to replace MPs with poor chances of winning. Sources say more than 100 MPs are like to be axed, notes Modi biographer Ramesh Menon.
The Lokpal Bill in its present form has not gone down well with the Central Bureau of Investigation whose officials feel that the autonomy of investigation has been "seriously compromised".
The much-talked about Land Acquisition Bill, which provides for enhanced compensation to land owners and other benefits, was Monday approved by the Union Cabinet notwithstanding reservations from some senior ministers on some aspects.
Pakistan has reserved four seats for minorities in its Senate whose strength will climb to 104 from 100 under the landmark Constitutional reforms package, a move lauded as "people-friendly" by the community which so far had no representation in the upper house of Parliament.
The legislation was passed by 125 votes in favour and 61 against.
Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party on Monday promised reservations to Muslims as well as Marathas, implementation of Rajinder Sachar committee report, and support for `statehood to Andaman and Nicobar' in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, released in Mumbai.
While the market for satellite broadband currently is small, the potential is large as an estimated 30 per cent of the country does not have reliable terrestrial broadband services.
Given the politics behind it all, one possibility is for binding the governor to act according to the decisions of the state government and clarifying his position vis a vis bills and resolutions passed by the state assembly -- or, re-enacted if returned, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The government has released the draft Micro Financial Sector (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011, which seeks to make it mandatory for all microfinance institutions to be registered with the Reserve Bank of India, making it the sector regulator.
Union Rural development Minister Jairam Ramesh is burning the midnight oil to bring the Land Acquisition and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill 2011 before the Cabinet on Monday so that it can be cleared and then introduced in Parliament before the Monsoon Session ends on September 8.
There was no official word on the agenda of the session which will be held days after the G20 Summit in the national capital on September 9 and 10.
The benchmark Indian crude oil basket is now estimated to average $77.88 a barrel for FY19, compared to the government's earlier estimate of $65 a barrel for the year and $56.39 for FY18
The Samajwadi Party on Monday said it will continue to stall Rajya Sabha proceedings in case the bill providing for reservation to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes in promotion in government job is passed. "We will disrupt the House and not allow it to function if the bill (for reservation to SC/ST in job promotions) is passed. We will continue to oppose the bill and we are ready for suspension," said SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav.
Even as the big prize of pushing through the women's reservation bill providing 33 per cent reservation for women in parliament and state assemblies continues to remain elusive, the United Progressive Alliance government is going full steam ahead in empowering women at the lower level.
The government is seriously considering introducing the bill in Parliament next week, the last week of the current monsoon session, in view of promises that it would be tabled in this session.
Seeking to give a big push to the Lokpal Bill, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday appealed to all political parties to support the legislation saying it is a "very very powerful instrument" in the fight against corruption.
Vehemently opposing the Union government's move to withdraw the reservation facility for higher positions in select elite educational institutions , the fiery dalit leader on Wednesday shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , urging him to stall a bill , proposed to be tabled before the national parliament in this regard on Thursday.
If Modi wants to leave a real legacy, breaking India's strategic triangulation would be the real gift, notes Shekhar Gupta.
The external affairs minister said the SAARC is in trouble as one of its members has been supporting terrorism.
The government will introduce a bill in this regard in the upcoming legislature session, which starts on July 3.
The Bill which stipulates up to two year jail term and a maximum fine of Rs 5 lakh for discriminating against differently-abled persons.
Lok Sabha on Monday witnessed repeated disruptions as Samajwadi Party members vociferously raised the issue of reservation in promotions in state jobs.
Bharatiya Janata Party, the chief opposition to the proposed 33 percent reservation for women in parliament and state legislatures, suggested that parties distribute 33 percent of their tickets to women.
Preparing for the second phase of the battle on the women's reservation bill, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has called her partymen for a dinner on Thursday to 10 Janpath to give them a pep-talk on the women reservation bill amid reports that a number of MPs are unhappy with the amendment.
Several Union Ministers and leaders of various political parties apologised on Monday to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari for the disrespect shown to him by some members and their unruly behaviour in the House on the issue of taking up the Women's Reservation Bill.
'If you are weak economically, you automatically lag behind in other aspects of life.'
He criticised the ruling UPA for its failure to bring in the Women's Reservation bill aimed at reserving seats for women in the Parliament and state legislature.
