The telecom companies have also been asked to urgently improve their infrastructure, as the government aims to digitise a host of services.
Modi said bribery was not possible as the money was transferred directly into accounts of the beneficiaries.
Likening the situation in the country to a "social emergency", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday made it clear that the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19 cannot be lifted in one go on April 14, asserting that the priority of his government is to "save each and every life".
Somaiya had on Sunday claimed he was barred from entering Kolhapur with the district authorities citing law and order as well as security concerns following his allegations of corruption against Maharashtra Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif.
Women and children have been given short shrift with these crucial sectors facing substantive budgetary cuts, discovers Rashme Sehgal.
She hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda as her leaders.
This Act had to be excluded from the list of the obsolete laws to be repealed as some of its provisions provide security to the pensioners against attachment of pension
The loss in Bihar has forced a change in NDA's market positioning, says Shekhar Gupta.
The average land given to the rural landless is small and falling, from 0.95 acres in 2002 to 0.88 acres in 2015 - a 7.4 per cent drop over 13 years-and a slowdown is evident in the process of taking land away from rich landlords, the RTI data reveal.
Of the cash outgo, Rs 64,598 crore is for enhanced expenditure on fertiliser subsidy under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan 3.0 and Rs 20,466 crore for the capital outlay in defence services.
Indian billionaires saw their combined fortunes more than double during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their count shot up by 39 per cent to 142, while the wealth of the ten richest is enough to fund school and higher education of children in the country for 25 years, a new study showed on Monday. In its annual inequality survey released on the first day of the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda summit, Oxfam India further said that an additional one per cent tax on the richest 10 per cent can provide the country with nearly 17.7 lakh extra oxygen cylinders, while a similar wealth tax on the 98 richest billionaire families would finance Ayushman Bharat, the world's largest health insurance scheme, for more than seven years. The COVID-19 pandemic saw a huge rush for oxygen cylinders and insurance claims during the second wave last year.
'The government is just laying foundation stones everywhere.' 'It has hardly inaugurated anything.'
While household toilets are only one part of the large challenge for the government, having liquid and solid waste management facilities, along with water delivery across the entire country, is a trickier one.
The PM's choice of ministers is interesting, to say the least, says Jyoti Punwani.
'If deaths had been properly reported, it would have helped contain the pandemic.'
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the residential property market during the April-June period last year but sales have improved in affordable homes segment since July onwards, reflecting economic recovery in the real estate sector, according to the Economic Survey. The National Housing Bank's (NHB) Housing Price Indices (HPIs) are a broad measure of movement of residential property prices observed within a geographic boundary. The NHB-RESIDEX captures two housing price indices -- HPI@ Assessment Prices and HPI@ Market Prices - Under Construction Properties based on the data available for 50 cities with quarterly updation.
Experts, however, have raised concern over the decision, saying the move is akin to treating symptoms instead of the underlying causes.
The court impleaded the civic authorities and directed them to produce details on the action taken against violators who had failed to comply with the conditions stipulated for digging borewells and tubewells.
This will help expand the distribution channels, said Subhash Chandra Khuntia, chairman of the insurance regulatory and development authority of India.
'The package is for the distressed farmers who are committing suicide due to the severe drought,' Nitin Gadkari tells Arup Roy Choudhury and Sanjeeb Mukherjee.
In his address after more than 75,000 people were given appointment letters for various government jobs in the first tranche, Modi acknowledged the challenges facing the economy the world over with many countries hit by a record inflation and unemployment and said India is making every effort to come out of the situation unscathed.
Modi said the coronavirus pandemic made people learn new things.
Nitin Gadkari has seven portfolios, but does not seem weighed down at all by the many things on his plate. The minister is brimming with ideas...
The column marked 'miscellaneous' in statements of accounts of Non-Governmental Organisations who receive foreign funds is turning out to be a headache for the Indian authorities. Vicky Nanjappa tells you why
'There is no money with the villagers as there is little work.'
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy tells rediff.com's Shobha Warrier why the UPA lost in the general elections, the decline of the Left and what he expects from the Centre.
It is time we recognise Modi's work and what he did between 2014 and 2019 due to which he was voted back to power, he said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley more than halved the central government's financial support.
The Budget outlay for health and well being is Rs 2.23 lakh crore in 2021-22 as against BE of Rs 94,452 crore and marks an increase of 137 per cent," she said while presenting 2021-22 Budget in the Lok Sabha.
Listing of LIC will help bring in greater transparency, public participation and also deepen the equity market.
'There will always be hiccups given that the Namami Gange programme is spread over different sectors and involves several agencies.'
After launching a book on experiences of Naidu during his first year as vice president of India and chairman of Rajya Sabha, Modi said he always provides visionary leadership whenever he gets a responsibility.
Amarinder would hold the portfolios of General Administration, Personnel, Home Affairs and Justice, Vigilance and other departments not assigned to any other minister.
Sitharaman does away with loans from National Small Savings Fund to Food Corporation of India.
The output has seen a decline due to the ban in Karnataka and Goa.
The CoWIN portal will be made available in Hindi and 14 regional languages by next week, while 17 more laboratories will be added to the INSACOG network to monitor the variants of COVID-19, the health ministry said on Monday.
Merely bringing down the government stake below 51% may not find any taker for the PSBs. The government must bring down its holding to at least 26%, recommends Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The rebel legislators have been maintaining that they were forced to go against Thackeray as he kept ignoring their plea to snap ties with the MVA allies despite being told that these constituents were trying to 'finish off' the Sena.
Wearing a seat belt could have saved Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde, who died in a road accident, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday and announced a major campaign to spread awareness on observing safety measures while driving.
Here's the full text of President's Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on the first of Budget Session 2022.
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