Few more Infrastructure Debt Funds are also proposed to be launched soon.
Top external affairs ministry officials on Monday briefed a parliamentary panel about efforts to bring back Indians stranded in war-hit Ukraine, including plans for 13 evacuation flights in the next two-three days to its neighbouring countries and subsequent increase in the number of daily flights to nine, sources said.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma retained the key departments for his National Peoples Party, and gave the lesser politically significant ones to alliance partners Bharatiya Janata Party, Hill State Peoples Democratic Party and United Democratic Party as he allocated portfolios on Thursday.
When the country has been at war, the Opposition has buried its differences with the government, points out Aditi Phadnis.
The chief adviser's decision to stay in office came two days after he told student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) leaders that he was mulling resignation as he felt "the situation is such that he cannot work", citing difficulties in working amid the failure of political parties to find common ground for change.
A fresh plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, claiming it was a "blatant intrusion" into the rights of a religious denomination to manage its own affairs in the matter of religion. The plea, filed by Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulema, argues that the amendments would distort the religious character of Waqfs and irreversibly damage the democratic process in their administration. Several other petitions have been filed in the apex court challenging the validity of the bill, including those by Congress MP Mohammad Jawed, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, and AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has accused Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi of raising questions on sensitive defence matters in Parliament after his marriage to a British citizen. Sarma alleged that Gogoi's wife, Elizabeth Colburn, has links with the Pakistani establishment, including working for an organisation allegedly a front for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Gogoi has rejected the allegations as "baseless" and said the BJP is trying to divert attention from its own failures.
Rio also appointed 24 MLAs as 'advisors' to various departments in his opposition less government.
The Assam Cabinet on Sunday had decided not to register any case against the Congress MP or his British spouse, who the BJP has accused of having ISI links, but instructed the DGP to file an FIR against Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh.
Leaders of various opposition parties on Sunday demanded that issues of price rise, 'Agnipath' scheme as well as the alleged misuse of investigative agencies be taken up in Parliament and also raised objections to the list of 'unparliamentary words' at an all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of the Monsoon Session.
Sheikh Hasina was on Thursday sworn in as the prime minister of Bangladesh for the fifth term, days after her Awami League won an overwhelming majority in the general elections boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi has said that 31 bills will be taken up in the monsoon session. Among these include the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023.
Kharge alleged that Dhankhar is working as a government spokesperson and acting like a school headmaster, often sermonising experienced opposition leaders and preventing them from speaking in the House.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi briefed the BJP MPs on the government's plans to celebrate 75 years of the nation's Independence during the parliamentary party meeting.
Sources said the reshuffle will also aim at an image makeover for the party hit by school jobs scam probe.
Himachal Pradesh Speaker Vipin Parmar has lodged a first information report against the five Congress MLAs suspended from the state assembly for the entire Budget session after they allegedly manhandled Governor Bandaru Dattatraya.
The government has requested the Civil Aviation Ministry to reduce the number of flights from these states in view of high prevalence of coronavirus cases there, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy said in a statement.
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will also hold a meeting with leaders of all political parties on Wednesday evening to seek their cooperation in proper functioning of the House.
Shivakumar has got the all-important Major and Medium Irrigation and Bengaluru City Development, including the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited.
Around 50 dissident Maharashtra MLAs from Shiv Sena and Independent MLAs, led by Eknath Shinde, on Wednesday left the Radisson Blu hotel in Guwahati where they had been kept for the last few days under massive security, and prayed at Kamakhya temple.
He drew the roadmap of India's economic reform, unshackled it from the licence raj and pulled it back from the brink when even its gold reserve was pledged.
According to the party sources, the preparations are in full swing and seasoned BJP workers are being deployed on more than 50 seats.
The Karnataka Cabinet on Monday decided to rechristen 'Mumbai-Karnataka' region consisting of seven districts as 'Kittur Karnataka.'
The opposition parties will meet on Monday morning to evolve their strategy in both Houses of Parliament after protests by them on the Hindenburg-Adani issue overshadowed most of the first half of the Budget session.
Both factions of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (Arshad Madani and Mahmood Madani) slammed the Bill and expressed grave concerns over the proposed legislation.
In the event that like in the 17th Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi again gets locked out of the House, the Congress needs a second-in-command who will keep the momentum going inside Parliament, notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Addressing a press conference, minister Neiba Kronu said members of the government's Core Committee on the Naga political issue will have a meeting with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), in Kohima on December 9 to decide on the approach in the aftermath of the civilian killings.
'We are not secessionists, we want to coexist with our countrymen but not on the terms that will strip us off our dignity and a right to peaceful existence.'
In a significant move to enhance its strategic resource security, India has officially released its first-ever critical minerals list, identifying 30 key critical minerals crucial to the nation's economic growth and technological development. This pioneering step aims at reducing import dependence, enhancing supply-chain resilience, and supporting the country's net-zero objectives. Union Minister Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi, while releasing the Critical Minerals for India report in New Delhi on Wednesday, said, "India is readying for an Atmanirbhar Bharat."
Except for Anant Patel, the rest 16 MLAs of Congress were present in the House on Monday.
The per capita income at current prices for the year 2004-05 is estimated at Rs 16,414 in rural areas and Rs 44,172 in urban areas.
Dharmendra Pradhan, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal have been elevated to Cabinet ministers.
Himachal Pradesh Governor Bandaru Dattatraya was allegedly manhandled by some Congress members in the assembly complex on Friday, following which five MLAs were suspended for the remainder of the Budget Session.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday said a "new tradition" of levelling allegations and counter-allegations being observed in Parliament and state Assemblies these days is not proper for the country's constitutional democracy, and stressed the need for constructive debate and discussion in Houses to make democracy "lively and active".
The Rashtrapati Bhavan has come out with a communiqu announcing distribution of portfolios of the ministers sworn-in on Monday in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers:
Gujarat was labelled Hindutva's crucible and Modi was to become the chief 'chemist'. A revealing political saga excerpted from Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay's The Demolition, the Verdict and the Temple: The Definitive Book on the Ram Mandir Project.
In rural areas, the poverty ratio was estimated at 28.3 per cent whereas in urban areas it was 25.7 per cent, stated V Narayanswamy, Union Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, in response to a question by independent member Parimal Nathwani.
A bill will be brought in the assembly during the ongoing session, possibly this week according to sources in the cabinet.
"The prime minister is likely to convene an all-party meeting (to evolve consensus). We are taking all efforts to bring the bill in the Lok Sabha in the winter session of Parliament," the minister of state for planning and parliamentary affairs told reporters in Chennai.
