About 35 per cent rural households in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Assam still lacked access to power supply
As the country eagerly awaits an expected coronavirus vaccination drive in January, at least 125 intended beneficiaries each in four states who had registered on the Co-WIN App were on Monday sent SMSes informing them about the time and place of their 'COVID-19 vaccination' under a mock-drill to administer the shots at designated centres.
The socio-economic and caste census 2011 painted a grim picture of rural India, indicating that one out of three families living in villages is landless and depends on manual labour for livelihood.
The erstwhile royals of Himachal Pradesh, who once commanded their own space in politics, are losing their charm as only two of them won in the state polls this time while two others lost at the hustings.
A total of 13 functionaries from the Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday quit the party to join its alliance partner the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
'2019 was fought on delivery. But in 2024, you can see the before and after effects.'
Senior analyst B Raman feels that the so called 'secular' Modi bashers are doing a great disservice to India by quarantining the Gujarat chief minister in his past. Instead, the youth power should support Modi's Gujarat development model so that it spreads to other parts of the country.
Sinha had earlier charged Jairam of discriminating against states that were ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh for calling the former a 'super chief minister'.
Since the onset of the monsoon on June 24, 217 persons have died in rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh.
Bora said in his resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi that infighting within the grand old party helped BJP and compelled him to leave despite having been a member since student days in 1976.
Economy has become a major cause of concern for the new government with GDP dropping to 5.8 per cent in the last quarter of the 2018-19.
'They have since only tried to improve systems. Also, with regulatory guidance from time to time, we are in a position to assess a situation and react in time.'
As the Congress juggernaut rolled on in Karnataka, 12 ministers of the Jagadish Shettar cabinet, including Deputy Chief Minister K S Eshwarappa, fell by the wayside, rubbing salt into the wounds of the vanquished Bharatiya Janata Party.
In two other changes, young MP Milind Deora, MoS in telecommunication and information technology ministry, got additional the portfolio of Shipping in the same rank and Panabaka Laxmi, who was made MoS in textile ministry on Sunday, was reallocated petroleum and gas department.
In the continuing war of words between Congress and Trinamool Congress, the two ruling allies in West Bengal, Union Rural Development minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday defended his comment that Congress had not taken a VRS from the state and said it would continue to speak its mind on the state's affairs.
The Universal Service Obligation fund was set up in April 2002 and a statutory status was given to it.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Monday sent a letter to the West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) seeking details of the need for additional 485 companies of central forces, for which it has sent a requisition, an official said.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday said 'vested interests' were responsible for the recent killings of Sarpanches and Panches even as it said it is duty-bound to empower Panchayats in the state and has taken steps in this regard.
Major focus will be on adequately funding existing schemes to ensure their timely completion before the next General Elections.
New members of the Union Council of Ministers, including Tribal Affairs Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo, were introduced to both Houses of Parliament by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday. Dr Singh also introduced Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, who were recently inducted as Cabinet ministers, to members of both Houses.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said it was not possible to cancel all the coal block allocations but asserted that no one, even if a minister or a senior official, would be spared if found involved in the coal scam.
It may be a little early to cheer the recovery in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) space as a deceleration in discretionary demand, after the festival season, may offset fragile rural recovery, analysts have cautioned. "The overall demand environment for staples remains muted, while discretionary demand trends have seen some deceleration after the festival season. "We believe margins in staples have bottomed out, but we expect only a gradual uptick with the ongoing softening in raw material prices.
The recent draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which pointed to misuse and non-utilisation of funds for the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme doesn't mean the programme is a write-off. The audit will act as a deterrent and spur state governments to work more efficiently, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has said.
Former Rajasthan minister Mohammad Ameen Khan, who was forced to resign from Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's cabinet following his controversial remarks against President Pratibha Patil, claims that his opponents had blown the issue out of proportion with the connivance of the media.Khan had created a furore by allegedly stating that Patil was made the President due to her loyalty to the Gandhi family and cited instances of her association with Indira Gandhi.
The number of poor people in India fell by about 415 million between 2005-06 and 2019-21, a "historic change" and a demonstration that the Sustainable Development Goal target of reducing at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty by 2030 is possible to achieve, even at a large scale, according to the UN.
The Union government has released Rs 184 crore to the government of Tamil Nadu -- to construct one lakh houses for families living below the poverty line under the Indira Awaz Yojana -- in Cuddalore and Villupuram where Cyclone Thane had wreaked its havoc.
On one hand Karnataka Agriculture Minister Umesh Katti, Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Rural Development Minister Jagadish Shettar are plotting the fall of Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda, while on the other hand the state continues to reel under drought with 123 taluks declared as drought hit.
Expressing displeasure over moves to deny classical status to Malayalam language, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Thursday informed the assembly that Kerala would fight for it as it is the state's right.
As indicated by Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, the UPA government has already initiated process to make higher allocation in social sector.
Just 4.6 per cent of all rural households in the country pay income tax while such households with salaried income are close to 10 per cent, the first socio economic and caste census released in eight decades said.
The breakfast scheme for government school students from class 1 to 5 was launched in Madurai on Thursday by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin who served and ate the food along with the children.
'Favourable treatment to selected areas has been a pattern throughout the state.'
'The global situation is not very good.'
The ruling Congress is seeking to retain power in Chhattisgarh by banking on the welfare schemes of the Bhupesh Baghel government, while the Bharatiya Janata Party is hoping to corner it on the issues of alleged corruption, religious conversions and unfulfilled poll promises.
A 14-member council of ministers was sworn in Patna by Governor Phagu Chauhan on Monday and the BJP bagged seven berths.
Its workers are on their toes to win over the voters once again, with idea of 'Amrit Kaal'.
A purported video of the incident showing the mob beating the women up mercilessly on Wednesday was shared in the social media by Amit Malviya, the head of BJP's IT cell on Saturday.
After announcing that the properties of corrupt officials will be confiscated and turned into primary schools, Bihar government plans to upload videos of complaints against officials seeking bribes and any genuine grievances of corruption on YouTube.
Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar on Monday urged the Bharatiya Janata Party central leadership to induct controversial Reddy brothers into Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda's ministry.