The Centre has taken a major step towards increasing efficiency in decision-making by empowering joint secretaries to report to secretaries directly, officials said on Wednesday.
The change in leadership at the railway ministry comes at a time when the national transporter is grappling with low passenger earnings even as it is trying to increase freight loading and open up its doors to private investment. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw took charge from Piyush Goyal who got the railway portfolio in 2017 after Prime Minister Narendra Modii dropped Suresh Prabhu from the Union Cabinet. Completing freight corridors, negotiating land for the bullet train, and speeding up monetisation plans would be some of the major focus areas for Vaishnaw.
Maharaja will soon come to help wait-listed passengers of Rajdhani trains as such travelers will be provided with the option to fly by Air India by paying little extra.
The Congress will reach out to civil society members and like-minded political groups for the 'Bharat Jodo' yatra from October 2 for rallying support to combat polarisation and protect Constitution, democracy and various institutions, senior party leaders said on Thursday.
Glimpses from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the grit and determination of Ukrainian soldiers.
Nearly 6,000 passengers were stranded as train services on the Konkan Railway route in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district were suspended on Thursday after a river overflowed following heavy rains, while incessant downpour badly hit road and rail traffic in several parts of the state, including around Mumbai, as authorities called in NDRF to help the administration in rescue efforts.
The central probe agency re-registered the first information report (FIR) of Goa Police on a reference from the Ministry of Home Affairs which was routed to it through the Department of Personnel and Training, officials said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Monday a record sum of Rs 1.10 lakh crore for the Railways, out of which Rs 1.07 lakh crore is for capital expenditure, and said the national transporter would monetise the dedicated freight corridors after its commissioning. Presenting the Union Budget 2021-22, Sitharaman also applauded the services provided by the Railways to transport essential goods across the country during the coronavirus lockdown.
Railway route privatisation is not as rosy it looks as there is no bar on competition on one hand and demand-risks outweigh the benefits on other, even though the private operator is free to fix the tariffs, warns a report.
'This is India. We have allowed ourselves to be dictated by the narrative that the BJP has set for itself.'
'The Emergency was a temporary affair. It was withdrawn after 20 months.' 'But we are in this situation for the last 10 years.' 'If the Emergency was jhatka, this is halal, slow killing.'
Australia captain Pat Cummins said his team is not fretting over its spin combination as it has enough options to support veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon in the four-Test series against India.
The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Some low-lying areas like the Andheri subway were submerged, forcing authorities to divert the traffic through alternate routes, civic officials said.
IBM started using Watson last year in India in two of its key divisions, services and infrastructure, for the bulk of its 150,000 employees as part of its "predictive retention" programme.
Protestors continued to target railway properties in Bihar and West Bengal on Saturday to vent their ire against the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme disrupting train services in the eastern region for the fourth day in a row, while demonstrations were held on roads in Odisha and Jharkhand.
27 mountaineers perished in an avalanche in the mountains of Uttarakhand last week. The mountaineers were returning from a trek to the Draupadi's Danda mountain peak when disaster struck at 8.45 am in the morning.
Werder Bremen's Niclas Fuellkrug made his Germany debut at the age of 29 this week, scoring the winner in their warmup match against Oman on Wednesday after coming on as a substitute.
Shine Jacob & Karan Choudhury highlight the red flags raised by the Controller General of Accounts.
Mumbai and its adjoining areas were lashed by heavy showers on Tuesday, causing water-logging at a number of places, including railway tracks, which slowed the movement of trains and vehicles on roads.
The government is likely to allow FDI in high speed trains and other projects.
Nirmala Sitharaman's messaging was clear when she presented a well-balanced Budget with an eye on state elections in nine states followed by a general election next year, observes Ramesh Menon.
'The Pakistani military has encouraged and supported terrorist organisations, especially in Kashmir, as a means of waging proxy war against the Indian military and the country's superior economic resources.' 'The evidence is irrefutable with the recent killing of 46 paramilitary troops being just the latest example.'
"The first squadron is being deployed in the Punjab sector. The batteries of the first squadron would be capable of taking care of aerial threats from both Pakistan and China," government sources told ANI.
Sukanya Verma takes a look at all the strange ways Hindi films has dealt with the memory loss syndrome.
The train has a lot to offer to its passengers: Silent run, fully-sealed gangway connecting two coaches, GPS-based passenger information system, modular bio-vacuum and disabled-friendly toilets, intelligent air conditioning that adjusts cooling according to the climate and closed-circuit television for safety.
Before undertaking such difficult projects as a 378-km railway line to Tawang, the government must seriously examine whether having quality roads is a better option.
Nikhat's form augurs well for India with the Olympics coming up next year.
'At the heart of the strategic relationship between our countries are economic ties.'
Saurav Ghosal created history on Wednesday as he won India's first-ever singles medal in squash at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the students were being taken to Poltava, some 175 km south of Sumy, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine.
All the action from the World Athletics Championships on Tuesday...
A video of students stranded in the war-hit Ukrainian city of Sumy holding Indian flags and threatening to take up a journey to the Russian border on foot created an uproar in national and international media, which in turn, prompted the Indian authorities to fast-track their evacuation process.
Dense to very dense fog engulfed the Indo-Gangetic plains, including Delhi, for the second morning on the trot on Tuesday, lowering visibility to 50 metres in the city and affecting road traffic and train movement.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on how the migrants's plight has been aggravated by the erratic management of Shramik trains by the Indian Railways, headed by Railways Minister Piyush Goyal.
'I am very happy that I would be representing India in Tokyo Olympics. I am very proud to know that I am participating in an individual event for the second time.'
About 30 airports have been either built or under construction in Tibet and Xinjiang provinces which will boost China's civil and military infrastructure in the remote regions bordering India, the country's official media reported.
'There have been equal or more casualties on the Chinese side.' 'Our soldiers are hardy and strong and far superior than the Chinese.'
The maximum damage has been reported from Mandi, Kangra and Chamba districts, he said, adding that so far 36 weather-related incidents have been reported from the state.
