Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
Strengthening the portfolios of the home minister and the finance minister is a message that should not be missed, points out A K Bhattacharya.
The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on Monday expressing shock and anguish over the Pahalgam terrorist attack and resolved to fight resolutely to defeat the nefarious designs to disturb communal harmony and hinder progress.
Sources said the pandemic and the response of the government is likely to be discussed in the virtual meet.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his government may seek the help of agencies like the Interpol in investigating the alleged interference of Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who allegedly has links with Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi's British wife, in India's internal affairs. Sarma said the probe is at an initial stage and he has informed Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the developments in the case.
The policy was part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package announced by Sitharaman in May 2020 as a coherent policy where all sectors would be opened for private sector participation.
Paswan said he was willing to contest the upcoming Bihar assembly polls as an NDA partner "if the BJP so desires", and made light of estranged uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras' recent meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
A meeting of the Union Cabinet scheduled for Thursday morning was postponed as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was indisposed.
Informing about his decision, Maurya said in a tweet in Hindi, 'Due to the attitude of gross neglect towards Dalits, backwards, farmers, unemployed youth and small and medium-sized traders, I am resigning from the council of ministers of Yogi (Adityanath) of UP.'
The Centre on Thursday hiked Dearness Allowance (DA) to 50 per cent of basic pay from the existing rate of 46 per cent effective from January 1 this year, benefitting over 1 crore employees and pensioners ahead of general elections. The Union Cabinet has approved to release an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners from January 1, 2024, representing an increase of 4 percentage points over the existing rate of 46 per cent of the basic pay/pension, to compensate against price rise, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said after the Cabinet meeting.
The BJP hopes to highlight the "insulting" Congress meme on social media that had described the PM as a 'chaiwala', reports Archis Mohan.
P K Mishra, a retired IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, is currently serving as the principal secretary to the prime minister.
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.
On India, the chart showed that the country charged 52 per cent tariffs on the US "including currency manipulation and trade barriers," and America will now charge India "discounted reciprocal tariffs" of 26 per cent.
Terrorism and insurgency in J&K had subsided when India demolished East Pakistan -- for the simple reason that Pakistan understands power. We need to follow Chanakya's dictum of Saam, Daam, Dand, Bhed for strategising against Pakistan, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd). The ground truth is that unless we are prepared to acknowledge our shortcomings, including massive intelligence failures, punish those responsible and take corrective actions, we will continue in the same vein, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the participation of the private sector in the entire range of space activities, including planetary exploration missions, Union minister Jitendra Singh said. The newly-created Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) will provide a level playing field for private companies to use Indian space infrastructure, Singh, who is the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, said.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday repealed the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council Act, thereby laying the foundation of a political strategy to woo the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. After Home Minister P Chidambaram proposed the agenda and sought the views of other ministers in the Cabinet, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave his go-ahead for the repeal.
If it was Andhra Pradesh last Budget, it's poll-bound Bihar that has now turned to Centre with a list of demands. How the NDA government is delivering on promises.
After being elected president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in 1999, Najma Heptulla rang up the then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi from Berlin to convey the news but had to hold the phone line for an hour as a staff told her that 'madam is busy'.
This form of government, where secrets and major decisions are kept from the Cabinet itself, appears to be continuing, which is why the speculation around this special session, asserts Aakar Patel.
The Union Cabinet has approved amendments to the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, paving the way for privatisation of government-owned insurers. The amendments, approved by Cabinet, will remove the clause for the Centre to hold at least 51 per cent in public sector insurance companies at any given time. It will also have an enabling provision for the transfer of management control from the government to the potential buyer of the public sector insurance company. The finance ministry will move amendments to the insurance Act in the ongoing Parliament session.
Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, a bitter critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi regime, on Saturday joined Trinamool Congress days ahead of the high-octane West Bengal assembly polls.
'I had to persuade him. I think he was a sceptic to begin with, but later on he was convinced that what we were doing was the right thing to do, that there was no other way out.'
Shiv Sena leader and Heavy Industries Minister Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil on Saturday resigned from the Union Cabinet.
"It is just that Fadnavis and I have swapped our chairs. Only Ajit Pawar's chair is fixed," said Shinde, who was the CM before the assembly elections with Fadnavis and Pawar as his deputies then.
The government will assist citizens in filing FIR against social media platforms for violation of IT rules in case they are aggrieved from objectionable content like deep fakes.
The cabinet normally meets on every Wednesday and the reasons for convening a meeting on Monday has not been disclosed by the government yet.
Speculation mounted on Wednesday evening over the possibility of a Union cabinet reshuffle, may be as early as Sunday, as Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi amidst reports that he could get the defence portfolio.
'Mahayuti leaders will sit together and discuss and go to Delhi and then a decision will be taken'
'More than Eknath Shinde's wish, we want him (Shinde) to lead us in the government.'
While addressing the media after the Cabinet meeting, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said the upper limit for permitting abortions has been extended from the present 20 weeks to 24 weeks. He also said that this will ensure safe termination of pregnancies and also give women reproductive rights over their bodies.
The main thrust of the policy is on the multiplier effect and transformational impact of such services on the overall economy.
Besides the not-so-hidden unease between Modi and Adityanath, Modi chose to address the Lok Sabha to ensure that he could personally claim all the kudos, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'Additionally, the significant employment multiplier will boost direct and indirect jobs of up to 1.1 million.'
As many as 20 new faces are expected to be inducted into the Union Council of Ministers on Sunday in the first revamp exercise which is likely to bring in BJP leaders Manohar Parrikar, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Bandaru Datttatreya while elevating a few.
Mr Pradhan's understanding of realpolitik and organisational dynamics makes him the ultimate party man, notes Aditi Phadnis.
The BJP deputed Shah as observer to Uttar Pradesh, where Yogi Adityanath powered the party to an impressive victory and where there are no hurdles in the way of the priest-politician's second stint in power.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of Nationalist Democratic Alliance-ruled states and prominent personalities from industry and Bollywood on Thursday attended the grand swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra Chief Minister in Mumbai.
Sharad Pawar and other NCP-SP leaders will take a decision on whom to take back in the fold, said the MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed in Ahmednagar district.
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