Influential Patel community leader Parshottam Rupala, minister in the first Narendra Modi government Mansukh Mandaviya and three-time MP Darshana Jardosh, all from Gujarat, were among those inducted in the Union cabinet on Wednesday.
"For my government, engagement with the India community abroad has been a key priority," he said.
The saffron party promised a "direct payment of a proportionate bonus" to small and marginal farmers -- those owning up to five acres of land.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar will sign the agreement on behalf of India.
The PM also said that he will never speak a communal language.
Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Saturday found himself in a controversy over sharing on Twitter a screenshot of Pakistan's daily Dawn website carrying Nitish Kumar's ad of vote appeal, prompting the Janata Dal-United to launch a sharp attack on him and seek his immediate sacking.
In the third reshuffle since coming to power, Prime Minister Modi raised the strength of his Council of Ministers from 73 to 76.
'It is difficult to replace him because if he is replaced, it will lead to a sense of defeat among the Meiteis, rightly or wrongly, and more chaos.'
Modi will arrive in France on Thursday evening and straightaway head for talks with Macron, who will also host a working dinner for the visiting leader.
'He is exposing the failings of the BJP, which is rankling the party.'
Launching a veiled attack on Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, who he did not mention by name, Modi said Bihar has come out of an era when rail, road and internet connectivity were made light of and people used to say of what use roads are for those who walk on their feet.
Daggubati Purandeswari is the only Union minister to have joined the BJP this election. 'Everybody knows Dr Manmohan Singh is a man of great integrity and I consider it an honour to have worked with him,' Purandeswari, the BJP candidate from Rajampeta, Andhra Pradesh, tells A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared utilisation of the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for provision of mobile connectivity in 7,287 uncovered villages across five states at an estimated cost of Rs 6,466 crore. Briefing media on the Cabinet decisions, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said these uncovered villages of 44 aspirational districts across five states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha will get 4G-based mobile services.
Maninder Singh, the talented left-arm spinner, was taken to cleaners with utter disdain, but he never faced public wrath.
Hours after 21 ministers took the oath of office and became a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ministry, speculation began on which minister would be handed which portfolio. However, all speculation ended after the list was announced.
Udayanidhi has handed over to the BJP one real issue to draw the line between it and the INDIA alliance, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
Here's a recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
The Yogi Adityanath government on Wednesday transferred 20 senior IAS officers, shunting out Principal Secretary-Information Navneet Sehgal and others who wielded considerable influence under the Akhilesh Yadav dispensation.
Jaitley said Modi has never questioned Manmohan Singh's integrity and commitment to the nation.
Ms Usha may soon discover that winning four gold medals at the Asian Games and qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics is a walk in the park compared with the challenges of stabilising governance at the IOA, observes Kanika Datta.
Modi asks states to focus on job creation.
'The most important priority for the next 25 years should be to strengthen our democracy so that it is supportive of social harmony, and to not just respect but to take pride in the diversity of Indian society in terms of the variety of languages, religion and religious practices and social norms,' explains Nitin Desai.
Many eyebrows were raised in Bihar on Monday as news broke of a meeting between Communist Party of India's rising star Kanhaiya Kumar and Ashok Choudhary, a minister and key aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
In his latest monthly radio address, Mann Ki Baat, Modi said that India is capable of providing solutions to the varied challenges being faced globally.
The two leaders enjoyed the sunshine with a walk in the grounds of Schloss Meseberg, an 18th century Baroque castle in the Brandenburg district of Germany.
Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi says her ministry is working on four core areas of "safety, education, employment and confidence building," which are critical for the 58 crore women population in India which includes over 41 crore in rural areas. She also lays out the detailed roadmap for her ministry including setting up of one stop rape crises centres, hostels for working women among others.
Unless controlled and contained, given the untested belief that the north Indian labour support and follow the Hindutva kind of political ideology, there is a potential in terms of ideological clashes with their Dravidian brethren in the local neighbourhoods, and it all escalating into violence, especially during election time, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
GST is levied on every transaction in the supply of goods and services, barring certain exempted items
Bihar to get roads worth Rs 50,000 crore.
Governments need to proactively plan for attracting and retaining the next generation of talent for its civil services, an official report has said.
Revealing that at the time of her birth, she was cursed as a 'burden' by someone, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Friday said that curbing the menace of female foeticide was a priority for the government.
Modi called for a new global index based on talent, technology, transparency and trusteeship towards the planet in the post-corona world.
She recited a Kashmiri verse, which was part of a poem by Sahitya Akademi award winner Pandit Dinanath Koul. She rendered the verse in both Kashmiri and Hindi. Besides, the minister quoted woman Tamil poet Avvaiyar, Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar, a verse from Raghuvamsa by Kalidasa, as well as late finance minister Arun Jaitley while talking about the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Details were not immediately available ahead of a planned government briefing.
Greetings from all quarters, including his political rivals, poured in on Monday for Prime Minister Narendra Modi who celebrated his 68th birthday in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi.
The Delhi government's budget size for 2022-23 was Rs 75,800 crore and Rs 69,000 crore in the preceding year.
Modi government has earlier faced criticism from the Opposition on a number of occasions for renaming the schemes including PURA launched by the UPA in past.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a 'special package' of Rs 1,25,000 crore for poll-bound Bihar during his address at Ara district, in the state.
Budget forces last minute change in finance minister's plans.
