The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a joint front of almost 40 farmer organisations, wrote a letter to the ministry of agriculture and farmers' welfare accepting the Centre's offer for dialogue and proposed December 29 as the next date for the meeting.
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma has a tough time in Davos pacifying African leaders, who are extremely upset over Delhi law minister's midnight raid. Anita Katyal reports
Union Minister of Commerce and Textiles Piyush Goyal has stirred up a hornet's nest by taking on India Inc, specifically the Tata group, which is among the companies that lobbied against the Modi government's pro-consumer draft e-commerce policies. While Goyal's comments, made at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) event, were streamed live on YouTube, the industry lobbying body later edited the video and subsequently withdrew the entire speech. Goyal had said the Tata group and other Indian companies often lobbied for their interest, while ignoring national interest.
As Germany took note of Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused the Congress of 'inviting foreign powers' for interference in India's internal matters and the Opposition party hit back, alleging that its rival was attempting to divert attention from the Adani issue.
The 'ghar wapsi' was marked with celebratory atmosphere at Ghazipur border, where protestors, chiefly members and supporters of the Tikait family-led Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), danced to patriotic and regional tunes hailing the farming community.
As many as 15 companies, including Adani Copper Tubes, LG Electronics and Wipro Enterprises, with committed investment of Rs 1,368 crore, have been selected as beneficiaries under the PLI scheme for the white goods sector, the government said on Tuesday. In March, the commerce and industry ministry had reopened the application window for its Rs 6,238-crore PLI scheme for white goods -- air-conditioners (ACs) and LED lights-- with an aim to accommodate more players as several firms had expressed interest in the initiative. Last year, as many as 46 firms, including Daikin, Panasonic, Syska and Havells, with committed investment of Rs 5,264 crore were selected in the first round the scheme.
The Union government on Tuesday said it has issued 202 notices to e-commerce players for incorrect declaration of 'country of origin' on products on their platforms in the last one year. The maximum number of such violations were found with respect to electronic appliances, followed by clothing and home products. Out of 217 notices, 202 notices were issued for violations relating to 'country of origin' norm.
Thousands of people joined a public rally organised by Nagaland People's Action Committee (NPAC) on Friday to demand an early solution to the Naga political issue.
The NASSCOM report said Indian tech industry contributed more than $375 million to the US Treasury between fiscal year 2011-2015
The farmers' union had been camping at the Dalit Prerna Sthal since December 2, demanding withdrawal of the three new farm laws, legalisation of minimum support price (MSP) for crops and implementation of the recommendation of Swaminathan Committee's report.
'How can we have lunch offered by the government when our fellow farmers are sitting on roads'
Farmers protesting the contentious farm laws will hold demonstrations outside the residences of Bharatiya Janata Party lawmakers across the country on Saturday, a Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) office-bearer said.
Sources said they discussed and finalised the government's position for the Wednesday meeting.
On Friday, Putin formally announced the annexation of four regions -- Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia -- and claimed that "this is the will of millions of people".
Dominic Xavier asks if the bills will really benefit farmers or if this is a ploy by the Modi government to push the agricultural sector towards privatisation.
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.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived in New Delhi on Monday on a four-day visit to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi following which the two sides are likely to ink pacts in key areas, including defence, trade and river water sharing.
Even as the Group of Seven (G7) price cap on Russian crude oil enters into force as of December 5, India has been assured it will continue to receive the existing deep discounts on Russian oil, for the time being, informed officials. "We have been assured by our Russian partners of uninterrupted crude supplies at the existing rates for the time being. "There were a lot of reports of changes in (India's) buying patterns after the global price cap took hold.
The Union government will soon make amendments to the foreign trade policy (FTP) to enable exporters to claim export benefits for settling trade in rupees. These benefits are, so far, available for export payments received in foreign currencies. After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unveiled a mechanism to settle international trade transactions in the local currency on Monday, exporters have been demanding that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry come up with a clarification on the matter.
Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, are protesting at various borders of the national capital for more than a month against the laws and are demanding that these be repealed.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, and Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday held a meeting at the Vigyan Bhawan with a delegation of farmers, including the leaders of several farm organisations holding protests in the national capital against the recent farm laws.
Tikait said the farmers are ready to talk with the government on the farm laws but made it clear that the discussions should be held without conditions.
The Supreme Court-appointed panel on the new agri laws on Thursday started its consultation process and interacted with 10 farmer organisations from eight states, including Uttar Pradesh.
India needs a National Trade Policy Council, chaired by a minister who reports directly to the PM, says Jayanta Roy, former economic advisor to the Union commerce ministry.
A farmer union leader alleged that the National Investigation Agency is filing cases against those who are part of the protest or supporting it.
India's economic image is not affected due to Adani Group's recent decision to pull out Rs 20,000 crore FPO (follow-on public offers) amid allegations of financial wrongdoings, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.
The ministers are believed to have discussed the issues raised by farmers, and how the Union government can constructively respond to dispel concerns expressed by them over the farm laws.
On Thursday, the prime minister appreciated Tomar for 'attempting to have a polite dialogue' with the farmers through an open letter, requesting them to read it.
The marshals will be provided specialised axes to snip wires and break glasses.
The session will commence with the maiden address of President Droupadi Murmu to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament. The address essentially highlights the government's achievements and policy priorities.
So, how does it feel when a fellow Parliamentarian doubles up as your commercial aircraft pilot?
The government proposes to reduce the time taken to register a business from 27 days to one day.
Among other things, the e-commerce players will have to display the total 'price' of goods and services offered for sale, mention the 'expiry date' of goods and the 'country of origin' of goods and services.
The government and farmer unions have held 11 rounds of talks so far, the last being on January 22, to break the deadlock and end the farmers' protest. Talks have not resumed following widespread violence during a tractor rally by protesting farmers on January 26.
Tomar said the government is committed to "peaceful talks with farmers' leaders and does not intend to hurt farmers' sentiments".
At an event at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in south Mumbai, Modi first flagged off the the CSMT-Solapur Vande Bharat Express and later another semi high-speed train linking the financial capital to Sainagar Shirdi temple town in Ahmednagar district.
Shruti Sharma, a student of history, has topped the civil services examination 2021, with the first three rank holders being women in results announced by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Monday.
Shruti Sharma, a student of history, has topped the civil services examination 2021, with the first three rank holders being women in results announced by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Monday.
If you have seen Zwigato, Param Kumar's story will sound familiar. Laid off from his job as a repairman at a Gurugram-based water purifier provider, he now delivers groceries and food for a mobile-based delivery app, in Delhi. Kumar, who started making deliveries last August, told Business Standard that he is working longer hours than his older salaried job as an RO repairman, and has no paid leaves or health insurance. Kumar is part of India's estimated 7.7 million-strong force of gig workers.
'It is only under the BJP that laws are made and unmade without prior Cabinet approval'
