The government will provide Rs 11.11 lakh crore for capital expenditure for 2024-25 and introduce viability gap funding to spur private investment in infrastructure, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. Presenting the Union Budget for FY2024-25, she said that the government will endeavour to maintain strong fiscal support for infrastructure over the next five years, in conjunction with imperatives of other priorities and fiscal consolidation.
Protesting adivasis will hit the streets of Assam on Friday to highlight their grievances before United Progressive Alliance chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi during her day-long visit to Guwahati. Sonia will be addressing a farmers' rally to be organised by the ruling Congress party, besides attending an award presentation ceremony organised by Assam government in the afternoon.
The Centre on Monday vowed to hunt down those responsible for the ethnic clashes between Bodos and minorities after fresh violence erupted in Assam. "The situation is under control as of now. There could be some external elements behind the violence. The state government and the Centre are determined that we will have this investigated and get to the people who are behind this," Union Home Secretary R K Singh told reporters.
The Assam government suspended a registrar of Guwahati Medical College Hospital, Dr Punyadhar Deuri two days after the notorious drug lord, Pakhi Mian alias Samsul Haque Talukdar escaped from judicial custory while he was undergoing treatment at the hospital.
The Assam government announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh and a job for the next of the kin of the deceased.
Alarmed by the devastating fire at the AMRI Hospital in neighbouring Kolkata, which claimed 93 lives, the Assam government has decided to conduct a fresh fire-safety audit in all hospitals, educational institutions, hotels and residential apartment buildings across the state.
A seven-member Central team is in flood-ravaged Assam to assess the extent of damage caused by the devastating deluge in 26 districts of the state.
The Assam government's efforts to woo the 'B' company of the now dissolved 28th battalion of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam has so far failed, in view of the belligerence shown by the Army operating under the counter-insurgency unified command structure in the state.
The Assam government will have a crack Special Task Force soon to carry out specific operations against insurgents as initiatives for the same has been started after getting approval from the state's finance department. The force is being launched in the style and format of the Greyhound Battalion in Andhra Pradesh and is expected to be made operational within two months.
'They only bring pieces. Dialogue is the only way forward.' 'We should get people who have influence to bring the community leaders to sit across the table and talk.' 'Otherwise, our adversaries across the borders will add fuel to the fire. Let's not give them a chance.'
Rediff Labs analysed the 2016 assembly election results to develop a Sentiment Meter for the 2021 battle in Assam.
The Assam government has decided to institute a probe into the alleged diversion of development funds by the the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Autonomous State Demand Committee combine in the North Cachar Hills autonomous district council to the Black Widow militants' coffers.
Police sources said the state forces exchanged fire for about 40 minutes.
A decision on the next chief minister in Assam is yet to be taken though two days have passed since the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance won the assembly election and the state chief of the saffron party said on Tuesday that either incumbent Sarbananda Sonowal or senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will head the next government.
The committees headed by a cabinet minister will have bureaucrats and maybe a local representative as members and they will visit the disputed sites, interact with the civil society members and complete the discussions within 30 days, Sarma said.
Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma added to the mystery by declaring only that the next CM would be from the BJP, without naming Sarbananda Sonowal, the CM of the outgoing government.
The Assam government and the Indian Army have paid homage to the martyrs of 1894 farmers' rising at Patharughat in Darrang district of Assam, who had made supreme sacrifice while protesting against the brutalities and oppressive rule of the British in January 1894.
"India cannot be the refugee capital of the world," the Solicitor General said, adding there was a need to re-look the draft NRC list through sample verification.
Two days after all the doctors in the district civil hospital fled due to threats from insurgents, the Assam government on Monday shunted out Superintendent of Police in Kokrajhar district of western Assam, P K Dutta. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday admitted that the situation in Bodoland Territorial Council areas, where Kokrajhar district is located, was deteriorating. Doctors of Rup Nath Brahma Civil Hospital in the district fled.
A deal with the Assam government, which holds majority stake in the company through Assam Industrial Development Corporation Ltd, is likely by October.
Assam has taken up with the Central and Nagaland governments the issue of safety of the people of Assam residing in Nagaland
The Centre and the Assam government stands were advanced by Attorney General K K Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, respectively.
The Assam government on Friday said only genuinely displaced people in the recent clashes between Bodos and migrants would be rehabilitated in the affected Bodoland Territorial Areas District and Dhubri districts.
Spells of communal as well as ethnic violence, that have become the bane of life in Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council areas of Assam, which have claimed 731 lives since 1993 in the area.
Sisodia is scheduled to appear before the chief judicial magistrate's court in Guwahati on November 19 in connection with the original case filed by Sarma in June.
The national flag will fly at half-mast on Monday and government employees throughout the state will wear black badges to denounce the act, an official spokesman said.
Dhiraj Yadav, an 18-year-old student from Assam who was studying in Pune, has been diagnosed with swine flu. He is the first case of swine flu in the north-eastern state.Yadav, a resident of Beltola Survey area in Guwahati, was admitted to Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Civil Hospital on August 13. Assam Health Minister Dr Himanta Bishwa Sharma has urged citizens not to panic as the patient had already been isolated at the hospital.
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.
Sarma, however, said that police cases filed against six Mizoram government officials will continue to be probed for their alleged role in the deadly gun battle along the inter-state border at Lailapur in Cachar district.
The final NRC, unique to Assam, will be published on August 31.
A provision has been made for relaxation in the upper age limit and exemption from the Physical Efficiency Test in the recruitment to the post of constable (general duty) and rifleman in the CAPFs and Assam Rifles for ex-Agniveers, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said in response to a written question.
Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Rajnath Singh (Uttar Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana), Sarbananda Sonowal (Assam), H D Kumaraswamy (Karnataka), and Jitan Ram Manjhi (Bihar).
The revised budget for 2024-25 shows a sharp rise in the allocations, particularly for major irrigation projects and the Namami Gange Mission-II.
A state-of-the-art memorial ground will also be constructed in his honour.
The Assam government is making preparations for around 1,000 people to attend the last rites of former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, to be performed with full state honours at the Nabagraha cremation ground on Thursday, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
Though the legislator of Rupohihat, Nurul Huda, stopped the drive in Sitalmari area of Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary for a while claiming it was illegal, the exercise resumed later, a senior official said.
According to Raj Bhavan, Governor Uikey expressed during the meeting that she had already made to all the sections of the society to solve the problem through peaceful dialogue amicably.
Two senior government functionaries said the central government does not want to take any decision that may further escalate the ground situation.
The Supreme Court on Friday said if it finds that authorities in Gujarat acted in contempt of its order on demolition of properties, it will ask them to restore the structures.
Against the backdrop of the violent clashes with villagers from Meghalaya, the Assam cabinet on Wednesday decided to hand over the investigation to CBI, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
