The government is set to examine concerns over quick commerce companies potentially undermining businesses of local kirana stores, particularly in the context of the draft Digital Competition Bill, according to official sources. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs recently raised the issue with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs during discussions around the proposed legislation. "We need to assess if and how the Bill can address these concerns and explore further steps to include provisions to keep a check," a senior official stated.
The fallout from the Justice K Hema Committee report on harassment and abuse in the Malayalam film industry intensified on Monday as a case was filed against well-known filmmaker Ranjith, and several female actors stepped forward with disturbing accounts of the mistreatment they faced at the hands of their various male counterparts.
'The ruling does not automatically mean that your house can be taken away, but suppose it blocks an expressway or a highway or such essential development, then it can be taken away as long as there is a law to support that action.'
The new law will have penal provisions of Rs 50 lakh and five year imprisonment for celebrities promoting sale of items without verifying the quality.
'The focus of the legislation will be to minimise user harm and increase the accountability of platforms, while also promoting innovation.'
'If someone fiddles us on our religion then we will pay back five times more to that person. We have proved that time and again.'
If Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil drops a hint of supporting or opposing a particular coalition on the eve of polling on November 20, things may change overnight.
The Tirupati Laddu row intensified on Friday with the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which is managing the super-rich temple, backing Chief Minister N Chandra Babu Naidu's claim that the famous 'prasadam' had animal fat and Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy dubbing the accusations as 'atrocious'.
The panel headed by Justice (retired) Ritu Raj Awasthi has submitted its report to the government, calling for an exhaustive overhaul of the law.
'These allegations need to be treated with utmost seriousness.'
During the 16th Lok Sabha, 180 bills were passed and 45 ordinances promulgated.
The parliamentary affairs minister also said the productivity of Lok Sabha was around 82 per cent and that of Rajya Sabha around 48 per cent.
Many who track the ministry and the technology sector closely believe that the space won't see much impact on the policymaking side, but the gestation time for regulations might get long, as now there could be a wider consensus-building exercise on policy matters under a coalition government.
The Budget session of Parliament was the least productive since the year 2000.
The report is likely to recommend that India adopt the German model of 'constructive no-confidence' which stipulates that the unseating of a government must be immediately followed by the formation of a new one, which will serve out the remainder of the legislative term.
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
Gandhiji asked me if I had sufficient warm clothes in view of the coming cold season. I said yes. But he verified my statement by asking Miraben to search my bag to make sure. Such was Gandhiji.
Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) leader Lalduhoma was sworn in as the chief minister of Mizoram on Friday.
Fresh plans of privatisation or divestment in central public sector enterprises and public sector banks might take a back seat this financial year because these may require a large consensus among coalition partners.
'The BJP's numbers in this government are almost the same as those enjoyed by the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao when the reform process was kicked off in 1991.' 'As before, the only constraints on the prime minister's actions are internal, not external.' 'They come from his own assessment of the political consequences of any action,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
The stormy monsoon session of Parliament came to an end on Thursday, becoming a virtual washout and delaying legislations which could not be passed because of continuous acrimony.
It also saw the suspension of 100 members in a span of four days for unruly conduct and a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack.
Tobacco products will henceforth carry larger pictorial warnings covering 85 per cent of the packaging space as a central notification comes into effect from Friday notwithstanding a parliamentary panel's recommendation for a drastic reduction in the size of the visual message.
As the adjournment of Parliament for an indefinite period with the Rajya Sabha also adjourning sine die kickstarts the final countdown for the general elections, Modi said the last five years were a period of "reform, perform and transform" with the country moving towards "big changes" at a fast pace.
The monsoon session is expected to commence in the old Parliament building and later move to the new building, sources said. The new building was inaugurated by Modi on May 28.
He said, the fresh budget of the new Congress government, which he will be presenting on July 7, is likely to be of the size Rs 3,35,000 crore.
French organisers turned Paris into an open-air Olympic playground where everyone was invited, with or without a ticket.
Three years after India declared its goal to become a net-zero economy by 2070, the policy design for achieving the target has begun, with the NITI Aayog forming dedicated multi-sectoral committees to prepare a transition plan. In 2021, India joined a select group of nations that set a target year for becoming net-zero carbon economy. At COP26 in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined a five-pronged 'Panchamitra' climate action target for India and committed to a net-zero target by 2070, joining nations like the US, the UK, and China.
According to data collated by think-tank PRS Legislative Research, productivity of Parliament during the session was the 'third lowest' in the 16th Lok Sabha.
From the time he first rose to prominence during the movement against the then UPA government, Arvind Kejriwal has regularly grabbed headlines for his surprise moves and decisions. Here are 10 such instances.
'it's not just youth in India who are left behind because of their inability to find jobs; nearly two-thirds of Indian women of working ages do not participate at all in the paid labour force.'
Lok Sabha could function for only 45 hours this Budget Session against its scheduled 133.6 hours because of daily disruptions and frequent adjournments, a think tank data has shown.
Thirty four people belonging to Kallakurichi district have died following consumption of 'methanol mixed arrack', Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Thursday.
'If, as happened in Baramulla during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the youth in the Valley get triggered enough to jump into the wider fray, the end result would be difficult to predict, especially as the state's post-August 5, 2019 political format remains substantially fragmented and foggy,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Union ministers said Parliament passing over two dozen Bills was evidence of increased productivity of Narendra Modi government 2.0.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said the session has been "more productive and satisfactory" than the previous Budget Session and last year's monsoon session.
'Such steps would be a barrier and something people do not want.'
Assuming we still have a Modi-led majority government after May 2024, there is no guarantee that reforms will move at anything more than a snail's pace, though we must be thankful even for that, notes R Jagannathan.
According to an Andhra government statement, Naidu 'reposed confidence' in the PM's leadership.
