'Why is the Congress not tendering an unconditional apology to the citizens of India?'
A panel of Union ministers will hold a fourth round of talks with farmer leaders in Chandigarh on Sunday over their demands, including loan waiver and bringing an ordinance on giving legal guarantee to a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
The Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) will on Saturday hold dharnas outside the residences of three senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Punjab on the fifth day of the farmers' protest over their various demands, including a legal guarantee for a minimum support price (MSP).
Any government support or incentive to help exporters deal with high freight and insurance costs is unlikely.
Senior Congress leader and Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi is likely to initiate the debate from the opposition side, the sources said.
Referring to an action against farmers by the security personnel deployed by the Haryana authorities at the Punjab-Haryana border, Pandher slammed paramilitary personnel for using "force" against farmers, leaving many injured.
The Congress has, however, countered this saying someone who is not an MP of Rajya Sabha cannot be called to the House and there cannot be any discussion/reflection on or about an MP of Lok Sabha.
Of the Rs 1.97 trillion that the government intends to spend on all 14 production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes, around Rs 41,000 crore remains unutilised as of now, according to a senior government official. This means that 80 per cent of the total allocated amount, or Rs 1.56 trillion, will be used to pay incentives to companies eligible to claim benefits over the next few years. The unutilised amount/savings result from undersubscription, lukewarm responses in the case of schemes such as textile, as well as a reduction in the allocation of schemes.
India will unveil its much-awaited new Foreign Trade Policy 2023-28 on Friday, with a view to boost exports amid slowing global trade. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will announce the foreign trade policy, according to the ministry. The current foreign trade policy (2015-20) is in force till March 31, 2022.
The government has convened an all-party meeting on Wednesday to deliberate on a host of issues related to Parliament's monsoon session, which will begin from July 20.
With the strain and anxiety of the longest Lok Sabha polls now behind the leaders, governance, with consensus, is the next step.
Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, was suspended on Thursday for allegedly attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and disturbing the ministers.
Besides the national capital, polling for the sixth round of the marathon seven-phase elections will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir.
'Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal once told me that if onion prices rise we will face the flak for it across India.' 'What can farmers expect from a government which talks like a trader and only believes in (electoral) profit and loss?'
BJP heavyweights Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Ajay Mishra Teni and Kailash Chaudhary were among the 13 Union ministers who tasted defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states forced the BJP to rely on allies to form the government.
Newly-appointed Leader of House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal met senior Opposition leaders including former prime minister and Congress veteran Manmohan Singh, his party colleague Anand Sharma and Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning Monday.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O'Brien was suspended from the Rajya Sabha on Thursday for the remainder of the winter session of Parliament and the matter referred to the privileges committee as he did not leave the House even after repeated directions from Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Few in Varanasi expect the result to be different from 2014 and 2019. The only point of interest is whether Narendra Modi will increase his winning margin against his rivals.
Farmers will march towards Delhi on Tuesday after a meeting with two Union ministers over their demands, including legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP) for crops, remained inconclusive.
Kharge wanted to raise the issue of some of his observations being expunged by the chair, but he was not allowed on the plea that he cannot read the same remarks which have already been expunged.
The electoral battle in Varanasi, according to locals and political experts, is not about whether the PM will win for a third successive occasion, but if he will increase his share of the votes polled and his win margin.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday chaired a meeting to review the Ukraine crisis amid the ongoing exercise to evacuate Indian nationals, mostly students, from the country facing attack from Russia.
While the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on four seats, the Congress has fielded candidates for the remaining three seats.
Though electoral verdicts have historically been accepted, even though grudgingly, by all parties, there has been a sharper edge to the questions being raised by Opposition parties this time over the polling process, including the Election Commission.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday sought an apology from the Congress for the controversial statement by party MP that suggested a call for a separate south nation over fiscal injustice, but the opposition party's president said it stands for a united nation and will not tolerate any such call.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Interim Budget on February 1 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections likely to be held in April-May.
The government on Friday approved an electric-vehicle policy, under which duty concessions will be given to companies setting up manufacturing units in the country with a minimum investment of $500 million, a move aimed at attracting major global players like US-based Tesla. According to an official statement, the companies setting up manufacturing facilities for e-vehicles will be allowed to import a limited number of cars at lower customs duty. The policy seeks to promote India as a manufacturing destination for EVs and attract investment from reputed global EV manufacturers, it added.
Gogoi and Sarma have been locked in a war of words on 'X' since Wednesday on the issue of the chief minister's wife's company allegedly being given a credit subsidy of Rs 10 crore.
The Bharatiya Janata Party replaced at least 25 sitting MPs with new faces as the party released its second list of 72 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Wednesday.
India and the US have settled the last trade dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over poultry products, according to a joint statement released on Friday. With this, the two countries have mutually resolved all the seven pending trade disputes at the WTO. "The leaders lauded the settlement of the seventh and last outstanding WTO dispute between India and the United States.
As soon as the House resumed at noon, Joshi said, "In protest against the action of their party's former president (Rahul Gandhi) and in your honour and in honour of the Constitution, we would participate in the Question Hour while remaining standing in silence. We request for your permission".
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
While 30 of them were suspended for the remainder of the Winter Session, three were suspended pending the report of the Privileges Committee.
Antony, who headed the digital media cell of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, slammed the Congress leadership for working for a "single family" instead of working for the country.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday claimed that the resignation of Delhi minister Raaj Kumar Anand vindicated its stand that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest was aimed at finishing the party.
A team of three Union ministers will hold talks on Monday with a delegation of farmer leaders, who are planning to march towards Delhi to press for their demands.
Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Thursday after passage of two bills amid continuous protests by opposition members over the violence in Manipur.
Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).
Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned on Friday due to continuous protests by opposition members seeking discussion and a reply from Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the Parliament security breach.
A top Republican lawmaker has welcomed India signing a trade deal with Australia, and urged the Biden administration to enter into a similar arrangement with New Delhi that can advance Washington's strong economic agenda in the strategically vital Indo-Pacific region. "I'm pleased to see #Australia & #India sign a strong trade deal," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch said in a tweet. "The US needs to do the same and advance a strong economic agenda in the #IndoPacific. "The Biden Admin's failure to lead hurts US growth and our partnership in the region," Risch said in another tweet.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances