Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
There was not a dry eye in sight as 3,024 beneficiaries of a slum rehabilitation project were overwhelmed by emotion as Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi handed them the keys to their new homes at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
In the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, political parties are extensively using social media to propagate their achievements and seek support from voters.
Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, the wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has filed a Rs 10 crore defamation suit against Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi for 'false' allegations of irregularities in a food processing project.
While Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar repeatedly appealed to the protesting members to take their seats, the unrelenting MPs continued to raise slogans.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said she declined the offer of the Bharatiya Janata Party to contest elections pleading that she did not have the 'kind of funds' required for fighting the Lok Sabha polls.
Minister of State Prahlad Singh Patel on Monday posted on social media platform X that the Union Cabinet has approved the women's reservation bill, but deleted the post within an hour.
A 21-year-old farmer was killed and a few others injured following a clash between security personnel and protesting farmers at Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday again took a digital tablet wrapped in a traditional 'bahi-khata' style pouch as she headed for Parliament to present Union Budget 2023-24 in a paperless format just like the previous two years. She posed for the traditional 'briefcase' picture outside her office along with her team of officials before heading to meet the President. She, however, was holding a tablet instead of a briefcase to present the Budget in a digital format.
The INDIA bloc has 95 MPs in Rajya Sabha of which 45 were suspended on Monday.
Union ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai and farmer leaders from Punjab will meet on Sunday for the fourth round of talks.
The Centre is unlikely to offer new direct tax incentives for units operating in special economic zones (SEZs) and may instead allow the grandfathering of previous exemptions that such units were entitled to, according to proposed amendments to the SEZ Act, 2005, people aware of the matter said. The amendments, proposed by the commerce department, will soon be considered by the Cabinet for approval. This represents a departure from the department's earlier plan to introduce these changes through the Development Enterprises and Services Hubs (DESH) Bill, 2023, which faced strong criticism from the ministry of finance.
Geopolitical headwinds leading to lower demand from export markets, coupled with lower domestic buying, have dragged the auction average of Darjeeling tea to its lowest level since 2015. Data from Calcutta Tea Traders Association (CTTA) shows that the average price of Darjeeling tea at Kolkata auctions for January-December 2023 was Rs 319.74 per kg. The last time it dipped below this level was in 2015 at Rs 285.71 per kg.
From toys, footwear and furniture to insulated flasks, smart meters, and air coolers - the Central government over the last decade has mandated higher standards for production and imports of such items. Sample this: Till 2014, there were 14 Quality Control Orders (QCOs) covering 106 products. By the latest count, there are 156 QCOs on 672 products.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday suggested the G20 trade ministers to work collectively to ensure equitable competition between large and small sellers as there are challenges in the fast growing cross-border e-commerce. In a video message at the G20 Trade and Investment Minister's meeting here, he also emphasised on the need to address the problems faced by consumers in fair price discovery and grievance handling mechanisms. "Digitising processes and use of e-commerce have the potential to enhance market access. "I am glad that your group is working on the 'High Level Principles for the Digitalization of Trade Documents'. These principles can help countries in implementing cross-border electronic trade measures, and reduce compliance burdens.
A question asked in Tamil triggered heated exchanges in Lok Sabha on Wednesday between the Opposition and Treasury benches that spilled over to the issue of ministers giving replies in Hindi.
The list includes constituencies where the BJP came second or third in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and also some which the party has never won.
The theme for this year's Yoga day is "Yoga for Humanity".
Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge has given his resignation to party chief Sonia Gandhi as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha as he is contesting the election for the post of party president.
Farmers from Punjab clashed with Haryana police at two border points between the states on Tuesday, facing tear gas and water cannons as they tried to break past barricades blocking their protest march to the national capital. The police lobbed tear gas shells -- some of them dropped from a drone -- and tried to disperse groups of stone-pelting protesters in the face-off that last several hours at Shambhu border near Ambala in Haryana.
Dressed in colourful attire, members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday got their group photograph clicked in the old Parliament building, hours before legislative proceedings shift to the new Parliament House.
In her first address to a joint sitting of the two Houses in the new Parliament building in which she touched on varied issues ranging from insurgency to inflation, Murmu said a country can progress at a fast pace only when it defeats the challenges of the past and puts maximum energy into building the future.
'You will really wish oh! Had I stayed in Dharavi I would have got a nice house. I can assure you that. We will make dreams come true.'
For the first time in his political career, he failed to carry his party to even a working majority -- and again, for the first time in his career, he finds himself in a situation where he cannot rule by dictatorial fiat, points out Prem Panicker.
Production of eight infrastructure sectors expanded by 7.9 per cent in September -- the highest in three months -- on account of better show by coal, fertiliser, cement and electricity segments, according to official data released on Monday. In September last year, the growth rate stood at 5.4 per cent. It was 4.1 per cent in August. The previous high was in June when the output expanded by 13.1 per cent.
The US is taking several measures, such as increasing the number of staffers, to further facilitate the issuance of business visas in India, a senior US government official said on Tuesday. "We have also made significant progress by issuing more H1B and L visas in 2022 than we did even in 2019 before the pandemic. "This is a significant improvement. We are in the process of raising our staff," Arun Venkataraman, US Assistant Secretary of Commerce for global markets, said.
It was after a gap of two decades that saw such an occasion where MPs of the upper house enthralled their fellow colleagues at a dinner hosted by Chairman and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu for 72 retiring members.
State-of-the-art passenger amenities are being provided to make journey a pleasant experience.
GST on 17 items used by middle class viz Paints, Refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, storage water heaters, TVs up to 68 cm was reduced from 28 to 18 per cent.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal were part of the meeting chaired by Modi, besides several top bureaucrats.
The lawmakers from the US State of Washington have urged the Biden administration to help remove or reduce the tariffs on American apples imported to India as the country's fruit industry has incurred significant losses due to New Delhi's retaliatory measures. In a letter to US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, all members of the House of Representatives from Washington State and other two senators said the tree fruit industry suffered losses due to India's retaliation to US tariffs. On average, 30 per cent of the apples, cherries, and pears produced in the Pacific Northwest are exported and India was once a strong market.
As many as 14 opposition MPs were suspended from Parliament for the remainder of the winter session for disrupting proceedings, as the Lok Sabha security breach incident snowballed into a major row on Thursday with the government asking the opposition not to "politicise" the "grave national issue" and the Congress, Trinamool Congress and others demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah.
What Piyush Goyal had to say on the Union Budget.
Taking to Twitter, AAP's Sanjay Singh shared a video of leaders greeting President Kovind at the farewell ceremony in the Central Hall of Parliament.
We speak freely to the media without teleprompters, Jairam Ramesh counters.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi had invited leaders of four political parties for a meeting on Monday morning convened by Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal to discuss and resolve the stalemate over the suspension of MPs.
India, the US and 12 other members of the IPEF grouping have signed a supply chain resilience agreement that would help mitigate risks of economic disruptions from supply chain shocks and improve crisis coordination. The agreement would help member countries like India to reduce their dependence on China and provide timely information to the IPEF member countries about potential supply disruptions. The COVID outbreak severely disrupted the global supply chain, as most countries were dependent on China for various products like pharma raw materials.
Ruling and opposition members in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday sparred over 'foul' remarks made by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in Rajasthan's Alwar, with treasury bench members seeking an apology from him.
Hours after Jitin Prasada switched from Congress to Bharatiya Janata Party, party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia welcomed Prasada to the party asserting that his inclusion would make the BJP stronger in Uttar Pradesh.
