State debt is rising because revenues are disappointingly weak. Ten states have debt ratios exceeding 30 per cent. In 2023-2024, states were borrowing simply to meet day-to-day expenses, points out Debashis Basu.
Officials said the government is keen to conform to the convention of the Union Budget for 2026-2027 being presented on February 1 despite it falling on a Sunday in 2026.
A new report indicates that increasing unconditional cash transfer schemes for women across 12 Indian states are impacting their fiscal health, with six states projecting revenue deficits.
Pakistan on Tuesday increased its defence budget by 20 per cent, allocating PRs. 2,550 billion ($9 billion) for the fiscal year 2025-26, amid tensions with India.
"The new upgraded Passenger Reservation System (PRS) will allow over 1.5 lakh ticket bookings per minute. This will be an increase of roughly five times from 32,000 tickets per minute in the current PRS," it added.
Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi, the 94-year-old veteran corporate hotelier who redefined India's hospitality industry, passed away on Tuesday. The Chairman Emeritus of The Oberoi Group, popularly known as 'Biki', built a sprawling chain comprising 32 hotels during his lifetime. EIH owns the eponymous Oberoi and Trident hotel chains.
=In 21 states, the time gap between the general Budget and ministry-specific discussions was just one day.
BJP MP and actor Ravi Kishan has been awarded the Sansad Ratna for his outstanding performance in the Lok Sabha, becoming the first actor-turned-politician to receive the honour.
The eighth Delhi assembly will have fewer women members but a higher number of lawmakers with graduate degrees, according to a report.
The Delhi assembly which held 74 sittings over its five-year term, met for an average of 15 days a year. On the days it met, the assembly sat for an average of three hours.
A Pakistani court sentenced jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to 14 and 7 years in prison respectively after finding them guilty of corruption in the 190 million pounds al-Qadir Trust case. The verdict was announced in a makeshift court set up in Adila jail where Khan is currently lodged. Khan has been convicted for "corrupt practices" and "misuse of authority", while his wife has been convicted for "involvement in illegal activities". The court also ordered the confiscation of the land of Al-Qadir University set up by them. Supporters of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party staged a protest outside Parliament House, demanding his release. Khan claims all cases against him were politically motivated.
In Maharashtra's 288-member assembly, the share of legislators with college degrees increased over the past decade.
The outgoing Haryana assembly met for 72 sitting days over five years, or 14.4 days a year on average, against the national average of 23 days for state assemblies in the 2017 to 2023 period, according to an analysis by PRS Legislative Research.
They are allegedly the owners of the drugs and had commissioned the trip, police commissioner-general Marthinus Hukom, head of the Indonesian National Narcotic Agency, told reporters at a press conference in Batam.
Nine re-elected MPs represented a different party in the 17th Lok Sabha, while eight others represented a party that split from their earlier party.
The 17th Lok Sabha had 272 sittings altogether over its five-year tenure from 2019-2024.
Coincidentally, the two first-term members got seats adjacent to each other in the House.
To govern effectively, to legislate successfully, Modi must reach out to the Opposition. As long as he does not and he is showing no signs that he accepts the reality, the drift his fans are anguishing over will remain, cautions Aakar Patel.
The 17th Lok Sabha, which was dissolved on June 5, did not have a deputy speaker for its full term, and it was the second consecutive term of the lower house without an LoP.
According to an analysis by PRS Legislative Research, 172 bills were discussed and passed during the term of 17th Lok Sabha, of which 86 bills in the Lok Sabha and 103 bills in the Rajya Sabha were discussed for less than two hours each.
It was also the only session in the 17th Lok Sabha when the lower house did not lose any time due to adjournments, according to data compiled by a think tank.
While 67 per cent of India's population is 39 years old or younger, states are governed by chief ministers who are 70 or older.
In 2022, Rajasthan met for 30 days, Chhattisgarh 18 days, MP and Mizoram for 15 each, and Telangana for 10 days.
A large part of the productive time in Parliament is spent on non-legislative matters such as discussion on motion of thanks by the President, conduct of fellow MPs and so on.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions for the prime minister ahead of his rallies in Karnataka.
Between 2019 and 2023, average sittings of the assembly in Chhattisgarh was 23 days a year, with average sitting time being five hours.
The push to develop Ayodhya as a tourism centre, accompanied by large-scale infrastructure projects, comes on the back of years of limited income growth and tourist inflows.
'With one more year remaining in the term, and 58 average sitting days a year, the 17th Lok Sabha is unlikely to sit for more than 331 days.' 'This could make it the shortest full-term Lok Sabha since 1952.'
This strategy was discussed when Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently visited Mysuru to discuss the BJP's Lok Sabha plan, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Chhattisgarh scores the highest among all four states with 21 per cent of its newly elected lawmakers women.
The 17th Lok Sabha has 12 per cent of its members below the age of 40. This is more than the 16th Lok Sabha, which had 8 per cent of MPs below the age of 40.
Kerala had the highest number of average sitting days at 48 days a year, followed by Odisha (41) and Karnataka (35).
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.
While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.
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.
The situation raises concerns about whether the promised freebies will once again push the state into a revenue deficit.
If Saudi Arabia, with just two Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina, can create a huge tourism-based ecosystem beyond oil, Ayodhya is sure to become the world's hottest religious tourism site in less than a decade, predicts R Jagannathan.
The Congress on Thursday gave a notice in the Lok Sabha against alleged breach of privilege by Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of speaking untruth on Maharashtra farm widow Kalawati Bandurkar who Rahul Gandhi had met in 2008.
The productivity of the Budget session was abysmal. The Lok Sabha functioned for 33% of its scheduled time (46 hours); the Rajya Sabha 24% (32 hours).
Parliament has cleared the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023, recently. The objective of the Act is to invite investments from the private sector, including foreign companies, for mining minerals such as lithium and other critical minerals. Other than lithium, some of these minerals were classified as atomic minerals, including beryl and beryllium, niobium, titanium, tantalum and zirconium.
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