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The Centre on Monday effected a major bureaucratic reshuffle, appointing 48 civil servants as joint secretaries or to equivalent posts. Hardik Satishchandra Shah, a 2010-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Gujarat cadre, has been appointed as private secretary (joint secretary level) to the prime minister, an order issued by the personnel ministry said. Shah, who is already working as the prime minister's private secretary, will now hold the post at the joint secretary level "from the date of assumption of charge, on a co-terminus basis", it said. Senior IAS officer Kapil Meena has been appointed as managing director of the National Horticulture Board under the Department of Agriculture, while Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer Priyanka Das has been named joint secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Jawahar Packirisamy will serve as chairman (JS level) of the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) under the Department of Commerce, the order ...
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea seeking direction to the Election Commission to implement finger and iris biometric identification system at polling stations to prevent duplicate voting. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi made clear that the prayer sought in the plea can't be considered for the current state Assembly elections in some states. "However, whether such a recourse deserves to be followed before the next parliamentary election and/or state assembly elections needs to be examined. Issue notice," the bench said. The top court sought responses from the Centre, the poll panel and several other states on the plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. "The injury to citizens is extremely large as bribery, undue influence, personation, duplicate voting and ghost voting still affects the purity and integrity of the electoral process," the plea submitted.
More than 5.72 lakh households have availed the self-enumeration facility so far during the first phase of the Census 2027, the Registrar General of India (RGI) said on Friday. This reflects the growing participation in the digital initiative of the Census, it said. "By choosing to provide their details online, these families have embraced a faster, smarter and a more convenient way to contribute to nation-building," the RGI said in a post on X. The self-enumeration facility is available to citizens in states and Union territories which will start physical Houselisting and Housing Census (HLO) from April 16. The Census 2027 kick-started on April 1 in eight states and Union territories, including New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Delhi Cantt areas of the national capital, with a 15-day self-enumeration window -- a first in the history of the massive exercise. A specially developed portal for self-enumeration has been opened for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa, Karnataka,
Takedown and blocking powers are already provided for under the existing provisions, and the proposed amendments to the IT rules are not linked to content takedown actions, MeitY Secretary S Krishnan said on Tuesday. He said the proposed amendments do not give the government wider powers nor expand those, and are "merely clarificatory in nature". Fielding a question on the significant rise in blocking action seen over the last three-four months, Krishnan attributed the increase to synthetically-generated content. "There has been a sudden explosion across the board.... This is not to do with any one political party.... So, a sudden explosion of so-called 'deepfakes' has meant that further action has been taken," he said at a media briefing. To a question on whether there will be a provision for giving specific reasons behind recent takedowns of certain posts, Krishnan asserted that "these changes (IT rule amendments) have nothing to do with what are the takedowns...." Takedowns hap
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that the Modi government is putting the security of every Indian at risk by attempting to "cover up its own failures" and concealing the reality of foreign surveillance through Chinese cameras installed at vital locations. "This is a deliberate conspiracy to keep India in the dark," he said in a post in Hindi on Facebook. Gandhi said the government recently banned the public use of Chinese CCTV cameras. "Yet, Chinese cameras remain installed inside government buildings. Banned Chinese apps are resurfacing under changed names. Foreign AI platforms are processing sensitive data. And the government has absolutely nothing to say about this," he said. The leader of opposition in Lok Sabha said he asked these questions in Parliament to the Ministry of Electronics and IT. "The response offered plenty of verbiage, but provided no answers to the specific questions asked," he claimed. "From which countries did our cameras originate? How many
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday chaired a virtual meeting with state agriculture ministers, flagging gaps in farmer registration, fertiliser distribution, and pulse procurement under PM-AASHA. With 9.25 crore farmer IDs created across 19 states so far, Chouhan directed state governments to mount a joint campaign between agriculture and revenue departments to hit 100 per cent coverage of the scheme within six months. He stressed that registration must go beyond PM-Kisan beneficiaries to include all eligible farmers, an official statement said. On fertilisers, the minister came down hard on hoarding and black-marketing, asking states to enforce strict checks -- particularly in border areas, where he flagged illegal movement of inputs as a pressing concern. He called for a technology-based distribution system to ensure equitable access and nudged states towards promoting organic and natural farming to curb imbalanced fertiliser use. Haryana's 'Meri Fasal
The government has cancelled the auction of 11 critical and strategic mineral blocks which were put on sale in the sixth round on account of poor investor response and lack of qualified bidders. The development comes as a setback to the government's efforts to ramp up domestic exploration and production of critical minerals amid global supply chain disruptions. In an annulment notice, the mines ministry said that the auction process for 5 mineral blocks was cancelled since no bids were received. The notice further said the auction process of five other mineral blocks was annulled as there were less than three technically-qualified bidders. Besides, auction process for Beku Rare Metal Block, West Bengal was also annulled. The mines ministry had in September last year launched the sixth tranche of auction for 23 critical mineral blocks spread across 13 states. The auction included 19 composite licence (CL) blocks and four mining lease (ML) blocks in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
The central government has increased commercial LPG allocations to states by 20 per cent, raising the quota to 70 per cent of pre-war demand to meet industrial requirements, including steel and automobiles. In a letter to state chief secretaries, Oil Secretary Neeraj Mittal directed that the additional supply be prioritised for labour-intensive industries such as steel, automobiles, textiles, dyes, chemicals, and plastics, which support other essential sectors. "In addition to the existing 50 per cent allocation, an additional 20 per cent is now proposed, that would bring the total commercial LPG allocation to 70 per cent of the pre-crisis level of the packed non-domestic LPG," he wrote.
No centralised data is maintained on incidents of "hate speech, racial slurs, harassment and discrimination" against people from the Northeast, the government said on Tuesday while stressing that policing and public order fall under the domain of state governments. Responding to a question by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said states are responsible for prevention, detection, registration and investigation of crimes, and prosecution of offenders. " 'Police' and 'Public Order' are state subjects as per the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The state governments are responsible for prevention, detection, registration and investigation of crime and for prosecuting the criminals through their law enforcement agencies," Rai said. He said the National Crime Records Bureau compiles and publishes crime data received from states and union territories in its "Crime in India" reports, which are available till 2023. However, "d
The Kerala government has approached the Centre seeking the authenticity of reports regarding the death of a man from the state in the war-hit region of Israel. When contacted, the NORKA officials told PTI on Saturday that they received the information from a collective of Keralites working in Israel and therefore approached the Centre to confirm it. NORKA is a state-run agency that oversees matters related to non-resident Keralites. According to local media reports, the deceased man was a Thiruvananthapuram native and his cause of death was yet to be ascertained. A member of a WhatsApp group of Keralites working in Israel, told PTI that they got the information about the death on Wednesday and they are also trying to collect further details.
The government on Friday invited bids for setting up manufacturing facilities for 6,000 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) of magnets under the Rs 7,280-crore Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Sintered Rare Earth Permanent Magnet. The heavy industries ministry has issued a request for proposal (RFP) for selection of beneficiaries to establish integrated Sintered NdFeB Rare Earth Permanent Magnet manufacturing units. The pre-bid conference will be held on April 7 while the bid due date is May 28. Technical bids will be opened on May 29, 2026. The bidding process will be conducted online through the Central Public Procurement (CPP) Portal using a transparent Least Cost System (LCS), comprising a two-stage process -- technical and financial bids. The scheme, approved by the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last November, seeks to establish a total manufacturing capacity of 6,000 MTPA of integrated REPM facilities in the country. Under the scheme, selected beneficiaries wi
The Centre on Wednesday said that there is scope to add 1.95 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). Under the NFSA or food law, the Centre provides 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month free of cost to Priority Households (PHH) beneficiaries through ration shops. Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households get 35 kg of free foodgrains per month. In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya said the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) under the NFSA provides for coverage of up to 75 per cent of the rural and up to 50 per cent of the urban population for receiving free of cost foodgrains. As per the Census 2011, the total beneficiaries come to about 81.35 crore. The coverage under the PMGKAY is substantially high to ensure that all the vulnerable and needy sections of society get their benefits. "At present, against the intended coverage of 81.35 crore, the States/UTs have identifi
The government on Saturday announced amendments in the electricity norms for bringing more clarity for captive power generation, especially for industries, in line with India's energy transition goals. Generating power closer to the point of consumption will help reduce transmission losses, improve system efficiency and strengthen grid resilience, the Ministry of Power said in a statement. The Ministry said that the amendments have been finalised after extensive stakeholder consultations. The Electricity (Amendment) Rules, 2026, have been notified to remove interpretational ambiguities, improve ease of doing business for industry, and align the captive generation framework with India's energy transition and industrial growth objectives. The ministry said that with the amendments, the government has simplified a number of provisions in the rules for ease of compliance. By clarifying ownership provisions, simplifying rules for group captive arrangements, and establishing a clear ...
The government provides 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in direct recruitment to civil posts and services under the Centre, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday. The implementation of the reservation policy is being done by the Department of Personnel and Training, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment B L Verma said in response to a question. "Government has a reservation policy through OM (office memorandum) dated 8.9.1993 of the Department of Personnel and Training and other instructions issued from time to time, under which 27 per cent of vacancies in direct recruitment to civil posts and services under the government are reserved for OBCs (Socially and Educationally Backward Classes)," the minister said in a written reply. He said the ministry is taking measures for the welfare of OBCs under the umbrella scheme of the PM Young Achievers' Scholarship Award Scheme for Vibrant India (PM-YASASVI), which includes pre-matric and post-matric .
AAP leader Manish Sisodia on Tuesday emphasised the need to continue the "fight against dictatorship" and alleged that the Narendra Modi-led government has created a situation where anyone raising their voice against it is being falsely implicated and sent to jail. Sisodia further demanded that the prime minister clarify how the United States was portraying India before the world as "their colony". Speaking to reporters during his visit to Jammu and Kashmir after paying obeisance at the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi, the former Delhi deputy chief minister said he had come to meet the family of his friend and AAP leader Maharaj Malik in Jammu. "I am saddened that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a situation has been created in the country where whenever any voice is raised, that person is simply put in jail," he said. Sisodia, who visited the family of detained AAP MLA Mehraj Malik at his official residence to express his party's support, said that activists and opposition leaders,
The government on Monday held inter-ministerial deliberations with exporters and logistics players to assess the impact of escalating tensions in the West Asian region on India's trade and assured all measures to mitigate any disruptions. The US and Israel jointly launched military strikes on Iran on Saturday. Iran responded by firing drones and missiles at Israel and US military installations around the Gulf, and also at the global business hub of Dubai. The meeting was called by the Department of Commerce. It held a consultation with all stakeholder ministries, key logistics and trade facilitation partners to review the emerging geopolitical situation and its potential impact on India's export-import (EXIM) cargo flows, including the export ecosystem. The ministry said that stakeholders presented an assessment of the evolving operational environment, including routing and transit-time changes, vessel scheduling adjustments, container/equipment availability, freight and insurance
The Delhi High Court on Friday gave its nod to the continuation of disciplinary proceedings against IRS officer Sameer Wankhede in connection with the 2021 Cordelia cruise drugs case. A bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Amit Mahajan allowed the Centre's plea against an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) which quashed the disciplinary proceedings against Wankhede in the matter. "This petition is allowed," said the bench while pronouncing the verdict. A detailed copy of the verdict is awaited. The central government challenged the CAT order passed on January 19, quashing the 'Charge Memorandum' issued to Wankhede on August 18, 2025, by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. Wankhede, a 2008 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, made headlines for allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's family by threatening to implicate his son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia cruise drug bust case during his tenure in the Narcotics Control