Page 16 - Central Government

Centre released Rs 3,454 cr for drought relief: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the Centre has approved Rs 3,499 crore as drought relief and released only Rs 3,454 crore and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give the balance amount as soon as possible. The chief minister thanked the Supreme Court for warning the Central government and providing some drought relief to the state. "According to the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) rules, the state was supposed to be paid Rs 18,171 crore, but the Central government has only approved Rs 3,498.98 crore. This money is not sufficient for the drought relief. Our fight for the arrears will continue," he told reporters here. The chief minister said that the union government did not give the drought relief fund out of concern for Karnataka but it was forced to release money after the state government approached the Supreme Court and pleaded about the drought situation. "The Supreme Court, which heard this petition, was convinced that the Centre was doing ...

Siddaramaiah stages dharna over delay in release of drought funds by Centre

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday staged a dharna here protesting against the delay in release of drought relief funds by the Centre and criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah over the issue. Siddaramaiah said the protest -- held in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the premises of Vidhana Soudha which houses the Legislature and State Secretariat -- was aimed at drawing public attention towards the "injustice" done to Karnataka and its people by the BJP-led government at the Centre. He alleged that Modi and Shah "hate Karnataka and its farmers" due to which the drought relief funds were not released even after seven months of severe drought. The chief minister said the state has not seen such a severe drought in 100 years. Citing government survey reports, he said 223 out of 240 taluks of the state are drought-affected. "Modi and Amit Shah hate Karnataka and its farmers," Siddaramaiah said during the protest organised by the ruling .

SC grants Centre one week to provide relief to drought-stricken Karnataka

Karnataka government has sought financial assistance of Rs 18,171.44 crore under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for drought-relief from the Centre

Centre, states need to come together on big reforms in labour, land: CII

The Centre and states need to come together to pursue big-ticket reforms in labour and land sectors to accelerate growth, CII President R Dinesh said on Thursday. A survey by CII, he further said, expects the Reserve Bank of India to cut benchmark interest growth in the second quarter (July-September). The RBI has been holding the repo rate at 6.5 per cent since February 2023. In an interview with PTI, the CII President shared the industry body's perspective on reforms needed to realise India's growth potential to the fullest. "From CII's side when we look at accelerating the rate of growth or making sure we are able to seize the opportunities we are being presented today, broadly we are speaking about 3-4 areas, first you look at big-ticket reforms that are land, labour and to a certain extent agriculture," Dinesh said. He highlighted the importance of building a consensus across all states. Towards this, he said, CII has suggested, a structure which can make the Centre and the .

Govt focus on infra to nurture sustained revival in investment: RBI report

The government's focus on infrastructure development, coupled with buoyant business optimism, could nurture a sustained revival in the investment cycle, according to a Reserve Bank report. According to the RBI's Monetary Policy Report- April 2024, domestic economic activity, backed by strong fundamentals, remained robust in the first half of 2023-24, weathering challenges from muted global demand. The report further said that while the fixed investment and the lower drag from net external demand propelled real GDP growth, private consumption received support from steady urban demand. On the supply side, it added, manufacturing activity strengthened further, benefiting from lower input costs and the improvement in global supply chains. Construction activity remained firm on the back of buoyant housing demand and the government's thrust on infrastructure. "Going ahead, private consumption will get support from improved prospects for rural demand and rising consumer confidence. "The

Why are country's borders shrinking: SP Chief Akhilesh hits out at BJP

In a veiled attack on the BJP-led central government, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday wondered why the country's borders were shrinking and how free was its press. Yadav attended the special prayers at Aishbagh Eidgah here on Eid-ul-Fitr and greeted people on the occasion. "People are noticing that our country that was once developing, what is the state of law and order here now, what is our unemployment level, how free our press is, where are we standing on the parameters of health and poverty index? Why are our borders shrinking?" Yadav said without taking any names. "People are going to vote on these issues and they have decided to bring a change," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said after initially declining to make any political comments "at the time of festivities". Earlier in the day, the Congress targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "ineffective and feeble" response to China for its border transgressions, and demanded that he apologises to

Govt releases myCGHS iOS app to 'enhance' access to healthcare services

The government has launched the 'myCGHS' app for iOS to provide Central Government Health Scheme beneficiaries access to electronic health records, information, and resources. The app facilitates a wide range of services, including booking and cancellation of online appointments, accessing reports from CGHS labs, checking medical reimbursement claim status, and locating nearby wellness centres and empanelled hospitals, labs, and dental units among others. The app was launched on Wednesday, an official statement said. Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra said the app is an essential leap for CGHS in the realm of healthcare services. "It empowers CGHS beneficiaries with convenient access to essential healthcare features right at their fingertips. This initiative aligns with the government's vision of leveraging technology to enhance the quality and accessibility of healthcare services," he said. According to officials, the app features security features like 2-factor authentication

'Govt pushing ACC battery storage scheme, budget hiked 6x in few years'

The budget for the advanced chemistry cell sector has gone up 6x in the last few years, reflecting the government's continuous focus to boost the country's energy storage ecosystem, a senior official said. The National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery storage was approved by the Union Cabinet on May 12, 2021 with budgetary outlay of Rs 18,100 crore. The scheme is aimed at strengthening the ecosystem for electric mobility and battery storage in the country. The scheme envisages to enhance India's manufacturing capabilities of ACCs by setting up of giga scale ACC and battery manufacturing facilities in India with emphasis on maximum domestic value addition. Addressing at the India Energy Storage Week 2024 (IESW 2024) curtain raiser even, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries Vijay Mittal said, "Ministry of Heavy Industries and the Government of India have provided a 6x growth in the budget." He said initially a budget of Rs 1,118 crore was provided. With .

RBI reverts to multiple price auctions for govt securities after 3 years

Under the multiple price auctions, buyers are allotted bonds at the price they bid at, while uniform pricing means bonds are sold at the cutoff level

Govt orders weekly wheat stocks reporting from April 1 to prevent hoarding

The stock holding limit on wheat is also set to expire on March 31, 2024 after which traders have to give details of their inventories on a regular basis

India's rapidly expanding gig economy: Do we really understand it?

NITI Aayog report defined gig workers as those engaged in livelihoods outside the traditional employer-employee arrangement and classified them into platform and non-platform-based workers

Centre gives green signal to road project in Andhra Pradesh tiger corridor

The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has recommended the use of more than 40 hectares of forest land from the tiger corridor connecting the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) and the Sri Venkateswara National Park in Andhra Pradesh for the development of expressways, economic corridors and inter-corridors under the second phase of Bharatmala Pariyojana, according to the minutes of a meeting held last month. Spread over 3,296.31 square kilometres, the NSTR is the country's largest tiger reserve. It is contiguous with Telangana's Amrabad tiger reserve and accounts for the largest tiger population (around 72) in the Eastern Ghat landscape. According to the minutes of the meeting, the length of the road passing through the tiger corridor under the project is about five kilometres. Three tunnels, four minor bridges, seven viaducts and two culverts have been suggested as mitigation structures in the project proposal. The length of the animal passage is around three kilometre

Centre extends AFSPA in 3 districts of Arunachal Pradesh for 6 months

The Ministry made the declaration through a notification, announcing Tirap, Changlang, and Longding among the three districts where AFSPA has been extended for the next six months

Centre notifies 3-10% hike in MGNREGA wage rates for FY25 ahead of polls

Wage rates in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are set to experience the lowest increase at 3% for FY25 compared to FY24, while Goa will see the highest increase at 10.6%

Central govt to borrow 53% of full-year target in the first half of FY25

The gross borrowing in the first six months of the upcoming financial year stands at Rs 7.50 trillion, out of the total borrowing target of Rs 14.13 trillion for FY25

Accounts opened without permission under APY, 32% dropped out: ICSSR study

Bank employees did so without their concurrence to achieve enrolment targets set for them

AIADMK election manifesto promises Rs 3,000 monthly assistance to women

The opposition AIADMK on Friday in its manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections promised Rs 3,000 monthly financial aid to women heads of economically backward families across the country, among other things. The party would urge the Central government to implement this, the manifesto released by party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami here said. Appointment of governors for states in consultation with the Chief Ministers, an alternative to NEET, and the establishment of a Supreme Court bench in Chennai were among the 113 electoral assurances made by the AIADMK. The Dravidian major has expressed its opposition to CAA in its current form and has also proposed to rename the criminal laws Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Act. The party would safeguard the state's rights on the Cauvery issue and stall the construction of a dam at Mekedatu by exerting pressure on the Centre, it said. It would resolve the Mullaiperiyar row and

ED required to furnish grounds of arrest to accused in writing, says SC

The Supreme Court has dismissed the Centre's petition seeking review of its verdict which said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is required to furnish the grounds of arrest to an accused in writing "without exception", saying there was no error in its judgement warranting reconsideration. A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Sanjay Kumar considered the review petition in chambers and passed the order. "We have carefully gone through the review petitions and the connected papers. We do not find any error, much less apparent, in the order impugned, warranting its reconsideration. The review petitions are dismissed accordingly. Pending application, if any, stands disposed of," the bench said. In its order passed on March 20, the bench also dismissed the Centre's application for an open court hearing. The Centre had sought a review of the October 3 order of the apex court by which it had set aside the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court as well as the arrest memos, while directin

Govt cracks down on 18 streaming platforms for 'obscene content': List out

The Centre said that the content published on these platforms were found to violate the various sections of the IT Act, the Indian Penal Code and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act

Arunachal govt announces additional 4% dearness allowance for its employees

The Arunachal Pradesh government has announced an additional 4 per cent dearness allowance (DA) for its employees, officials said on Tuesday. The hike, effective from January 1, will benefit 68,818 state government employees and 33,200 pensioners, they said. With this hike, the DA for employees and dearness relief (DR) for pensioners has reached 50 per cent. The state has to spend an additional Rs 124.20 crore per year for this, they added. "Under the guidance of Hon PM Shri @narendramodi Ji, our double-engine sarkar is committed to the welfare of all citizens, including those dedicated to delivering government services," Chief Minister Pema Khandu posted on X. "Let us continue to work diligently for the all-round, inclusive growth of Arunachal Pradesh," he added.