Page 3 - Central Government

SC asks govt for tough law on derogatory remarks against differently-abled

Highlighting the need for a stringent law to protect the dignity of the disabled, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to consider framing a statute to make derogatory remarks ridiculing persons with disabilities and rare genetic disorders a penal offence on the lines of the SC-ST Act. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 criminalises casteist slur, acts of discrimination, humiliation, and violence against the members of SCs and STs and makes offences non-bailable. "Why can't you bring a stringent law on the lines of the SC-ST Act which criminalises casteist remarks - there is punishment if you demean them," a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, appreciated the observation and said humour cannot be at the cost of someone's dignity. The bench also said that there was a need for a "neutral, independent and autonomous" body to regulate .

Cabinet approves Rs 12,000 cr Pune Metro, rail expansion projects

The Centre has cleared Pune Metro Lines 4 and 4A under Phase-2 and two major railway expansion projects in Maharashtra and Gujarat, boosting connectivity for millions across key districts

Cabinet greenlights ₹7,280 cr scheme for rare earth magnet manufacturing

The government has cleared a Rs 7,280 crore plan to build India's first integrated rare earth magnet supply chain, aiming for 6,000 tonnes annual capacity to support EVs, clean energy and electronics

Incentivise buyers to purchase India-made chips, says industry body

India has ten semiconductor projects in the works, spanning fabs, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) units and assembly, testing, marking and packaging (ATMP) facilities

Centre steps back from Chandigarh plan amid cross-party backlash in Punjab

Facing cross-party backlash in Punjab, the Centre steps back from proposal to alter Chandigarh's administrative structure. Archis Mohan reports

CAG urges Centre, states to follow uniform system for recording expenses

The CAG has asked the Centre and all the states to start using standard categories for recording government spending, to make accounting and auditing uniform across the country, latest by fiscal year 2027-28. The CAG advisory seeks to do away with the wide variation among states in the operation of expenditure heads at the disaggregated level. The matter had been engaging the attention of multiple stakeholders and was impacting inter-temporal and inter-state comparison as well as those with the Union Government, Jayant Sinha, Deputy CAG (Government Accounts) and Chairperson (GASAB) has said. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has notified a common list of heads of expenditure at the disaggregate level, commonly referred to as 'Object Heads' of expenditure. This is being done as part of recent initiatives to strengthen public financial management in the country, Sinha said. Wide variation in the depiction of expenditure of economic nature at the disaggregate level .

Govt to launch first retail investments in NHs under Invit in February

Plans to add 1,500 kilometres of national highways to Public InvIT over next 3-5 years

Courts cannot fix deadlines for Guv, Prez on assent to Bills, says SC

Experts say ruling 'reaffirms federal balance'

Govt to clear ₹800 crore pending exporters' dues under revamped IES

The move aims to ease pressure on MSME exporters as the revamped Interest Equalisation Scheme is folded into the new Export Promotion Mission

India's DPDP rules: Govt in talks with industry to slash compliance time

Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Centre is consulting industry to cut the 18-month window for implementing new data protection requirements

Centre approves 17 more projects worth ₹7,172 crore under ECMS

With 17 fresh projects under the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme, India expands capacity across camera modules, multilayer PCBs and optical transceivers

Congress accuses Centre of mass deletions in MGNREGA worker database

The Congress on Monday attacked the government over the reported deletion of nearly 27 lakh workers' names from the MGNREGA database between October 10 and November 14 this year, saying this is not an isolated act but a "systematic attempt to end" the rural jobs scheme. The opposition party also reiterated its demands, including a minimum MGNREGA wage of Rs 400 per day and an immediate halt to the mandatory adoption of exclusionary technology like Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS), National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS), and e-KYC. Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, shared on X a media report which claimed that nearly 27 lakh workers' names were deleted from the database of MGNREGA between October 10 and November 14 this year, far exceeding the 10.5 lakh additions during the same period. "Another day, another attempt to deny India's rural poor their legislative right to employment. In the last one month -- between October 10th and November 14t

Centre raises print media ad rates by 26% in a move to support publishers

The government on Monday said it has decided to increase print media advertisement rates by 26 per cent. This will yield several significant benefits, both for the government and the media landscape, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a statement. "The media rates for print media per sq cm for 1 lakh copies of dailies in the black and white advertisement have been enhanced from Rs 47.40 to Rs 59.68, an increase of 26 per cent," it said. The government has also agreed to the recommendations of the Rate Structure Committee (RSC) relating to premium rates to be offered for colour advertisements and preferential positioning. The rates for release of the print media advertisements by the Central Bureau of Communication (CBC) were last revised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the basis of the recommendations of the eighth RSC on January 9, 2019, which were valid for a period of three years. The ninth RSC was constituted on November 11, 2021, for makin

The shift: QCO rollbacks gather steam, suspended for 55 steel products

Departments begin rolling back quality orders as India finalises a trade deal with the US and weighs industry concerns on compliance burdens

Finance ministry to vet ongoing schemes for 16th Finance Commission

Ministries asked for five-year outlays and outcome assessments

Govt releases draft Seeds Bill 2025, draws flak over farmers' compensation

Critics say it's silent on farmers' compensation, but welcome emphasis on traceability and price regulation

Govt approves rationalisation of royalty rates for four critical minerals

The Union Cabinet approved rationalised royalty rates for graphite, caesium, rubidium and zirconium to encourage domestic mining and promote auctions of critical mineral blocks

Govt opens portal for private labs to seek recognition as test centres

The Department of Consumer Affairs has launched an online portal enabling private industries, laboratories and testing facilities to apply for recognition as Government Approved Test Centres (GATCs), marking a shift towards public-private partnership in India's legal metrology framework. Applications can be submitted through https://doca.gov.in/gatc until November 30, 2025, the department said in a statement. The initiative follows amendments to the Legal Metrology Government Approved Test Centre Rules, 2013, notified on October 23, 2025, which, for the first time, allow private sector participation in verifying weighing and measuring instruments used in trade and commerce. Recognised GATCs will be authorised to verify 18 types of instruments, including water meters, sphygmomanometers, clinical thermometers, automatic rail weighbridges, tape measures, load cells, beam scales and counter machines. Organisations must have proper testing and calibration facilities linked to national .

Centre may frame five-year integrated transport plans under new body

The new authority will shift India's transport strategy from individual project planning to long-term integrated corridor development aligned with economic goals

Centre to allow 1.5 mn tonnes sugar exports, scrap 50% molasses duty

Sources in the sugar industry said the food ministry has decided to allow exports of 1.5 million tonnes of sugar in 2025-26, but a final nod from a high-powered group of ministers is still awaited