Page 33 - Centre

Centre approves Rs 1,255-crore capital investment for Arunachal Pradesh

The finance ministry has approved a capital investment proposal of Rs 1,255 crore for Arunachal Pradesh in the current financial year, an official release said on Monday. Approval has been given under the scheme entitled Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment 2023-24'. The department of expenditure under the ministry has approved a total of Rs 56,415-crore capital investment for 16 states under the scheme for the current fiscal, it said. Capital investment projects in diverse sectors have been approved including health, education, irrigation, water supply, power, roads, bridges and railways. Funds for meeting the state share of Jal Jeevan Mission and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana have also been provided under the scheme to enhance the pace of the projects in these sectors, the release said. Among the 16 states, Bihar has the highest allocation with Rs 9,640 crore, followed by Madhya Pradesh (Rs 7,850 crore), West Bengal (Rs 7,523) and Rajasthan with Rs 6,026 crore.

Centre approves Rs 56,000 cr for 16 states for capital investment

Projects approved in sectors such as health, education, irrigation, water supply, power, roads, bridges and railways; Bihar gets lion's share of funds at Rs 9,640 cr, MP gets Rs 7,850 crore

Centre holds meetings with RBI over stalled real estate projects

The government is keen to resolve all the issues as investments by several homebuyers are stuck in stalled projects; Delhi NCR and Mumbai accounted for 77% of delayed or stalled projects

Central govt created employment-generating economy: Nitin Gadkari

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said the BJP-led government has created an employment-generating economy in the country. Speaking at an event in Nagpur city of Maharashtra, Gadkari referred to a road project being constructed to connect Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri, and the automobile industry. "We have created an employment-generating economy in the country. I am constructing a road project (worth) Rs 12,000 crore connecting Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. The (Uttarakhand) chief minister told me that the number of tourists visiting these places got doubled. Earlier, the Yatra to these places used to go on for only six months, but now roads are accessible throughout the year," said the Minister of Road Transport & Highways. He said people in passenger traffic, tourism, restaurants, hoteling, buses, railways and aviationall got businesses because the footfall has gone up at these places. "Automobile industry in the country is Rs 7.50 lakh ...

Employees to mark attendance via Aadhaar-enabled biometric system: Centre

The Centre on Friday asked all its departments to ensure that employees working under them mandatorily mark their attendance through an Aadhaar-enabled biometric system. The move came after it noticed laxity on the part of government departments and the employees who are not marking attendance despite being registered on the system. During a recent review of the implementation of the Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS), it has been observed that a large number of government employees posted across ministries/departments/organisations of the Government of India (GOI), are not marking their attendance using the system, an order issued by the Personnel Ministry said. Taking a serious note of the inattentiveness/laxity on the part of ministries/departments/organisations and the employees (who are not marking attendance despite being registered and active), it has been decided that "ministries/ departments/organisations (MDOs) shall ensure that the employees posted there

Centre refusing rice under OMSS to keep stocks, check price: Piyush Goyal

The politics over the supply of rice to Karnataka heated up on Tuesday with the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP staging demonstrations in various parts of the state

Centre panel for arbitration law reforms to have first meeting on June 20

The committee will submit its recommendations to the government within a period of 30 days

HC seeks Centre's stand on challenge to ban on fixed dose combination drugs

The Delhi High Court has sought the stand of the Centre on a petition by a pharmaceutical company challenging the government's decision to ban manufacture, sale and distribution for human use certain Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) drugs. FDC drugs are those which contain a combination of two or more active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in a fixed ratio. While issuing notice on three petitions by Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd against the ban, the court directed the FDC drugs produced by the petitioners that are already in the distribution channel shall not be withdrawn and no coercive steps will be taken against them. The petitioner was producing FDC drugs under the brand names Glencoff Q, Ascodex Dx Syrup, Ascoril-C Syrup and others, the court noted. The government had announced a ban on 14 FDC drugs on June 2 this year on the recommendations of an expert committee, saying there was "no therapeutic justification" for these medicines and they may involve "risk" to people. The cour

J&K completes 5-year central rule, political parties demands early polls

Jammu and Kashmir on Monday completed five years without an elected government, prompting a scathing attack from the mainstream National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party over the delay in restoration of democracy in the Union Territory. On August 5, 2019, the Centre revoked Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated the state into two Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti resigned from the post of the chief minister on June 19, 2018 after alliance partner BJP withdrew support to her coalition government. In a sarcastic tweet, National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah on Monday said democracy in India ends where Jammu and Kashmir begins. "Democracy is in our veins, it is in our culture'; India is the mother of democracy'; India is the temple of democracy'. Great sounding words that the international community lap up & regurgitate ad-nauseam. Meanwhile J&K completes 5 years under ...

AAP accuses Centre of boosting criminals' morale as crimes shot up in Delhi

A day after a Delhi University student was stabbed to death outside Aryabhatta College, the AAP on Monday claimed that crimes have increased in the national capital and accused the BJP-led Centre of boosting the morale of criminals. The first-year student of the university's School of Open Learning was allegedly stabbed to death in the South Campus after he objected to his girlfriend being harassed by another student, police said on Sunday. Priyanka Kakkar, the AAP's chief spokesperson, said at a press conference, "Why is it happening in Delhi again and again? Law and order in Delhi come under a government that boosts the morale of criminals. Criminals who are declared absconders by the police appear on BJP forums after a few months." The AAP leader further said, "They are not scared of the law. We have been asking the L-G about how many PCR vans have increased in Delhi and how many police stations he has visited. But he does not answer." The Lt Governor has control over public ord

PLI scheme nodal agencies under watch as Centre readies for review

Centre mulls strategy to ensure powers given to the agencies are not misused

Good coordination between Centre, Gujarat govt during Cyclone Biparjoy

Very good coordination among the central and Gujarat governments, the NDRF and all agencies concerned during Cyclone Biparjoy successfully saved precious lives, sources said on Saturday. The weather system, which hit the landmass near Jakhau port as a very severe cyclonic storm on Thursday evening, turned into a deep depression and will further lose steam to become a depression, the India Meteorological Department said in its latest update. Home Minister Amit Shah visited the cyclone-affected areas of Jakhau and Mandvi in Gujarat to take stock of the relief operation. Sources privy to the development said there was very good coordination between the central and state governments, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and all agencies concerned during the cyclonic storm that hit Gujarat. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the able guidance of Home Minister Shah, the success achieved in dealing with such a huge storm showcases the story of strong and ...

Trying to destroy history: Raut after Centre renames Nehru Memorial Museum

Sanjay Raut accused the Central Government of messing with the country's history, saying, "Pandit Nehru's name could have been retained in the Prime Minister Museum"

Centre, state govt's common action plan to restore peace in Manipur: Guv

The peace committee, headed by the Governor, was constituted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs last week to facilitate the peacemaking process

Govt plans to ask lawyers to report clients' dubious transactions

The authorities believe the plan will help in faster recognition of dubious transactions involving shell companies and money laundering

Karnataka CM is making lame excuses to blame Centre on rice supply: Bommai

A day after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah accused the central government of trying to scuttle his administration's free rice scheme for the poor, senior BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday hit back alleging that he was making "lame excuses" and indulging in "conspiracy politics" by putting the blame on the Centre. The Congress government in the state is indulging in tactics realising that it will default on the guarantees, the former chief minister said, suggesting that the Siddaramaiah regime put the money into the bank account of the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer, until it makes necessary arrangements for rice. "The state government on one hand is cheating the people of the state with regard to providing 10 kg of free rice to the poor, and on the other hand to save themselves from the bad name of having failed to fulfill the promise, is playing politics on the issue of supply of rice," Bommai said. Speaking to reporters here, he said the Centre as per t

Centre focused on developing tribal human resource: Union Minister Munda

The Narendra Modi government has undertaken a range of initiatives in the last nine years to develop tribal human resources with a special focus on education, health, and livelihood generation, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda said on Wednesday. He said the Pradhan Mantri Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups Development Mission, announced earlier this year, will saturate the target families and habitats with essential facilities. Rs 15,000 crore has been allocated for the socio-economic development of these marginalised groups for the next three years, the minister said at a press conference here. This is the first time a dedicated scheme has been formulated to ensure holistic development and implement a data-centric human development indexing approach for the particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs), he said. Munda said the Union government will recruit 38,800 teachers and support staff for Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) in the next three years. The EMRS .

Centre assures support to Manipur for foodgrains for NFSA beneficiaries

The Centre on Wednesday assured the Manipur government of complete support in ensuring sufficient foodgrains stock in different parts of the state and regular supplies of the entitled quantities to NFSA beneficiaries. "The estimated stock position will be sufficient to meet the requirement in the coming month. The regular inflow of stocks will be maintained to ensure that there is no scarcity of foodgrains in any part of the state," an official statement said. Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra visited Imphal on Wednesday and reviewed the functioning of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in Manipur in the wake of the recent law and order issues. In the course of the visit, Chopra met State Food and Consumer Minister L Susindro Meitei and Chief Secretary Vineet Joshi. According to the statement, the Centre has allocated an additional quantity of 30,000 tonne of rice in view of the current law and order situation for a period of three months -- June to August -- for non-NFSA ...

Centre stops sale of rice, wheat under OMSS to state to check price rise

The Centre has discontinued the sale of rice and wheat from the central pool under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) to state governments, a move that will hit some states, including Karnataka, offering free grains to the poor. This decision has already been conveyed to the Karnataka government, which had sought 13,819 tonne of rice for its own scheme under the OMSS without e-auction for July at the rate of Rs 3,400 per quintal. According to a recent order issued by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), "The sale of wheat and rice under the OMSS(domestic) for state governments is discontinued". However, the sale of rice under the OMSS will be continued for northeastern states, hilly states and states facing law and order situations, natural calamities at an existing rate of Rs 3,400 per quintal, it said. FCI may liquidate rice under the OMSS to private parties from the central pool stock as per the requirement in order to moderate the market prices, it added. On June 12, the centr

Monitor tur prices, take action against violators of stock limit: Centre

The Centre on Wednesday directed the state governments to continuously monitor the prices of tur and urad and take action on those violating the stock limit order. This was conveyed in a meeting -- chaired by Nidhi Khare, Additional Secretary in the Consumer Affairs Ministry -- to review stock disclosure of tur and urad, and the implementation of stock limits by the state governments. The representatives of the State Food and Civil Supplies Departments, Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and State Warehousing Corporations (SWCs) were present at the meeting. "In the meeting, the state governments have been asked to continuously monitor the prices and verify the stock positions of stock-holding entities and take strict action on those who violated the stock limits order," an official statement said. The retail prices, quantities of stocks disclosed by various stock-holding entities and stocks in the CWC and SWC warehouses in respect of tur and urad were reviewed in the meeting. T