Page 35 - Centre

No privilege over documents on convicts' remission in Bano case: Govt to SC

Centre tells SC that they would not claim privilege over documents in connection with the remission of sentence of convicts in Bilkis Bano gang-rape

Centre in talks with states for 'pre-embedded' clearance of mines

In a bid to provide ease of doing business to mining players, the Centre is in talks with five states for "pre-embedded clearances" of 21 mines, including those of iron ore, coal and lignite, mines secretary Vivek Bharadwaj said on Tuesday. The government is also in the process to enact the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002, the senior ministry official said. The government is in talks with five states, including Odisha, Rajasthan and Gujarat, for pre-embedded clearance of 21 mines, Bharadwaj told PTI in response to a question about steps being taken for early operationalisation of auctioned mines. The miners will get pre-embedded clearances for various processes included in mining, like approval of the mining plan, forest clearances, environment clearances and other regulatory clearances, he said. "The move will help in early operationalisation of the mines. It takes 5 years (minimum) to make a mine operational. This will come to one-two months," he sai

Centre revises nutritional standards for kids' food safety schemes

The amendment has been done on the recommendations of an inter-ministerial committee

Govt at advanced stage of consultation on sedition law: Centre to SC

The Supreme Court on Monday deferred hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the sedition law after the Centre said it is at an advanced stage of consultation on reexamining the colonial-era penal provision. A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice J B Pardiwala noted the submission of Attorney General R Venkataramani that the government has initiated the process to reexamine section 124A of the Indian Penal Code. The bench posted the hearing on the matter in the second week of August. The batch of pleas challenged the constitutional validity of the penal provision. Venkataramani said the consultation process has been at the advance stage and before it goes to the Parliament, it will be shown to him. "Kindly post the matter for further hearing after the Monsoon session of Parliament," he urged the bench. At the outset, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan urged the bench to constitute a bench of seven judges for adjudicating the issues. The bench said that even if

TN CM seeks Centre's mediation for textile sector to follow quality norms

Underscoring the issues faced by the textile industry in respect of compliance with the Quality Control Orders, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday sought Union Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal's intervention to protect the industry's interests. Writing to Goyal, Stalin referred to representations from the textile industry expressing reservations on mandatory certification through different Quality Control Orders (QCOs) by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in respect of various types of man-made fibres and viscose fibre. The QCOs issued by the textiles ministry vis-a-vis Viscose staple fibre give only one month for its implementation. "Later, it was extended by two months to make it effective from 29 March 2023. Similarly, the Polyester Stable Fibre QCO has been made effective from 3 April 2023 by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers." In respect of Polyester Fully Drawn Yarn (FDY), Polyester Partially Oriented yarn (POY), Polyester Industrial Yarn (IDY), and 100

Centre laments non-utilisation of fund by state animal husbandry department

The Centre on Saturday rued that animal husbandry departments in state governments are not fully utilising central funds for development of this sector and urged them to spend money to implement projects. Addressing an event to mark the 'World Veterinary Day', Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala stressed on registration of birth and death of livestock for having a real time data. The 'World Veterinary Day' honours the veterinary profession every year on the last Saturday of April. Rupla said the government conducts 'Livestock Census' regularly, but there is no provision currently for registration of birth and death similar to human beings. "This is a shortcoming in the animal sector," he said, and stressed on addressing this gap. There should be some scientific way to count birth-death in livestock sector as real time data will benefit all stakeholder and help achieve higher growth, the minister said. Livestock Census covers all domesticat

Centre likely to seek different taxation policy for games of skill, chance

The finance ministry will present its view when the GST Council discusses the report of a Group of Ministers (GoM) on online gaming, sources said

Some label necessary: SC seeks Centre's view on benefit to same-sex couples

Mehta said these are all human concerns, "which I also share and also the government shares, and we must find a solution from that point of view"

Centre launches competition for cities to create beautiful public spaces

The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has launched a 'City Beauty Competition' that aims to encourage and recognise transformational efforts made by cities and wards to create beautiful, innovative and inclusive public spaces. In a statement on Thursday, the ministry said under this competition, wards and public spaces in cities would be judged on five broad pillars accessibility, amenities, activities, aesthetics and ecology. The last date for participating in the competition is July 15. The ministry said the competition provides a unique opportunity to wards and cities to showcase their interventions towards creating beautiful public spaces. It would also promote heritage and culture, sustainable communities and ecological conservation and would also encourage peer learning among states and cities. "While selected wards would be felicitated at the city and state levels, the top most beautiful public spaces in the cities under four categories viz. waterfronts, green spaces

LIVE: Mandaviya announces development of 157 new govt nursing colleges

Catch live updates from across the globe here

Govt approves National Medical Devices Policy 2023, eyes 12% market share

Mansukh Mandaviya, Union health minister, said that the policy has been designed keeping in mind the need to have a holistic policy framework and will accelerate the growth of this sector

Leave questions raised in same sex marriage pleas to Parliament: Centre

The Centre on Wednesday requested the Supreme Court to consider leaving questions raised in the pleas seeking legal sanction for same sex marriages to Parliament. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud that the apex court is dealing with a "very complex subject", which has a "profound social impact". "The real question is who would take a call on what constitutes marriage and between whom," Mehta said on the fifth day of hearing. He told the bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul, S R Bhat, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha, that there would be ramifications on several other statutes which would need a debate in the society and also in various state legislatures. Hearing in the matter is underway.

Centre declares two-day national mourning for Prakash Singh Badal

The Centre on Tuesday night announced two days of state mourning on April 26 and 27 across India in view of the death of former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. In a communication to all the states, the Union Home Ministry said Badal died on April 25 and, as a mark of respect to the departed dignitary, the central government has decided that there will be state mourning for two days on April 26 and 27 throughout India. "On the days of mourning, the national flag will be flown half mast on all buildings where the national flag is flown regularly and there will be no official entertainment on these two days," the communication said. Badal, a five-time former Punjab chief minister known for his winsome humility and strong rural roots, died on Tuesday. He was 95.

Mizoram distributes property cards under Centre's SVAMITVA scheme

Mizoram on Monday distributed Property Cards under the Centre's Survey of Villages Abadi and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA) Scheme, an official statement said. Land Revenue and Settlement minister Lalruatkima handed over property cards to 420 beneficiaries - 254 and 166 in Tachhip and Phulpui villages in Aizawl district, the statement issued by state's Information and Public Relations department said. The minister said that the property card is similar to the Land Settlement Certificate (LSC) as it provides rural people the legal ownership of their residential lands. It will also enable the beneficiaries to use their residential properties as financial assets for taking loans and other financial benefits like compensation, it said. SVAMITVA, a Central sector scheme of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2021. It is being implemented under the joint initiative of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, state's

Centre unveils initiative to upgrade analytical instrumentation facilities

Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh on Monday launched an initiative to provide financial support for the upgradation and maintenance of analytical instrumentation facilities (AIFs) created under the ministry's support. The Support for Up-gradation Preventive Repair and Maintenance of Equipment (SUPREME), a first-of-its-kind programme by the government, extends financial support for repair, upgradation, maintenance, retrofitting, or acquiring additional attachments to increase functional capabilities of existing analytical instrumentation facilities. Such facilities at institutions recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) are eligible to apply for grants under SUPREME. Addressing the 'Vishwavidyalaya Anusandhan Utsav 2023' here, Singh also announced a special drive for start-ups and research and development activities for universities of the northeastern region, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, in addition to Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, ...

Centre to release new Rs 100 coin to mark 100th episode of 'Mann Ki Baat'

'Mann Ki Baat 100' in Devnagri will be written above the microphone image and below the image the same will be inscribed in English

Centre should take points by Satya Pal Malik seriously: Subramanian Swamy

Former Union minister and BJP veteran Subramanian Swamy said on Saturday that the Centre should take whatever former J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik had said in connection with the Pulwama terror attack seriously.

Misleading information has potential to fan separatist push: Central govt

False and misleading information has the potential to fan separatist movements and intensify social and political conflict, the Central government told Bombay High Court on Friday while responding to stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra's petition challenging an amendment to the Information Technology Rules. Citing a study, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), further said false news travelled six times faster than the truth, necessitating the 2023 amendment to the IT Rules. It, however, said that the impending fact check unit may only direct removal of false or misleading information pertaining to government policies and programmes, and not any satire or artist impression. Kamra, in his petition, claimed that the new rules could potentially lead to his content being arbitrarily blocked or his social media accounts being suspended or deactivated, thus harming him professionally. The stand-up comedian has sought the court to declare the amended rules as ...

HC reserves verdict on Twitter plea against govt's account blocking order

Twitter challenged the government orders claiming that they are arbitrary, and procedurally and substantively not in consonance with Section 69A of the IT Act

Jaishankar's 4-nation visit to Central and Latin America begins today

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar is on a four-nation Central and Latin America visit beginning today.The EAM will make official visits to Guyana (April 21-23), Panama (April 24-25), Colombia (April 25-27) and the Dominican Republic (April 27-29), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.The EAM will visit the Caribbean nation, Guyana from April 21-23, where he will be calling on the leadership and interacting with several Ministers.He will be co-chairing the Joint Commission Meeting with his counterpart, Hugh Hilton Todd which will entail discussions on the whole gamut of issues between the two countries. The EAM's visit to Guyana would also be an opportunity for a meeting of Foreign Ministers in the India-COFCOR (Council on Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR); a group of 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM)) format and hold bilateral meetings with participating Ministers, according to the MEA official press release.Following his visit to Guyana, Jaishankar will