Page 39 - Centre

Govt to set up task force for land governance in North-Eastern states

A task force will be set up for land governance in the North-Eastern states, the Union Rural Development Ministry said on Wednesday. The decision was taken at the recently concluded National Conference on "Land Governance in North Eastern States" held in Guwahati, Assam on May 3-4. The territorial and autonomous district councils in the states of Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Meghalaya held that digitisation and modernisation of land records is essential for development in the region. Deliberations in the first-ever such national conference included sessions on current state practices and modernisation of land records, land governance assessment framework and a session on customary and indigenous laws, current practices and new initiatives and role of survey of India in land records modernization. While the initiatives of computerisation and digitisation of land records and maps have shown good progress in the rest part of Assam, it was seen that there are serious gaps in the areas .

Delhi HC seeks Centre's reply on PIL for QR codes on medicines, cosmetics

The court asked the authorities to file their response to the PIL and posted the matter for next hearing on August 16

SC concerned over loss of life, Manipur to step up relief after violence

Concerned over the huge loss of life and property, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and the Manipur government to step up relief and rehabilitation efforts for those hit by ethnic violence in the north-eastern state, besides protecting places of worship, many of which were targeted during the mayhem. While listing out steps taken to deal with the situation, the Centre told a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud that no untoward incidents have been reported in Manipur in the last two days and the situation there is gradually returning to normalcy. More than 50 people have been killed in violent clashes between the tribals living in the Manipur hills and the majority Meitei community residing in the Imphal Valley over the latter's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Over 23,000 people have been rescued and sheltered in military garrisons and relief camps. Terming the aftermath of the violence humanitarian issues, the apex court emphasised that due arrangements

NESO urges Centre to help in evacuating people stranded in Manipur

The influential North East Students' Organisation (NESO) on Saturday urged the Centre to immediately intervene in evacuating people of different states of the region stranded in violence-hit Manipur. In an open letter to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, NESO secretary-general Mutsikhoyo Yhobu said the apex students' body of the region is deeply perturbed over the prevailing situation in Manipur, which has left many people from other states stranded and in need of immediate evacuation. In view of the prevalent law and order situation in Manipur wherein regular air services have been disrupted, it appealed to the Union ministry for immediate intervention to schedule chartered flights for evacuation people to their respective states. Stating that many people have lost their documents in the ongoing arson and violence, NESO appealed to the authorities concerned to sympathise with them and consider other means of identification.

Centre denies flights' request to evacuate Mizoram residents from Manipur

A senior Mizoram official on Saturday claimed that the Centre has turned down the state's request to provide flights to evacuate its residents stranded in violence-hit Manipur. The Mizoram government has urged both the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Aviation to charter flights for the stranded people hailing from the northeastern state, he said. "The Centre turned down our request, and so has a private airline (to evacuate people of Mizoram stuck in Manipur)," the official told PTI. The Centre is yet to make a comment on it. Hundreds of people, mostly students, were reportedly stranded in Manipur following violent clashes between tribals and people belonging to the majority Meitei community, which has displaced thousands and resulted in the loss of lives of at least 54. Meanwhile, Mizoram Home Minister Lalchamliana convened a meeting with officials on Saturday to review the measures being taken to evacuate people from Manipur. He said the state government is m

Centre-State tussle over funds casts a shadow over Rajasthan OPS move

The Gehlot govt has announced OPS for its employees and has also asked the Centre to release the Rs 39,000 crore accumulated under the new pension scheme in the account of Rajasthan govt employees

Same-sex couples: Govt to explore administrative steps to address concerns

The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that a committee headed by the cabinet secretary would be constituted to explore administrative steps for addressing some concerns of same-sex couples without going into the issue of legalising their marriage. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, which is hearing a batch of pleas seeking legal validation of same-sex marriage, that the government is positive about the suggestion for exploring administrative steps in this regard. He told the bench, which also comprised justices S K Kaul, S R Bhat, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha, that this will need coordination between more than one ministries. On the seventh day of hearing in the matter, Mehta said the petitioners can give their suggestions on the issue of exploring what administrative steps can be taken in this regard. While hearing the matter on April 27, the apex court had asked the Centr

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

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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.