Page 32 - Indian Government

Home durables: Govt moves to protect consumers' right to repair-maintenance

The government has sent letter to 23 home appliance companies, including LG, Samsung, Havells, Philips, Sony, and Bluestar

Sowing hope: Nearly 54% jump in early wheat planting, shows data

However, this year, traders and market sources are hopeful that there could be a 10-15 per cent rise in wheat acreage

Expect Twitter to comply with local rules, says govt after Musk takeover

Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter will not change India's expectation that it will comply with the country's rules for such companies, a government minister told Reuters

The UK or Korea: What is the ideal benchmark for the size of India's govts?

There must be a warning in the fact that some of the most problem-ridden middle-income economies have big govts, big deficits, high levels of debt and large-scale corruption, writes T N Ninan

'Centre plans to deregulate uplinking of satellite television channels'

The government will soon deregulate uplinking of satellite television channels in a bid to make India an uplinking hub. Addressing the India Space Congress here, Information and Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra said on Friday that of the 898 television channels broadcast in the country, 532 use foreign satellites for uplinking and downlinking of their services. "We want to deregulate uplinking to satellites under the guidelines so that India can become a hub," Chandra said. He said the uplinking and downlinking guidelines were last issued in 2011 and the process to revise them was underway. "The guidelines will be revised soon, may be within a month," Chandra told reporters later. He said neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan can also use India as a hub for uplinking their television channels. Chandra said the government had approved USD 102 million (one million = 10 lakh) in remittances to foreign satellite operators over the past two years for providing .

Wheat sown in 54,000 hectare, mustard in 1.89 mn hectare so far: Govt data

Wheat has been sown in 54,000 hectare so far in the ongoing rabi (winter) season of the 2022-23 crop year, 59 per cent higher than 34,000 hectare in the year-ago period, according to the agriculture ministry data released on Friday. The sowing of wheat, the main rabi crop, begins in October and harvesting in March-April. Besides, gram and mustard are other major crops grown during the rabi season (July-June). According to the latest sowing data, wheat sowing is underway in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir. About 39,000 hectare was covered under wheat in Uttar Pradesh, 9,000 hectare in Uttarakhand, 2,000 hectare in Rajasthan and 1,000 hectare in Jammu & Kashmir as on October 28, the data showed. Area sown to pulses remained higher at 8.82 lakh hectare so far this rabi season against 5.91 lakh hectare in the year-ago period. Among pulses, the gram was planted in 6.96 lakh hectare against 5.91 lakh hectare a year ago. In the case of oilseeds, about 19.69 .

IFCI raises Rs 100 crore via preferential allotment of shares to govt

Long-term infrastructure financier IFCI Ltd on Thursday raised Rs 100 crore through preferential allotment of shares to the government. The Committee of Directors at its meeting held on October 27 has allotted 9,29,36,802 number of equity shares at a price of 10.76 each including a premium of Rs 0.76 each share to the Government of India, IFCI said in a regulatory filing. Following the allotment of equity shares to the Government of India on preferential basis, the shareholding of the government has increased from 64.86 per cent to 66.35 per cent of the total paid-up share capital of the company, it said. Earlier in the day, shareholders of the company approved the proposal to issue the preferential issue of equity shares to the government as a promoter.

Top Headlines: Musk takes over Twitter, IDBI Bank's stake sale, and more

Elon Musk became Twitter Inc's new owner on Thursday, firing top executives he had accused of misleading him

Years after Bt cotton, GEAC clears environmental release of GM mustard

First crop to get such recommendation since Bt cotton in years, say experts

Yielding little results, does govt need to review PM-AASHA scheme?

Yielding little results, does govt need to review PM-AASHA scheme?

Govt cheating farmers, MSP hike less than even inflation rate: Congress

The Congress on Saturday accused the Modi government of cheating farmers and said the Minimum Support Price for rabi crops announced by it is even lesser than the rate of inflation. Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said even as the BJP dispensation is patting its back for MSPs, it has in fact "duped the farmers" and claimed that their hard labour has got lost in the lights of Diwali. "The Modi government has once again cheated the farmers on the MSPs. The MSP of Annadata farmers' hard work got lost again in the lights of Diwali. The Modi government patted its back by announcing the MSP of rabi crops, but duped the farmer and left them to shed tears of blood," he said in a series of tweets in Hindi. Calling out the BJP for what it called as "fraud with farmers", he said the bitter truth is that the Modi government only announces MSP but does not buy crops on the MSP and demanded that the MSP law granting legal status to MSP is urgently required. "BJP's 'Shakuni Chausar'

Cease broadcast activities, use Prasar Bharati route: Centre to states

The Centre has issued an advisory asking Union ministries, state governments and union territory administrations not to enter into any broadcasting or distribution of broadcasting activities directly. In the advisory, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting asked those broadcasting their content to route it through Prasar Bharati. It also asked entities distributing the broadcasting content to "extract themselves" from it by December 31, 2023. The advisory is likely to impact Kalvi TV, an educational channel launched by the Tamil Nadu government which is available on some DTH platforms, and IPTV, launched by the Andhra Pradesh government. "No Ministry/Department of the Central Government and State/UT Governments and entities related to them shall enter into broadcasting/distribution of broadcasting activities in future," said the advisory issued on Friday. "ln case Ministries of Central Government, State/UT Government and entities related to them are already broadcasting their

100 yr-old unemployment prob can't be solved in 100 days: PM Modi

The 100-year-old problem of unemployment cannot be solved in 100 days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said

Taking new initiatives, risks to shield India from global problems: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the government is working towards softening the blow of the economic problems faced by several countries across the world in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing the "Rozgar Mela" after distributing 75,000 appointment letters among government job aspirants, Modi said the Centre is also working on multiple fronts to create maximum job opportunities for youngsters. "It is a fact that the global situation is not very good. Several large economies are struggling. In several countries, problems such as high inflation and unemployment are at their peak," Modi said. He said the side-effects of the once-in-a-century pandemic will not go away in 100 days. "But despite this crisis faced the world over, the impact of which is being felt everywhere, India is taking new initiatives and some risks to save our country from being affected by these problems. "We are working to soften this impact on our country. It is a challenging job, bu

1 mn youth to be appointed in coming months: Vaishnaw on Rojgar Mela launch

Ahead of the launch of 'Rojgar Mela', Ashwini Vaishnaw said one million youth will be appointed in different departments of the central government in the coming months through the recruitment drive

NCMC reviews preparedness for possible cyclonic storm over Bay of Bengal

Union Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba reviewed the preparedness of Central ministries, agencies and state governments to deal with the situation arising out of Cyclone Sitrang in the Bay of Bengal

Kharge's presidency of Congress in Modi era is a poisoned chalice

It's time to admit the Congress's problem is not, in fact, the Gandhis. If anything, they hold together a party that would otherwise split into multiple factions

India pushing for valuation of $7.7 billion for state-owned IDBI Bank

India is pushing for a valuation of around 640 billion rupees ($7.7 billion) for state-owned IDBI Bank Ltd. in what could be the biggest sale of the government's stake in a lender in decades

SC seeks Centre response on pleas over rising assault cases against doctors

The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Centre and others on a batch of petitions alleging rising assault on doctors and other medical professionals in the country. A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi issued notices on the pleas filed by Delhi Doctors Forum, Indian Medical Association and Suneet Kumar Upadhyay, a doctor. The petitions alleged rising assault on medical professionals in the country and sought a direction to the Centre and other stakeholders to take remedial steps. Upadhyay's wife Archana Sharma, a gynaecologist, had committed suicide in Rajasthan after being harassed by a mob following the death of a woman during the delivery.

HPV vaccine prodn delayed due to Covid, to start supply in early 2023: SII

Serum Institute of India (SII) had to defer HPV vaccine production by two years due to the focus on COVID, and will start supplying small quantities of the dose to the Indian government in early 2023, a top official has said. Exports will have to wait till 2024, its chief executive Adar Poonawalla told reporters here on Thursday evening, adding that the company has to build a scale of manufacturing to over 150 million for that. HPV vaccines prevent certain kinds of cervical cancer. SII is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer which rushed with the production of multiple COVID vaccines at its facilities located here once the shot was approved for use. "The HPV facility was used by the COVID vaccines during the pandemic. That's why we had to delay the larger launch to next year," Poonawalla said, speaking on the sidelines of an event. "We will be making a very small quantity and launching with the Indian government in the first quarter of next year. Followed by a capacity for 70