Page 33 - Indian Government

No direction can be issued to Parliament to frame UCC: Centre tells SC

The Law Ministry has told the Supreme Court that the court cannot direct Parliament to frame or enact any law, as it sought dismissal of PILs seeking a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country

Govt on denial mode on Global Hunger Index ranking: P Chidambaram

Ex-Finance Minister P Chidambaram has alleged that the government was in a denial mode on the poverty and hunger index rankings

Centre disbands MDMA formed to probe Rajiv Gandhi assassination case

The government has wound up the 24-year-old Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) constituted to probe the wider conspiracy into the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, officials have said. MDMA was working under the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and comprised officers from multiple central security agencies. The order to disband the agency was issued in May and the pending investigation has been handed over to a different unit of the CBI, the officials said. The agency was set up in 1998 for two years on the recommendation of MC Jain Commission and was given annual extensions, but it failed to achieve any major breakthrough. The agency, headed by a deputy inspector general of police-ranked officer, had sent 24 Letters Rogatory to countries like Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom and Malaysia seeking information on various aspects of the case, including banking transactions. Over 20 requests were responded to by these countries and only few were remaining

Delimitation panel submits to Centre final report on redrawing MCD wards

The delimitation committee on Monday submitted to the Centre the final report on redrawing the wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), official sources said. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will now issue a notification and the delimitation exercise will be completed, they said. According to sources, the move will now pave the way for the Delhi Municipal Corporation election as after the final delimitation order, the Centre is likely to direct the state election commission to initiate the poll process. Sources said the final report was submitted to the MHA on Monday evening after disposing off all objections and suggestions on the draft report. Following the delimitation exercise, the number of municipal wards in Delhi will be 250. The committee had received over 1,700 suggestions and objections to the draft report on the delimitation of wards in Delhi. The MCD has already started preparations for the civic polls. On Monday, it released the list of its nodal officer

Aadhaar enrolment for newborns to be expanded to all states in few months

Aadhaar enrolment for newborns along with birth certificates is expected to be available in all states in the next few months, expanding beyond 16 states currently offering the facility, government sources said. At present, 16 states have Aadhaar Linked Birth Registration. The process began more than one year ago, with various states getting added over time. Work is on in remaining states and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) -- the government agency that issues Aadhaar numbers -- expects that over the next few months all states will be able to offer the facility, bringing added convenience to new parents. For children up to 5 years, no biometrics is captured. Their UID is processed on the basis of demographic information and facial photograph linked with the UID of their parents. Hence, biometric update is required (ten fingers, iris and facial photograph) once the child turns 5 and 15. More than 1,000 state and central government schemes today leverage Aadhaar for

K Vijay Kumar resigns as security advisor of MHA citing personal reasons

Decorated police officer K Vijay Kumar, who was credited for eliminating forest brigand Veerappan, has resigned as the senior security advisor in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Kumar, who put in his papers sometimes ago due to personal reasons, has vacated his accommodation in Delhi and relocated to Chennai. "I am now based in Chennai after I decided to end my stint with the MHA due to personal reasons," he told PTI over the phone. Kumar expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, MHA officials and the chiefs of police forces of all the states for extending cooperation throughout his tenure. Kumar was mostly advising the government on issues of Left-Wing Extremism (LWE), besides on Jammu and Kashmir. The 1975-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer was appointed as the senior security officer of the MHA after his superannuation from service in 2012 as the director general of the Central

India allows exports of wheat flour processed from imported grain

India has allowed export-oriented units and the firms set up in Special Economic Zones to export flour made from imported wheat, a government order said

Previous govts didn't provide people facilities available elsewhere: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused previous governments of not providing people with facilities that were available to people elsewhere in the world even in the 20th century and in Gujarat a few years back. He was addressing a public meeting at the Indira Gandhi stadium in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh's Una district. "We will provide you facilities of the 20th as well as the 21st centuries," Modi added. He said the people in Himachal Pradesh would now beak the trend of voting different parties to power in every elections. "I am pleased to announce gifts worth several thousand crores for Himachal before Dhanteras and Diwali," the prime minister said. Earlier, the prime minister flagged off the inaugural run of the new Vande Bharat Express. It is the fourth Vande Bharat train introduced in the country and is an advanced version compared to the earlier ones, being much lighter and capable of reaching higher speed in shorter duration. It accelerates to 100 Km per hour in

DMK to launch protest in Tamil Nadu against Centre's 'Hindi imposition'

DMK's youth and students wing has announced a statewide protest in against the recommendation of the parliamentary panel to make Hindi the medium of instruction in central educational institutes

Top Headlines: Byju's to lay off 2,500 staffers, broken rice exports & more

India will allow overseas broken rice shipments of 397,267 tonnes backed by letters of credit (LCs) issued before September 8

Centre allows exports of 397,267 tonnes broken rice backed by LoC

India will allow overseas broken rice shipments of 397,267 tonnes backed by letters of credit (LCs) issued before September 8, the government said

India's deployment of cash transfer scheme a logical marvel: IMF

India's deployment of a direct cash transfer scheme and other similar social welfare programmes is a logical marvel, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday. From India, there is a lot to learn. There is a lot to learn from some other examples around the world. We have examples from pretty much every continent and every level of income. If I look at the case of India, it is actually quite impressive, Paolo Mauro, Deputy Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department at the IMF, told reporters at a news conference here. In fact, just because of the sheer size of the country, it is a logical marvel how these programmes that seek to help people who are at low-income levels reach literally hundreds of millions of people, he said in response to a question on the impressive direct cash transfer programme being successfully implemented by the Indian government. There are programmes that target specifically women. There are programmes that target the elderly and farmers. Perhaps

MEA's Dr Adarsh Swaika appointed India's next ambassador to Kuwait

Dr Adarsh Swaika, a joint secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, has been appointed India's next Ambassador to Kuwait.

Govt fines Ramban Tunnel contractor Rs 8.5 cr for collapse that killed 10

The highway authority has ordered the immediate removal of key personnel involved in the project and their debarment for a period of one year

Govt forms panel to study WHO reports on deaths linked to 4 Indian syrups

The government on Wednesday formed a four-member panel of experts to examine the details and adverse event reports received from the WHO on the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia being linked potentially to the four made-in-India cough syrups, official sources here said. They said the committee will recommend further course of action to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) after examining and analysing the adverse event reports, causal relationship and all related details already shared by or to be shared by the World Health Organization. The development comes on a day the Haryana government ordered the halting of drug manufacturing at the Sonipat unit of Maiden Pharmaceuticals while the state drug regulator has asked it to explain within a week "many contraventions" found during a recent inspection, or face suspension or cancellation of license. The order to halt production came days after the WHO potentially linked four cough syrups manufactured at the facility to the ...

Haryana stops production at plant making cough syrups flagged by WHO

12 violations found at Maiden Pharmaceuticals' Sonipat facility, says state health minister

Can't abandon Bhopal gas tragedy victims: Govt to SC on compensation plea

The Centre told the Supreme Court that it is keen to pursue its curative petition seeking enhancement of compensation to Bhopal gas tragedy victims

Involving private players in grain procurement needs clear modalities

The idea in itself is not new and previously several attempts have been made to involve private players in official procurement, most recently in oilseeds

DMRC seeks Rs 3,500 cr from govt to comply with directions in DAMEPL case

The DMRC has sought a sum of Rs 3,500 crore from the Government of India in the form of grant/equity interest free subordinate debt to comply with High Court directions in the DAMEPL case

Govt to kick off Budget-making exercise for FY 2023-24 on Monday

The government on Monday will kick off its annual Budget making exercise for financial year 2023-24, that is expected to look at measures to revive growth amid a gloomy global outlook. The meeting would start with consultations with various ministries and departments on the revised estimates (RE) of expenditure for ongoing financial year and the fund requirement for 2023-24. On the first day on Monday, RE meetings with Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ministry of Labour And Employment, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports would take place. Most of these discussions to finalise RE for ongoing financial year (2022-23) and Budget Estimate for 2023-24 would be chaired by the Finance Secretary and Expenditure Secretary. The month-long deliberations would end on November 10, with consultations with Ministry of Cooperation, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, ...