Vodafone Idea will issue around 16 bln shares to Government of India in lieu of interest payments arising out of its decision to defer the payment of spectrum and other regulatory fees by four years, thus making the government the biggest shareholder in the company. The move, subject to valuation confirmation by government agencies, will […]
Government of India today said it will give around Rs 7,575 cr to employees of the central government and public sector units to spend on buying durables and other goods from the market, in lieu of their travel reimbursements. Central government employees were in line to get around Rs 5,675 and public sector employees another […]
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have the dubious distinction of being the worst states for H1N1 patients in India. Not only do they have relatively high number of patients, but your chances of making it alive as an H1N1 patient are also the lowest in India in these states. Other states — Gujarat, Rajasthan and […]
BJP chief Amit Shah has been given charge of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which takes care of India’s internal security, while Nirmala Seetharaman has been moved from Defence to Finance. The move indicates that Narendra Modi expects things to remain ‘under control’ on the party front, even without a key loyalist at the helm. […]
Government of India claimed on Tuesday that it has cut the time required to start a company to just 1 to 2 days from 22 to 30 last year with the introduction of a new system. The ministry of corporate affairs had, in April last year, introduced a new system called SPICe or Simplified Proforma for […]
The central government has consulted the Union Public Service Commission on the plan to recruit private citizens into the higher judiciary. The UPSC is tasked with recruiting officer-level employees of the Union. The center seems to be trying to clarify whether there is a legal requirement to involve the UPSC the latest move. “Advice of […]
Information & Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani today said her ministry has not released funds for the payment of salaries to the employees of India’s public broadcaster Prasar Bharati because the ministry and the organization have not been able to agree on a set of performance parameters for the broadcaster to achieve. Irani said the memorandum […]
The government can heave a sigh of relief as the Goods and Services Tax collection for January have come in slightly stronger than what many expected. The final number for January is Rs 88,929 cr, an increase of 6.3% over Rs 82,716 cr recorded in the previous month. The declines were a matter of concern […]
The government of India is exploring ways to ban the advertising of junk foods and soft drinks on television channels targeted at children, junior minister for information and technology Rajyavardhan Rathore told the parliament today. Rathore said intimations in this regard will be sent to television channels soon, and the idea was to discourage children […]
Central Government will give up to Rs 2.5 lakh as interest subsidy for people who take home loans to purchase their house under the Pradhan Manthri Awas Yojana, said Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri. He also revealed plans to hand over government land to private builders as part of the scheme. […]
The number of people getting infected with measles, a deadly disease that causes a red rash and is spread through the air, has shown a steady increase in four adjoining states of North India, as well as Gujarat. Measles is a highly contagious infection caused by the measles virus and can cause complications such as […]
The North Indian state of Haryana has emerged as the state with the highest daily wage under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme at Rs 277. Bihar and Jharkhand came at the bottom with daily wages of Rs 168. The second highest wages was in Chandigarh, followed by Kerala at 265 and Nicobar […]
Neem coating of urea, one of the key anti-diversion measures introduced by the Narendra Modi government to check the misuse of fertilizer urea by industries, seems to be paying off. According to the latest numbers, the Indian taxpayer saved about Rs 8,000 cr thanks to the move in the form of lower urea subsidy bill […]
The Supreme Court has dismissed the government of India’s stand that it cannot appoint the Lokpal as there was no leader of the opposition. The court’s decision came on a bunch of petitions seeking the appointment of a Lokpal is likely to lead to the first ever appointment of an anti-corruption ombudsman in the country. […]
Despite setbacks and opposition from both state governments and the judiciary, the central government is not ready to give up the proposal to set up an all India service for recruitment of judges modeled on the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. The idea was officially endorsed five years ago when a committee […]
Air India has been told to remove Shiva Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad from its ‘no fly list’ after pressure from Gaikwad’s party on the central government. According to reports, the MP had tried to book flight tickets again today morning, but could not. However, Air India has now removed the ban on his flying. The […]
Government of India is overhauling its email system in an effort to encourage government officials to use only their official email accounts for official purposes, the IT department said. At present, many government officials use private email services such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail, even for official and semi-official communications, putting government data at risk. […]
The number of trademarks awarded by the India’s Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks has jumped threefold this financial year, according to data obtained from the Patent Office. A total of 2.11 lakh trademarks were registered in India in the first eleven months of the year beginning April 2016, compared to just 65,045 in […]
The finance ministry has conducted an examination of the existing welfare and subsidy schemes of the central governments and identified 532 of them as being suitable to be migrated to the ‘direct benefit transfer’ or DBT model of disbursing of funds. Under the DBT scheme, the scheme benefit is converted into an equivalent monetary value, which […]
An increasing number of government department websites get hacked every year, according to data obtained from the Department of Information Technology. A total of 39 websites belonging to central government ministries and state governments were hacked in the first two months of this year. The number does not include data for government-linked sites, such as […]
