Agriculture Minister tells Lok Sabha Promising to create a new breed of “smart farmers by introducing smart farming”, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday told the Lok Sabha that the government was open to improving its welfare schemes, including the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for crop insurance. …

Rail lines to boost rail connectivity in U.P., Assam The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved three new railway projects, with a combined investment of over Rs. 6,000 crore, giving a boost to rail connectivity in Uttar Pradesh and Assam. The three projects — an 81.17 km new …

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday said great institutions like the judiciary should be on their guard against the “wicked and the vile,” who work in their dark recesses to weaken them in a deceptive manner. The Chief Justice was speaking at the inauguration of the state-of-the-art Additional …

Floodwaters showed a receding trend in Assam on Wednesday but left 10 people in five districts and three one-horned rhinos in the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) dead. Floods and rain-induced landslides have so far killed 30 people while 51 animals have either drowned in KNP or been killed by speeding …

Allows govt. to borrow Rs. 98.18 lakh crore for 2019-20 The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Appropriation (No.2) Bill-2019 allowing the Union government to withdraw Rs. 98.18 lakh crore from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet its expenditure during 2019-20. The Bill, moved by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, …

It is set to be reintroduced in Parliament after several unsuccessful bids to clear it The Centre is set to introduce the Dam Safety Bill, 2019 in Parliament after it was cleared by the Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday. A version of the Bill was first …

Law soon to enable re-developmentof dilapidated buildings, says Fadnavis The toll in Tuesday’s building collapse in Dongri in south Mumbai went up to 13 with the recovery of three more bodies, including those of two children, early on Wednesday. Late in the evening, the NDRF called off search and rescue …

National Exit Test must for practice In a move to bring sweeping changes to the medical education sector, the Centre plans to introduce the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill in this session of Parliament and repeal the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. The Union Cabinet approved a revised version of …

Says govt. will identify infiltrators Answering a question on the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Home Minister Amit Shah told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that his government will ensure that all the illegal immigrants are identified and deported. Mr. Shah was replying in the Rajya Sabha to a supplementary …

Says Speaker can decide on resignations ‘when appropriate’ The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the 15 dissident MLAs from Karnataka complete freedom to opt out of the ongoing Assembly session even as it acknowledged the Speaker’s discretion to decide on their resignations as and when he considers it appropriate. A …

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is likely to revise downward by 2% the quantity of ‘normal’ monsoonal rain, two independent sources confirmed to The Hindu Currently, 89 cm of monsoon rain from June to September is considered ‘normal’, more technically, the long period average (LPA), and this is derived from …

World court rejects claim that the Vienna Convention doesn’t apply in a ‘spy case’ In a major verdict that accepted India’s plea that former Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav’s trial under espionage and terror charges in Pakistan violated international law, the International Court of Justice ruled that Pakistan should “review …

The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Morarji Desai, resigned in protest from the Central Cabinet to-day [July 16, New Delhi], when the Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, relieved him of the Finance portfolio and herself took it over in a surprise political move to hit back at the party bosses and …

Alongside Federer and Nadal, Djokovic is ensuring tennis is at its competitive best No player in the last decade has so thrillingly disrupted the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal binary quite like World No.1 Novak Djokovic. Back in 2008, when Federer and Nadal met at Wimbledon in that iconic final, the contest …

China’s famed model of growth is under pressure due to fall in exports and investment The Chinese economy is seeing the first signs of trouble after long years of sustained growth that rode on cheap labour and high volumes of exports. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on …

Success is achieved where policies and programmes focus on people, not diseases The UN Sustainable Development Goals include ensuring good health and well-being for all by 2030. This includes the commitment to end the AIDS epidemic. In many countries, continued access to HIV treatment and prevention options are reducing AIDS-related …

If designed better and implemented effectively, thescheme could radically transform the irrigation economy Earlier this year, the Cabinet approved the Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM). With a Budget allocation of Rs. 34,000 crore, and a similar contribution expected from the States, KUSUM aims to provide energy sufficiency and …

It rests on accessing public service, choosing rapid transit over car driving and supporting electric vehicle transition Congested streets and polluted air are common experiences in India’s metropolises, although the average Indian contributes only minuscule amounts of transport-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to global climate change. Patterns of road transport, …

The brunt of the systemic problems of the National Register of Citizens is being borne by the poorest Apart from the floods in Assam, an annual event affecting thousands of families, another humanitarian crisis awaits the State this year. The date is already set for it. It is July 31. …

Castes and communities are the key players, where gain to one’s community becomes an overriding consideration A distinct genre of political theatrics in which elected representatives play ‘hide and seek’ in plush resorts to escape poaching by their very own and rival party leaders is currently playing out in Karnataka. …