Urban Development is a State subject. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs assists the States / Union Territories (UTs) through its Missions / Schemes in urban areas- Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0 (AMRUT 2.0), Smart Cities Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 (SBM-U 2.0), Pradhan Mantri Awas …

The Climate Change Performance Index 2023 report was released recently and India secured 8th position in the index which is 2 positions up from the last edition. Since no country was strong enough in all index categories to achieve an overall very high rating, thus the top three places i.e 1-3 …

The study of Himalayan glaciers is a complex and evolving subject studied through investigations, data collection and analysis of various research studies by scientists in India and all over the world. The glaciers and their characteristics exhibit complex changes in specific locations across different sub-regions of the Himalayas. There are …

The Government has taken several policy initiatives in the past few years and brought in reforms to encourage indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment, thereby promoting self-reliance in defence manufacturing & technology in the country. These initiatives, inter-alia, include according priority to procurement of capital items of Buy …

The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was passed in Parliament on December 12, despite the Opposition’s demands to send it for scrutiny to a parliamentary committee. The Bill empowers the government to establish carbon markets in India and specify a carbon credit trading scheme.  What are carbon markets? Article six …

Members of the European Union last week agreed in principle to implement a minimum tax of 15% on big businesses. Last year, 136 countries had agreed on a plan to redistribute tax rights across jurisdictions and enforce a minimum tax rate of 15% on large multinational corporations. It is estimated …

Facing a massive skilled labour shortage, Finland’s government is planning to double the number of work immigrants entering the country and triple international student placements by 2030, said the Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs and Employment, TuulaHaatainen, during a visit to India aimed at pitching the country as a work …

“We should not, directly or indirectly, criticise our jawans,” External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said in the Lok Sabha on Monday. They were standing their ground against the Chinsese at Yangtse and did not deserve the word pitaai (beaten), he added. The Minister was reacting to comments made by Congress leader Rahul …

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday said that consistent efforts by the Union government had “weakened the ecosystem of terror” and had led to a “pronounced” reduction of violence in Jammu and Kashmir. It has also resulted in a 80% decline in insurgency-related violence in northeast India, he …

According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2021, India has about 100 million casual workers and 50 million salaried workers with no written job contract. This gives us an estimate of 150 million contract workers — or about 30% of the total labour force in the country. In the Annual …

A recent statement by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar that India can play a “stabilising” and “bridging” role, at a time when the world no longer offers an “optimistic picture”, is intriguing. He stated that India can contribute towards the “de-risking of the global economy” and in political terms, “in …

A month after the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Egypt, diplomatic retinue went into a contentious huddle again to save the planet — in Montreal, Canada, this time, and as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). While both these conferences …

Disclosing this, the Deputy High Commission of Sri Lanka in Chennai, in its reply to a questionnaire sent by The Hindu, stated that the certificates were issued through 20 special consular camps held between February 23 and December 15. In addition, nearly 900 consular birth certificates were given to the Sri …

After four years of fractious talks, nearly 200 countries, including India, approved a historic Paris-style deal on Monday to protect and reverse dangerous loss to global biodiversity, following an intense final session of negotiations at the UN COP-15 summit here in Canada. Amid applause, Chinese Environment Minister Huang Runqiu, the …

The 7th edition of the India Water Impact Summit concluded on 17th December 2022 after 3 days of fruitful deliberations on important aspects of water conservation and river rejuvenation, with special emphasis on revival of small rivers for the protection of large basins. On the third and final day of the 7th India …

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed the meeting of North Eastern Council (NEC) in Shillong earlier today. The meeting marks the golden jubilee celebration of the North Eastern Council, which was formally inaugurated in 1972. Hailing the contribution of NEC in the development of the North East region, Prime Minister …

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s cyberspace watchdog, is rolling out new regulations, to be effective from January 10, to restrict the use of deep synthesis technology and curb disinformation. Deep synthesis is defined as the use of technologies, including deep learning and augmented reality, to generate text, images, …

The 48th GST Council meeting was held on December 17. The GST Council chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recommended to decriminalise certain offences under Section 132 of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017. Some other recommendations, for the facilitation of trade, include an increased threshold of …

India’s net direct tax collections in 2022-23 surpassed the ₹11-lakh crore mark by December 17, reflecting a 19.81% uptick over last year’s, the Central Board of Direct Taxes said on Sunday. Last year, in the corresponding period, it was ₹9,47,959 crore. “The net direct tax collection of ₹11,35,754 crore includes …

In this era of globalisation, almost all nations are dependent on each other in the field of trade and hence rule-based freedom of navigation and security of sea lanes have become more important than ever for stability and economic progress of the world, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday. …