Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu said on Saturday that India has achieved significant progress since Independence on various health indicators. He was delivering the 10th convocation address of the JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research in the city. Mr. Naidu said that with successive governments according high priority to health …
Read More »Unions upset over draft wage rules
The draft rules that would govern wages, including norms for minimum wages and fixing floor-level wages, were published by the Union Labour and Employment Ministry on Friday, leading some workers’ unions to raise concerns about the potentially low floor wages. As part of its labour law reform agenda, the Narendra …
Read More »Second round of Smart Cities, AMRUT may roll out in 2020
Those who were left out will be covered, says Minister The second round of the Centre’s flagship urban development schemes — the Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) — were being considered and could be rolled out in 2020, Union Minister of State …
Read More »Army gets precision ammunition
After the Balakot air strikes in February, the Army fast-tracked procurement of 155-mm Excalibur precision-guided ammunition from the U.S., and it has recently been inducted. The ammunition gives the artillery guns extended range and the ability to hit targets with very high accuracy, sources said. “The need for precision-guided munitions …
Read More »Prime Minister Modi declares country open defecation-free
Mahatma’s dream of ‘Clean Bharat’ fulfilled by government, he says On the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the country open defecation-free, claiming success for the government’s initiative under which every household now apparently has access to a toilet. “I am satisfied …
Read More »Draft education policy robs States of power, says CPI(M)
It encourages centralisation and commercialisation: Yechury The draft National Education Policy contravenes the Constitution and the federal system, according to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). In a letter to the Human Resource Development Minister on Saturday, party general secretary Sitaram Yechury called for the complete withdrawal of the chapter …
Read More »RTI Bill introduced amid Opposition flak
Centre to set service terms of panel Amid protests by the Opposition parties, a Bill to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act and give the Union government the power to set the service conditions and salaries of Information Commissioners was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The Bill …
Read More »‘Mgmt. quota students can’t be charged more’
Higher fees only for NRI category: HC Frowning upon the practice of private medical colleges charging exorbitant fees from students gaining admission under the management quota, as compared to those admitted under the government quota, the Madras High Court held that there should not be any differentiation in the fee …
Read More »Amit Shah to head panel on Air India sale
Home Minister Amit Shah will head a reconstituted group of ministers (GoM) on Air India disinvestment and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has been dropped from the panel, sources said. The panel, which is to work out modalities for the sale of Air India, will now have four Ministers — …
Read More »LS clears Appropriation Bill
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, …
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