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 »Government Policy
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, …
Read More »Tea Board to set minimum auction price,
Exports to Iran may touch 30 mn kg Tea Board of India is planning to set a floor price for the sale of tea at auctions. It is also planning to take about 100 million kg of tea away from India’s output basket in a bid to prop up the …
Read More »INS seeks waiver of duty on newsprint
The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has requested the Centre to withdraw the 10% customs duty imposed on newsprint, uncoated paper used for printing of newspapers and lightweight papers used in magazines. In a statement, INS said on Monday that newspapers and magazines were already reeling under severe financial pressure due …
Read More »Govt. in a spot over forced eviction of refugee
“As directed by the Centre, we repatriated the Myanmar nationals who illegally entered India,” Mizoram Home Secretary Lalbiakzama, toldThe Hindu. On July 2, as many as 219 refugees from Chin in Myanmar, living in a camp at Hmawngbuchhua in Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district since 2017, were handed over to the Myanmar …
Read More »National repository of photographs mooted
System to track missing children and unidentified bodies through facial recognition also planned. The Central government wants to create a “repository of photographs of criminals in the country,” and wants to put a system in place to track “missing children and unidentified dead bodies,” through facial recognition. Bids invited The …
Read More »MSP for jute hiked by Rs. 250/quintal
The government has increased the minimum support price (MSP) for raw jute by Rs. 250 per quintal, taking the price to Rs. 3,950 per quintal for the 2019-20 season, according to an official statement. The decision was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday. India is the …
Read More »Rafale deal value of 2016 is 2.86% lower, says CAG
The Centre has made repeated assertions that under the IGA, better terms had been achieved in terms of “better pricing, better maintenance terms and better delivery schedule.” The CAG also observed that in respect of bank guarantees, the French government had not agreed to an escrow account and had contended …
Read More »MPs bid adieu amid Mulayam’s twist
The valedictory sessions of Houses of Legislature are a mixture of camaraderie and piquant uncertainties of whether one will be re-elected. Party positions are gently reiterated, but good wishes are also exchanged for being in the same cohort again. The last day of the 16th Lok Sabha saw all this …
Read More »Rajasthan clears 5% quota for Gujjars
The Rajasthan Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed a Bill giving 5% reservation in government jobs and education to Gujjars and four other nomadic communities. Leader of the Gujjar stir Kirori Singh Bainsla and other protesters occupying the railway tracks on the Delhi-Mumbai route near the Malarna station in Sawai Madhopur …
Read More »‘Majority govt. a must for stability’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his last speech to the Lok Sabha, ahead of the general elections, made a strong pitch for a majority government at the Centre, stating that a full majority government in the last five years had enhanced the status of the country globally. Faced with an …
Read More »50% cost-sharing for Sabari line
Cabinet likely to give approval for the project in the coming weeks Bowing to pressure from Railways, Kerala has in principle agreed to share 50% cost of the 111-km Sabari railway line that aims to put Sabarimala on the rail map. Though the rail line does not figure on the …
Read More »Rafale cost is 2.86% lower, but Dassault benefited without bank guarantee: CAG
Improvement in delivery schedule was only one month over UPA deal, the government auditor says The contract signed in 2016 to acquire 36 Rafale fighter jets from France through the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) was 2.86% lower in value than “Audit’s aligned price” of the bid received in 2007 when the …
Read More »IAF clarifies on guarantees
No sovereign guarantee in Russian S-400 deal either, say senior officers In the backdrop of revelations that government had waived guarantees and anti-corruption clauses for France in the Rafale fighter jet deal, senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officers said there were no such pacts even in deals with Russia and …
Read More »