Central Government

A total of 22,956 second appeals and complaints were pending in the Central Information Commission (CIC) as on November 29, the government informed Parliament on Thursday. The total number of second appeals and complaints filed in the CIC during the period from 2021-22 to 2023-24 was 59,069, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha. "As on 29.11.2024, total number of second appeals and complaints pending in CIC is 22,596," he said. Further, a total of 36,787 second appeals and complaints were returned by the CIC during the period from 2022 to 2024, the minister added. To a question on the number of vacancies in the transparency watchdog, Singh said "at present, the CIC comprises of Chief Information Commissioner and two Information Commissioners". According to section 12(2) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, the CIC shall consist of the chief information commissioner and such number of central informati

Displeased over the repeated absence of the Centre's advocates in several cases, the Supreme Court on Thursday said it did not take pleasure in summoning government officers before it. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan on December 11 sought the presence of the director general of the Centre's Directorate General of Health Services while flagging the "casual approach" in a matter concerning admission of a medical aspirant belonging to persons with disability category. "The court does not take pleasure in summoning the officers to the court. However, when in spite of being duly served, the respondents do not put in appearance, we were compelled to do so," it said. On Thursday, both the officer and Centre's counsel additional solicitor general Vikramjit Banerjee appeared before the bench. "What is this? Notices are served and you don't even bother to appear," Justice Gavai said, "this is not happening for the first time. On many occasions, for the Union of India, nobod

The government plans to increase its non-fossil fuel capacity to 500 GW by 2030 from about 156 GW at present

No land has been provided by the Central government to the Waqf Board since 2019, the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry told Rajya Sabha on Monday. In a written reply to a question about the total area of land provided to the Waqf Board by the Central and state governments from 2019 till date, MoS Tokhan Sahu said land is a state subject and hence, no data of land provided by the state governments is available with the ministry. He, however, said as far as the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is concerned, no land has been provided to the Waqf Board by the Government of India since 2019. In August, the government introduced the Waqf (Amendment) Bill and referred it to a joint parliamentary committee after a heated debate. The government asserted the proposed law did not intend to interfere with the functioning of mosques while the opposition called it targeting of Muslims and an attack on the Constitution. Last week, Jagdambika Pal, the chairman of the joint parliamenta

Occurrence and filling up of vacant posts is a continuous process and details of vacancies are maintained by the respective ministries or departments, the Centre said on Thursday. Ministries or departments of the central government have been directed, from time to time, to fill up the vacant posts in a time bound manner, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh told Rajya Sabha in a written reply. He was responding to a question seeking "details of the total number of vacancies in all central government ministries and departments to date, department-wise". "Occurrence and filling up of vacant posts in various ministries/departments is a continuous process. The details of vacancies are maintained by the respective ministry/department," Singh said. In response to another question, he said the contractual appointments in government departments are made by the individual ministries/departments strictly based on their requirements, in accordance with the provisions of Genera

The Modi government is fully committed to preventing frauds in cooperative societies and no culprit will be spared irrespective of their political affiliation, Minister of State for Cooperation Krishan Pal asserted in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Responding to supplementary queries during the Question Hour in the Upper House on the delinquencies in the multi-state cooperative societies, the minister said ever since this government came to power, several steps have been taken to stop fraud. Those who commit fraud, whether he is from this side or that side (pointing first towards the government and then the opposition), whether big or small, he will not be spared at any cost, the minister said. He said action is already on in this regard. After this government came to power and this ministry was formed, several stringent steps have been taken. If you say, I will discuss all that (with you), the minister added. He was responding after Congress MP from Gujarat Shaktisinh Gohil asked h

The Centre on Tuesday notified the elevation of Delhi High Court's Chief Justice Manmohan as a judge of the Supreme Court. In a related post, Minister of State, Ministry of Law and Justice (independent charge) Arjun Ram Meghwal on X wrote, "In exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution of India, the President, after consultation with Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Manmohan, Chief Justice, High Court of Delhi as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India." Once he takes oath as judge of the top court, the working strength of the top court will rise to 33, one short of the sanctioned strength of 34, which includes the chief justice of India. The Supreme Court collegium on November 28 recommended the elevation of Justice Manmohan to the top court. The two vacancies in the apex court arose after retirements of Justice Hima Kohli and former CJI D Y Chandrachud. "Justice Manmohan stands at serial number 2 in the combined all-India seniority of high cour

The Delhi High Court has directed the Centre and Delhi government to file their reports on the status of stocks of Antihemophilic Factor injection, which is administered to persons suffering from a rare genetic blood disorder. The court asked the governments to also give their status reports on the existing supply chain system for all the hospitals under their administration and listed the matter on December 12. "The respondents are directed to file status reports with respect to the stock of the AHF injections, and the existing supply chain system for all the hospitals under their administration. The same be done within ten days," Justice Sanjeev Narula said in an order passed on November 28. The court was hearing a petition by several persons suffering from haemophilia disease, which is a rare genetic blood disorder. The petitioners submitted that the treatment for this disease is expensive and requires injections of Antihemophilic Factor (AHF). The said while the treatment for

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal launched an attack on the BJP-led central government during a legislative assembly session, alleging that Delhi is being run by "gangsters" amid a worsening law and order situation. Earlier, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel marshalled out Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta who launched an offensive against Kejriwal during the discussion. The remaining BJP MLAs followed Gupta and walked out of the House. Speaking during a discussion on the 'rising crime rates and the law and order situation', Kejriwal expressed grave concern over the safety of Delhiites. "Shootouts are happening openly on a daily basis. It feels like Delhi is run by gangs. "Businesspeople live in fear of extortion calls, followed by violent attacks on their shops or showrooms," he said. Kejriwal also questioned the activities of notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who is allegedly operating extortion rackets in Delhi and beyond. "Who is Lawrence Bishnoi and is he protected by the BJP?

Barely 25 days after requesting the Centre "with folded hands" to clear Rs 1.36 lakh-crore coal dues to the state, Hemant Soren who was sworn in as Jharkhand chief minister on Thursday announced that the state will take legal action to realise its dues. "Legal action will be initiated to realise Rs 1.36 lakh crore of the state pending with the Centre," Soren told the media while briefing the decisions of the maiden cabinet meeting of his present government. Though the CM said the decision was taken at the 'Cabinet meeting', no minister took oath during the day. Soren's first official meeting after his re-election was with PM Modi in Delhi on Tuesday, where they discussed state matters and Soren invited PM to his swearing-in ceremony. On November 2, he had posted on X: "The PM and the home minister are coming to Jharkhand. I once again request them with folded hands to clear the outstanding (coal dues) of Rs 1.36 lakh crore to Jharkhandis. This amount is crucial for Jharkhand." "I

A high-level committee, headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has approved Rs 1,000 crore for various disaster mitigation and capacity-building projects in 15 states. The committee also approved another project for training and capacity building of civil defence volunteers in all states and Union territories at a total outlay of Rs 115.67 crore, according to an official statement. According to an official statement, a sum of Rs 139 crore each was approved for Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, Rs 100 crore for Maharashtra, Rs 72 crore each for Karnataka and Kerala, Rs 50 crore each for Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, and Rs 378 crore for the eight Northeastern states -- Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura. The committee, comprising Union ministers for finance and agriculture and the vice chairman of the NITI Aayog as members, considered the proposal to mitigate landslide risk in 15 states for funding from the National Disaster Mitigatio

The Centre has released the first instalment of the 15th Finance Commission grants for FY 2024-25 to the rural local bodies (RLBs) in Karnataka, the Union Panchayati Raj Ministry said in a statement. The funds are meant for all the 5,949 eligible gram panchayats in the state, it added. "The Government of India through the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Jal Shakti recommends the release of XV-FC grants to the Rural Local Bodies which are then released by the Ministry of Finance. The allocated grants are recommended and released in two installments in a financial year," the statement said. The grants will be utilised by the RLBs for location-specific requirements under the 29 subjects enshrined in the 11th Schedule of the Constitution, except for salaries and other establishment costs, it added. The grants can be used for the basic services of (a) sanitation and maintenance of ODF status, and this should include management and treatment of household waste, and human excre

The Centre has urged southern states to expedite the execution of centrally-sponsored schemes (CSS), emphasising the need for timely fund allocation and proper management of single nodal accounts. Speaking at a two-day regional conference that concluded on November 19 at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi emphasized the operationalization of SNA-SPARSH, return of unutilized balances and interest, and prompt submission of Utilization Certificates (UCs). "The Centre is very much a partner to the states and will help them ameliorate the conditions of farmers," the Secretary said while stressing the importance of state-level conferences to address region-specific agricultural challenges. Senior officials from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and Puducherry participated in the conference to evaluate the progress of various schemes. The states were advised to finalize the annual action plan for FY 2025-26 by December to enable .

The Centre has decided to send an additional 50 CAPF companies comprising more than 5,000 personnel to Manipur in view of the "challenging" security and law and order situation in the northeastern state, official sources said on Monday. This comes after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) rushed 20 additional CAPF companies, 15 from the CRPF and five from the BSF, to the state following an order issued on November 12 after violence broke out in Jiribam district and spread to other places. An additional 50 companies have been ordered to be rushed to Manipur by this week. While 35 units will be drawn from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the rest will be from the Border Security Force (BSF), the sources told PTI. CRPF Director General (CRPF) A D Singh and senior officers from other Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) are also present in the state. With last week's deployment, a total of 218 CAPF companies are now present in the state, which has been reeling from ethnic strife .

Raises concerns whether it is vetted by road naming authority; Union government calls name change 'symbolic gesture' for tribal community

The government's procurement through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal has crossed Rs 3 lakh crore so far this financial year, an official said. Higher buying activities by various ministries and departments have helped in reaching the figure, the official said. In 2023-24, the portal handled procurement of Rs 4 lakh crore by government departments of centres and states and public sector enterprises. The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched on August 9, 2016, for online purchases of goods and services by all central government ministries and departments. In October, the GeM signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sikkim to facilitate procurement by the state on the platform. "That covers all the states under the GeM," the official said. Apart from large government agencies, GeM has also onboarded panchayats and cooperatives. The procurement by central organisations on the portal in October stood at around Rs 30,264 crore. The official said that since

The Centre on Wednesday released new guidelines to regulate misleading advertisements by coaching institutes, prohibiting false claims like 100 per cent selection or 100 per cent job security. The final guidelines, drafted by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), come in the wake of several complaints on the National Consumer Helpline. The CCPA has issued 54 notices and imposed penalties of about Rs 54.60 lakh till date. "We have seen coaching centres deliberately concealing information from prospective students. Therefore, we have come out with the guidelines to provide guidance to people involved in the coaching industry," Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare told reporters. The government is not against the coaching centres but the quality of advertisements should not undermine the consumer rights, she said. Under the new guidelines, coaching centres are prohibited from making false claims regarding courses offered and duration; faculty credentials; fee structure a

As per the NIRF rankings, students admitted to any of the 860 top-ranking quality higher educational institutions (QHEIs) in India will be eligible for the PM-Vidyalaxmi scheme

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday underlined the need for justice in the devolution of taxes. He said no one should milk a milch cow completely, or else the calf would be malnourished. Addressing people on the occasion of the 69th state formation day at Sree Kanteerava Stadium here, Siddaramaiah said there is injustice happening to Karnataka. The state is contributing more than Rs four lakh crore as revenue to the Centre and it is the second largest contributor to the Central tax revenue after Maharashtra, he pointed out. "Even though we give more than Rs four lakh crore, we are only getting Rs 55,000 crore to Rs 60,000 crore. Kannadigas should know this. We are getting 14 to 15 per cent only of our contribution," the chief minister said. Under the federal system, there should not be any injustice just because Karnataka is a progressive state, he observed. "Just because a milch cow is giving milk, we should not milk it completely. We should leave some milk for the c

The stable nature that makes SF6 an excellent insulator also aggravates its impacts on the climate