Government Of India

Cabinet hikes copra MSP by upto Rs 420 to Rs 12,100 per quintal for 2025

The government on Friday announced an increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for copra by up to Rs 420 to Rs 12,100 per quintal for 2025 with a budget outlay of Rs 855 crore. A decision in this regard was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The MSP for 'milling copra' has been increased by Rs 420 to Rs 11,582 per quintal, while for 'ball copra' by Rs 100 to Rs 12,100 per quintal for 2025, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters. The total financial implication would be Rs 855 crore. Cooperative agencies Nafed and NCCF will be the central nodal agencies for the procurement of copra, he added.

Opposition slams govt over slow growth, high inflation, job crisis

Opposition members on Monday flagged the low economic growth rate of 5.4 per cent in the second quarter of current fiscal and sought to know from the Finance Minister what steps the government is taking to boost growth, control inflation and create jobs. Participating in the debate on Supplementary Demands for Grants in the Lok Sabha, TMC member Sougata Ray said the government is caught in "pincer movement" of whether to push growth or control inflation and the economy is not in a "fair shape". "There is a typical crisis in the economy. The crisis is our growth projection for Q2 slipped to 5.4 per cent. This is very damaging to the economy and there is a sharp slowdown in the manufacturing sector," Ray said. He also alleged that former RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had to leave the Reserve Bank because he did not heed to the demand of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to cut interest rate. Instead, Das decided to focus on containing inflation. "There was a dispute between the Fina

Need to differentiate between financial, non-financial regulation: CEA

Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Wednesday said there is a need to differentiate between regulation of financial and non-financial sectors as competition in financial sector can lead to excessive risk taking and bring instability. "We do need to make a distinction between regulation with respect to financial sector and regulation with respect to non-financial sector of the economy," Nageswaran said at the CII Global Economic Policy Forum 2024. He said in non-financial sector, except in case of natural utilities where one needs a regulator to protect customer interest, competition or market forces will take care of what the regulators do. In financial sector, regulators have the tendency to lean towards excessive regulations, as if things go wrong in this sector the state is expected to bail out and the effects are systemic. " In financial sector, competition sometimes leads to excessive risk taking and competition can be a source of instability rather than stability,

Rahul Gandhi demands Adani's arrest, accuses BJP govt of protecting him

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said businessman Gautam Adani should be arrested after his indictment in the US and accused the government of protecting him. Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said when hundreds of people are arrested on "tiny" charges in the country, why is Adani not in jail? The reiteration by Gandhi comes hours after the Adani Group said the billionaire and his nephew Sagar Adani have not been charged with any violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the indictment filed by US authorities in a court in a bribery case. The duo has been charged with securities fraud that involves levy of monetary penalties. "You think the Adanis are going to accept the charges. Which world are you living in? Obviously, he is going to deny the charges," Gandhi said when asked about the denial of charges by the Adani Group. "The point is he has to be arrested. As we have said, hundreds of pe

NGT sends notice to Centre, others over expanding Himalayan glacial lakes

The National Green Tribunal has issued notice to the Centre and others in a matter regarding the rapid expansion of the Himalayan glacial lakes, raising concerns over the increasing risk of natural disasters. The NGT took suo motu (on its own) cognisance of a news report showing about 10.81 per cent increase of the glacial lakes in the last 13 years due to the rising temperatures. According to the report, the melting of glaciers due to increase in temperature paved way for larger glacial lakes, which held more water and, in turn, increased the risk of natural disasters like floods and landslides. In an order passed on November 19, a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava and expert member A Senthil Vel said, "The report also notes that the surface area of glacial lakes in India has increased by 33.7 per cent from 2011 to 2024." The tribunal noted the report had outlined the sudden growth of these lakes that posed a heightened risk of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF

UKPSC Lecturer Recruitment 2024: Apply for 613 posts, check details

The UKPSC has invited applications for Uttarakhand Special Subordinate Education (Lecturer-Group 'C') Services General/Women Branch Exam-2024. Candidates can apply at the UKPSC's official website

Govt to soon invite bids for 10 GW of battery energy storage projects

The government will soon invite bids for 10 gigawatt of battery energy storage projects, an official said on Friday. The move will strengthen India's position in the energy storage segment, which is in a developing stage. Vijay Mittal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries, said, "The ministry will soon come out with a 10 gigawatt RFP (request for proposal) for those who are working on the energy storage part of it for grid-scale energy storage systems...so that we have...indigenous capability for manufacturing of battery energy storage system compatible with advanced chemistry cells." The official was addressing the 'Summit on Lithium-Ion Batteries', organised by industry body India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), virtually. The ministry is leading the mission of indigenous manufacturing of chemistry cells in the country as part of electric vehicle (EV) initiative. The goal is to achieve net zero by 2070 and reduce the need for imports of internal combustion engine (ICE) .

SSC CHSL 2024: Exam date declared at ssc.gov.in; check complete schedule

SSC CHSL 2024 tier 2 exam dates have been declared by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC). Applicants can view the exam schedule by visiting the official website of SSC at ssc.gov.in

RPSC AE Recruitment 2024: Registration deadline extended till September 15

Rajasthan Public Service Commission has extended the registration date for RPSC AE Recruitment 2024 at rpsc.rajasthan.gov.in. The deadline to apply has been extended till September 15

Hurry! Update your Aadhar for free: Deadline ends in 2 days; details inside

In order to receive the update for free, Aadhaar cards issued over 10 years ago must be revalidated by Sept 14 with confirmation of address and identity. There will be a cost of Rs 50 after this date

Centre allows private bids for salt land transfer if states, CPSEs opt out

The Centre on Monday modified the guidelines for transfer of government-owned salt lands, providing for online auction under which the private sector can participate in case there are no takers from CPSEs, or states at the applicable rates. As per the revised guidelines, the land can be allocated for welfare measures, such as slum re-development, affordable housing and PM-Awas Yojana, and for the purpose of schools and colleges, lands can be transferred to CPSEs (central public sector enterprises), states and their enterprises at 25 per cent of the circle rate. These norms were issued in supersession of the internal policy guidelines-2012, after the approval of the Cabinet. "Online auction with the participation of private parties may be held in case CPSEs, state governments or their PSEs are not willing to take such lands at the applicable rates," the guideline said. The reserve price for such land parcel will be fixed through an approved valuer with reference to the circle rate .

Govt proposes domestic sale of raw sugar, ending six-decade-old ban

Raw sugar commands a higher price than refined sugar and could boost revenue in the market

UPSC NDA 2 2024: Admit card released at upsc.gov.in; here's how to download

UPSC NDA 2 admit card 2024 has been announced by the Union Public Service Commission. Candidates can download their call letters from the official website of UPSC at upsc.gov.in

IDBI Bank investors receive security clearance; await RBI approval

Central government and LIC are set to divest 61% stake amid strategic disinvestment drive. The govt aims to generate Rs 50,000 crore through asset monetisation this fiscal year

Govt proposes to set up e-commerce hubs to promote exports in PPP mode

The government on Tuesday announced setting up of hubs to promote exports through e-commerce medium in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that these hubs, under a seamless regulatory and logistic framework, will facilitate trade and export-related services under one roof. "To enable MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) and traditional artisans to sell their products in international markets, e-commerce export hubs will be set up in PPP mode," she said. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal has recently said that a regulatory framework to push the country's exports through e-commerce medium is expected to be ready by September. At present, India's exports through this medium are only about USD 5 billion compared to China's USD 300 billion, annually. There is a potential to take it to USD 50-100 billion in the coming years. Through these hubs, small producers will be facilitated to sell to aggregators and then that aggregator will find

Govt to launch 'Hamara Samvidhan Hamara Samman' portal for citizens soon

This portal will serve as a repository of knowledge, providing citizens with easy access to information to create awareness about the Constitution and legal rights

Day 2 of new criminal laws: Arrests, police training, criticism & more

The three new criminal laws aim to modernise the criminal justice system. With states organising awareness programs and FIRs already filed under the new laws, here are the latest updates

Centre issues warning of strict action against its employees for tardiness

The Centre has warned of strict action against its employees for tardiness and said that habitual late attendance and early leaving from office should be viewed seriously by the authorities concerned. The move comes after it noticed that several employees were not registering their attendance in an Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) and "some of the employees have been coming late on a regular basis". In an order, the Personnel Ministry suggested use of a mobile phone-based face authentication system that provides "live location detection and geo-tagging" among others as well. The matter of strict implementation of AEBAS has recently been reviewed and taking a serious note of the laxity in its implementation, it is "reiterated that all MDOs (ministry/department/organisation) will regularly monitor the attendance reports", according to the order. "Habitual late attendance and early leaving of office should be viewed seriously and be essentially discouraged. Strict .

Govt rolls out mandatory quality norms for asbestos cement products

The government has issued mandatory quality norms for asbestos or fibre cement-based products to curb the import of sub-standard goods and boost domestic manufacturing. A notification 'Asbestos or Fibre Cement based Products (Quality Control) Order, 2024 ' was issued in this regard by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on March 6 this year. Under these orders, items cannot be produced, sold, traded, imported and stocked unless they bear the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) mark. "It shall come into force on the expiry of six months from the date of publication of this notification in the Official Gazette," the DPIIT notification said. To safeguard the domestic small/micro industries and ensure smooth implementation of the QCO and ease of doing business, relaxations have been granted to small/micro industries as regards to timeliness. An additional nine months have been given to small industries and an additional 12 months to micro industries to meet

Govt likely to cut bond sales aided by higher cash balance: Officials

The yield on benchmark 10-year bond was little changed at 7.09 per cent on Tuesday