Ministry

In major reshuffle, Centre appoints 29 joint secretaries in different depts

In a major bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre, 29 joint secretaries have been appointed in different government departments. Officers from various central services, including the Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS), Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE), Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) and Indian Revenue Service (IRS) among others have been appointed to these key joint secretary (JS)-level posts, as per an order issued by the Personnel Ministry. IDAS officers Praveen Kumar Rai and Rakesh Kumar Pandey, and IRSEE officer Rajesh Gupta have been appointed as joint secretaries in the Home Ministry, said the order dated October 25. Raj Kumar, a 1999-batch IA&AS officer, has been named as Director (Finance) in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) under the Ministry of Home Affairs for a tenure of five years, it said. Deepak Agarwal, a 2000-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as ...

J&K LG allocates portfolios to newly inducted ministers in Omar-led cabinet

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Friday allocated portfolios to the newly inducted ministers in Chief Minister Omar Abdullah-led cabinet. An order to allocate the portfolios on the advice of the Chief Minister was issued by the LG here. According to the order, deputy chief minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary will hold the charge of Public Works (R&B), Industries and Commerce, Mining, Labour and Employment, and Skill Development. The lone woman minister -- Sakeena Masood (Itoo) has been assigned the charge of important ministries of Health and Medical Education, School Education, Higher Education, and Social Welfare. She was the Social Welfare minister during Abdullah's first tenure as the CM in the erstwhile state. Javed Ahmed Rana has been allocated the departments of Jal Shakti, Forest, Ecology & Environment, and Tribal Affairs. Javid Ahmad Dar will be the minister for Agriculture Production, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Cooperative, and Election. Satish Sharma

Ministry conference discusses frequent household expenditure surveys

It will help in CPI base revision and updating other macroeconomic indicators, say economists

Vaishnaw urges industry to form task forces for compliance simplification

Vaishnaw suggested that once functional, the task forces across sectors such as manufacturing, IT services, among others, can meet once in a month to discuss the issues

Kolkata rape-murder: Matter of concern for everyone, says Kiren Rijiju

Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs arrived at the Bhubaneshwar airport on Saturday morning to attend the inauguration of Orientation programme for newly elected MLAs of 17th Odisha Assembly

Govt to overhaul nationwide weather monitoring infra for accurate forecasts

The Ministry of Earth Sciences gears up to harness advanced technologies and expand infrastructure for precise climate prediction and intervention

TDP leader confirms two ministerial posts, other allies to also join govt

Telugu Desam Party leader Ram Mohan Naidu will be sworn in as a Cabinet minister and another party MP Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani as a minister of state in the Modi 3.0 government, a party leader confirmed. TDP leader and industrialist Jayadev Galla posted congratulatory messages to the two leaders amid indications that other allies such as Ram Nath Thakur and Lalan Singh of the JD(U), Chirag Paswan of the LJP (R), Jitan Ram Manjhi of HAM(S), Jayant Chaudhary of the RLD are being considered as ministers. An aide of Manjhi claimed that he has been informed that he will be inducted in the government. Sources have said that allies will get representation in the government in which the BJP is expected to keep key portfolios like home, defence, finance and external affairs. BJP bigwigs like Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Jyotiraditya Scindia are being seen as natural choices for Cabinet berths besides S Jaishankar. However, there has been no official comment fro

PM Modi urges NDA MPs to avoid hoaxes about ministries, portfolios

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged NDA MPs not to fall prey to hoaxes about ministries and portfolios and claimed the "INDI Alliance" could also indulge in spreading "fake news" about such issues. Addressing a meeting of the NDA Parliamentary Party, PM Modi said he did not find much truth in what was being aired on TV in the last couple of days. "I did not find any truth in what is being run. I said one should ask where do they get such information from. There had not been such an occasion in the last 10 years, so there will be such excitement. Some people reach out to you and say they have high contacts and will make you minister... We fall for it thinking this could be a way to become a minister," PM Modi said. He said now technology is such that people could also come out with a list of ministers with even his signatures on it. "Some intelligent person may also distribute portfolios. A lot of people are busy in forming government these days, distributing ministries and

Cooperative sector sees opening of new avenues for expansion in 2023

The year 2023 saw a newly set up cooperation ministry coming out with several initiatives including model bye-laws for making PACS multipurpose and a national cooperative body to promote exports in a bid to give further boost to the cooperative movement and open new avenues for the cooperative societies for expansion. Set up in July 2021, the new ministry under the leadership of Amit Shah took historical steps for strengthening the cooperative sector in a short span of time, an official statement said. "To strengthen the cooperative movement, the Ministry of Cooperation has taken 54 major initiatives, through which all cooperative societies are getting new possibilities for their economic development and expansion," it said. Among the key initiatives taken this year, the ministry said it came out with a draft Model Bye-Laws for Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) on January 5, 2023, in order to increase their source of income and create new employment opportunities in more

EPFO holds talks with Ministry of Finance on reinvesting ETF money

EPFO will move the final proposal for the finance ministry's assent once the finance and labour ministries decide on the matter

Ministry allows BARC to share raw-level measurement data with broadcasters

The ministry acknowledged that the BARC has scaled up the panel homes by about 85 per cent, from 30,000 to 55,000

2021 saw 225,207 road accidents on national, state highways: Ministry

The year 2019 saw a total of 137,191 accidents on NHs while 116,496 accidents took place in 2020

Govt told banks not to take harsh action against borrowers for loans: FM

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said both public and private banks have been instructed that harsh steps should not be taken when it comes to the process of loan repayment and that they should handle such cases with sensitivity. Sitharaman said this while making an intervention during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha on a question related to repayment of loans taken by small borrowers. "I have heard complaints about how mercilessly loan repayments have been followed up by some banks. The government has instructed all banks, both public and private, that harsh steps should not be taken when it comes to the process of loan repayment and they should approach the matter with humanity and sensitivity in mind," she said.

Housing ministry to organise national conclave on urban planning

Participants will also deliberate on leveraging urban planning tools to achieve sustainable and planned development

Sonowal launches 'Sagar Samriddhi' system to track dredging activity

Currently, Cochin and Mumbai ports have adopted "Sagar Samriddhi" and New Mangalore Port and Deendayal Port are running the system on a trial basis

To cover urban areas under electric cooking model within 3 years: Ministry

The government plans to come up with aggregation models for electric cooking through which prices can be brought down

Dish TV's minority shareholders reach out to ministry on EGM delay

The company's minority shareholders are demanding a rejig of the company's board and the appointment of a new management team to put the DTH provider back on the profitability path

Defence ministry approves capital procurement proposals worth Rs 84,328 cr

The defence ministry on Thursday approved the procurement of a number of military platforms and weapons including light tanks, anti-ship missiles and long range guided bombs at a cost of Rs 84,328 crore to boost combat capabilities of the armed forces. The procurement proposals were cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for the procurement came amid a spike in tensions between India and China after troops from the two sides were engaged in a clash along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at Yangtse in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh. Sources said the light tanks and mounted gun system are set to be deployed in high-altitude forward areas including along the LAC. The defence ministry said the DAC accorded approval for 24 capital acquisition proposals which include six for Indian Army, six for Indian Air Force, 10 for Indian Navy and two for Indian Coast Guard, adding the total value of the ..

At 19 km/day, FY23 highway construction way short of Gadkari's target: Data

While the ministry of road transport and highways aims for a record 50 km/day construction target, it has only been able to execute 19 kilometres (kms)/day till August

Cabinet pulls up infra ministries to expedite port connectivity projects

Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba also asked the ministries to finalise a comprehensive action plan in coordination with DPIIT and integrate it with PM Gati-Shakti framework by Aug 15