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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, 2025, introduced in the Lok Sabha on 16 December, represents the most significant reform of India’s insurance sector in decades. The bill seeks to amends three core laws—the Insurance Act, 1938; the LIC Act, 1956; and the IRDAI Act, 1999—to liberalise foreign investment, strengthen regulation, introduce new intermediaries, and accelerate insurance penetration in line with the government’s goal of ‘insurance for all by 2047’.

education. Operational powers will be split across three independent councils, each dealing separately with regulation, accreditation, and academic standards.

The bill was tabled by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, minister for rural development and agriculture & farmers’ welfare.Mint reported on 15 December that the proposed legislation seeks to provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment, up from the current 100 days, in every financial year to each rural household whose adult members are willing to undertake unskilled manual work.The scheme will operate as a centrally-sponsored scheme, with the Union government bearing 90% of the financial burden for north-eastern and Himalayan states and Union territories, and 60% for other states. Respective states will need to stump up the rest.The expenditure under the scheme will depend on the number of persons reporting for work, the applicable wage rate, and the material and administrative components of the work.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Last week, Supriya Sule, member of Parliament from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), introduced a private members’ bill in the Lok Sabha which ignited a heated discussion online. Typically, such bills are low on the pecking order, summarily discussed and dismissed in most instances, but the Right to Disconnect Bill 2025 touched a nerve among a range of stakeholders.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The $901 billion defense-policy bill passed by the House would codify more than a dozen of President Trump’s executive orders, authorizing major weapons programs, troop deployments and international-security assistance. The Senate is expected to take it up in the week ahead.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Indians work some of the longest hours in a week globally. Unsurprisingly, therefore, Indian employees also report high levels of burnout.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : The Union government has rolled back the use of the revamped version of the electronic agriculture trading portal (e-NAM 2.0) across most of Rajasthan for now and will continue operating the previous version of the platform in all 173 mandis, or wholesale markets, restricting the upgraded platform to just 10 mandis, two people with direct knowledge of the development said.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The government has paved the way for 100% foreign direct investment in the insurance sector, composite licences and easier capital requirements, among other sweeping reforms, as the Union Cabinet cleared the enabling legislation, said two officials aware of the matter. The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill is expected to be introduced in both houses of Parliament next week, the first of the two officials quoted above said.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—At a November meeting in the Oval Office, Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang gave President Trump an ominous message: A patchwork of artificial-intelligence laws in states such as California threatened technology development in the U.S. Huang said a flurry of state laws could cause the U.S.

Enterprise technology has long rested on a basic assumption: determinism. When a system gets identical inputs, it must yield identical outputs. Business and tech leaders rely on this expectation.

It would be music to many ears that India’s government is planning to overhaul its customs regime. The goal will not just be to ease compliance, but also bring down rates wherever they are higher than optimal, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday at the HT Leadership Summit 2025.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: India is moving to reduce its heavy reliance on imported diagnostic technology by fast-tracking commercialization of homegrown solutions.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. There’s something gloriously old fashioned about Good Fortune, Aziz Ansari’s wholesome buddy comedy that dares to believe in the redemptive power of kindness in an economy designed to chew people up and spit them out. The film is now available to rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The rupee’s fall to a historic low against the US dollar on Wednesday has left one segment of companies cheering – India’s $283 billion information technology (IT) sector. The rupee plunged to 90.29 against the dollar before closing at 90.19, marking a fall of 5.4% since the start of the fiscal year.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. At the behest of a handful of Silicon Valley executives, officials within the Trump administration and their allies in Congress are trying yet again to prohibit states from regulating AI companies. Even as House members heard about the horrific impact of AI chatbots on children, its GOP leadership tried to insert federal pre-emption of state AI laws into the unrelated National Defense Authorization Act.

For the rupee, finding a floor seems to be getting difficult. On Wednesday, it slid past the psychologically-important 90 mark against the dollar to touch an all-time low of 90.29, before recovering slightly to end at 90.19. For the year, it is down about 5%.

The power sector has emerged as a key lynchpin of the economic engine that the government is revving up to help drive India’s growth in times of geopolitical tumult. The distribution business continues to be a bugbear of the power sector, with snags that curtail the ability of consumers to benefit from modern technology, be it the low cost of solar electricity or smart meters that enable consumers to schedule some part of their consumption (like the use of washing machines) to reduce bills.

Waqf Amendment Act. He claimed the government has set its eyes on «grabbing» huge amount of gold in the famous Padmanabh temple (in Kerala). Sapkal visited the Kalaram temple in Nashik holding the Constitution book and offered prayers on the occasion of Ram Navami. Speaking to reporters, he said Lord Ram is an integral part of the Indian culture. He said Babasaheb Ambedkar had protested to gain entry into the historical Kalaram temple in Nashik, but the then system resisted his attempts. «I entered the Kalaram temple holding the sacred Constitution written by Babasaheb to have darshan of Lord Ram,» he said.

Congress general secretary Sachin Pilot on Sunday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have worked out a constructive solution during his last America visit rather than just indulging in «photo ops» and exchanging gifts. He said that at a time the world is responding to the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the US, the Indian government is merely buying time and leaving everything to fate. In an interview to PTI, the former minister for Corporate Affairs said the Indian government is accepting what has been given out and has not even offered a response. «I would imagine, when the PM was in Washington (in February) and met the president of the US, instead of just photo ops and exchanging gifts, something more constructive should have come out of it,» Pilot said. «If our relations are as strong as the two leaders claim, then we would not have been slapped with these steep tariffs. Clearly our exports will be severely hit, manufacturing was in any way on a downside, MSMEs are in for a shock...The economy will face severe stress due to resulting layoffs and job losses but unfortunately we have not had an adequate response or even an indication of how to navigate this situation.» he said. The government was caught napping and it seems under US pressure to sacrifice Indian interests, he alleged.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President K Selvaperunthagai said that the party condemns the idea of One Nation One Election, the passing of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, the non-disbursement of funds and other policies. The party is also going to raise slogans condemning the Waqf Bill as PM Modi reaches Rameswaram city. "(Union Finance Minister) Nirmala Sitharaman in Chennai event said One Nation One Election would be implemented.… we are holding this protest. We will also raise new slogans as PM Modi reaches Rameshwaram," K Selvaperunthagai said. «We are also showing black flag to Modi condemning Waqf Board Amendment,» he added.

President Droupadi Murmu gave her approval on Saturday. This happened just days after both Houses of Parliament passed the Bill following long and heated debates. The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill early Friday morning with 128 votes in favour and 95 against, after almost 12 hours of discussion. The Lok Sabha had already passed it earlier in the week. Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the new law, calling it a “watershed moment”. He said the waqf system had been lacking in transparency and accountability for a long time. “This legislation will boost transparency and safeguard people’s rights,” he posted on X. The new law aims to improve how waqf properties are managed. It also promises to bring more openness in dealings and ensure that various Muslim groups are represented on waqf boards. Other goals include protecting heritage sites, supporting welfare programmes, and helping marginalised communities, such as Muslim widows and divorcees. Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who introduced the Bill, said it would help millions of poor Muslims. He added that it would not interfere with waqf properties. “This legislation is based on extensive stakeholder consultation and incorporates recommendations from the Joint Parliamentary Committee,” he said. He also mentioned that the Central Waqf Council would have 22 members, with no more than four non-Muslims, to keep the council secular but still representative.