Centre Financial News

Congress General Secretary and Karnataka incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala on Wednesday urged the union government to immediately release Centre's grants to the State including drought relief without any further delay. He also questioned the «silence» of BJP MPs on the matter. In a statement here, he said the state government had declared 223 taluks among the total 236 as drought-hit, and there is a loss of standing crop in over 48.19 lakh hectare, as per study report from experts.

NEW DELHI : Ahead of the general elections, the government is planning to consolidate marquee schemes to safeguard the interests of farmers and consumers, under the Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA), with an allocation of ₹28,107 crore till 2025-26, three officials aware of the matter said. The plan is to merge the Union Consumer Affairs Department’s Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) with the agriculture ministry’s Price Support Scheme (PSS), and bring the merged scheme under the PM-AASHA, along with the market intervention scheme (MIS).

chief secretaries against resorting to «freebies» and is pushing them to increase capital expenditure instead, ET has gathered. At the third National Conference of Chief Secretaries held last week in New Delhi, top state government officials were advised to guide the ruling politicians against «freebies». The suggestion from the Centre comes as the country heads into a big election year, sparking another potential round of poll promises.

Naga groups came together on Saturday and decided to pursue negotiations for a solution to the decades-old Naga Political Issue with the Centre jointly. The decision was taken during a meeting attended by leaders of the three groups — National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) led by Akato Chophy, NSCN led by Khango and Naga National Council (NNC) led by Z Royim. All three are splinter groups.

crude oil price which will lead to a fall in fuel prices in India. News18 reported that the Union Finance Ministry will likely cut the petrol and diesel prices by ₹10 soon. This came nearly two years after the Indian government had decided to decrease petrol and diesel prices by slashing by ₹8 and ₹6 respectively.

Labour Codes and align them with the ones notified by the union labour ministry to minimise divergence and any possible legal issues after the roll out of codes. A senior government official told ET that the Centre will reach out to all states and deliberate with them about their rules under each code to ensure they are not in conflict with central rules. The move follows a recent study by the VV Giri National Labour Institute, an autonomous body under the ministry of labour and employment, which highlighted wide divergence in the rules, not only between the central and states and union territories but also among the states. For example, the central rule provides for the spread over of 12 hours a day while Assam and Kerala restrict the spread over to ten-and-a-half hours a day.

ULFA) on Friday signed a peace agreement with the Centre and the Assam government and agreed to surrender weapons, shun violence, disband the organisation and join the democratic process. Union home minister Amit Shah, who was present along with Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at the signing of the accord here, said it was a big day for the people of Assam.

₹1,170.16 crore in the union territory of Ladakh. A statement from the Union ministry for road transport and highways on Friday said that the projects will encompass state highways, major roads, and other district roads. The ministry has also allocated ₹181.71 crore for eight bridges under the Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) scheme for FY 2023-24.

ULFA)'s pro-talks faction on Friday signed a tripartite Memorandum of Settlement pact with the Centre and the Assam government on Friday in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. A 29-member delegation of the ULFA's pro-talks delegation, including 16 ULFA members and 13 from civil society, signed the agreement. This a significant pact as the banned ULFA-Independent has been the only major insurgent outfit in the state after the ULFA pro-talks faction signed the agreement with the Centre and Assam government. On the historic development, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted, «this is a new start of a period of peace for the whole Northeast especially Assam.» «I want to assure ULFA representatives that the faith you have kept in Govt of India, from the side of Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA), a programme will be made in a time-bound manner to fulfill everything, without you asking for it. Under MHA, a committee will be formed, which will work with the Assam govt to fullfill this agreement,» he added.

New Delhi: Dera Ki Gali, where terrorists ambushed an Army convoy killing four soldiers last week, is barely a few kilometres away from Bufliaz, the starting point of the 84-km Mughal Road, a relatively easier access to the Valley than the Banihal Tunnel, whose usage is curbed at times for security reasons. In many ways, this is the junction where J&K's politics wrestles with its complex security environment. Voting percentages start to dip while security forces begin to dominate along a less-trodden road axis across the Pir Panjal Pass to Shopian in south Kashmir.

wrote, “This decision of the BJP government at the Centre shows how much poison is in their hearts against Punjabis." “Today, the value of the martyrdom of Punjabis by the BJP government at the Centre has been presented to 3 crore Punjabis through the media. This time again the tableau of Punjab was not included in the 26th January parade...we sent 3 subjects...1. History of Martyrs of Punjabis 2.

Apple's warnings in October to Indian opposition politicians that government hackers may have hacked their phones prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration to quickly demand the U.S. firm soften its message, the Washington Post reported. Apple's India representatives were called by administration officials who demanded that company help weaken the political impact of the warnings, the newspaper said citing three unidentified sources. An Apple security expert was also summoned from outside the country to a meeting in New Delhi and the expert was pressed to come up with alternative explanations for the warnings, it said. Apple and India's Ministry of Electronics and Information did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government after the latter rejected the tableau of Punjab for the Republic Day. CM Mann claimed that the decision of the centre shows how much "poison" it has in its heart against the people of Punjab. Taking to 'X', CM Mann wrote, “Today, the value of the martyrdom of Punjabis by the BJP government at the centre has been presented to 3 crores Punjabis through the media.

ChrysCapital is in final discussions to acquire a significant minority stake in New Delhi's Centre For Sight, valuing the eye hospitals chain at Rs 1,600 crore, said people aware of the development. Delhi-based ChrysCapital's proposed investment of Rs 800-1,000 crore (about $100 million) will give an exit to Mahindra Partners, the PE arm of Mahindra & Mahindra, which owns about 32% stake in the chain, they said.

fire was reported at the Acme Shopping Centre at around 6:50 PM. The personnel of the fire department rescued at least 11 persons from the shopping centre while the eye-witnesses claim that more than 10 individuals are still stuck on the upper floor of the building. The administration informed that all those rescued are safe and the fire department is dousing the fire.

NEW DELHI : The ministry of earth sciences plans to set up two high-performance computers (HPCs) in Noida and Pune to enhance weather forecasting accuracy, in the face of shifting weather patterns leading to increasing instances of extreme rainfall. “None of the weather prediction models anticipated the 90cm rainfall witnessed in the Kayalpatnam municipality in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu last week. Prediction of weather in tropical regions is difficult because of dynamic changes it undergoes in comparison to weather in higher latitudes," earth sciences secretary M.

NEW DELHI : India’s ministry of electronics and information technology on Tuesday issued an advisory on regulating artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content, commonly known as deepfakes, for all technology companies operating in India. Following meetings with tech companies on 22-23 November, Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and minister of state for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar issued the advisory.

NEW DELHI : The government is in the final stages of creating special purpose vehicles for the Pradhan Mantri Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) parks to boost the textile sector. All formalities to establish SPVs will conclude early next year, two officials aware of the development said.

NEW DELHI : As the government looks to bring electricity under goods and services tax (GST), the Union power ministry is looking at its likely impact on the industry, states’ revenue and household electricity bills. Electricity is one of several commodities like petrol, diesel and natural gas that have so far remained out of the purview of GST. Audit and consulting firm Deloitte, which was appointed to analyse the impact of the move, submitted a report to the power ministry that showed the move would benefit industry by lowering its outgo in levies.

As drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy rise in popularity, there have been increased calls about injectable drugs often used for weight loss to some poison control centres in parts of Canada, according to data gathered by Global News.

Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, causing visibility issues. According to the Flight Information Display System at Delhi Airport, a combined total of 11 international flights and 5 domestic flights arriving at or departing from the airport experienced delays on Saturday, ANI reported.