Department Financial News

Farmers have increased the area under paddy cultivation by 4.28 per cent to 33.18 million hectares, while cotton acreage declined in the ongoing 2024-25 kharif (summer-sown) crop season, according to government data released on Monday. The agriculture ministry reported that paddy sowing rose to 33.18 million hectares as of August 12, up from 31.82 million hectares in the same period last year. The increase in the paddy acreage comes amid forecasts of widespread rainfall across several regions by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). As per the ministry's data, pulses acreage marginally increased to 11.74 million hectares in the ongoing kharif season from 11.01 million hectares in the year-ago period.

Bengaluru recently took to social media to highlight the plight of international travelers from India when their tickets are arbitrarily canceled by airlines. According to the woman, she had recently booked a Delhi-San Francisco flight, but Air India canceled it without notice and offered passengers the option to fly on a different date. When passengers objected, they were offered seats on an alternate flight with a 10-hour layover. The woman claimed that Air India refused to provide the passengers with tickets for a flight departing directly from Bengaluru.

Kolkata, paralysing elective services including OPDs and non-emergency surgeries. The move comes in response to a call from the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) which said the «strike won't stop unless justice is served and our demands are met». According to the FORDA, during the indefinite strike, outpatient departments (OPDs), operation theatres, and ward duties will be shut, but emergency services will continue to operate as usual. In the national capital, junior doctors from multiple hospitals, including centrally-run facilities AIIMS, RML Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital, began strike in the morning, causing hardships to patients who visited out-patient departments of the medical facilities only to be returned without any consultation.

Guwahati: Giving a boost to health sector, an MoU was signed between the Srimanta Sankaradeva University of Health Sciences under the Department of Medical Education and Research, and Novo Nordisk Foundation, a Danish philanthropic organisation. The MoU will cover several components like, improving Nursing Education in the state including setting up of an Education Innovation Unit, Simulation Lab etc in Regional Nursing College, improving institutional capacity in the nursing sector and knowledge exchange programmes with National and International institutes for Health and Nursing professionals. As a part of the MoU, a financial a support of Rs 6 crore will be provided initially. Moreover, the understanding will be looking at scaling up the partnership in due course.

The Labor Department releases its monthly consumer price index on Wednesday

₹1 crore, an employee pays about ₹30 lakh tax. This 30% tax outgo is under the new tax regime and includes a 10% surcharge and 4% cess. The employee can save some tax by opting for the old regime if he can make tax-saving investments and has expenses of at least ₹4.84 lakh.

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are on high alert for potential flooding after a crest gate of the 71-year-old dam across the Tungabhadra river failed Sunday afternoon. This incident has led to water gushing out of the dam, which is about 350km from Bengaluru, raising concerns for downstream districts in north Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool and Nandyal. The Tungabhadra dam, which was inaugurated in 1953, has a maximum storage capacity of 133TMCFT (thousand million cubic feet). As of Saturday, it held 100TMCFT of water, with the remaining 33TMCFT being silt. On Saturday evening, 22 of its 33 crest gates were opened, releasing nearly 1 lakh cusecs of water into the river. Engineers have raised concerns regarding the damaged gate, estimating that 60TMCFT of the stored water must be drained before they can proceed with replacing the damaged gate. The entire process, including constructing a new gate, could take four days or longer.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting a week full of showers. On August 12, 2024, the national capital experienced light rain, with the maximum temperature recorded at 32°C and the minimum at 24.8°C. According to the Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi's air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 53 this morning, placing it in the «satisfactory» category. The AQI scale ranges from «good» (0-50) to «severe» (401-500), with «satisfactory» (51-100) indicating that air quality poses little or no risk. Throughout the week, Delhi is expected to witness generally cloudy skies accompanied by light to moderate rain, thundershowers, and occasional lightning, as forecasted by the IMD.

geoglyphs and petroglyphs in Ratnagiri as ‘protected monuments’ under the Maharashtra Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1960, reported TOI. The group of petroglyphs at Deud, Ratnagiri, dates back to the Mesolithic era (roughly 20,000-10,000 years ago), according to a notification by the culture department. Geoglyphs and petroglyphs are different types of ancient art forms. They involve the creation of images or designs on the earth’s surface or rock surfaces.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has sought clarifications from the government on the allocation of backhaul spectrum, including the E and V bands, in the wake of the new Telecommunications Act that said such airwaves should be given administratively. As per the Act, 'radio backhaul' shall mean the use of radio frequency only to interconnect telecom equipment other than customer devices in telecommunication networks. The clarification became important as the regulator had listed out different options, including auction, to allocate backhaul spectrum in its consultation paper. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) too had said spectrum in the E and V bands can be given through auction, though certain quantum in the V band can be delicensed for indoor coverage.

landslides, traffic chaosand house collapses, as well as a dam breach which inundated several villages in Haryana. The Jammu and Kashmir administration said the annual Amarnath Yatra has been suspended after heavy rains in the Shri Amarnathji Yatra area. This was the second straight day of heavy rains in the region with Rajasthan being the worst hit as the state reported 16 deaths over two days — two on Saturday and 14 on Sunday. Its Karauli district recorded «exceptionally heavy rainfall» of 38 cm. Nine people, including eight members of a family, died in Punjab's Hoshiarpur on Sunday as their vehicle was swept away by a overflowing seasonal rivulet.

The United States is speeding up efforts to license and build a new generation of nuclear reactors to supply carbon-free electricity

Colleges large and small in the U.S. are cutting programs and eliminating majors to make ends meet

The Met Department expects the maximum and minimum temperatures likely to settle around 32 and 26 degrees Celsius, with a generally cloudy sky throughout the day. Rains lashed the national capital on Saturday prompting heavy traffic due to waterlogging in various parts of the city.

India's former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh passed away late Saturday in Gurugram at the age of 93 after a prolonged illness. Singh, Congress veteran, was born in Bharatpur, Rajasthan in 1931. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1984. Singh, who was the foreign minister in UPA-I and also served as India's Ambassador to Pakistan besides holding other senior diplomatic positions. Singh worked in former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's office from 1966 to 1971 as a civil services officer before joining the Congress in the 80s and becoming a minister in the Rajiv Gandhi Cabinet.

Protesters carried American and Bangladeshi flags and held posters demanding that Bangladeshi minorities be «saved.» They chanted slogans of «We want justice» and called for peace amid the recent surge in violence. The crowd, which included activists from various human rights organizations, members of the Bangladeshi diaspora and Indian-American Hindu allies, came from Washington, Maryland, Virginia, and New York.

Somanathan as India's new cabinet secretary. A 1987 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer and current finance secretary, Somanathan will serve a two-year term, initially assuming the role of officer on special duty. He will take over India's top bureaucratic post on August 30, according to a statement from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). With a distinguished career spanning over three decades, he has held various key positions, including joint secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, and joint secretary and additional secretary at the Prime Minister's Office. Bold Policy Reforms

Assam and Mizoram resolved that the public and all stakeholders are expected to bring any differences on border issues to the appropriate authorities without taking law into their own hands. A joint statement was issued by K. Sapdanga, Home Minister Mizoram and Atul Bora, Assam Minister for Border Protection & Development Department, Assam in Aizawl on Friday. The statement stated it is reaffirmed that the Goodwill Mission' between the Government of Mizoram and the Government of Assam held on 9th August 2024 at Aizawl, Mizoram is to take forward the firm commitment and initiative made in the meeting on 9th February 2024 between the Chief Minister of Assam and the Chief Minister of Mizoram for resolution of the inter-State boundary dispute in an atmosphere of understanding and goodwill between the two States. Both the States agreed to continue to promote and maintain peace and harmony and prevent any untoward incidents along the inter State border. Joint Cultural and Sports festivals may be organised at frequent intervals by concerned administrative authorities of the inter-State border Districts of Mizoram and Assam to start before 31 January 2025.

Biden administration has decided to lift a ban on U.S. sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, the State Department said on Friday, reversing a three-year-old policy to pressure the kingdom to wind down the Yemen war. The State Department was lifting its suspension on certain transfers of air-to-ground munitions to Saudi Arabia, a senior department official confirmed. «We will consider new transfers on a typical case-by-case basis consistent with the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy,» the official said. Reuters was first to report the decision earlier, citing five sources.

More than a fifth of American seniors are working in retirement age, with some states showing greater-than-average rates of over-65s still in the workforce, according to a recent analysis of federal data by LendingTree.

Renewed fears of a U.S. recession have put a spotlight on unemployment.