Page 3 - Central Government

Centre moves SC, seeks open court hearing on plea for review on Benami law

The Centre on Tuesday sought from the Supreme Court an open court hearing on its plea seeking review of the judgement by which several provisions of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016 were struck down. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha was urged by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, that the review plea be heard in open court keeping in mind the importance of the issue. This is an unusual request. We seek an open court hearing of the review. Due to this judgement, a lot of orders are being passed even though some of the provisions of the Benami Act was not even under challenge. Like the retrospectivity could not have been looked into (by the SC bench), the top law officer said. We will consider it, the CJI said. The top court, on August 23 last year, had struck down some provisions of the Benami law. One of the struck down provisions provided for the punishment of a maximum jail term of three ye

Budget 2023-24: Govt set to pay out Rs 4K cr under PLI by March end

The Budget may extend the PLI scheme to six-seven more sectors such as toys, textiles, electronics, bicycle components, leather, and furniture

The Supreme Court's supremacy

It should not be challenged, yet judges should not select judges

Bihar govt seeks GST compensation extension for another five years

The Bihar government on Wednesday urged the Centre to consider extending for another five years the GST compensation awarded to states, which was discontinued last year. State Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary flagged it as one of the expectations from the upcoming Union budget. "Several other concerns were also raised by me at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's pre-budget meeting with state representatives. One of these was, of course, the long-standing demand for special category status to Bihar," Chaudhary told PTI in an interview. "Another thorny issue has been the increasing load on the states with regard to centrally sponsored schemes. Earlier, the Centre used to bear 90 per cent of the total expenditure," he said. The ratio has "changed" and, now, states are required to "bear 50 per cent of the financial burden", Chaudhary claimed. "This is not proper. After all, the Centre claims all credit for such schemes", said the JD(U) leader, whose party snapped ties wi

Building resilience for the long game

The Budget should focus on keeping the domestic house in order. If it manages to do so, then India could attract large capital inflows once the global shocks fade

Govt to hold public consultation on fact-checking rule for online content

Invites comments on new rule asking online platforms to remove content flagged fake or false by its fact-checking mechanisms

E-immigration process for international fliers soon, says Scindia

Airports across the world have started using biometrics to create automated lanes for immigration clearance at airports

Board formed to fix tariff at major ports, PPP dispute resolution

New Board to take over functions of the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP)

The bicycle theory of the 2023 Budget

Lowering the fiscal deficit to sustainable levels will be the biggest challenge for the government, but there are enough reasons for it to keep pedalling hard

Tough to accept that federalism not relevant to UT: SC on Delhi-Centre row

SC observed orally it was difficult to accept the Centre's submission that federalism does not apply to a union territory as even panchayats' are an example for decentralisation of power

Govt widening economic inequality; policies 'increasing' poverty: Congress

The Congress accused the BJP govt of widening the economic inequality in India and said the richest one per cent owns more than 40% of the country's wealth, while half the population has only 3% of it

SC unhappy with 6 states, UTs for not giving comments to govt on minorities

The Supreme Court expressed displeasure over six states and Union Territories, including Jammu and Kashmir, not yet giving their comments to the Centre on the issue of identification of minorities

Reduce pendency of public grievances, official work: Centre to secretaries

In a move aimed at furthering ease of governance, the Centre has asked secretaries of all its departments to reduce pendency of public grievances and government works to the minimum. It has also asked them to devote at least three hours a week for ensuring that pendency of work is at its lowest level. Pendency of work includes references from members of Parliament, parliamentary assurances, inter-ministerial and state government references, files to be weeded out by them, public grievances and their appeals, and pending swachhata campaign sites where cleanliness activities need to be intensified and office space freed from unwanted material or scrap. The move is inspired by the success of the country's largest cleanliness drive, spearheaded by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), undertaken in October last year. "Government has decided to institutionalise the special campaign 2.0 activities of 'swachhata' and reduce pendency on a continuing basis

India's counter response shows country won't be coerced by anybody: EAM

India's counter response to terrorism emanating from Pakistan and to aggressive cross-border skirmish with China displayed that the nation will not be coerced by anybody, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday. He added that the country will do everything to ensure its security. The Balakot air strikes conducted by the Air Force in response to the Pulwama terror attack had sent the much-needed message across, he said referring to the incident in 2019. "On the northern borders, China is today seeking to change the status quo by bringing in large forces and violating our borders. Despite COVID-19, our counter response was strong and firm. Our troops deployed in thousands safeguarded our frontiers in extreme terrain and harsh border and (protection of borders) continues to this day," Jaishankar said while addressing the Tamil weekly Thuglak's 53rd anniversary here on Saturday evening. "The national wellbeing has many facets and national security is without question th

SII's free Covishield supply to govt: First 8 mn doses set for dispatch

Amid a rise in Covid cases in some countries, Serum Institute of India has started supply of Covishield to the Centre free of cost with the first lot of 80 lakh doses set to be dispatched from Saturday, official sources said. Since the launch of the anti-Covid vaccination drive, SII has so far provided 170 crore doses of Covishield to the government. According to an official source, Prakash Kumar Singh, Director Government and Regulatory Affairs at Serum Institute of India, had written to Union Health Ministry mentioning that the Pune-based firm will provide two crore doses of Covishield vaccine worth Rs 410 crore to the Government of India free of cost. The Health Ministry has issued a consignee list for the supply of 80 lakh doses of Covishield which will be supplied by the company Saturday, an official source said.

Mid-day meal scheme in West Bengal now under central govt's scanner

A field inspection team from the Union Education Ministry will be arriving in the state to review the implementation of the scheme

Hamleys, Archies and WHSmith toys seized for lack of BIS quality mark

On the non-compliance of quality standards, a penalty will be imposed on the manufacturers. However, retailers and wholesalers will also be held accountable

Food security scheme to cover 800 mn poor named as PMGKAY: Centre

The central government's integrated food security scheme has been named as the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY), under which free foodgrains are being given to more than 80 crore poor people from January 1. The move also comes amid Opposition's criticism over the government discontinuing free monthly distribution of 5 kilograms of foodgrains to poor people under a scheme that was also known as PMGKAY. This scheme, which was launched in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic in April 2020, ended in December last year. Last month, the government decided to subsume PMGKAY into two existing food subsidy schemes and consequently, the new integrated food security scheme came into force. "The new scheme has been named as Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY)," the food ministry said in a statement. Keeping in view welfare of the beneficiaries and in order to maintain uniformity across the states, free foodgrains will be provided under the PMGKAY for the year 2023 t

PAN as single business ID set to get legal backing in Budget 2023-24

The provision will also ensure the mapping of PAN of an entity with multiple existing identifications. Accordingly, it will be notified under various central and state legislations

Find balance, decide who will control services: SC on Centre-Delhi row

Terming collective responsibility, aid and advice as bedrocks of democracy, SC said it will have to find a balance and decide whether the control over services should be with Centre or Delhi