Page 15 - Centre

Rights group APDR demands release of leaders, withdrawal of ban on PFI

Association for Protection of Democratic Rights demanded the withdrawal of the ban for five years imposed on Popular Front of India and its affiliate organisations, by the Union Home Ministry

Small savings rate may remain unchanged for Oct-Dec qtr despite RBI moves

If this happens, it will be the 10th straight quarter of status quo; govt official says Centre did not cut rates when policy rates were being cut during pandemic

Govt to decriminalise some offences under GST, lower compounding charges

The government is working on decriminalisation of certain offences under GST by raising the threshold limit for launching prosecution and also lowering charges for compounding of offence, an official said on Wednesday. Currently, the law provides for launching prosecution against offenders in cases where the amount of Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion or misuse of input tax credit is more than Rs 5 crore. "We are working on making the provision under GST Act for prosecution more simpler and friendly for taxpayers. We have Section 132 under CGST Act which criminalises illegal credit for GST evasion. The threshold level (for launching prosecution) are being reconsidered," finance ministry additional secretary (revenue) Vivek Aggarwal said at an Assocham event here. Launching of prosecution by taxmen means commencement of legal proceedings against the offender. The compounding charges for offences under GST would also be lowered so that taxpayers are encouraged to compund their ...

PFI ban shows Centre's tough stance on national security: MoS Muraleedharan

Union minister V Muraleedharan on Wednesday lauded the Centre's ban on PFI and its affiliates for five years, saying it showed that the Modi government "acts tough" with forces aiming to disrupt peace and stability.The Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs reaffirmed the government's stand that there would be no compromise on the matter of national security."No compromise on National Security. Banning PFI reiterates the fact that @narendramodi Govt acts tough on forces aiming to disrupt peace & nation's stability. @narendramodi govt ensuring integrity, sovereignty & security of the country. The whole nation welcomes this decision," Muraleedharan tweeted.Late Tuesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs declared the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its associates or affiliates or fronts "as an unlawful association with immediate effect". It banned these outfits for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.Along with PFI, the ban ...

PFI raising funds from India, abroad through banking channels: Centre

The law enforcement agencies have found that the office-bearers of the Popular Front of India along with others were conspiring and raising funds from within India and abroad

Centre will likely extend free food grains program until Dec: Report

The program, which started since April 2020 to help feed the poor during a harsh Covid-19 lockdown, allows 5 kilograms of food grains per person every month

Centre gives top priority to strengthen border infrastructure: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asserted that the Narendra Modi government gives top priority to strengthen the country's borders, a reason why expenditure on infrastructure development in these areas has gone up considerably under the current regime. Addressing personnel of the Sashastra Seema Bal at the Fatehpur outpost, falling in Bihar's Kishanganj district along the border with Nepal, Shah also underscored the Centre's sensitivity towards welfare needs of those manning the country's international boundaries. "Between 2008 and 2014, annually around Rs 4,000 crore were spent on border infrastructure projects. This subsequently climbed to nearly Rs 6,000 crore per year, he said after inaugurating buildings of Fatehpur, Raniganj, Aamgachhi, Pekatola and Beria outposts. The total money spent on border infrastructure projects under the NDA rule at the Centre has been Rs 44,600 crore, he said. This has led to a 3.5 times increase in the total length of border roads, Shah to

SC issues notice to Centre on plea against forced religious conversion

The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Centre and others on a plea seeking direction to take stringent steps to control fraudulent religious conversion by "intimidation" and through "gifts and monetary benefits". A bench of Justices M R Shah and Krishna Murari issued notices to the Union of India, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Law and Justice. The top court asked the parties to file a reply by November 14. The apex court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking direction to the Centre and states to take stringent steps to control fraudulent religious conversion by "intimidation, threatening, deceivingly luring through gifts and monetary benefits". Upadhyay submitted that this is a nationwide problem which needs to be tackled immediately. "The injury caused to the citizens is extremely large because there is not even one district which is free of religious conversion by 'hook and crook'," the plea submitted. "Incidents are report

Centre gets over 46,000 corruption-related public grievances, most for DFS

Over 46,000 corruption-related public grievances were received by the Centre in the last eight months of this year, a maximum of them against the Department of Financial Services (DFS), according to a latest official report. Department of Financial Services (banking division) received the maximum number of grievances under the aforementioned category of corruption, with the department recording 14,934 receipts this year, whilst the Department of Financial Services (insurance division) secured 2nd position with a distant number of 3,306 receipts this year alone, it said. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), nodal authority for the anti-corruption matters among others, got 2,223 such grievances, according to the report. These plaints were received through the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), an online system that allows citizens to raise complaints against government departments. As many as 46,627 grievances have been received this yea

Rohingyas' link with Pak terror group a serious threat to India: Centre

Centre informed the Delhi HC that there is contemporaneous data from security agencies' inputs indicating linkages of some Rohingya migrants with Pakistan-based terror organisations

SC issues notice to Centre on plea alleging shortage of anti-HIV drugs

The Supreme Court has sought response from the Centre and others on a plea alleging shortage of antiretroviral drugs for treating HIV patients in the country. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hima Kohli issued notice to the Ministry of Health, National AIDS Control Organisation and others on a plea filed by an NGO. "The petitioners have submitted that there are shortages in the procurement of ART drugs in the country and the tender for 2021-22, which was due in August 2021, was issued in December 2021 and eventually failed. Issue notice, returnable in two weeks," the bench said. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is treatment of people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) using anti-HIV drugs. The top court was hearing a plea filed by NGO Indian Network for People living with HIV/AIDS alleging shortage of antiretroviral drugs in the country. The plea contended that non-availability of drugs at the Anti Retro Viral Therapy Centres of the National AIDS Control Organisat

Govt to soon rope in private players for foodgrains procurement: Food secy

The Centre will soon invite private players along with Food Corporation of India and other state agencies to procure foodgrains for buffer stock, food secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said on Monday. He informed that the Union food ministry has already written to all the state governments regarding this. Addressing 82nd annual general meeting of Roller Flour Millers Federation of India, Pandey said that the Centre has given two clear messages to the state governments regarding procurement of foodgrains. One is that the Centre would provide up to 2 per cent incidental expenses on the procurement undertaken by the state governments. Second, it wants to rope in private sector to buy foodgrains for the central buffer stock with an aim to improve efficiency and reduce the cost of procurement, he said. "We also want to involve private sector in the procurement process. Why only FCI and state agencies should be procuring?" he asked. The secretary said in his recent visit to the International .

Govt starts works on sale of 4 Air India subsidiaries it retained

Ground-handling arm would be monetised first; investor roadshows for all companies organised

Central govt caps platform channels on DTH at 5% of total capacity

The government on Friday capped the number of platform channels on direct-to-home (DTH) services at 5 per cent of the operators' total channel carriage capacity. The operational guidelines in respect of "licence fee", "platform services" and "sharing of infrastructure" for DTH services in India, issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), also bar the platform service channel from sharing content directly or indirectly with any other distribution platform operator (DPO). Platform service channels are programmes transmitted by DPOs exclusively to their own subscribers. The definition excludes Doordarshan and registered television channels as also the foreign channels not registered in India. "The content of the PS to be exclusive to the platform and is not to be shared directly or indirectly with any other Distribution Platform Operator," the guidelines said. The guidelines, which came into effect from Friday, mandate all platform service channels to carry a captio

Centre approves release of Rs 250 cr from NDRF to Assam for flood relief

The Centre on Friday approved the release of Rs 250 crore as grant of assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to Assam for rehabilitation and restoration work after floods and landslides this year, officials said. The decision has been taken by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma thanked the central government for approving the amount to the state. "We are extremely grateful to Adarniya PM Shri @narendramodi Ji and Adarniya HM Shri @AmitShah Ji for release of Rs 250 cr from National Disaster Response Fund to help Assam work on rehabilitation & restoration of the damages caused due to massive floods & landslides this year, Sarma tweeted. In a communication, the home ministry said the issues of severe flood and landslides during this Monsoon has been considered in the home ministry. The home ministry, after examination, decided with the approval of home minister to release an amount of Rs 250 crore 'on account basis' from ...

Centre should do good things instead of harassing people with CBI: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said he has failed to understand what the liquor scam was about, and advised the Centre to do positive things for progress of the country instead of "harassing" everyone with CBI and ED. His remarks came amid raids by the Enforcement Directorate at 40 locations across the country in connection with alleged irregularities in implementation of Excise Policy 2021-22 of the AAP government in Delhi. "I have till date not been able to understand what this liquor scam is. One of their (BJP) leaders said it is a scam of Rs 1.5 lakh crore. How can it be a scam of Rs 1.5 lakh crore when the whole budget of Delhi is Rs 70,000 crore only? "Another of their leaders said it was a Rs 8,000 crore scam, yet another said it was a Rs 1,100 crore scam. The L-G said it was a Rs 144 crore scam, while the CBI said it was a Rs 1 crore scam," Kejriwal said in a press conference. He said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) during its raid at his deputy .

Centre stalling three new airports in West Bengal, alleges Mamata

She, at the same time, said that she will not wait for the mercy of the Union government any more. "We will complete our pending projects from the development funds allotted to MPs and MLAs," she said

Centre may allow compensatory afforestation for Delhi's cleared forest land

The Union environment ministry may allow compensatory afforestation (CA) for all developmental projects undertaken in Delhi in neighbouring states in view of the scarcity of land in the capital, sources have said. A source in the Environment Ministry said they have taken cognizance of the Delhi Development Authority's (DDA) letter which said all green areas in the city have saturated and there is a severe shortage of land to raise compensatory afforestation for the upcoming developmental projects. "This is a policy issue. We have taken note of it. There is indeed a shortage of land in Delhi. We are going to take up the matter in a meeting of the Forest Appraisal Committee of the ministry. The request is likely to be accepted," the source said. A senior DDA official said it has denied several requests by user agencies, including the the National Highway Authority of India and Railways, to provide land for compensatory afforestation considering the shortage. In March, the DDA wrote t

Centre drafts proposal for ease of doing business in registered vehicles

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued a draft notification to promote ease of doing business and transparency in the sale and purchase of registered vehicles through dealers.

Parl panel pulls up govt for not acting on time during 2nd Covid wave

Many lives could have been saved during the second wave of the Covid pandemic if containment strategies were implemented on time, a parliamentary panel has said while pulling up the government for not being able to anticipate the gravity of the situation. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, in its 137th report presented to Rajya Sabha on Monday, said the second wave was undoubtedly marred by high cases, increased deaths, shortage of oxygen and beds in hospitals, reduced supplies of medicines and other important drugs, disruption of essential health care services, hoarding and black marketing of cylinders and medicines etc. "The committee is of the considered view that had the Government been successful in identification of the more virulent strain of virus in the population at an early stage and suitably implemented its containment strategy, the repercussions would have been less grave and many lives could have been saved," it said. The committee observed that India is o