Page 8 - Centre

Over 13,500 houses connected with running water taps in Kargil: Centre

More than 13,500 households have been connected with functioning water taps under the centrally-sponsored Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Kargil district of Ladakh, an official spokesman said on Saturday. The information was given at a meeting chaired by Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kargil, Ghulam Mohi-Ud-Din Wani as he reviewed the progress on JJM projects in the district, the spokesman said. "Till January 2023, as many as 13,506 households have been connected with FHTCs in Kargil. In 2019, before the start of JJM, only 1,610 households in the district had tap water," the spokesman said. He said that in the meeting the officials reviewed the status of JJM scheme and discussed strategy for "improving Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) coverage, installation of solar water heaters in schools, 100 per cent saturation of villages, and availability of material." Wani also reviewed the physical and financial progress on all JJM projects in the district, and tap connection in .

Govt to start digital philately exhibition through reels: Ashwini Vaishnaw

The Department of Posts will start a Digital Philately exhibition where it will show reels or short videos about stamps on social media platforms, Communications and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday. During the inaugural session of the five-day National Philatelic Exhibition, Amritpex 2023, the minister said that the digital exhibition will start within 20 days. "We will start Digital Philately Exhibition where information about one stamp per week will be shown on reels," Vaishnaw said. He said that the short video will be made available on Sunday or Monday of every week to show information about stamps. "We will start this within 20 days,' Vaishnaw said. The last National Philatelic Exhibition was organised in 2008. The exhibitors at the event are selected from across the country and the winners at the national exhibition are selected for participation in international philately competition. Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan said that the postal

17.64% of exclusive POCSO cases reported conviction: Centre tells Lok Sabha

Conviction was reported in nearly 18 per cent cases in which the accused were booked under the The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, the government told Lok Sabha on Friday citing a third party evaluation. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju also said fast track special courts have disposed of more than 1, 37,000 cases up to December, 2022. "As per third party evaluation conducted by National Productivity Council, 17.64 per cent of exclusive POCSO cases reported conviction." Regular review meetings have been conducted by the Department of Justice to expedite the robust implementation of the scheme including establishment of remaining fast track special courts.

Public feedback invited on fact check by PIB to boost due diligence: MoS IT

The proposal of fact check by government's media arm Press Information Bureau under the IT Rules has been made with a view to strengthen the due diligence by intermediaries and public feedback has been invited on the same, Parliament was informed on Friday. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said with the expansion of the Internet and more and more Indians coming online, the number of Indians exposed to false and untrue or misleading information available on the Internet has also grown. He said that the centre under Information Technology Act, 2000, has made the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules) which cast specific obligations on intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to observe due diligence while discharging its duties. The due diligence under the rule includes making reasonable efforts by the intermediaries to check their users from

Average price of wheat flour rose by 31% in 2018-22 period: Centre

Average price of wheat flour rose by 31 per cent and mustard oil by 71 per cent between 2018 and 2022, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Friday. In a written reply, the government shared the average retail prices of about two dozen essential commodities. According to the data, wheat prices rose by 25 per cent since 2018 while the rates of rice increased by 23 per cent in the last five years. In a written reply, Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti shared the "year-wise all-India average retail prices of 22 commodities, including atta (wheat flour), rice, onion and potato for the last five years". The minister noted that the government takes various measures from time to time to augment domestic availability and stabilise the prices of essential food commodities. "These steps, inter-alia, include releases from the buffer to cool down prices, imposition of stock limits, monitoring of stocks declared by entities to prevent hoarding as also requis

Centre, probe agencies not going for big fish of global drug syndicates: SC

The Supreme Court Friday said the Centre and investigating agencies are not arresting big fish who are members of international drug syndicates but catching small fish like agriculturists and someone standing at a bus stand in NDPS cases. The remarks of the top court came on a bail plea of an accused who was arrested after opium was found in his fields and has served more than five years in jail. A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala said, "We must say that the Government of India and the investigating agencies are not arresting big fish. Why don't you go after international drug syndicates? Try to catch them. You are only catching small fish like agriculturists, someone standing at bus stand or other places." The top court was hearing the bail plea of Sabir who was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act after opium of commercial quantity was recovered by the police from his agriculture lands. Additiona

Centre says media council may not be desirable; Parl panel makes fresh push

The government has told a parliamentary committee that it "may not be desirable" to set up a unified media council as each media platform was unique and distinctive in its own way with a self-regulatory mechanism, prompting the panel to make a fresh push for such a framework with statutory powers to enforce advisories. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, chaired by Shiv Sena member Pratap Jadhav, had suggested to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to have a media council, contending that there were limitations in enforcement of advisories issued by the Press Council of India and News Broadcasting Standards Authority. In an action-taken report on the subject 'Ethical Standards in Media Coverage', the committee said it had opined that the ministry should explore the possibility of establishing a media council encompassing print, electronic and digital media which should be equipped with statutory powers to enforce its orders wher

India's technical textile exports grew 28.4% in 2021-22: Govt to Lok Sabha

In view to boosting the technical textiles sector in the country, the government has set up the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) for a period of 4 years with an outlay of Rs 1,480 crores

OBC appointments in jobs above 27% during 2014-21: Centre to Rajya Sabha

The data on government positions has been collated from information uploaded by different ministries and departments on the Representation of Reserved Categories in Posts and Services (RRCPS) portal

Govt does not interfere with, control social media intermediaries: MoS IT

The government neither controls social media intermediaries nor casts any fetters on the freedom of expression of their users, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar in a written reply to the Lok Sabha said that the IT Rules, 2021, cast specific obligations on the intermediaries that no intermediaries shall violate the rights accorded to citizens under the constitution. "The government does not interfere or control social media intermediaries and also does not cast any fetters on freedom of expression on their users. The IT Rules, 2021, casts specific obligations on the intermediaries that no intermediaries shall not violate the rights accorded to citizens under the Constitution," the minister said. He said that the government's objective is to ensure an open, safe, trusted and accountable internet for citizens. In response to a question of whether the government proposes to appoint an officer to hold the accountability o

India ranks first, contributes 24% of global milk production: Govt to LS

Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala told Lok Sabha that India is the highest milk producer in the world contributing 24 per cent of global milk production

NEET PG 2023: Govt extends internship deadline for candidates to Aug 11

The Ministry of Health on Tuesday decided to extend the last date of internship completion for to be eligible for NEET PG 2023, to August 11

Rs 1.45 trillion extra resources for FCI's capital needs, says govt

The IEBR of FCI for FY24 - in line with the Budget documents - is projected to jump a staggering 164 per cent to nearly Rs 1.45 trillion, from the 2022-23 (FY23) Revised Estimates (RE) of Rs 55,000 cr

Centre now largest Vodafone Idea shareholder as firm gives it 33.4% stake

Operational and management control of the company will remain with existing promoters

Centre appoints K Satyanarayana Raju as new MD & CEO of Canara Bank

State-owned Canara Bank on Tuesday said the Union Government has appointed K Satyanarayana Raju as its Managing Director and CEO, with immediate effect. He will be replacing L V Prabhakar who demitted office on December 31, 2022. Raju, who is a Physics Graduate, Post Graduate in Business Administration (Banking and Finance) and CAIIB (Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers), had earlier served Canara Bank as Executive Director since March 10, 2021. He has a very rich and vast experience in all segments of banking including Branch Banking, Corporate Credit, Retail Credit, Agri Financing, Credit Monitoring, Credit Recovery, Compliance etc. Also his rich experience and exposure led to digital transformation of banking products and services, the bank said in a release.

India's coal production target at 1,017 mn tonnes for next fiscal: Joshi

The country's coal production target has been fixed at 1,017 million tonnes for the next fiscal, Parliament was informed on Monday. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, coal minister Pralhad Joshi said the steps were being taken by the Centre to augment the coal output in the country by engaging mine developers and operators. "The target of all India coal production has been fixed at 1,017 million tonnes (MT) for the financial year 2023-24," the minister said. State-owned CIL has identified 15 projects having a total project rated capacity of 168.58 million tonnes per year for implementation through MDO mode. Out of these 15 projects, Letter of Award has already been given to nine projects. NLC India Ltd is implementing two MDO projects.

Sovereign Green Bonds of Rs 16,000 cr to be issued in current fiscal

Sovereign Green Bonds (SGBs), amounting to Rs 16,000 crore, are proposed to be issued in the current financial year for mobilising resources for green infrastructure projects, the Parliament was told

Govt blocks 138 betting, 94 loan lending apps with Chinese links

The crackdown on these platforms began after the government received an alert from a nodal officer of the Ministry of Home Affairs

Centre approves Pune-Nashik high speed rail connectivity: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said the Ministry of Railways has accorded "in principle approval" for the Pune-Nashik high-speed rail project. Fadnavis made the announcement after a meeting with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw here. "I thank the Railway minister for granting in-principle approval to the Pune-Nashik high-speed railway project," the Maharashtra deputy chief minister said. He said officials from Maharashtra and the railway ministry will make a technical appraisal of the project and then take the proposal to the Union Cabinet for approval. "Pune and Nashik are important cities of Maharashtra economically and culturally. It would be our endeavour to provide rail connectivity to these two cities," Vaishnaw said. "We had a detailed discussion on the technical aspects of the project and will now take it forward," the Railway minister said. Fadnavis said high-speed rail between Pune and Nashik will boost development and provide seamless ..

Govt to push producers to use recycled steel as 50% input by 2047: Scindia

Union Steel Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Saturday said his ministry will push primary steel producers to use 50 per cent of their input from scrapped/recycled steel by 2047 to help achieve the government target of moving into a circular economy. Currently, the level of recycled steel usage in primary steel production is only around 10 per cent even though recycled steel contributes to 22.5 per cent of the domestic total steel production of 140 million tonnes, the minister said while addressing the last day of the three-day international conference of material recycling here. The 10th conference is being organised by the Material Recycling Association of India and is attended by over 2,000 delegates from 38 countries. Noting that recycling is the key cog in the wheel of manufacturing as economies move into a circular model of development, he said, "Going forward the industry should focus on the 6Rs philosophy of reduce (exploitation of natural resources), recycle, reuse, recover,