Page 15 - Indian Government

India pushing for valuation of $7.7 billion for state-owned IDBI Bank

India is pushing for a valuation of around 640 billion rupees ($7.7 billion) for state-owned IDBI Bank Ltd. in what could be the biggest sale of the government's stake in a lender in decades

SC seeks Centre response on pleas over rising assault cases against doctors

The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Centre and others on a batch of petitions alleging rising assault on doctors and other medical professionals in the country. A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi issued notices on the pleas filed by Delhi Doctors Forum, Indian Medical Association and Suneet Kumar Upadhyay, a doctor. The petitions alleged rising assault on medical professionals in the country and sought a direction to the Centre and other stakeholders to take remedial steps. Upadhyay's wife Archana Sharma, a gynaecologist, had committed suicide in Rajasthan after being harassed by a mob following the death of a woman during the delivery.

HPV vaccine prodn delayed due to Covid, to start supply in early 2023: SII

Serum Institute of India (SII) had to defer HPV vaccine production by two years due to the focus on COVID, and will start supplying small quantities of the dose to the Indian government in early 2023, a top official has said. Exports will have to wait till 2024, its chief executive Adar Poonawalla told reporters here on Thursday evening, adding that the company has to build a scale of manufacturing to over 150 million for that. HPV vaccines prevent certain kinds of cervical cancer. SII is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer which rushed with the production of multiple COVID vaccines at its facilities located here once the shot was approved for use. "The HPV facility was used by the COVID vaccines during the pandemic. That's why we had to delay the larger launch to next year," Poonawalla said, speaking on the sidelines of an event. "We will be making a very small quantity and launching with the Indian government in the first quarter of next year. Followed by a capacity for 70

S Jaishankar, Botswana FM hold talks on health, trade, investment

External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar met with his Botswana counterpart, Lemogang Kwape at Ektanagar, Kevadia, Gujarat and discussed trade, investment, including defence and training

India to bring National Tourism Policy to provide sustainable tourism

Aimed at providing a secure, creative, responsive and sustainable tourism sector, India is planning to bring a National Tourism Policy 2022 this year

JICA to consider upcoming corridors of Delhi Metro's phase-4 expansion

Estimated to cost Rs 24,000 crore, the phase looks to connect several gaps in the city's transport infrastructure

Centre raises wheat MSP by 5.46%; biggest hike kept for mustard, lentils

The government on Tuesday hiked the minimum support price for wheat by Rs 110 to Rs 2,125 per quintal and mustard by Rs 400 to Rs 5,450 per quintal for the current crop year with an aim to boost production and income of the farmers. The decision to increase the MSPs (minimum support prices) was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. MSP is the rate at which the government buys grain from farmers. Currently, the government fixes MSPs for 23 crops grown in both Kharif and rabi seasons. Sowing of rabi (winter) crops begins in October, immediately after the harvest of kharif (summer) crops. Wheat and mustard are major rabi crops. According to an official release, the CCEA has approved an increase in MSPs for six rabi crops for the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) and the 2023-24 marketing season. Wheat MSP has been increased by Rs 110 to Rs 2,125 per quintal for this crop year from Rs 2,015 per quintal in the 2021-2

Govt mulls helipads along new highways for evacuations during emergencies

The government is looking at having helipads along new highways as that will help in immediate evacuations during emergencies. The ministries of civil aviation and road transport have discussed the proposal, according to Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. To enhance connectivity, especially in remote and hilly areas, the civil aviation ministry has been pushing for increasing the use of helicopters. "All the new highways should have helipads... along them so that infrastructure is in place," Scindia said. Helipads on the national highways will help in immediate evacuations during emergencies, he noted. Both Scindia and the Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen (Retd) V K Singh pitched for having helipads in every district. They were speaking at the Civil Aviation Ministers' Conference in the national capital. The government has also decided to incubate a Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) pilot called 'Project Sanjeevani' by deploying a helicopter in the

Govt gets dividend tranches from Uranium Corp, Shipping Corp, KIOCL

The Central government has received Rs 197 crore, Rs 48 crore, and Rs 10 crore from Uranium Corporation of India Ltd, KIOCL and Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), respectively, as dividend tranches

Centre seeks waiver in key norm for IDBI Bank stake sale: Report

Govt has reportedly asked SEBI if it can classify the govt, LIC's remaining stake of about 34% after the sale as public float, which will help the new buyer meet the minimum public shareholding norm

No direction can be issued to Parliament to frame UCC: Centre tells SC

The Law Ministry has told the Supreme Court that the court cannot direct Parliament to frame or enact any law, as it sought dismissal of PILs seeking a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country

Govt on denial mode on Global Hunger Index ranking: P Chidambaram

Ex-Finance Minister P Chidambaram has alleged that the government was in a denial mode on the poverty and hunger index rankings

Centre disbands MDMA formed to probe Rajiv Gandhi assassination case

The government has wound up the 24-year-old Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) constituted to probe the wider conspiracy into the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, officials have said. MDMA was working under the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and comprised officers from multiple central security agencies. The order to disband the agency was issued in May and the pending investigation has been handed over to a different unit of the CBI, the officials said. The agency was set up in 1998 for two years on the recommendation of MC Jain Commission and was given annual extensions, but it failed to achieve any major breakthrough. The agency, headed by a deputy inspector general of police-ranked officer, had sent 24 Letters Rogatory to countries like Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom and Malaysia seeking information on various aspects of the case, including banking transactions. Over 20 requests were responded to by these countries and only few were remaining

Delimitation panel submits to Centre final report on redrawing MCD wards

The delimitation committee on Monday submitted to the Centre the final report on redrawing the wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), official sources said. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will now issue a notification and the delimitation exercise will be completed, they said. According to sources, the move will now pave the way for the Delhi Municipal Corporation election as after the final delimitation order, the Centre is likely to direct the state election commission to initiate the poll process. Sources said the final report was submitted to the MHA on Monday evening after disposing off all objections and suggestions on the draft report. Following the delimitation exercise, the number of municipal wards in Delhi will be 250. The committee had received over 1,700 suggestions and objections to the draft report on the delimitation of wards in Delhi. The MCD has already started preparations for the civic polls. On Monday, it released the list of its nodal officer

Aadhaar enrolment for newborns to be expanded to all states in few months

Aadhaar enrolment for newborns along with birth certificates is expected to be available in all states in the next few months, expanding beyond 16 states currently offering the facility, government sources said. At present, 16 states have Aadhaar Linked Birth Registration. The process began more than one year ago, with various states getting added over time. Work is on in remaining states and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) -- the government agency that issues Aadhaar numbers -- expects that over the next few months all states will be able to offer the facility, bringing added convenience to new parents. For children up to 5 years, no biometrics is captured. Their UID is processed on the basis of demographic information and facial photograph linked with the UID of their parents. Hence, biometric update is required (ten fingers, iris and facial photograph) once the child turns 5 and 15. More than 1,000 state and central government schemes today leverage Aadhaar for

K Vijay Kumar resigns as security advisor of MHA citing personal reasons

Decorated police officer K Vijay Kumar, who was credited for eliminating forest brigand Veerappan, has resigned as the senior security advisor in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Kumar, who put in his papers sometimes ago due to personal reasons, has vacated his accommodation in Delhi and relocated to Chennai. "I am now based in Chennai after I decided to end my stint with the MHA due to personal reasons," he told PTI over the phone. Kumar expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, MHA officials and the chiefs of police forces of all the states for extending cooperation throughout his tenure. Kumar was mostly advising the government on issues of Left-Wing Extremism (LWE), besides on Jammu and Kashmir. The 1975-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer was appointed as the senior security officer of the MHA after his superannuation from service in 2012 as the director general of the Central

India allows exports of wheat flour processed from imported grain

India has allowed export-oriented units and the firms set up in Special Economic Zones to export flour made from imported wheat, a government order said

Previous govts didn't provide people facilities available elsewhere: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused previous governments of not providing people with facilities that were available to people elsewhere in the world even in the 20th century and in Gujarat a few years back. He was addressing a public meeting at the Indira Gandhi stadium in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh's Una district. "We will provide you facilities of the 20th as well as the 21st centuries," Modi added. He said the people in Himachal Pradesh would now beak the trend of voting different parties to power in every elections. "I am pleased to announce gifts worth several thousand crores for Himachal before Dhanteras and Diwali," the prime minister said. Earlier, the prime minister flagged off the inaugural run of the new Vande Bharat Express. It is the fourth Vande Bharat train introduced in the country and is an advanced version compared to the earlier ones, being much lighter and capable of reaching higher speed in shorter duration. It accelerates to 100 Km per hour in

DMK to launch protest in Tamil Nadu against Centre's 'Hindi imposition'

DMK's youth and students wing has announced a statewide protest in against the recommendation of the parliamentary panel to make Hindi the medium of instruction in central educational institutes

Top Headlines: Byju's to lay off 2,500 staffers, broken rice exports & more

India will allow overseas broken rice shipments of 397,267 tonnes backed by letters of credit (LCs) issued before September 8