Category: NATIONAL NEWS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who turns 69 on Tuesday, will visit the site of the Gujarat’s Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river whose water level has reached its highest mark for the first time to celebrate the feat and kick off “Namami Narmade” festival.For the first time since the height of the dam was raised in 2017, the water level reached its highest peak at 138.68 metres on Sunday evening. The prime minister will land at Ahmedabad airport on Monday night. He will visit the dam site at Kevadiya…

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Over 80 former MPs are yet to vacate their official bungalows in Lutyens’ Delhi despite a stern warning by a Lok Sabha panel, sources said.They said the government is contemplating to take action against these ex-MPs under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act for their speedy eviction.On August 19, the Lok Sabha Housing Committee headed by C R Patil had ordered around 200 ex-MPs, who did not vacate their bungalows, to give up the facility within a week and disconnect their power, water and cooking gas connections within…

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced an over Rs 70,000 crore package for the exports and real estate sectors, including setting up of a stressed asset fund, as the government continued with firefighting measures to pull the economy out of a six-year low growth rate.A Rs 20,000 crore fund, with government putting in half of the amount, will be set up to provide last-mile funding for housing projects that are not in bankruptcy court or already tagged as bad debt, she said at a press conference here to announce…

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Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday said dissent should not eclipse the democratic decency under any circumstances, as he imparted lessons to legislators as how to be a good lawmaker.Stressing that people are the “real masters in a democracy”, he said the elected representatives should keep the common man at the centre of all their initiatives.Patnaik said this while addressing the inaugural session of the two-day orientation programme for legislators organised by Odisha Legislative Assembly in collaboration with Lok Sabha secretariat.”Democratic dissent is a right. However, while exercising their…

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Curfew-like restrictions were reimposed on Tuesday in several parts of Kashmir, including the city, to foil any plans on taking out Muharram processions in the Valley as authorities apprehended that large congregations might lead to violenceCommercial hub of Lal Chowk and adjoining areas were completely sealed off by placing concertina wires at all entry points where large number of security force personnel were deployed, officials saidRestrictions have been in several parts of Kashmir as a precautionary measure for maintaining law and order in the Valley, they said The officials did…

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that India would raise its target for restoring degraded land from 21 million hectares to 26 million hectares by 2030. Speaking at the 14th session of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Modi said between 2015 and 2017, India’s tree and forest cover increased by 0.8 million hectares. “I would like to announce that India would raise its ambition of the total area that would be restored from its land degradation status, from twenty one…

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The third round of meeting between delegates of India and Pakistan to discuss and finalise the draft agreement for the operationalistaion of the Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims was underway here on Wednesday, officials said. A 20-member Pakistani delegation crossed over to India for the joint secretary-level meeting at Attari in Amritsar, they said.The corridor will connect Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district of Punjab and facilitate visa-free movement of Indian pilgrims, who will have to just obtain a permit to visit Kartarpur Sahib,…

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 In the biggest consolidation exercise in the banking space, the government on Friday announced four major mergers of public sector banks, bringing down their total number to 12 from 27 in 2017, a move aimed at making state-owned lenders global sized banks.United Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce will be merged with Punjab National Bank, making the proposed entity the second largest public sector bank (PSB).Making the announcements, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Syndicate Bank will be merged with Canara Bank, while Allahabad Bank will be amalgamated with…

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Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Wednesday launched a web portal ‘Shagun’, which links over 15 lakh schools across the country, to provide all information on school education. The schools have been geo-tagged and all the data provided by them can be accessed through this portal. “The progress of the country is dependent on education and the foundation of education needs to be solid. Shagun is an important initiative and through this portal, more than 2.3 lakh educational websites can be integrated,” the minister said. According to…

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The Sikkim government has urged the Centre to withdraw its notification which opened up 24 peaks of the state to mountaineers, a top official said.The Centre has recently allowed mountaineering and trekking in 137 peaks across the country, including 24 peaks in Sikkim, in a bid to boost tourism.The state government has sent a letter to the Centre stating that the opening up of the peaks in Sikkim to mountaineers is a “matter of grave concern” for the state and sought immediate withdrawal of the notification, Chief Secretary Alok Kumar…

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