(PTI) Marking the sixth anniversary of the ‘Jan Dhan’ scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the initiative has been a “game-changer” and served as the foundation for many poverty alleviation initiatives. After he led the BJP to power in 2014, this was one of his government’s first major projects under which bank accounts of crores of people, mostly poor, were opened. “Today, six years ago, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was launched with an ambitious aim of banking the unbanked. This initiative has been a game-changer, serving as the foundation for many poverty alleviation initiatives, benefitting crores…
Author: Aruna Sharma
(HT) Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath directed district officials to ensure that all markets in state are closed down on Saturday and Sunday for sanitisation and fogging. These bi-weekly activities are helpful in not only curbing the spread of coronavirus disease but also reducing the risk of transmission of other communicable diseases, he added. The direction came after CM Adityanath inspected the situation in state on Thursday in order to come up with a plan for systematic unlocking. He also expressed his satisfaction over the fact that Uttar Pradesh had conducted more than 50 lakh Covid-19 tests till date.
(PTI) A record single-day spike of 77,266 COVID-19 cases pushed India’s virus tally to 33,87,500, while the recoveries surged to 25,83,948 on Friday, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The death toll climbed to 61,529 with 1,057 people succumbing to the diseases in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed. The recovery rate was recorded at 76.28 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.82 per cent. There are 7,42,023 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 21.90 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated. India’s COVID-19…
(PTI) An association of LPG transporters in the north east went on an indefinite strike against the latest tender floated by PSU giant Indian Oil Corporation. The North East Packed LPG Transporter Association (NEPLTA), which transports cylinders from the bottling plants to the dealers, is protesting against among other things the floating of the tender from Kolkata instead of Guwahati, lowering of the existing rates and increasing the carrying capacity. Because of the strike loading and supplying of finished cylinders from the company’s 10 bottling plants have been affected and is likely to impact the stock at retail selling points of the distributors in coming days, sources said. IOC currently…
(ET) Petrol prices have risen by Rs 1.3 per litre in the last 10 days and by Rs 10.5 per litre in three months. On Wednesday, petrol cost Rs 81.73 a litre in Delhi and Rs 88.39 in Mumbai. Diesel prices have remained unaltered in August after rising to a record in July. Diesel cost Rs 73.56 a litre in Delhi and Rs 80.11 in Mumbai on Wednesday. Until earlier this year, state oil companies used to daily align domestic rates of petrol and diesel with international prices but in the past six months they have ignored this practice.Domestic fuel prices are high despite low international…
(PTI) Former Indian Oil Corp (IOC) chairman Sanjiv Singh has joined Reliance Industries Ltd as Group President for billionaire Mukesh Ambani-run firm’s oil-to-chemicals business. A communication by RIL Executive Director Hital R Meswani to the company employees said Singh, who superannuated from India’s largest oil firm on June 30, will be a member of the oil-to-chemicals(O2C) business leadership team. RIL’s O2C business consists of the group’s twin oil refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat, petrochemical plants, 51 per cent of fuel retail and aviation fuel venture, and bulk wholesale marketing businesses. It does not include the firm’s upstream oil and gas exploration assets that include 66.6 per cent…
(LiveMint) The government plans to sell as much as 15% stake in state-run defense contractor Hindustan Aeronautics. through a public offering of shares, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks funds to shore up government coffers. The Indian government will sell a stake of about 10 per cent, with an option to sell a further 5 per cent in the company, according to a stock exchange filing on Wednesday. At a floor price of Rs 1,001 a share, the sale could fetch as much as Rs 5,020 crore ($680 million). Retail investors will get a 5 per cent discount on the offer price. The…
(NDTV) India has reported 75,760 cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, marking the biggest daily rise in the country, Union Health Ministry data shows. The fresh cases have pushed the country’s corona virus tally to over 33.1 lakh cases. 25,23,771 patients have recovered from the infection in the country, taking the recovery rate to 76.24 per cent. Maharashtra remains the hardest-hit state in the pandemic, accounting for 7,18,711 cases. Maharashtra is followed by three southern states, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. India is the country with the third-highest corona virus caseload in the world after the United…
(PTI) Trade unions on Wednesday urged Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to reconsider the proposed privatisation of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). In a joint letter to Pradhan, the unions said, “The joint platform of central trade unions and federations urges upon you to please seriously reconsider and refrain from such move of privatization of BPCL in the interests of the nation.” It said despite opposition by trade unions and BPCL employee unions, the government is going ahead with the public sector firm’s privatisation. BPCL was formed by the nationalisation of multinational petroleum companies through an Act of Parliament, which was a…
(PTI) Gujarat has topped the Niti Aayog’s Export Preparedness Index 2020 followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, according to the government think tank’s report released on Wednesday. Speaking at the launch of the report Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said rapid growth of exports is a crucial component for long-term economic growth. A favourable ecosystem enables a country to contribute significantly to global value chains and reap the benefits of integrated production networks, globally, Kant added.