On Thursday, Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, informed that India has issued 26,000 business visas to Chinese nationals.
 
“India has issued over 26,000 business visas in China so far in 2009”, the Minister told.
 
Last year India issued 58,658 visas to ...

India on Thursday dismissed Prachanda report that said New Delhi and Washington were teaming up to launch anti-China activities through the Nepali territory.
 
"These allegations are completely baseless and false," the spokesperson of the external affairs ministry ...

The government on Thursday said that it will release a grant of Rs.2, 546 crore for the crisis-hit textile sector. The subsidy will directly reach the beneficiaries in three days.
 
Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran said "The fund will reach 12,540 beneficiaries through 121 financial ...

The Lok Sabha passed the right to education bill on Tuesday .The Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal termed it as "historic" legislation providing for free and compulsory education for all children in the 6 to 14 age-group.  
 
This is the first time an endeavour ...

A constitutional amendment bill extending the reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in parliament and state assemblies for another 10 years, with the Lok Sabha passing the measure on Tuesday was approved by the parliament.
 
The Constitution (109th Amendment) Bill ...

The government has plans to convert the airport regulator Airports Authority of India (AAI) into a company. This was told by a senior aviation ministry official said on Tuesday.
 
"We are working out to convert AAI from an authority to a company by next March. This will be done by ...

After assurance from government, around 4,800 resident doctors posted in various government hospitals in Gujarat joined back on duty on Tuesday after 12 days of strike .The government told that it would look into their demand for a raise in the monthly stipend.
 
An email letter was sent to ...

A new council has been formed for the Unique Identification Project of Indian government under its chairman, Nandan Nilekani. This committee that was created by the PM, Dr.anmohan Singh, is for providing advice to UID and for ensuring an enhanced coordination among ministers, stakeholders and ...

Nirupama Rao, who has been assigned with the new designation of being India’s foreign Secretary, will assume her charge today. She has served as ambassador to China and spokesperson of the foreign ministry
 
Rao is the second woman foreign secretary of India, the first being Chokila ...

The Commonwealth Games village which will accommodate over 8,000 athletes from 71 countries is not being built on the Yamuna riverbed or floodplain was cleared by the Supreme Court on Thursday. 
 
A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan gave the verdict, dismissing a Delhi ...

Providing a strong support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's declaration that there was no dilution of the national sovereignty on countering terrorism stemming from Pakistan, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said that India's foreign policy with respect to its neighbour had not changed. ...

Rahul Gandhi, the Congress general secretary, on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urged him to set up a separate development authority for Bundelkhand region, which spans Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
 
"Legislators and leaders from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh ...

Mamata Banerjee, Union Railways Minister, on Sunday expressed concern over the increasing prices of essential commodities, saying it has endangered the people's economic security.
 
"I am very upset with the recent price-rise in the country. I am very concerned over this problem," ...

Krishna Tirath, Minister of State for Women and Child Welfare, on Thursday called for setting up fast-track courts to provide speedier justice to rape victims.
 
"There should be fast-track courts to conduct trial of rape cases. Only then, the rape victim would get speedy justice," ...

The Power Secretary of West Bengal, Sunil Mitra, has been appointed as the new divestment secretary by the Government on Tuesday.
 
"The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Sunil Mitra, as secretary in the department of disinvestment, ministry of ...

Government has approved 250 proposals to divert 50,818 hectares of protected forest land since the Forest (Conservation) Act was passed in 1980.
 
Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, informed the Rajya Sabha in response to a question that the maximum amount of ...

The Minister for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, informed the Parliament on Monday that the bill for setting up a National Green Tribunal is being finalized by the government.
 
"The NGT intends to reduce the load of environmental cases, of civil nature, pending in higher courts ...

Uttarakhand Governor B.L. Joshi was late Saturday transferred and appointed as the Uttar Pradesh governor in place of T.V. Rajeshwar, whose term has expired, a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said. Veteran Congress leader Margaret Alva was named to succeed Joshi.
One other new governor was named - ...

 The Election Commissioner, S.Y. Quraishi, said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has no plans to scrap the electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the country.
 
"The EVMs used in India are foolproof. We (the ECI) are not thinking of scrapping the EVMs. There is no such ...

The Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi told the parliament on Wednesday that the law ministry is examining a bill proposing to accord voting rights to non-resident Indians (NRI).
 
The bill proposing voting rights to Indian citizens living abroad on account of employment, ...

The Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi, said that the Indian students who wish to pursue their higher education abroad will be registered by the authorities in India.
 
This will be part of the government's e-governance project aimed at making the process of emigration ...

The government will soon issue unique plastic cards to Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) beneficiaries to help them avail services in any part of the country, the parliament was told on Wednesday.
 
"It has been decided to issue plastic cards individually to each beneficiary of ...

The government on Wednesday ruled out the rollback of tax cuts offered to various sectors as part of the fiscal stimuli announced earlier and said it intends to bridge the fiscal deficit largely through internal resource mobilisation.
 
"The economy is slowly reviving. There are ...

The central government is determined to bring the fiscal deficit under control,. This information was given by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Tuesday.
 
Addressing economists at a seminar organised by the India Policy Forum, he said the fiscal stimulus ...

The UID head, Nandan Nilekani, on Tuesday approached the petroleum and natural gas ministry to tap the massive database of oil and cooking gas consumers that covers nearly half the population. The ministry assured full cooperation to the former Infosys co-chairman.
 
Nilekani met the ...

The police commissioners of six states have held discussions with the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) to prepare plans for mega city policing needs, parliament was informed on Tuesday.
 
"The police commissioners of six states have held discussions with BPR&D ...

Pradeep Kumar will take over Vijay Singh as the Secretary in the Defence Ministry. Thus information was given in New Delhi on Tuesday. He is currently the Secretary of Defence Production.
 
 According to an official statement, Kumar tenure will before two years from the date he takes ...

The Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Monday said that the existing Companies Act does not provide the government with the power to ask the private sector for providing minorities with jobs.
 
"Despite this, the government has started the process of developing a common ...

According to Nandan Nilekani, chairperson of the newly set-up Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI), the aim of the project is to provide each Indian an identity card. He also added that this will help to eliminate fraud.
 
The new authority would help end ID card duplication by ...

Admitting that the punishments for poaching were "laughable", the government on Monday said it was hoping for "comprehensive" amendments in the law to make it more stringent.
 
"Poaching is a serious issue but the penalties are laughable," Minister of State for ...