The National Policy on Disaster Management has been approved by Union Cabinet on Thursday. This is the skeleton for the holistic handling of various disasters.
 
"The NPDM has been prepared in tune with and in pursuance of the Disaster Management Act, 2005," said an official ...

The Indian government has cleared off three new schemes which will enable the minorities to have drinking water and better urban infrastructure.
 
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, while addressing the media, mentioned that the schemes are part of the Prime Minister's New 15 ...

Government, in an attempt for enhancing the fire and emergency services of the nation, has approved Rs. 200 crore on Thursday.
 
The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The approval for boosting the fire and emergency services of the nation, ...

The union cabinet on Thursday approved the constitution of the 19th Law Commission for a term of three years.
 
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said the terms of reference of the new commission include identification of laws in harmony with the current movement of ...

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni has mentioned that the union cabinet has approved 50% reservation of seats in urban local bodies for women.
 
Soni said the ministry of urban development will move a bill for a constitutional amendment in the next parliamentary session, to ...

Law and Justice Minister Veerappa Moily has mentioned that he will hold talks with the health ministry on the HIV/AIDS bill, since people have been raising concerns about the missing of  "key provisions".
 
Raman Chawla of the Lawyers' Collective along with a six-member panel ...

Wajahat Habibullah, who has resigned as the Chief Information Commissioner of India, will take up his new assignment as the watchdog to the Right To Information in Jammu and Kashmir.
 
According to official sources, Habibullah, a 1968 batch IAS officer, will be joining as the State Chief ...

Union law minister M Veerappa Moily on Monday mentioned that the Central Government will be introducing a bill for ensuring accountability and standard of the judiciary in the winter session of Parliament.
 
"We need to introduce lots of systems to ensure accountability and standard ...

Chhattisgarh government has reviewed the salaries of its state government employees to adhere to the standards of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It has also given one week deadline for the clearing of discrepancies.
 
D.S. Mishra, principal secretary, while addressing the chief ...

The sixth Assam Pay Commission will be paying the 500,000 employees of the state government on a central pay scale.
 
The Pay Commission report has been submitted to the Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
 
"I really don't know the contents and the recommendations of the report, but I ...

UID chief Nandan Nilekani has urged India to come up with a ‘policy on privacy’ stressing that it is important because of increasing fear of people about disclosing personal details in public.
 
The issue of privacy came up when Nileknai was asked about data related to ...

The Chandigargh administration on Wednesday announced that it will introduce e-stamping of the documents in the union territory.
 
"Chandigarh will soon adopt this practice under India Stamp Act and send the draft notification to the union ministry of home affairs," a government ...

According to the latest reports, the Central Government, on Wenesday, mentioned that it has plans for banning prepaid mobile connections in Kashmir for security reasons. This can affect nearly 38 lakh people of the state who use prepaid connections from various operators.
 
Union Home ...

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has once again stressed that the government of India is committed to put an end to the militancy in Jammu and Kashmir by means of a unique solution.
 
Chidambaram, while addressing the All India Editors Conference on Social and Infrastructure in Srinagar, ...

The Uttar Pradesh cabinet has decided on Tuesday to make ragging a cognizable offence.
 
The new law is tentatively titled as 'Ragging in Educational Institutions Ordinance, 2009'. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government had started off with this issue when it gained post during May 2007, ...

The 13th Finance Commission, which handles the tax sharing between the state and central governments, has called for the inclusion of real estate under Goods and Services Tax.
 
"I urge the government to include the construction and housing sectors (real estate) in the GST base either ...

A financial literacy programme was launched on Tuesday in Doddabelavangala in Bangalore Rural district by Governor of Reserve Bank of India, D. Subbarao. This programme is a part of the platinum jubilee celebrations of the RBI and is aimed at accomplishing 100% financial enclosure in ...

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said in Chennai that the unique multi-purpose national identity cards will be made available to the Indian citizens by 2010-2011.
 
About 1.2 crore people of the 3,331 coastal villages and cities will be getting the UID cards this year. The card will be ...

States will be holding a meeting with Union Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, next month for preparing the final draft of the items, which need to be a part of the proposed Goods and Services Tax
 
“We will meet the finance minister on October 8 and then finalise the list,” ...

Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Sunday that Railway Ministry will take the necessary initiatives for upgrading the South Eastern Railway (SER) Hospital to the status of a medical college, with all the facilities.
 
"The SER Hospital will be developed with all modern ...

Government has mentioned that the 13.05 lakh employees of Indian Railways will be receiving productivity-linked bonus for 2008-09, which will be equal to 75 days of their wages.
 
This decision for giving the bonus to the Railway employees was taken during the Union Cabinet meeting, which ...

CBEC Additional Director General of Systems D P Dash said that the new centralised system for the processing of excise as well as service tax will be launched by the end of 2009. This tax system, Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax, a web-based application, will enable the saving of the ...

The Centre has plans for giving away awards for the best initiative in the public private participation model in urban transportation segment.  This decision has been adopted by the government for promoting the use of public transport by people. The Urban Development Ministry, which has ...

The courts across India have been ordered by the Supreme Court to restrict themselves from being rigid, by passing orders that are irrelevant and unnecessary.
 
“We have been coming across several instances, where in their anxiety to do justice courts have gone overboard, which results ...

According to of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Jitin Prasada, India is moving from its traditional annual auction process of its hydrocarbon blocks to Open Acreage Licensing System.
 
"The government of India is moving gradually but inexorably towards the Open Acreage Licensing ...

Home Minister P. Chidambaram inaugurated the Biometric Attendance Control System, which is implemented at the home ministry offices located North Block, Jaisalmer House and Lok Nayak Bhawan. This automated attendance system is aimed at ensuring that employees come to work on time.
 
Taking ...

According to an NGO, the ATM will be made friendlier to the disabled people very soon.
 
The draft on the national Policy on Electronic Accessibility, which has been developed by an NGO, has been approved by the information technology ministry and is waiting for the approval from central ...

The National Commission for Women has launched a NRI cell to deal with the issues related to the cases of abandonment and divorce of women married to overseas Indians as there has been an increase in the number of such cases.
 
The NRI cell is aimed at offering legal help and counselling to ...

The New Foreign Trade Policy has been announced by the Government on Thursday. This comes as a blend of fiscal sops and procedural reforms, which is an attempt towards reviving the merchandise exports, which has witnessed a decline in the past 10 months.  The new foreign trade policy is full ...

Armed with an order from the Himachal Pradesh High Court, Shimla's municipal corporation is to go on a drive to clear encroachments in the city's various markets including the Mall, an official said Wednesday.
 
Municipal Commissioner A.N. Sharma told: "We received orders from the ...