News Analysis India

Tag: Central Government

  • Tarun Bajaj appointed revenue secretary; Ajay Seth new DEA secretary

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Senior bureaucrat Tarun Bajaj was appointed revenue secretary as part of a top-level bureaucratic reshuffle by the Centre on Tuesday.

    Bajaj, a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Haryana cadre, is currently secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA).

    The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved his appointment as secretary, Department of Revenue, a Personnel Ministry order said.

    Ajay Seth will be the new DEA secretary in place of Bajaj.

    Seth, a 1987-batch IAS officer, is currently serving in his cadre state of Karnataka.

    Gyanesh Kumar, additional secretary in the Department of Home, has been appointed as secretary in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs upon superannuation of R S Shukla on April 30, it said.

    Ali Raza Rizvi, special secretary and financial adviser in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, will be secretary in the Department of Public Enterprises, the order said.

    Indevar Pandey, a 1988-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, has been appointed secretary in the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances.

    Pandey is currently special secretary in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.

    Anjali Bhawra has been appointed secretary in the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

    She is at present working as special secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

    Jatindra Nath Swain will be secretary in the Department of Fisheries.

    Swain, a 1988-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, is managing director at the Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd.

    Anil Kumar Jha special secretary in the Department of Revenue has been appointed as secretary in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

     

  • SC issues notice to Centre, Delhi Police on petition to keep Noida-Delhi road clear

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought response from the Central government and Delhi Police Commissioner on a petition filed by a woman resident of Noida seeking direction to ensure that the road between Noida to Delhi is kept clear so that the passage from one place to another is not affected.

    A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul issued notice to Centre and Delhi Police Commissioner on the plea of Monicca Agarwal who alleged that her travel to Delhi is taking two hours instead of the normal 20 minutes.

    “We consider it appropriate to issue notice to the respondents to ensure that the road area is kept clear so that the passage from one place to another is not affected,” the order of the top court stated while posting the matter for hearing on April 9.

    She contended that despite the various directions passed by the apex court to keep the to and fro passage clear (the road), the same had still not happened.

    Being a single parent who has some medical issues, Agarwal said that it has become a nightmare to travel to Delhi. The plea said she stayed and worked in Noida, but since she had a marketing job she had to travel frequently to Delhi.

    “It is her say that she is a single parent and also has some medical issues and it has become a nightmare to travel to Delhi where it is taking two hours instead of the normal 20 minutes. She contends that despite the various directions passed by this Court to keep the to and fro passage clear (the roads), the same still does not happen. We did put to her if it is so, it is an administrative failure as the judicial view has already been propounded by us,” the Bench noted in its order.  

  • Notify health policy for rare diseases by March 31, HC asks Centre; directs setting up of R&D body

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Tuesday asked the Centre to finalise and notify the National Health Policy for Rare Diseases by March 31, and directed it to set up a National Consortium for Research, Development and Therapeutics (NCRDT) for such ailments.

    It also asked the government to consider increasing the budget for rare diseases for the upcoming financial year 2021-22 and said the policy should deal with giving financial incentives for manufacturing drugs and contributing towards treatment of rare diseases.

    Justice Prathiba M Singh, in an interim order on a batch of petitions concerning children suffering from rare diseases, said that as part of the policy, besides the NCRDT, a committee at AIIMS as well as a fund be set up for such ailments.

    It said the consortium should consist of the Department of Biotechnology, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) other related ministries and departments and look after research, the development of indigenous treatment, manufacturing of drugs and inclusion of persons in clinical trials.

    “The National Health Policy for Rare Diseases, 2020 shall be finalised and notified by the Government of India on or before March 31,” the high court directed.

    The high court passed the directions after considering a report filed by an expert committee set up by the court, an affidavit by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and also the earlier orders passed in the matter.

    It said these directions shall form part of the Policy.

    It said the rare diseases committee shall be set up at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for examination of applications and recommend the treatment and funding of the rare illnesses.

    The court said when the application will be received by AIIMS, a decision has to be taken by the committee within two weeks and in case, an application is received through other institutions notified under the Policy, the decision on treatment and funding has to be taken by the panel within four weeks.

    It directed that the entire unspent budget allocated for rare diseases for the past three years shall be immediately moved into the rare diseases fund, which shall be managed, supervised and utilised by nodal agency AIIMS.

    The digital platform created under the Policy for receiving crowd funding shall be linked to the fund and those individuals and companies wishing to contribute shall make direct contributions into it.

    The court said the Policy shall be placed before it and the petitioners shall make a representation to the Committee for further processes in terms of the directions and listed the matter for further hearing on April 19.

    It also asked the petitioners, suffering from rare diseases, to make representations to the committee regarding the treatment.

    The high court had earlier constituted an expert committee to assess and find solutions on various aspects, including how to immediately provide treatment and therapy options to patients suffering from rare diseases including Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and Hunter’s syndromes.

    It had said the committee shall also discuss steps to be taken to indigenise the development of the therapies in India and reasonable timelines required to be followed thereof.

    DMD, one of the various forms of muscular dystrophy, is a rare genetic disease that affects boys almost exclusively and causes progressive weakness.

    The high court’s order came on various pleas filed on behalf of children suffering from rare diseases, including DMD and Mucopolysaccharidosis II or MPS II (Hunter Syndrome), and seeking direction to the Centre to provide them uninterrupted and free of cost treatment as the therapy is very expensive.

    MPS II is a rare disease that is passed on in families and it mainly affects boys and their bodies cannot break down a kind of sugar that builds bones, skin, tendons and other tissues.

    The high court had earlier also directed the Centre to finalise by March 31 its new National Health Policy for Rare Diseases of 2020 and make operational the digital platform envisaged under it for crowd funding of the expensive medicines and treatment for rare illnesses.

    The court had also noted in its order that the earlier policy on rare diseases of 2017 was kept in abeyance from December 2018 onwards and the new policy was still awaiting comments from the public and other stakeholders.

     

  • SC notice to Centre on plea raising issue of exclusion of female candidates from joining NDA

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Wednesday sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea which has raised the issue of exclusion of eligible and willing female candidates from joining the prestigious National Defence Academy (NDA) solely on the ground of sex which allegedly is a violation of the fundamental right of equality.

    The plea has sought a direction to the concerned authorities to allow eligible female candidates to appear in the National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination’ and train at the NDA.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde issued notices to the Centre, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and others seeking their responses on the plea which said “the categorical exclusion of eligible female candidates from entering the National Defence Academy is not constitutionally justifiable and is simply done on the basis of their sex.”

    The bench, also comprising justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, allowed a separate application filed by a Uttar Pradesh based woman seeking impleadment in the matter.

    The plea filed by advocate Kush Kalra has referred to the February last year landmark verdict in which the apex court had directed that women officers in the Army be granted permanent commission and command postings.

    The plea said that authorities allow unmarried male candidates having adequate 10+2 qualification to take the “National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination’, but eligible and willing female candidates are not allowed to take the examination on the sole ground of their sex and without any reasonable or justifiable explanations within the four corners of the Constitution.

    It alleged that this act of discrimination is a “dishonour committed” by the concerned authorities to the constitutional values of equality and non-discrimination.

    “The act of the respondents to categorically exclude eligible and willing female candidates from appearing for the National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination over the years, solely on the ground of sex, is a violation of the fundamental right of equality before the law and equal protection of the law,” it said.

    It said that eligible female candidates having adequate 10+2 level of education are denied the opportunity to take the examination on the ground of their sex and the consequence of this denial is that they do not have access to any mode of entry to join the armed forces as officers at this level.

    “Whereas, equally and similarly situated male candidates with 10+2 level of education have the opportunity to take the examination and after qualifying join the National Defence Academy to get trained to be commissioned as permanent commissioned officers in the Indian armed forces,” the plea said.

    “The categorical exclusion of women to train at the National Defence Academy and get commissioned into the armed forces of the country as permanent commissioned officers solely on the basis of their sex is a denial of the fundamental right to practice any profession and it is not justifiable within the contours of the Indian Constitution,” it said.

    It said that UPSC conducts the ‘National Defence Academy & Naval Academy Examination’ and as per eligibility criteria, any unmarried male candidate with the required educational qualification and aged between 15-18 years can appear in it.

    It said that the candidate, on qualifying the exam and on successful completion of training at the NDA and subsequent training at the respective academy of the service the cadet opts for, gets commissioned into the service as a permanent commissioned officer by the age of 19-22 years old.

    “This opportunity to take the National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination at the age of 15-18 years, with the eligible academic qualifications is not available to eligible and willing female candidates and the sole reason for this categorical exclusion is on the basis of their sex,” the plea said.

    It claimed that duration of training for the Short Service Commission women officers is very less compared to the training that a male permanent commission officer, who gets entry through the NDA, gains.

    The plea alleged that denying equal opportunity under the law by not allowing eligible and willing female candidates to appear in the examination “should not be used to perpetuate and continue the legal, social and economic inferiority of women.”

    “Therefore, the state, having control over the opportunity to allow women entry into the National Defence Academy have no constitutional right to exclude eligible and qualified individuals from joining the National Defence Academy, getting trained in the most premier institute of military education and training in the country and developing and transforming themselves into inspiring and motivating leaders in the armed forces solely based on the wrong and flawed notions of gender roles and weaker sex perpetuated by the society,” the plea said.

  • Corona vaccine will not be implemented on 27 and 28 February, the central government gave instructions

    Corona will not be vaccinated on February 27 and 28. The central government directed the states to stop vaccination due to updating the Kovid portal. At the same time, in the country from 1 March, the 50-year-old elderly will start getting vaccinated.
    The central government has also included 45 years of seriously ill people in it. For all the processes, the Center has updated the Kovin app and named it Kovin-2. Its link will also be available in the Arogya Setu app.
    The code found in it will also be able to get the certificate after the vaccine. At the same time, after the registration of the facility, citizens will be able to get the vaccine in any state. The Health Department of Chhattisgarh has identified 30 lakh elderly and about 5 lakh patients with critical illness.

    The responsibility of registration and vaccination is given to Mitanin and ANM. 3 thousand centers will be built in Chhattisgarh. Apart from this, private hospitals have also been given vaccination permission. The Center has banned the operation of the vaccination program on 27-27 February to the states. The Cowin app will be updated in these two days.

  • The central government had approved 1.48 lakh gunny bags but only 1.08 lakh gunny bags were supplied: Amarjeet Bhagat

    Food Minister Amarjeet Bhagat requested the central government to allow FCI to use gunny bags received from the old / public distribution system. He mentioned in a letter to Union Minister Piyush Goyal that 1.48 lakh jute gunny bags had been approved by the Central Government, but only 1.08 lakh gunny bags were supplied. FCI is denying the use of gunny from the old / public distribution system. Due to shortage of gunny bags of new jute, the Central Government had allowed permission to deposit rice in old / PDS gunny bags with FCI / State Procurement Agencies. Contrary to this permission, FCI is not procuring rice in gunny bags of old / public distribution system. The Central Government had written a letter on 20 October 2020 permitting the use of old used gunny bags in the event of shortage in the supply of gunny bags.

  • No plans to enact nationwide anti-conversion law to curb interfaith marriages: Govt

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: The central government does not intend bringing in any anti-conversion law for curbing inter-faith marriages, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. 

    When asked if the government believes that inter-faith marriages are happening due to forceful conversions, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kishan Reddy said forceful conversions are primarily a concern of the various state governments and Union Territories.

    “Public order and ‘Police’ are state subjects as per the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. Hence prevention, detection, registration, investigation and prosecution of offences related to conversions are primarily the concerns of the state governments/Union Territory administrations. Action is taken as per existing laws by the law enforcing agencies whenever instances of violation come to notice,” Reddy said in a written reply. 

    The question comes in the backdrop of the controversial anti-conversion laws introduced by the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

    Since the law was passed, there have been controversial arrests, mostly of Muslim men, who have been accused of trying to forcibly convert Hindu women for marriage. 

    The governments of Assam and Karnataka have also announced that they would soon bring in a similar law to curb inter-faith marriages.

    Notably, all the above-mentioned states are ruled by BJP. Last month, Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow bench had ruled that it should be optional rather than mandatory for an inter-faith couple to give a prior notice of 30 days to a marriage officer to register their wedding under the Special Marriage Act of 1954.

  • Central government took care of all sections of society in budget: Bhanu Singh Parmar

    BJP leader Bhanu Singh Parmar has said that the budget has been taken care of by all sections of the society. This budget will develop remote rural areas as well as the people residing therein. Parmar has said that this budget is historic in the interest of villages, poor, farmers, laborers, workers working in defense of the country, workers of organized and unorganized sectors, small businessmen, taxpayers and housewives.

  • Bhupesh Baghel said, the central government is following our plans

    The central government has launched paint made of cow dung in the past. On this occasion, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has taken on BJP leaders before leaving for Maharashtra. Bhupesh Baghel said that we will give as much cow dung to the central government, our cow dung procurement system remains. The central government is following our plans. If the central government buys cow dung for 5 rupees then the farmers will get the benefit. CM Baghel said that some people were laughing at our plans, talking about making cow dung a state symbol. Now such people have dung on their faces.

  • Central government launches paint made of cow dung, CM Bhupesh tightens, cow dung on the face of those who make cow dung a state emblem.

    Bhupesh Baghel has left for Maharashtra. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel will be on a two-day stay in Maharashtra from today. Before leaving for Maharashtra, CM Bhupesh Baghel has lashed out at BJP leaders. Actually, the central government has launched paint made of cow dung, on which the statement of CM Bhupesh has come out. CM said that we will give as much cow dung to the central government, our cow dung procurement system has been in place. The central government is following our plans.

    If the central government buys cow dung for 5 rupees then the farmers will get the benefit. Taking a dig at the BJP leaders of Chhattisgarh, the Chief Minister said that some people were laughing at our plans, talking about making cow dung a state symbol. Now such people have dung on their faces. On the Corona vaccination, CM Bhupesh Baghel said that the first line warriors of the country will get vaccinated, the vaccine will be available to the public by the month of February. At the same time, he questioned the central government that now tell whether the common man will get free vaccine or not.

    From there, Malpani lawn will reach Sangamner at 12.50 pm by car and will participate in the Jayanti Festival program. After the CM Baghel program, he will visit Shirdi Sai Baba temple by helicopter at 3.40 pm. The Chief Minister will leave Sai Baba International Airport at Shirdi at 5.15 pm and will come to Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur at 6 pm. CM Baghel will take a night’s rest in Nagpur.volume_upcontent_copysharestar_border