Heena Sharma Blog

Seven central ministries and departments have not earmarked funds for tribal welfare schemes in their budget for 2019-20 and 12 have "kept the provision below the level stipulated by the Niti Aayog", officials said Wednesday. In 2017, the Niti Aayog developed new guidelines obligating 41 central ministries and departments to earmark funds for "Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribes" (DAPST), earlier known as Tribal Sub-Plan. An official said the guidelines were finalized in January 2019, which means complete adherence cannot be ensured this financial year. "Since the ministries decide their allocations for various schemes by November-December and the guidelines were finalised in January, any corrective action is possible next year only," the official said. The guidelines state that the 41 identified ministries and departments have to earmark at least 4.3 per cent funds for DAPST. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday cited a purported “dissent note” by some officials who negotiated the Rafale deal to assert that it demolished Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim of better pricing and faster delivery of the jets, and dismissed the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report on the multi-billion pact as a “cover-up” that was “not worth the paper” it was written on. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) responded by demanding an apology from Rahul Gandhi, as the CAG had said in its report that the National Democratic Alliance deal was 2.86 per cent cheaper than the United Progressive Alliance one. At a press conference, the Congress chief said even though he did not agree with the CAG’s submission, it still called the bluff of Modi, then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who had told Parliament that the new deal was 9-20 per cent lower. “ The fact of the matter is that the new deal that… Modi signed gets In...

The BJP headquarters in Delhi wore a relatively deserted look on Tuesday, even as Congress workers celebrated their party's good show in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh at its headquarters. ALSO READ: Chhattisgarh, MP polls result LIVE: BJP suffers 'humiliating' defeat in CG The Delhi Police erected barricades near the BJP headquarters at ITO in the morning as a precautionary measure to manage crowd, expecting the arrival of party workers following the results of assembly polls in five states. However, BJP workers did not turn up at party headquarters on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, even as celebrations broke out at Congress headquarters on Akbar Road. Trends showed the Congress ahead in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and locked in a tantalising, see-saw battle in Madhya Pradesh.    Read More Business Standard

The monsoon session of Parliament has seen the first no-trust motion faced by the Modi govt in its 4-year rule. PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi will speak in Friday's debate. Catch all the live updates here Politics News : The Lok Sabha on Friday took up a no-confidence motion against the government for debate and voting, two days after the start of the monsoon session. Top guns of the Opposition and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took part in the debate, which will conclude with a reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi . Congress President Rahul Gandhi also gave a fiery speech during the debate.    Seven hours have been set aside for the debate, which began shortly after 11 am and will continue without any lunch break.  The Modi government is expected to have a smooth sailing. In the 545-member (including the Speaker) Lok Sabha, the BJP-led NDA can bank on around 311 members, including the 273 of the BJP, Shiromani Akali Dal's (SAD's) 4, Shiv Sena's 18, ...