New Delhi [India], August 12 (ANI): Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country's largest insurer, on Friday said its net profit jumped to Rs 682.88 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, sharply higher than a mere Rs 2.94 crore net profit recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year.

New Delhi [India], August 8 (ANI) There is a need to bring in a new and comprehensive law to deal with child adoption that makes the process smoother as well as more accountable, a parliamentary panel that examined the sensitive subject has felt.

New Delhi [India], July 25 (ANI): Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff, on Monday, announced his new action entertainer film 'Screw Dheela'.

New Delhi Mar 28 PTI A parliamentary committee has asked the Department of Personnel and Training to shun its assumption and open up possibilities for officials of the legislative and judicial wings to serve the executive wingIn its report tabled in the parliament recently the panel said the Union government should restructure and align its personnel requirement in line with its current and future challengesIn view of increasing role and responsibilities of the Union government the committee recommends the Department of Personnel and Training DoPT to make advanced projections and align its human resource architecture so as to meet its future requirements it saidWhile doing so the department may attempt to increase the number of Union government personnel per lakh population the panel said highlighting the finding from a seventh central pay commission report that the total number of federalUnion government personnel per lakh of population in India and the US is 139 and 668 respectivelyThe committee is not satisfied with the explanation offered by DoPT that posts manned through central staffing scheme are of specialised executive nature and that it is not appropriate to draw officials from other wings of the government the report saidThe panel said it is of the view that this explanation is basically flawed as it is based on the assumption that officials serving other wings of the Union government lack skills competency and aptitude required for these postsAlso when the officials of the executive wing can man certain posts in the legislative and judicial wings why the reverse of the same is not possible asked the panel headed by BJPs Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi in its report tabled in parliament on ThursdayThe committee recommends DoPT to shun its assumption and open up possibilities for the officials of the legislative and judicial wings to serve the executive wing said the report of department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel Public Grievances Law and Justice on demands for grants 2022-23 pertaining to the Department of Personnel and TrainingKeeping in view acute shortage of bureaucrats at the middle and entry levels the committee in its 106th report recommended the Ministry of Personnel to expand the scope of central staffing scheme to include all levels of bureaucracy and reframe the eligibility conditions to cover the officers of all organs of the Union government including the legislature judiciary autonomous and constitutional bodies among othersIn response to the committees recommendation the ministry stated that the positions within the central government that are manned through central staffing scheme are that of specialised executive nature where officers with appropriate experience aptitude and suitability are drawn and postedExpanding the scope of central staffing scheme to non-executive branches of the government therefore may not be wholly appropriate the report saidIn its 108th report the committee has asked the ministry as to why officers from non-executive branches of government cannot be trained on the same lines as outside experts inducted through lateral entry scheme especially when the former have an advantage over the latter as they know a thing or two about the functioning of the Union governmentHowever the ministry reiterated its response PTI AKV SRY

New Delhi Mar 27 PTI Asserting that the Election Commission EC should have optimum manpower a parliamentary committee has sought views of the government and the poll panel on appointing regional commissioners to help the EC in the 2024 Lok Sabha electionsThere is a provision in the Constitution to appoint regional commissioners to assist the EC in various elections During the first Lok Sabha elections in 1951 regional commissioners were appointed for six months in Bombay and Patna After that there was no such deploymentIn its report on Demands for Grants 2022-23 for the legislative department in the Union law ministry the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Personnel said that it has taken note of constitutional provisions and also the submission by the EC stating regional commissioners may be appointed by the President of India if requiredHowever after the first general elections they were not appointed the committee observedThe committee is of the view that ECI should have optimal level of manpower as per its requirements and accordingly recommends the Legislative DepartmentElection Commission of India to submit its views on the appointment of regional commissioners for the forthcoming general elections to the Lok Sabha in the year 2024 the committee headed by Sushil Modi saidThe legislative department is the nodal agency in the government to deal with issues relating to the ECThe report was tabled in Parliament last week in the ongoing Budget sessionArticle 324 of the Constitution deals with the Election Commission and one of its provisions refers to regional commissionersAccording to Article 3244 before each general election to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assembly of each State and before the first general election and thereafter before each biennial election to the Legislative Council of each State having such Council the President may also appoint after consultation with the Election Commission such Regional Commissioners as he may consider necessary to assist the Election Commission in the performance of the functions conferred on the Commission The poll panel secretariat here relies on its chief electoral officers in every state to help it hold free fair and peaceful polls The chief electoral officers are often called the limbs of the EC PTI NAB IJT

New Delhi Mar 25 PTI A parliamentary standing committee has asked the DoPT to inform it why the National Recruitment Agency NRA has not seen the light of the day despite having been allotted a budget of Rs 396 crore for 2022-23 The NRA mandated to conduct online exams to screen government job aspirants was given an approval in 2020 by the union cabinet the panel said in its report The Committee also notes that NRA has utilised Rs 5832 crore in 2021-22 and an outlay of Rs 396 crore has been earmarked in BE 2022-23 However NRA has not seen the light of the day yet it said The report -- Demands for Grants 2022-23 -- was put together by the standing committee on Personnel Public Grievances Law and Justice of the Department of Personnel and Training DoPT In its report tabled in Parliament on Thursday the committee asked the DoPT to inform it by when the NRA will become fully functional The NRA was set up as an autonomous and self-reliant body to conduct a Common Eligibility Test CET to shortlist candidates for vacancies of Group B non-gazetted posts Group B gazetted posts Group C posts in the government and equivalent posts through a computer-based Tier-I examination the report saidThe agency was also mandated to conduct a separate CET for graduate higher secondary 12th and matriculate candidates for such non-technical posts as those filled by the Staff Selection Commission SSC the Railway Recruitment Boards RRBs and the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection IBPS through their recruitment process it said The NRA the report said then is supposed to share CET scores with the SSC RRB and IBPS for next level examinations The scores obtained by the candidate in the CET will be valid for three years and the highest score obtained in the last three years will be considered at the next level of recruitment process said the report of the panel headed by BJPs Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi Thus candidates can appear in multiple Tier-II and onward examinations as long as their score is valid and they are shortlisted by recruitment bodies it added PTI AKV AKV VN VN

New Delhi Mar 24 PTI A Parliamentary panel on Thursday said due to the delays in appointment of judges a recent phenomenon has emerged where many lawyers have refused to become part of the higher judiciaryIt also observed that the judicial system of the country is plagued with perennial problems of vacancy and pendency especially at the high court level and there is no end in sight for these problemsIn its report on Demands for Grants 2022-23 for Department of Justice in Law Ministry the Parliamentary committee on Law and Personnel said vacancies have a natural fallout on pendency of cases The figures regarding vacancies and pendency are staggering One has to acknowledge that the existing process is not working and it overwhelms us completely it needs to be re-engineered the report saidThe Committee said it fails to understand that when the date of a vacancy is known the day a judge assumes charge then why should there be a huge delay first in sending recommendations by the collegium and then its processing by the governmentThe committee has also observed a recent phenomenon that because of delays in appointments many lawyers have started saying no to such appointments No respectable lawyer is prepared to wait ad infinitum indefinitely and thus there have been spate of refusals by them it notedIn a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Thursday the government said as on March 16 against the sanctioned strength of 1104 judges in the 25 high courts 699 judges are in position leaving 405 vacancies PTI NAB NAB SK SK

New Delhi Mar 24 PTI Mentioning the hardships faced by student community during the first and second COVID-19 wave a parliamentary committee on Thursday asked the government to change its mind and sympathetically consider the demand of civil services examination aspirants and grant an extra attempt with corresponding age relaxation to themThe committee is of the opinion that COVID-19 has caused untold agony and insurmountable sufferings to many the panel said in its report tabled in the parliamentThe whole of India had come to a standstill lives and livelihoods got disrupted and the student community was also adversely affected it saidKeeping in view the hardships faced by the student community during the first and second COVID-19 waves the committee recommends the government to change its mind and sympathetically consider the demand of civil services examination CSE aspirants and grant an extra attempt with corresponding age relaxation to all candidates the report saidAsked if the Union Public Service Commission is considering giving an extra attempt and benefit of age relaxation for all candidates in view of the havoc wreaked by the first and second COVID-19 waves the commission replied that the issue of granting age relaxation and extra attempt to the candidates due to the pandemic had been brought before the Supreme Court of India vide writ petitions filed by the aspirantsBased on the judgements passed by the apex court the matter has been considered and it has not been found feasible to change the existing provisions regarding number of attempts and age-limit in respect of the civil services examination the report had said quoting the reply of the commissionIn view of above no such proposal is under consideration in this department said the report of the department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel Public Grievances Law and Justice on Demands for Grants 2022-23 of the Department of Personnel and TrainingThe panel headed by BJPs Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi asked the government to appoint an expert group or committee to assess the impact of changes made in the scheme pattern and syllabus of civil services examination in the last 10 years on the quality of recruitment and administration at largeThe expert group so constituted may assess if the present scheme of recruitment provides an equal opportunity to both English-medium educated urban candidates and non-English medium educated rural candidates it saidThe expert group may also assess if the existing pattern of preliminary and mains examination has created a level playing field for all candidates irrespective of their academic background the report saidThe civil services examination is conducted annually in three stages -- preliminary main and interview -- to select officers of Indian Administrative Service IAS Indian Foreign Service IFS and Indian Police Service IPS among othersThe committee in its report said changing the number of vacancies at different stages of civil services examination is not a healthy practiceThe committee recommends UPSC to ensure that vacancies declared at the time of announcement of result of preliminary examination should remain constant throughout the recruitment cycle it saidThe committee notes from the data made available to it that during 2010 2011 2012 2013 and 2019 civil services recruitment the number of vacancies notified at the stage of preliminary examination were different from those notified at main and final stagesFor instance in 2010 965 vacancies had been declared at the time of notification 1014 vacancies at time of declaration of preliminary result 1064 vacancies at the time of declaration of main result and 1043 in the final result the report saidThe committee feels that if 1043 vacancies had been declared at the time of announcement of preliminary result itself more candidates would have got an opportunity to appear in mains examination and consequently the final result would have been different it saidPTI AKV SRY

New Delhi Mar 24 PTI A parliamentary panel on Thursday said the Union Agriculture Ministry is far from ensuring doubling the income of farmers and pointed out that incomes have rather fallen in some states like Jharkhand Madhya Pradesh Nagaland and Odisha between 2015-16 and 2018-19 The committee has recommend the ministry to form a special team to figure out the reasons for falling farmers income in these states and take corrective steps The Standing Committee on Agriculture Animal Husbandry and Food Processing presented its report in Parliament on Thursday related to Demand of Grants for Ministry of Agriculture It is a fact that many departments organisations and ministries of Government of India are responsible for doubling of income of each and every farmers of this country within a fixed time frame the report said However the panel said that there is no denial that major task for doubling of income of farmers lies with the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare It appears from the reply furnished by the department that the department is far from doubling the income of farmers rather in some states between 2015-16 and 2018-19 ie in four years like Jharkhand it has come down from Rs 7068 to Rs 4895 for Madhya Pradesh it has come down from Rs 9740 to Rs 8339 for Nagaland it has come down from Rs 11428 to Rs 9877 for Odisha it has come down from Rs 5274 to Rs 5112 the report said This has happened when monthly agricultural household income of the country has been increased from Rs 8059 to Rs 10218 as per Situation Assessment Survey carried out by the National Statistical Organization for all India the panel said and opined that the achievement was praise worthy However the panel questioned why in some states monthly household income declined between 2015-16 and 2018-19 when the lot of farmers perhaps remained the same or increased elsewhere and whether the Department of Agriculture remained a mute spectator The committee therefore recommend that the department should formulate a special team to figure out the reasons for falling farmers income in those states and take some course corrective measures so that the doubling of farmers income is not lost sight of the report said Citing the reply of the department the panel said that it was found that funds have been surrendered amounting to Rs 3451770 crore Rs 2382454 crore and Rs 958686 crore during 2019-20 2020-21 and 2021-22 respectively That means Rs 6792910 crore have been surrendered by the department in these years without spending The panel said that the surrender of funds is not at all a healthy practice which it said was mainly on account of less requirement under NES North Eastern States SCSP Schedule Caste Sub-Plan and Tribal Area Sub-Plan TASP components The committee express displeasure over surrender of funds The committee therefore recommend the department to identify reasons avoidable for surrender of funds and take corrective measures to ensure that the funds are utilised fully properly and efficiently the report said On Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna PMFBY the panel said that the department should review the implementation of the scheme at regular intervals to assess the demand situation and funds requirement The committee also asked the department to look into the reasons for non-implementation of the scheme by certain states and take necessary measures and attempt to address them in the best possible manner It also asked the department to ensure that the scheme is made more attractive and beneficial to the farmers especially in those states that are prone to natural calamities so that farmers in all parts of the country have the opportunity to get benefits of the PMFBY scheme PTI MJH HVA HVA

New Delhi Mar 24 PTI A parliamentary standing committee has sought to know why despite requisite measures people were dying while cleaning sewers and septic tanks as it stressed plugging loopholes in policies for their rehabilitation without delayAccording to official data 325 people died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks during the last five yearsA parliamentary standing committee report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday said it is unable to comprehend the reasons why the initiatives of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment were not making the requisite impactThere are various schemes such as skill development programme loans at concessional rates credit-linked upfront capital subsidy implemented by the department to stop manual scavengingThe committee is surprised to note that despite all these measures deaths of persons while cleaning sewer and septic tanks continues even today it saidThe panel mentioned that it believes the National Action Plan for mechanized Ecosystem initiated in coordination with the line ministries would help ease out the problem of manual cleaning once all municipal bodies are made aware of the same and encouraged to implement mechanical cleaningIn the report the committee noted that it would like the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment to set up a mechanism for periodic scrutiny of the scheme as there is a strong need to plug loopholes affecting its efforts without further delayThe committee would also like the budgetary allocation meant for the implementation of the schemes to be enhanced instead of reducing them at the revised stage it saidThe parliamentary panel also expressed disappointment over the department spend only Rs 287342 crore on various welfare schemes administered by them till December 31 2021 out of the revised estimate of Rs 10180 crore during the year 2021-22Noting the reasons submitted by the department for the slow pace of expenditure the panel stated that while cooperation from state governments is a time-taking process the department should have been more proactive to obtain orders for the continuation of various schemesNevertheless assuming that the ball has now been set rolling the committee hopes that the initiatives taken by the department would certainly streamline the system and provide maximum benefit to the needy beneficiaries with funds releasing on time leaving no scope for their misuse The panel observed that the budget of the department was downsized at the revised estimate stage in the last two years as the budget estimate of Rs 1010357 crore and Rs 1051762 crore was reduced to Rs 820756 crore and Rs 10180 crore at a revised stage during 2020-21 and 2021-22 respectivelyThe committee is concerned that even a reduced budget was not utilized fully it said PTI UZM NSD