New Delhi Mar 28 PTI Union Minister Bhupender Yadav on Monday told Lok Sabha that there has been an increase in the rate of employment as the government has taken satisfactory and proper steps for itAn increase in the employment rate as well as employment opportunities can be seen if the periodic labour force survey PLFS and another survey conducted by the Labour Bureau is matched with the employees provident fund organisation EPFO pay roll data the minister said while replying to a question in the House The Labour and Employment minister attributed the increase in the employment rate and opportunities to a number schemes and other programmes launched by the Union government under various ministries and departmentsVarious schemes and programmes are being run by the government under different ministries the minister said during Question HourHe listed some of these schemes including Make in India Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation National Smart Cities Mission PM Awas Yojna PM Gati Shakti Swaccha Bharat AbhiyanIf we match these programmes PLFS labour bureau survey and EPFO pay roll then satisfactory and proper programmes have been done by the government he addedThe minister said PLFS surveys indicate that the unemployment rate is declining in the country and people are getting jobsThe labour ministry has also started carrying out survey in nine main sectors including manufacturing information technology education and hospitality and the survey outcomes show much increase in the rate of employment he said PTI PK PK TDS TDS

New Delhi Mar 25 PTI JDU leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh on Friday objected to Law Minister Kiren Rijijus reply in Lok Sabha to a question on voting rights of prisoners saying he should be mindful of facts and sensitivity of questions while answering themThis came after the minister while replying to a question by LJSP member Chandan Singh said every elector has the right to vote in elections in the country and those in prisons are also encouraged to vote but voting cannot be made compulsory for the electorsMinister said that anyone either in jail or out of jail has right to vote In my understanding it is beyond facts Rajiv Singh who is also the JDU president said while objecting to the ministers reply during the Question Hour When a person is sent to judicial custody his fundamental rights are seized and voting is a fundamental right he saidSo I want to request the minister that a sensitive answer should be given for sensitive questions Rajiv Singh saidResponding to the JDU members statement Rijiju said all citizens are equal for the government and he cannot say as the law minister that undertrials do not have voting rightWhen a matter is subjudiced we cannot comment the minister said adding that people contest elections from behind bars and also winWhat would you say on that Rijiju asked the JDU leader PTI PK PK ANB ANB

New Delhi Jan 21 PTI Information and Broadcasting secretary Apurva Chandra on Friday defended the Centres proposal to amend the IAS Cadre Rules saying working with both -- the Centre and state governments -- not just broadens the perspective of officers but also serves the purpose of the all India services He said that the Indian Administrative Service IAS officers cannot always remain posted in the states as it does not work well either for the service or the officers Working with the government of India gives you a very broad perspective Serving in states and coming back to the government of India departmentsministries is essential for officers for their personal development They will perform better even in states and in subsequent career in government of India Chandra told reporters when asked for his comments on the row over Centres proposal to amend IAS Cadre Rules 1954 If you IAS officers remain in a state you develop provincial mindset Then there is no difference between the state service officers and the IAS officer what is the difference between a provincial service officer and an IAS officer if you remain in state except that you get faster promotion he added Referring to his personal experience Chandra said that he has been hugely benefitted with his tenures at the centre in various capacities and his cadre state Maharastra in his career so far I first came to government of India and spent four and half years in the ministry of petroleum I was appointed as Commissioner of Sugar in Maharashtra when I went back to state Because I was part of ethanol blending programe durign my stint at the Centre I could use that experience to push all the sugar factories in Maharashtra towards ethanol blendingwhich helped the sugar factories of Maharashtra to a great extent he said He said that his experiences during his stint in Maharashtra as principal secretary of the Industries department helped him hugely when he was posted in the Ministry of Defence This is absolutely essential because you develop a broader perspective you take something from government of India to the state and bring something to government of india from the state That is how our all India services are structured he said adding Otherwise what is the difference between our service and any other service The Depatment of Personnel and Training DoPT recently proposed changes in the IAS Cadre Rules 1954 that will take away the power of states to override New Delhis request for seeking officers on central deputation West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the proposed amendment insisting that it would create a fear psychosis among officers and impact their performance It is still a recommendation It has gone to the state governments for their comments Discussion process is on But the point is that it has to work both ways You cant have consent all the time Chandra said when asked for his comments He said that officers of some cadres like Maharashtra do not want to come Delhi Only 20 officers from Maharashtra are there in government of India posting against the quota of 93there has to be some level playing field Everybody has to do certain work at the level of government of India as well as the state government This is my personal view he added PTI PK PK TIR TIR

New Delhi Dec 30 PTI The Arvind Kejriwal government on Thursday demanded that the Centre allocate funds to Delhi municipal corporations also as it does in the case of the civic bodies in states Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia raised the demand at a pre-budget consultation called by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman the Delhi government said in a statement The national capital is the face of the country but today the municipal corporations in Delhi are facing acute shortage of funds and are not able to maintain the cleanliness and development in the capital Therefore funds should be provided to the municipal corporations of Delhi like funds are provided to civic bodies in other states the statement quoted Sisodia as saying in the meeting The Deputy chief minister noted that the 15th Finance Commission allocated grant-in-aid of Rs 436361 crore for the local bodies for 2021-2026 But the local bodies of NCT of Delhi were omitted from this on a technical ground that only states are covered under the scheme This does not help the constitutional mandate of strengthening the local bodies he contended At the meeting Sisodia also demanded that the Union government increase the central assistance for Delhi to Rs 2020 crore in the next budget For the last 21 years Delhi has been getting only Rs 325 crore out of the central tax Now it is necessary that the central government increase it The Central assistance used to be 514 per cent of Delhis budget 21 years ago It has now come down to 09 per cent he said When its comes to giving funds to municipal corporations of Delhi Delhi government is is asked to follow the Finance Commission like other states do But when the Delhi government asks for funds from the Finance Commission it is told that Delhi is a Union territory and thus its share in central taxes cannot be raised he said demanding that this contradiction must be addressed by the Central governmentThe Deputy Chief Minister also urged the Centre to provide funds to the Delhi Development Authority DDA so that it can set up charging points for e-vehicles in the national capital Kejriwal government has brought an e-vehicle policy to remove Delhis pollution But it will be successful only if we make more and more charging points Since DDA has land in Delhi it can set up charging points The central government should support the DDA with funds for the same he said PTI PK PK TIR TIR

New Delhi Dec 21 PTI The information and broadcasting ministry on Tuesday said in a closely coordinated effort with intelligence agencies it has ordered blocking of 20 YouTube channels and two websites as they were spreading anti-India propaganda and fake newsOn Monday the ministry issued two orders one directing video sharing platform YouTube to block the 20 channels and the other for blocking of the news websitesThe channels and the websites belong to a coordinated disinformation network operating from Pakistan and spreading fake news about various sensitive subjects related to India the information and broadcasting ministry said in a statement on TuesdayThe channels were used to post divisive content in a coordinated manner on topics like Kashmir Indian army minority communities in India Ram Mandir General Bipin Rawat etc it saidThe modus operandi of the anti-India disinformation campaign involved the Naya Pakistan Group NPG operating from Pakistan which has a network of YouTube channels and some other standalone YouTube channels not related to NPG the statement saidIn a closely coordinated effort between intelligence agencies and the ministry of information and broadcasting the ministry on Monday ordered blocking of 20 channels on YouTube and two websites spreading anti-India propaganda and fake news on the internet it saidThrough two separate orders one for 20 YouTube channels directing YouTube and the other for two news websites requesting department of telecom to direct the internet service providers for blocking of the news channelsportals the statement said PTI PK PK ANB ANB

New Delhi Oct 27 PTI Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal from Thursday will be on a two-day visit to poll-bound Punjab during which he will meet farmers and businessmen of the stateThe AAP which is the main opposition party in Punjab is keen on contesting all 117 assembly seats in the elections in the state next year and hopes to emerge victorious and form its government On the first day of his visit Kejriwal will meet farmers in Mansa and have a dialogue with them co-in charge of the AAPs political affairs in Punjab Raghav Chadha said on WednesdayKejriwal will visit Bhatinda on Friday and meet with businessmen he addedThis is Kejriwals second visit to Punjab this month in the run-up to the state assembly polls due to be held early next yearFarmers and businessmen in Punjab are having a hard time The successive governments have given them false hope All political parties have only deceived them Chadha said in a video message in Punjabi Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal is coming to Punjab tomorrow on a two-day visit he said PTI PK PK ANB ANB

New Delhi Oct 22 PTI Telecom regulator TRAI Friday said some broadcasters are exploiting the freedom available for a-la-carte pricing of TV channels and warned that it will keep a strict watch on them and not shy away from taking action in the larger interest of consumers and the sectorWith an increase in TV channel subscription rates impending the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India TRAI said in a statement that the new tariff recently announced by these leading broadcasters reflects their intention to raise the prices of driver and popular channelsDriver channels include general entertainment channels GEC and sports channelsThe telecom regulator however did not name any broadcasterMoreover a sustained misleading campaign is being run to create an impression that the impending price increase is due to the NTO 20 new tariff order and broadcast regulationsIt is being publicised that anyevery consumer who opts top GEC channels or sports channels will end-up paying an extra amount of Rs 100 the TRAI saidThis is a fictional pretention as the NTO 20 does not entail or prescribe any condition for increasing prices it saidTRAI is aware that prices of some of the channels announced by the broadcasters are unsustainable as these are not demand driven or market determined prices and are against the interest of consumers the regulator saidThe price hike has been announced by broadcasters on their own in the garb of complying to the NTO 20 which is not true and rather an attempt to defeat the purpose of the NTO 20 that has already benefited the consumers to a large extent it addedThe TRAI said the purpose of the amendments to regulations for broadcasting for cable services sector was to ensure that no service provider corners undue gains and profiteers at the expense of consumersIt is important to note that the channel pricing remained under prescribed ceiling for 15 years since 2004 it saidHowever the new framework provided freedom to the broadcasters to fix prices of their television channels with certain conditions for inclusion into a bouquet the TRAI saidSome broadcasters revised prices in compliance to the NTO20 thereby passing on certain benefits to the consumers it saidFew other broadcasters are now exploiting freedom available for a-la-carte pricing of television channels The new tariff announced by these leading broadcasters reflect their intention to increase prices of driver and popular channels it said The regulator said that the new framework NTO 20 is a comprehensive code that balances interests of the service providers as-well-as the consumers The framework should result into reducing prices for the consumersOnce implemented in true letter and spirit it will bring in an era of transparent tariffs and usher in better channel content at most competitive prices it saidIn addition the TRAI will also keep a strict watch over the developments and will not shy away from reviewing certain provisions including forbearance allowed to the broadcasters in the larger interest of consumers and the broadcasting sector it addedThe regulator said it is conscious of the time required for the implementation of necessary changes to be carried out to incorporate the considered choices of 150-160 million pay television homesTherefore TRAI may review the time frame provided for implementation to help consumers in making informed choices it added PTI PK PK TIR TIR TIR