Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 16 (ANI): Calling the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector as the "backbone of Indian economy", Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said many new avenues had opened up for these businesses in the post-Covid era of which they should take advantage.

Gohpur (Assam) [India], August 19 (ANI): In a shocking incident, a man allegedly sold his newborn girl child to another person for Rs 6,000 after which the police arrested three people, police said on Friday.

New Delhi [India], August 1 (ANI): The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi has decided to allow private shops to sell liquor for two more months provided they deposit the requisite licence fee days after it said that only government shops will sell liquor from August 1.

New Delhi [India], July 30 (ANI): The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has decided to withdraw its new excise policy and directed that liquor be sold only through government-run shops from August 1, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Saturday.

Chandigarh [India], July 2 (ANI): In a path-breaking initiative aimed at giving a reprieve to Moong cultivators, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday announced to bear the gap, upto Rs 1000 per quintal, for Moong crop sold below MSP to the farmers for Moongi crop, said the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

Kolkata Apr 26 PTI The Jute Commissioners Office JCO which is under attack from various quarters for unavailability of raw materials at the price fixed by the government on Tuesday said it continues to safeguard farmers interests but cannot allow illegitimate gains for a section of players in the industry by revising the price capThe JCO which looks after orderly development and promotion of the industry in India also stated that no decision was made as of now to alter the raw jute price fixed at Rs 6500 per quintal amid allegations that mills are not getting the golden fibre below Rs 7000 per quintal amid the bumper crop of 90 lakh bales in the 2021-22 seasonNo farmer or farmers body has complained about price fixation If relaxed it will have illegitimate gain for a certain section of the industry Jute Commissioner Moloy Chakraborty told a press conference hereHe denied allegations of neglect of West Bengals jute industryBJP MP Arjun Singh whose constituency Barrakpore has 20 jute mills had on Monday slammed the central government for neglecting the states jute industry He also supported ruling TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees demand for removal of the price cap on raw jute to current market-driven prices to support farmersThere is a lot of misinformation around Almost 95 per cent of farmers are marginal and they have already diluted their produce The majority of the raw jute is now with traders and middlemen Chakraborty saidHe said that the raw jute price was fixed at Rs 2000 over and above the minimum support price MSP of Rs 4500 per quintal and it is quite reasonable for the farmersTo a question on de-hoarding of the golden fibre the jute commissioner said it is up to the state agencies to step up their action State enforcement officials claimed that the JCO has not been able to provide a verified jute traders list yetAfter Chakrabortys press conference Arjun Singh claimed that the JCO painted an untrue picture to satisfy his bosses by ruining the future of millions of workers and farmers Several jute mills have downed shutters in the past few months reportedly due to unavailability of raw jute at the price fixed by the JCOThe claim that the state government had earlier accepted Rs 6000 per quintal rate is false as it was temporary because the price had shot up to Rs 9000 per quintal due to Amphan calamity in 2020 the BJP MP asserted in a statementEarlier this month Trinamool Congress Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha Sukhendu Sekhar Ray sought the intervention of the Centre to resolve the jute crisis claiming that 60000 workers have lost their jobs following the closure of 15 jute mills PTI BSM PNT NN NN

New Delhi Apr 26 PTI The central government has fixed the price cap of Rs 6500 per quintal on raw jute on the basis of scientific methodology which is in line with the market trend prevailing at that point of time and not arbitrarily official sources said on Tuesday The upper cap of Rs 6500 per quintal was fixed by theJute Commissioners office on September 30 2021 for 2021-22 The West Bengal government suo moto recommended to fix the upper cap of raw jute price at Rs 6000 per quintal in December 2020 which is lower than the upper cap of Rs 6500 per quintal fixed by the Jute Commissioners office one of the sources said Senior BJP leader and MP Arjun Singh has criticised the central government for neglecting West Bengals jute industry and threatened to hit the streets if the issue related to the capping of raw jute prices is not resolved at the earliest He has also supported West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees demand to remove the price cap on raw jute in the open market The sources said that so far no farmer or farmer bodies have either orally or in writing lodged a single protest or objection on the price fixation At present almost no jute of the current season is being held by farmers and in fact jute lies with middlementraders and even with mills in their own name or in the name of third parties at various places They said that relaxation in the upper price cap will only accrue illegitimate financial gains by these parties and no benefit will accrue to farmers The fixation of raw jute price at Rs 6500 per quintals was not arbitrary and was incoherence to the market trend prevailing at that point of time a source said The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices CACP in its report for 2021-22 has estimated the production cost of raw jute at Rs 2832 per quintal and MSP minimum support price was fixed at Rs 4500 per quintal with more than 50 per cent profit margin for farmers Jute Commissioner had fixed the upper cap at Rs 6500 per quintal leaving no room for grievance by farmers the source said For the overall interest of the jute industry and in the interest of exports in a highly competitive market and to compete with the low-cost plastic and polythene products including bags it is necessary to stabilize the price of raw jute at a reasonable level PTI RR CS MR

Bengaluru Mar 31 PTI Exide Industries on Thursday announced an investment of Rs 6000 crore in Karnataka This is for setting up one of the largest giga factories for advanced cell chemistry technology Exide Industries MD CEO Subir Chakraborty met with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai this morning for Rs 6000 crore investment in a Lithium-Ion cell manufacturing giga factory Department for Industries and Commerce said in a statement Stating that this will be one of the countrys largest giga factories for advanced cell chemistry technology it said Exide has requested 80 acres of land in the Haraluru Industrial Area near Bengaluru airport The project is expected to generate 1200 -1400 employment opportunities it added PTI KSU NVG NVG

New Delhi Mar 28 PTI The government has not given any farm loan waiver to farmers in the last five years and this year so far Parliament was informed on Monday The government has initiated various steps to ease the debt burden of farmers in the country Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha No farm loan waiver scheme has been implemented by the Government of India during the last 5 years and the current year Karad said He was responding to a question asked by All India United Democratic Front AIUDFs Badruddin Ajmal about the amount allocated and spent by the government to waive loans of farmers during the last five years and the current year in the lower house of Parliament The minister said the government has taken several steps to reduce the debt burden of farmers including direct support of Rs 6000 per year under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi PM-KISAN and facility of reduced interest rate on agriculture credit Farmers get agriculture credit at a reduced interest rate of 7 per cent Government implements an interest subvention scheme for short term crop loans up to Rs 3 lakh Under the scheme interest subvention of 2 per cent per annum is provided to banks on use of their own resources Besides additional 3 per cent incentive is given to the farmers for prompt repayment of the loan thereby reducing the effective rate of interest of 4 per cent Karad said Apart from these the RBI has issued directions for relief measures to be provided by lenders in areas affected by natural calamities including restructuringrescheduling of existing crop and term loans extending fresh loans relaxed security margin norms moratorium etc he added Loan to distressed farmers indebted to non-institutional lenders is an eligible category of farm credit under the priority sector lending as per directions issued by the RBI Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana PMFBY provides a comprehensive insurance cover against failure of insured crops due to non-preventable natural risks thus providing financial support to farmers suffering crop lossdamage arising out of unforeseen events stabilising the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming and modern agricultural practices Karad said further PTI KPM MR

New Delhi Mar 24 PTI The Narendra Modi government has been working for the all-round development of the minorities without any appeasement discrimination and political exploitation Union Minorities Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said in the Lok Sabha on Thursday Dismissing suggestions that there have been less development initiatives for the minorities in the recent past Naqvi said the allocation of funds in schemes like scholarships for minority students was more during the Modi government than the previous UPA regime We are empowering all poor backwards and downtrodden people without any appeasement We follow the mantra of development without discrimination and empowerment with dignity he said during Question Hour Giving data of a study on various welfare schemes of the Modi government Naqvi said out of the 231 crore houses built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana 31 per cent were allocated in 25 minority-dominated areas 33 per cent beneficiary of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi were minorities and out of the nine crore beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana 37 per cent were from the minority communities He also said 36 per cent beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana were from minority communities We are working for the welfare of the minorities without any political exploitation and without beating the drums he said Naqvi said there has been no communal engineering only PWD Poor Women Downtrodden engineering Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana the central government provides free houses for the poor A total of Rs 6000 is provided by the central government to all farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi as minimum income support Under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana free LPG gas connection is given to the women belonging to below poverty line and the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana PMMY is a scheme for providing loans up to 10 lakh to the non-corporate non-farm small and micro enterprises Replying to a supplementary question on alleged reduced number of minorities among the successful UPSC candidates Naqvi said it was not true that the number has gone down but increased only and the government has been providing free coaching to the deserving candidates More minority students are getting into bureaucracy after their success in UPSC But we are not doing any favour to them They got there because of their merit and hard work he said PTI ACB AQS AQS