India

Jammu, Mar 2: PDP chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed called for peace Sunday after taking oath as chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, heading a coalition that brought the BJP to power for the first time in India's only Muslim-majority state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leaders Amit Shah and L.K. Advani were among the 1,400 guests who witnessed the ceremony, over two months after the PDP and the

Jammu, Mar 1: Soon after taking oath, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today stoked a controversy saying Hurriyat, militant outfits and "people from across the border", an oblique reference to Pakistan, allowed conducive atmosphere for assembly polls, drawing sharp reaction from NC leader Omar Abdullah who demanded that BJP clarify its stand. "I want to say this on record and I have told this

New Delhi, Mar 1: In a bizarre suggestion, a senior Madhya Pradesh minister has sought a law that allows people to domesticate or keep as pets big cats like lions and tigers for their conservation. Animal Husbandry, Horticulture and Food Processing Minister Kusum Mehdele, in a proposal sent to the state's forest department, has cited legal provisions in some African and South-East Asian countries

New Delhi, Mar 1: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) founding members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav are likely to either resign from the party or assume non-active roles, sources said. A day after media reports stated that the party was looking at reconstituting the Parliamentary Affairs Committee (PAC) and keeping Yadav out of it, both party members expressed a desire to leave. AAP’s national convener

Jammu, Mar 1: People's Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohmmad Sayeed took oath as the chief minister of a PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jammu's General Zorawar Singh Auditorium. The two-month-long negotiations over formation of a coalition government culminated with the swearing-in ceremony as the 79-year-old

New Delhi, Feb 28: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today announced a 5 per cent reduction in corporate tax over next four years, abolished wealth tax and replaced it with an additional 2 per cent surcharge on super-rich individuals, while increasing service tax that will result in higher cost of variety of services. In the first full-year Budget of the NDA government that shunned populism, he

New Delhi, Feb 28: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said growth in the next financial year will rise to 8-8.5 per cent and clock double-digit level in the subsequent years. "Growth in 2015-16 is expected to be between 8-8.5 per cent. Aiming for a double digit rate seems feasible very soon," he said while presenting the Budget for 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha. The Central Statistical Organisation

New Delhi, Feb 28: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stomach for free-market economics faces a major test on Saturday when the first full Budget will be unveiled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitely. Reaping the benefits of low global prices for oil, India's main import, Modi's government sees itself in a sweet spot with spare cash to modernize ageing roads and railways without busting fiscal deficit and

New Delhi, Feb 27: Breaking his silence in Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today denounced communalism and asserted that his government stood for unity wherein all religions prosper within the framework of the Constitution. "My government's only religion is 'India first', my government's only religious book is 'Indian Constitution', our only devotion is 'Bharat Bhakti' and our only prayer

New Delhi, Feb 27: Pitching for 'Big Bang' reforms, the pre-budget Economic Survey on Friday called for improving business environment by making regulation and taxes less onerous to help push growth to 8.1-8.5 per cent next fiscal, and to double digits in the coming years. "India has reached a sweet spot and there is scope for Big Bang reforms now," said the Survey on the eve of the new government