The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has greeted the people on the eve of Id-ul-Fitr. In a message, he said that Id-ul-Fitr marks the culmination of the holy month of Ramzan and it is a celebration of sincere devotion, charity, brotherhood and gratitude to the Almighty. The essence of the festival lies in the sharing of love and joy with each other, he added.

“I convey my heartiest greetings and good wishes to the people of our country on the joyous occasion of Id-ul-Fitr.

Id-ul-Fitr marks the culmination of the holy month of Ramzan. The festival is a celebration of sincere devotion, charity, brotherhood and gratitude to the Almighty. The essence of the festival lies in the sharing of love and joy with each other.

I hope that the festival will strengthen the spirit of generosity and bring people closer to one another, binding them in friendship, brotherhood, mutual respect, compassion and love.

May the pious and noble ideals associated with Id-ul-Fitr enrich our lives with peace and harmony.”

India registered a strong protest after the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) appointed a special envoy for Jammu and Kashmir, India said the grouping had “no locus standi” in matters related to the state that is an integral part of the country.

Yousef Aldobeay of Saudi Arabia, an assistant secretary general of OIC, was among four special envoys appointed at the grouping’s summit meeting in Makkah on May 31.

The development came almost two months after former foreign minister Smt Sushma Swaraj represented India for the first time at a meeting of OIC foreign ministers in Abu Dhabi in March.

A communiqué issued after the summit held in Makkah called on India to implement UN Security Council resolutions to settle its “protracted conflict” with Pakistan and welcomed recommendations made in a UN report on Kashmir last year.

It called for setting up a UN commission of inquiry to investigate alleged rights violations in Kashmir and said the commission and global rights groups should be allowed to access Kashmir.

Reacting to the communiqué, external affairs ministry spokesperson Shri Raveesh Kumar said: “We categorically reject yet another unacceptable reference to matters internal to India in the Final Communiqué adopted at the conclusion of the 14th Islamic Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states held at Makkah, Saudi Arabia on May 31, 2019.”

He added, “The OIC has no locus standi in matters relating to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India. It is reiterated that OIC should refrain from making such unwarranted references.”

People familiar with developments said India continued to be satisfied with the breakthrough made during Smt Swaraj’s participation in the OIC meeting and would continue to engage with the grouping.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has been given a five-year extension as well as a Cabinet rank in the government in recognition of his contribution to the national security domain.

According to a Personnel Ministry order, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved his appointment with effect from May 31, 2019. This is for the first time that an NSA has been given a cabinet rank.

Doval has been widely hailed for his contribution in the national security domain during his last five-year tenure.

He had played a key role during the Balakot air strike after the Pulwama terror attack and the cross-border surgical strike, officials said. He also drew praise for his role during the 73-day stand-off between India and China at Doklam — situated at a tri-junction between India, China and Bhutan, they said.

Doval retired in January 2005 as the chief of Intelligence Bureau. After a few years in uniform, he had worked as an intelligence officer for over 33 years during which he had served in the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.

Doval, a 1968-batch IPS (retired) officer, known as one of the best operational brains within intelligence circles, was India’s main negotiator with the hijackers of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 taken to Kandahar in 1999.

A Two-day Yoga Mahotsava, a Curtain Raiser for International Day of Yoga (IDY) 2019 was inaugurated by the Vice-Chairman, NITI AYOG Shri Rajeev Kumar at New Delhi today. Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY) under Ministry of AYUSH is organising the Yoga Mahotsav-2019 to sensitize the masses for celebration of IDY 2019. On this occasion Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha announced two Applications ‘Yoga Locator’ and ‘Bhuvan App’ related to International Day of Yoga 2019.

Shri Rajiv Kumar, addressing of huge gathering of Yoga students and professionals, emphasized on popularizing the yogic culture through the medium of social media. He also mentioned his proposal of National Council of Integrated Medicine which will further promote Indian natural and traditional medicine culture. . He further said that Yoga teaches us to live with the nature rather than conquering it that makes ‘Vasudhaiv Kutubkam’ possible and we live with harmony and peace.

The Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of AYUSH Shri Shripad Naik presided the Inaugural session. He credited International Yoga Day as the biggest mass movement for health and wellness. Shri Naik said that natural and traditional medicine system is flourishing not only in India but across the globe. He further assured that Ministry of AYUSH is committed towards the research and development of yoga, Ayurveda and other natural and traditional medicinal systems.

On this occasion, Secretary, AYUSH announced the launch of ‘Yoga Locator’ application which is specially designed for IDY to record and show Yoga events across the world. He also informed about ‘Bhuvan App’ which has been designed in collaboration with ISRO. It will provide geo time location and documentation. He presented ‘Yoga for Heart’ as theme for IDY 2019.

Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Dr. H. R. Nagendra, Chancellor, SVYASA University, Bengaluru and Smt. Hansa Jaidev, Director, The Yoga Institute, Mumbai, was also present on this occasion.

A very special session on Know about Yoga is also a part of the Yoga Mahotsav-2019 for the Yoga enthusiasts. In this session historical, medical and educational prospects of Yoga will be discussed in detail. Seeing the participation of huge number of youngsters, an exclusive session “My self-experience in Yoga-A Motivational Journey” and Celebrity Sessions have been specially scheduled in a two day Yoga Mahotsav-2019.

The government will bring a bill to ban the practice of instant triple talaq again in Parliament, law minister Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

With the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha last month, the contentious bill on banning triple talaq had lapsed as it could not be passed by Parliament and was pending in Rajya Sabha.

Bills that are introduced in Rajya Sabha and pending there do not lapse with the dissolution of Lok Sabha. Bills passed by Lok Sabha, and pending in the Rajya Sabha, however, lapse.

The opposition had been opposing provisions of the bill in Rajya Sabha.

Responding to a question on uniform civil code, he said the government would hold “political consultations” on the issue even as he goes through the Law Commission report on the issue.

On August 31 last year, the law panel had issued a consultation paper instead of a full-fledged report on the issue, saying a uniform civil code is “neither necessary nor desirable” at this stage. It had suggested changes in laws relating to marriage, divorce, alimony, and marriageable age for men and women.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, which made the practice of instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) a penal offence, was opposed by the opposition parties which had claimed that jail term for the husband for divorcing his wife is legally untenable.

The government had promulgated the ordinance on triple talaq twice. Under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Ordinance, 2019, divorcing through instant triple talaq will be illegal, void and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband.

A Bill to convert the earlier ordinance, issued in September 2018, was cleared by the Lok Sabha in December and was pending in the Rajya Sabha.

The RSS will give constructive advice to the government whenever it falters, Mohan Bhagwat Sunday said as he cautioned that any democratically-elected dispensation should guard against any “misuse” of its power.

Addressing a Sangh gathering here, the RSS chief said, “Those getting elected in a democratic set-up have immense power, but this does not mean that it should be misused. If the government falters at any point of time, the Sangh will give it advice and suggestions with a positive point of view.”

Bhagwat’s comments came days after the Narendra Modi dispensation assumed office for a second term.

Later, he addressed another meeting of the RSS.

At the meeting, Bhagwat told “volunteers that they should not be arrogant, no matter how much good work they have done or how much they have helped others,” according to RSS leader Mohan Agarwal.

“He also exhorted them to bring social equality, and eradicate illiteracy, drug and alcohol addiction and other social evils,” Agarwal said.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief arrived here on Saturday and is scheduled to attend a series of programmes.

In a decision that will benefit the trading community, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved a new scheme that offers pension coverage to the trading community. This is a part of the Prime Minister’s vision to provide a robust architecture of universal social security.

How the scheme works:

Under this scheme all shopkeepers, retail traders and self-employed persons are assured a minimum monthly pension of Rs. 3,000/- month after attaining the age of 60 years.

All small shopkeepers and self-employed persons as well as the retail traders with GST turnover below Rs. 1.5 crore and age between 18-40 years, can enrol for this scheme.  The scheme would benefit more than 3 crore small shopkeepers and traders.

The scheme is based on self-declaration as no documents are required except Aadhaar and bank account. Interested persons can enrol themselves through more than 3,25,000 Common Service Centres spread across the country.

The Government of India will make matching contribution in the subscribers’ account.  For example if a person with age of 29 years contributes Rs. 100/- month, then the Central Government also contributes the equal amount as subsidy into subscriber’s pension account every month.

Delivering a major promise on Day 1:

By imitating a pension architecture for the trading community, the Prime Minister and his team have fulfilled a major promise made to the people of India. Shri Modi had spoken about the need of proving pension for traders, that would assure them a life of dignity and financial security especially when during their old age.

This decision can also be seen in the light of several other steps taken for the welfare of traders, small and medium business. The GST underwent significant simplification after taking feedback of the trading community. In the same way, Mudra loans gave wings to the entrepreneurial zeal of young India. Loans upto Rs. 1 crore are now easily available.

These, and many more efforts would help the trading community.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved that the ambit of the Pradhan Mantri KisanSamman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) would be comprehensively extended. With this decision, all land holding eligible farmer families (subject to the prevalent exclusion criteria) would avail of the benefits under this scheme.

More beneficiaries, greater progress:

The revised Scheme is expected to cover around 2 crore more farmers, increasing the coverage of PM-KISAN to around 14.5 crore beneficiaries, with an estimated expenditure by Central Government of Rs. 87,217.50 crores for year 2019-20.

Speed, scale and a major promise delivered:

Today’s Cabinet decision pertaining to expanding the ambit PM-KISAN marks the fulfilment of a major promise made by the Prime Minister to the people of India in the run-up to the 2019 Parliamentary elections. The BJP manifesto too mentioned this major policy decision.

It may also be noted that certain operational issues like lack of updated land records in Jharkhand and lack of Aadhaar penetration in states of Assam, Meghalaya and J&K have also been resolved.

PM-KISAN: A path-breaking support incentive for farmers:

The genesis of the PM-KISAN Yojana dates back to the interim Budget for the year 2019-2020.

The key element of PM-KISAN is income support of Rs. 6000/- to the small and marginal landholder farmer families with cultivable land holding upto 2 hectare across the country.

The amount is being released in three 4-monthly instalments of Rs.2000/- each over the year, to be credited into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries held in destination banks through Direct Benefit Transfer mode.

The scheme was launched in a record time of 3 weeks, on 24th February at a huge programme in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh where the first rounds of instalments was paid to several farmers.

So far, 1^st instalment to 3.11 crore beneficiaries and 2^nd instalment to 2.66 crore beneficiaries have been credited directly to the bank accounts of the farmer families.

Serving India’s Annadatas with renewed vigour:

Time and again, PM Narendra Modi has spoken with great reverence for India’s farmers. He has described India’s farmers as our Annadatas who undertake great efforts to feed 1.3 billion Indians.

Between 2014 to 2019, numerous measures were taken to empower the hardworking farmer. This includes increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for 22 crops, Soil Health Cards, PM Krishi Sinchai Yojana, PM KisanSampada Yojana, e-NAM for better markets and more. These steps have made agriculture more prosperous and ensured greater productivity for farmers. They will go a long way in fulfilling the Prime Minister’s dream of doubling farmer incomes by 2022, when India marks 75 years of freedom.

Shri Dharmendra Pradhan today took charge as the cabinet minister of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry.  Shri Pradhan was administered the oath of office and secrecy by the President in a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhawan yesterday. Shri Pradhan was holding the charge of the same Ministry in the last government, after taking over in May 2014.

Speaking to the media after taking charge of the Ministry, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan expressed gratitude to the Hon’ble Prime Minister for reposing confidence in him. He said that a lot of reforms and initiatives have been undertaken in the last five years, which positively affected the people’s lives. Last five years saw the Government traversing a successful path of overall economic journey, and the people of the country have given more responsibility to the Prime Minister. He said that our team worked relentlessly in the last five years, and in the future also, we will take up the responsibility as a challenge and work even harder. Shri Pradhan said that increasing domestic oil and gas production will be our priority. The reforms of the last five years have started yielding results, and we will be focussingmore on them. Setting up of common infrastructure, market friendly infrastructure is on the top of the Government’s agenda. Work is going on speedily on setting up of gas grid, PM Urja Ganga project and setting of CGD network and that will be further expedited.  We have given emphasis on promoting bio-fuels, work is being done in this direction and it will gain more momentum in the days to come. The Minister said that work which has been done in the recent past, will be taken ahead in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.  We are starting a new innings, with a new energy and new spirit. Our team has gained a lot from the prime Minister’s vision and leadership. Energy has become an international diplomacy handle, and many countries look towards India. Shri Narendra Modi is seen as a spokesperson of world consumers, and this has been acknowledged by the world. He said that the Ministry will take inputs from all concerned in formulating the policies.

Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman assumed charge as the Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs here today. She was greeted at the office in North Block by Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs designate, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Finance Secretary Shri Subhash Chandra Garg and other Secretaries of the Ministry. Smt. Sitharaman is the first woman appointed as the full-time Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs.

After assuming the charge, the Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs was briefed on the key initiatives and policy issues by the Secretaries of the different departments of the Ministry of Finance & Corporate Affairs and was apprised of the ongoing issues and the forthcoming challenges facing the Indian economy among others.

Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has served as the Union Defence Minister since 2017. She is currently a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) from Karnataka. In 2014, she was elected as Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh. She has also served as the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs and later the Minister for Commerce and Industry with Independent Charge.

As the Defence Minister, Smt. Sitharaman is credited with expediting the decision-making process relating to procurement in defence sector. She constituted a Defence Planning Committee to formulate an “action plan” to effectively overcome with various security challenges facing the nation.

Smt. Sitharaman joined the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) in 2008 and has served as a national spokesperson for the party since 2010.
Smt. Sitharaman was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, on August 18, 1959. She completed her graduation from Seethalakshmi Ramasamy College, Tiruchirappalli and obtained her M.A. (Economics) from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal, took charge today afternoon as Commerce & Industry Minister. He was accompanied by Former Commerce & Industry Minister, Suresh Prabhu.

Speaking on this occasion, Piyush Goyal said that he is extremely humbled by stepping into the shoes of a visionary like Suresh Prabhu and will try to do his best to take the work of the Ministry forward. He further said that he will study all issues related to India’s trade and industry and prepare himself to deal with issues which require immediate attention.