Latest News

Public health groups, doctors urge for hike in tobacco tax

New Delhi, Nov 25 (PTI) Public health groups along with doctors and economists have urged the government to increase excise duty on all tobacco products in the Union Budget 2024-25 to generate additional revenue. In their appeals to the Finance Ministry, they asked for an increase in health taxes on cigarettes, bidis and smokeless tobacco. Health taxes are excise taxes imposed on products such as tobacco that have a clear negative public health impact. According to these experts, among the several public policy tools to regulate the consumption of tobacco, increasing the excise tax is considered to be one of

Option of manual drilling being considered at Silkyara tunnel

Uttarkashi, Nov 25 (PTI) With the auger machine encountering hurdles in the rubble time and again, rescuers are considering switching over to manual drilling at the Silkyara tunnel where 41 labourers have been trapped for the past 13 days, officials said on Saturday. Drilling at the collapsed portion of the tunnel to rescue the trapped men was halted again on Friday night, in yet another setback to the multi-agency effort. Before the brief period of drilling on Friday, 46.8 metres of the 800 mm wide steel pipe had been pushed into the drilled passage -– out of the collapsed stretch

Andhra Pradesh govt to begin comprehensive caste census on Dec 9: Information Minister

Amaravati, Nov 24 (PTI) The Andhra Pradesh government will begin a comprehensive caste census on December 9 to enumerate all castes, Information and Public Relations Minister C Srinivasa Venugopala Krishna said on Friday. Noting that completing the caste census is a major goal of the YSRCP government, the minister said, “It is important to have a caste census to transform the living standards of people”. Noting that there has been no caste census in India post independence but only a population census, the minister said that the government is eliciting opinions from caste representatives across the state, an official press

President sks civil servants to address problems of common people

New Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI) President Droupadi Murmu on Friday said it is the duty of civil servants to respond promptly to the grievances of the people besides adopting innovative measures beneficial for citizens. Addressing a group of officer trainees who had called on her at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here, the president said the feedback of the public on various government schemes and projects is now considered very important for an efficient and accountable administration. At a time when people can post their grievances instantly on social media, the need to use updated governance tools and advanced technology for service

1 … 1,368 1,369 1,370 1,371 1,372 … 1,508