Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) Cash-strapped Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is facing a challenge in crediting staff salaries for this month on August 30, a senior official admitted on Friday.

The official, who did not wish to be named, said that while the telecom company is generating monthly revenue of about Rs 1,400 crore, there are certain liabilities, including interest payments, which have to be taken into account.

New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) India's economic growth dropped to a seven-year low of 5 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2019-20 due to a sharp deceleration in the manufacturing sector and sluggish agriculture output, according to official data released on Friday.

The previous low was recorded at 4.9 per cent in April-June 2012-13. The economic growth was 8 per cent in the same quarter of 2018-19.

New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) In a major development, the government on Friday announced merger of Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank with Punjab National Bank.

Also, Syndicate Bank will be merged with Canara Bank, while Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank will merged with Union Bank of India.

New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Friday objected to the lawyer for Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for asking questions in Hindi while being cross-examination in National Herald case, saying he was a Tamil'.

The exchange of words took place between Swamy and senior advocate R S Cheema, appearing for Gandhi, before the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal, who was recording the cross examination of the BJP leader who is the complainant in the case.

New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) Prime Minster Narendra Modi on Friday said that the government has set a target of setting up 12,500 Ayush centres across India, 4000 of which will be set up this year.

Speaking at Yoga Awards ceremony here, he also stressed for the need to create a homogenous system by creating an "Ayush grid" on the lines of one nation, one tax and one nation, one mobility card.

He said this will remove silos in the area of Ayush.

New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) The government's fiscal deficit touched Rs 5.47 lakh crore in the June quarter, which is 77.8 per cent of the budget estimate for 2019-20.

In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit or gap between expenditure and revenue was Rs 5,47,605 crore at July-end, as per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Friday.

The fiscal deficit stood at 86.5 per cent of 2018-19 budget estimate in the year-ago period.

New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) The Congress on Friday demanded that a financial emergency be declared in the country and a white paper be released on the "shrinking economy and rising frauds".

Congress spokespersons Jaiveer Shergill and Gaurav Vallabh accused the BJP government of destroying the credibility of the country's economy and banking system and demanded that it should declare the names of wilful defaulters, along with the details of their non-performing assets (NPAs).

New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) The government on Wednesday announced a Rs 6,268 crore subsidy for export of 6 million tonnes of sugar during the 2019-20 marketing year starting October in order to liquidate surplus domestic stock and help mills in clearing huge sugarcane arrears to farmers.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved on Wednesday setting up of 75 government medical colleges to be attached with existing district or referral hospitals by 2021-22.

The establishment of new medical colleges, under phase III of the ongoing Centrally sponsored scheme, will add at least 15,700 MBBS seats in the country.

New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) Fourteen candidates, including three women, are in the fray for the four posts in the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union polls this time.

The United Left, which comprises All India Students' Association (AISA), Students' Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students' Federation (DSF) and All India Students' Federation (AISF), will be contesting on all the four posts of president, vice president, general secretary and joint secretary.