Delhi

New Delhi, Jun 24 (PTI) Former prime minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday rising inequality was a concern and the country cannot allow extreme poverty or economic disparity as it is a welfare state.

Speaking at the release of a social development report titled 'Rising Inequalities in India, 2018', Singh said some regions and social groups were extremely poor and vulnerable despite various anti-poverty programmes and affirmative policies being followed.

New Delhi, Jun 23 (PTI) The Union cabinet will take a call Monday to introduce a fresh bill in Parliament to extend the facility of proxy voting to overseas Indians.

A similar bill had lapsed following the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha last month.

Sources in the government said Sunday that the union cabinet will consider introducing the bill in parliament.

New Delhi, Jun 24 (PTI) TMC MPs are holding a sit-in in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue on the Parliament's premises, demanding election be held by ballot paper instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs).

The party, which has been crying foul over the use of EVMs in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls, Monday said their agenda for the protest was - "No to EVMs, Yes to paper ballots."

New Delhi, Jun 24 (PTI) RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya, who was in-charge of the monetary policy department, has resigned six months before the scheduled end of his term, sources said Monday

This is the second high profile resignation in the past six months at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

In December, governor Urjit Patel resigned nearly nine months before the end of his scheduled term over differences with the government.

New Delhi, Jun 23 (PTI) India Sunday rejected a US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.

In its annual 2018 International Religious Freedom Report, the State Department alleged Friday that mob attacks by violent extremist Hindu groups against minority communities, particularly Muslims, continued in India in 2018, amid rumours that victims had traded or killed cows for beef.

New Delhi, Jun 20; GANASHAKTI: The Left parties accused the Centre on Thursday of succumbing to the pressure exerted by the US government to further open India's economy, stating that they were opposed to the "US agenda".

In a joint statement, the Left parties said the stated purpose of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to India was to push the country to further open its economy, drop the trade barriers and sell US defence equipment to India.

New Delhi, Jun 21 (PTI) The price of 1032 essential medicines have been capped by the government to help provide poor medicines at cheaper rates, the Rajya Sabha was informed Friday.

Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukhlal Mandavia said the government is attempting to provide 700 medicines in Jan Aushadi Stores and a total of 20 truck loads of medicines are being supplied to such stores per day for providing medicines at cheaper rates to the poor.

New Delhi, June 21 (PTI) As many as 30 private members' bills, including the one to ban non-vegetarian food at official meetings and functions, were introduced in the Lok Sabha Friday.

The bill to prohibit non-vegetarian food at official functions was introduced by Parvesh Sahib Singh (BJP).

N K Premachandran (RSP) moved a bill for maintaining status quo on religious practices of Sabrimala temple that existed before September 1, 2018.

New Delhi, Jun 21 (PTI) The government on Friday introduced the fresh triple talaq bill in the Lok Sabha amid vehement protests by opposition members who claimed that it was violative of the Constitution.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2019 became the first legislation to be tabled in Parliament by the Narendra Modi dispensation in its second term, with Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asserting the legislation was a must for gender equality and justice.

New Delhi, Jun 20; PTI/GANASHAKTI: India on Thursday rejected a Pakistani media report claiming New Delhi is ready for talks with Islamabad, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar made no such reference in their response to congratulatory messages from their counterparts in that country.

A report in the Express Tribune on Thursday claimed that Modi and Jaishankar responded to Islamabad's renewed call for dialogue by conveying New Delhi's desire to engage with all countries, including Pakistan, for the prosperity of the region.