Browsing: India

Jaipur: Even as the Centre has put in place a legal framework to extend social security benefits to gig and platform workers, it has told Parliament that it has not conducted any national survey to estimate their numbers, working conditions, income, social security coverage or employment stability.In a written reply to a joint question by Congress MPs Kuldeep Indora (Sriganganagar), Sanjna Jatav (Bharatpur), Brijendra Singh Ola (Jhunjhunu) and Rahul Kaswan (Churu), Union minister of state for labour and employment Shobha Karandlaje said no such survey report was available.Instead, the Centre said it relied on a 2022 NITI Aayog report, which…

The agency seized Rs 1.02 crore in alleged unaccounted cash during searches on Tuesday Dhanbad: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has frozen mutual fund investments worth nearly Rs 160 crore belonging to coal trader L B Singh and seized Rs 1.02 crore in alleged unaccounted cash during searches at 31 premises in Dhanbad, the agency said on Wednesday.The searches were conducted on Tuesday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in cases involving coal trader Anil Goyal, Singh, Harendra Chauhan and others. Premises linked to the accused, their relatives, associates and business entities were covered.ED also recovered digital devices, account books and…

T’puram: The govt will soon appoint the next eligible officer to the rank of DGP as it has suspended ADGP M R Ajith Kumar for ‘protecting’ former CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s security team in the Nava Kerala assault case in Dec 2023. The move has also set in motion a complex succession exercise, with the govt possibly having to temporarily expand the IPS cadre in the coming months when another officer returns from central deputation or if Kumar is later exonerated.It is learned that chief secretary Biswanath Sinha has recommended that the chief minister promote ADGP S Sreejith to the DGP…

Guddu Maharaj at khuti puja of Chorebagan Sarbojanin. photo by Sayantan Chakraborty Kolkata: Chorebagan Sarbojonin Durgotsab Samity on Wednesday evening performed khuti puja 2.0, a ceremonial foundation ritual marking the start of Durga Puja preparations, less than a month after holding the first one, in what several puja organisers in Kolkata said was an unprecedented occurrence for a community puja.The second khuti puja was attended by Guddu Maharaj, a mahant from Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi. Organisers said the ceremony became necessary after a new artist came on board and a new committee assumed charge of the puja in recent…

FUTURECRAFT  On 2 August, the transparency provisions of the European Union’s AI Act take effect. AI systems will have to tell users they are talking to a machine, and generated content will have to carry machine-readable marks so that it can be detected. Brussels is arriving at a position New Delhi took five months ago.India got there first and went considerably further. The Information Technology Amendment Rules, notified on 10 February and in force from 20 February, created what lawyers have described as the world’s first binding provenance mandate for synthetic media. Synthetic content must carry a visible label and…

MP farmers breach barricades, march towards CM Mohan Yadav’s residence over moong MSP. (PTI images) NEW DELHI: Hundreds of farmers protesting over the procurement of summer moong at the minimum support price (MSP) breached multiple police barricades and marched to Roshanpura Square in Bhopal on Wednesday, reaching within a kilometre of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s official residence.Before reaching Roshanpura, the protesters demonstrated outside Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s residence as the state government initiated talks with farmer representatives.Led by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha and 18 other farmer organisations, the protesters crossed several layers of barricades on Narmadapuram…

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Wednesday quashed the suspension of the food safety standards licence of a Navi Mumbai four-star hotel, Park Inn by Radisson, observing that a “solitary finding regarding the presence of two insects’’ when viewed against the overall “satisfactory” compliance report on hygiene, maintenance and operation did not justify the continued suspension of the licence.“We are in India we have to take realistic stand,’’ said acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge as he and Justice Gautam Ankhad were hearing the Navi Mumbai hotel matter.The ongoing FDA drive under its new commissioner, Tukaram Mundhe, recently shuttered the kitchens…

Ravi Kumar, CEO, Cognizant Bengaluru: Cognizant shares rose as much as 10.5% in early Nasdaq trading after the IT services company reported a steady second quarter, driven by strong growth in financial services and healthy deal wins, while trimming the upper end of its FY26 revenue growth guidance amid continued macroeconomic uncertainty.The Nasdaq-listed company reported June-quarter revenue of $5.5 billion, up 4.5% year-on-year, or 4.1% in constant currency, slightly ahead of market expectations. Operating margin expanded 30 basis points from a year earlier to 15.9%.For FY26, Cognizant now expects revenue of $22 billion-$22.3 billion, representing 4.4%-5.9% growth on a reported…

Hyderabad: The Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) chairperson and managing director Buddhaprakash Jyoti said the coal company is moving ahead with a comprehensive plan to diversify and strengthen AP Heavy Machinery and Engineering Limited (APHMEL), an arm of Singareni located in Vijayawada. The CMD on Wednesday virtually inaugurated a 300 kw solar power plant that he said would save ₹24 lakh annually in electricity costs. The CMD said APHMEL had achieved a turnover of ₹63.13 crore and a net profit of ₹23.33 crore, claiming it as the best performance in the company’s 50-year history.He called upon the staff to focus…

You can take a wedding out of Manapatti, but you can seldom take Manapatti out of a wedding Before sunrise, the clearing outside a house on Madurai’s outskirts has become a kitchen. Goat meat simmers in broad aluminium vessels. Ginger and garlic are pounded in stone mortars. Men squat beside baskets of onions, peeling and chopping them. Others tend the fire, wash vessels or carry water. Curry leaves crackle in hot sesame oil as the smell of pepper, coriander and mutton spreads through the neighbourhood.At the centre of it all is P Nandakumar, directing preparations for a keda vettu —…