-The Times of India NEW DELHI: With parties gearing up to enter ‘election mode’ for assembly elections, politicians are not leaving any stone unturned to woo voters. The BJP-led south corporation has cleared the proposal to make the process of issuance of birth and death certificates free of cost. According to the proposal, the certificates will be available via websites and through zonal offices without paying any charges. The move, if implemented,...

-The Hindu Business Line 14.5 crore farmers will get Rs.6,000 annually in three equal instalments The Union Cabinet, which held its first meeting on Friday, decided to extend the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM Kisan) to all farmers in the country irrespective of their landholdings. The Rs.75,000-crore PM Kisan scheme, first announced in the Interim Budget on February 1, was meant only for small and marginal farmers. According to the scheme, poor...

-Mumbai Mirror Modi, with his brilliant communication skills along with the media at his disposal, managed to convince farmers to give him a longer rope A senior farm leader had once told me in a regretful tone: “Whenever farmers are denied their rightful crop insurance, or they are harassed by banks for loan recovery, they come to us. We agitate, protest and resist the system’s bullying of farmers. But the same farmers...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to accommodate representatives of most castes in his Council of Ministers but upper castes got a dominant presence, bagging 32 of the 58 berths. Ministers from Other Backward Classes, a crucial political constituency, numbered 13. Nine Brahmin leaders have found place in the Union cabinet, including Nitin Gadkari. Three Thakur leaders also made it, including Rajnath Singh, Jodhpur MP Gajendra Singh...

-PTI Several Union Ministers, including Vijay Goel, Prakash Javadekar, Nirmala Sitaraman and Sushma Swaraj, have not cleared dues on their official bungalows till February, the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said. Replying to an RTI query, the Ministry said Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region Jitendra Singh also have outstanding payments on their bungalows. These dues concern furniture and other things...