NEWS

New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said that over 700 crore rupees wheat stock got deteriorated in Punjab till March 2016 as the grain was stored in open areas due to lack of storage facility. 

The report related to Food corporation of India (FCI) today tabled in Parliament said, the damaged wheat stock could not be supplied through the ration shops. 

The CAG also found state-owned FCI selling wheat to bulk consumers at a rate below the cost in 2013-14 leading to non-recovery of around 39 crore rupees. 

New Delhi: Senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav has scotched all speculations over an impending split in the party and asserted there was "no question" of such an eventuality arising in spite of recent events.

Refuting close aide Vijay Verma's statement that he was considering breaking away to float a new party, Yadav said, "Vijay Verma is my old companion. Whatever he said, he said it out of emotions. There is no question of forming a new party."

On Wednesday, Verma had hinted that owing to differences with party president Nitish Kumar post his walking out of the Bihar grand alliance, the JD(U) veteran could form a new party.

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has said India will start dialogue with Pakistan the day Islamabad stops promoting terrorism against this country.

Swaraj also rejected the Opposition contention that the Modi government has no policy with regard to Pakistan, asserting that it had laid the "roadmap" envisioning peace and normalcy even before it took over.

"But it can't be one-sided ... Terror and talks cannot go together. The day they stop promoting terror, we will start the talks," she said replying to a discussion on "India's foreign policy and engagement with strategic partners" in the Parliament.

New Delhi: In yet another shocking revelation about the state of school infrastructure in the country, Centre told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that over 37% of schools do not have electricity connections as of March 2017.

While only 62.81% schools in the country have electricity connections, Jharkhand is at the bottom of the list with just 19% schools in the state having access to electricity. The national capital along with Chandigarh, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry top the list with 100% schools having electricity connection.