Committed to bring normalcy in Manipur: Nirmala in Parlt
   Date :19-Mar-2025

Nirmala in Parlt
 
NEW DELHI :
 
FINANCE Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the Central Government is committed to bringing normalcy to Manipur and assured all support for the economic growth of the State.Replying to a discussion on the passage of the Manipur Budget for the current fiscal and vote of account for the six months of 2025-26 in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister also sought the support of the Opposition parties for peace in Manipur instead of engaging in the blame game. The senior Minister also hit back at the Opposition for its criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi not visiting the violence-affected State, saying none of the Prime Ministers in the past visited Manipur when the violence took place there. She cited the names of former Prime Ministers P V Narasimha Rao and I K Gujral. Believe in Make In India, says nirmala: FINANCE Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday brushed aside Opposition’s criticism on ‘Make in India’ scheme saying it is yielding “good results” as the Government has taken multiple steps to strengthen the manufacturing sector, including defence production. She said that production linked incentive (PLI) schemes have yielded good results, as they have so far attracted investments of Rs 1.5 lakh crore and generated nearly 9.5 lakh employment opportunities. “Make in India has actually given us good results. We took step after step, after step, to strengthen the manufacturing of this country,” she said.
 
Rly fares in India far less: Vaishnaw RAILWAYS Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday said the railway fares in India are far less than the neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He asserted that railway accidents have come down by 90 per cent from the time when RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav was at the Ministry’s helm. Replying to the debate on the Demands for Grants under the control of the Ministry of Railways for 2025-26, Vaishnaw said the national transporter has emerged from difficulties of the Covid pandemic to meet its own expenses. Amid noisy protests by the Opposition over not being allowed to speak on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on the Maha Kumbh, the minister said the railways has taken numerous steps for crowd control at stations and is running several special trains during festival seasons. He asserted that with Prime Minister Modi’s focus on safety, accidents have come down by 90 per cent from the time when Lalu Prasad was at the Ministry’s helm.
 
‘Set up regulatory authority for news portals’ A BJP MP from Assam on Tuesday urged the Government to set up a regulatory authority for news portals to ensure accountability, transparency and ethical journalism in the digital space. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Dilip Saikia -- the MP from Darrang-Udalguri -- highlighted the issue of “unchecked rise of dubious digital news channels that thrive on misinformation, distorting facts and harming democracy”.