Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad were the first to reach the prime minister’s residence, where the meeting is taking place, officials said. read more

India is the world’s second-largest sugar producer, next only to Brazil, and also its largest consumer. About 90% of the country’s annual sugar consumption goes into commercial use, such as packaged foods. read more

The body has representation from allies like, for instance, the Akalis and Shiv Sena in the Modi government, which has made it large and unwieldy, according to officials in the know. read more

The meeting came against the backdrop of Rajnath Singh being brought back to head six Cabinet bodies instead of two as announced earlier on Thursday. read more

Interestingly, in the list released on Thursday morning, Singh was named as a member of just two, albeit crucial committees -- the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). read more

In its final form, Rajnath Singh is also a member of the cabinet committees on parliamentary affairs, political affairs and the newly created panels on employment and investment. read more

Nirmala Sitharaman took the charge of Finance Ministry from her predecessor Arun Jaitley, who opted out of a role in the central government citing health problems. read more

From the reconstituted cabinet committees, PM Modi is a part of six, barring Cabinet Committee on Accommodation and Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs. Home Minister Amit Shah is part of all cabinet committees. read more

Economy has become a major cause of concern for the new government with GDP dropping to 5.8 per cent in the last quarter of the 2018-19, according to NSSO figures. Overall GDP for last financial year has been estimated at 6.8 per cent against a target... read more

Chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the CCS is the final decision-making body on matters related to country’s security, including defence policy and internal security . read more

He said the plans will be expanded and revised with the help of institutional structures such as the National Security Advisory Board, National Security Council and the Cabinet Committee on Security. read more

After a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS),the highest decision-making body on security issues, Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba said the JKLF had been banned for “funneling funds” into militancy and “fomenting terrorism.” read more

The Centre on Thursday announced an additional soft loan of Rs 12,900 crore for sugar mills to create ethanol capacity. In addition, a separate soft loan of Rs 2,600 crore will be provided to molasses-based standalone distilleries to augment capacity... read more

“First of all, my apologies or being late. The programme started late as I reached here (Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan) late. I was busy in some other work and I was late,” Narendra Modi said while addressing the gathering. read more

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj called the all-party meet after she attended the CCS meeting in the morning. read more