Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana will enable one crore families to get up to 300 units of free electricity monthly and help them save up to Rs 18,000 annually. "There is provision of Rs 10,000 crore for rooftop solar (scheme) in the Budget," said finance secretary T V Somanathan in press conference on Budget later in the day. Earlier in the day Sitharaman in her interim Budget speech said through rooftop solarisation, one crore households will be enabled to obtain up to 300 units of free electricity each month.

The defence budget was on Thursday increased to Rs 6.21 lakh crore for 2024-25 in a modest hike of 4.72 per cent from last year's allocation of Rs 5.25 lakh crore amid India's continuing border row with China in eastern Ladakh as well as concerns over evolving security situation in the strategic waterways.

The size of Budget 2024-25 has increased 6.1 per cent to Rs 47.66 lakh crore because of the rise in expenditure and higher allocation for capital expenditure and social sector schemes.

Vitamins and minerals are better consumed in a natural form as one advances in age, advises rediffGURU Dr Karthiyayini Mahadevan.

Continuing on the fiscally prudent path, the Modi government in the interim Budget refrained from announcing populist measures, which will help it trim the fiscal deficit to 5.1 per cent of the GDP next fiscal and 4.5 per cent in FY26.

Embracing the past and the present, Mexico City pulsates with warmth and vibrancy, discovers Payal Singh Mohanka.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her sixth straight Budget ahead of the Parliamentary elections, matching the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which technically is a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, will seek Parliament's nod for a grant in advance to meet the central government's essential expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year that starts in April. A new government elected after the April/May general elections will present the full Budget, likely in July.

Now that the economy is growing at a higher-than-expected rate, it is time to accelerate the pace of fiscal consolidation, and the Budget could be a good starting point, argues Rajesh Kumar.

Following the conflict, Israel has banned the entry of Palestinian workers. The departure of several thousand other foreign workers, the Israeli construction industry has been facing a deep crisis.

Bullets fly, the noise becomes unbearable and the plot finally ends with the hero doing an unbelievable leap on to the ski of the helicopter aka Schwarzenegger, flown by our pretty heroine. UFF UFF! Squirming in my seat, I ponder over what I have been through, sighs Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).

ICICI Bank reported good results for the October-December 2023 quarter (Q3), with 24 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in profit after tax (PAT). Net interest margin (NIM) dropped 10 bps quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) to 4.43 per cent. Credit growth was at 19 per cent Y-o-Y (4 per cent Q-o-Q), while deposit growth was at 19 per cent Y-o-Y (3 per cent Q-o-Q).

Afridi added that players in The T20 squad should be given a long run ahead of the World Cup later this year.

There they were, showing the world that there are still people motivated not by religious structures, not by past glories, not by hatreds deliberately stoked. These were ordinary folks doing something extraordinary purely because they think that effort might shake a nation out of a spiralling miasma of division, mistrust, cynicism, sophistry and violence.

'Since God was being shown in live action on such a large scale, Prasanth was initially sceptical about going with an animated character.'

The interim Budget proposals that will be presented on February 1 in the backdrop of the general elections scheduled in April/May 2024 are likely to have a hint of populism, believe analysts, but are unlikely to derail the government from its path of fiscal prudence.

rediffGURU Chocko Valliappa offers advice on how to upskill yourself to advance in your career.

rediffGURU Vivek Lala answers your income tax and personal finance queries.

Kajol admires the blue skies... Sonakshi goes scuba diving... Kajal has a cute travel companion...

IMAGES from Day 4 of the 1st Test played between India and England in Hyderabad, on Sunday.

Canada's former national security advisor Jody Thomas described the changing relationship between Ottawa and New Delhi as an "evolution" and said Canada has "made advancements in that relationship."

Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and Virender Sehwag praised 'inspiration' Bopanna for his incredible achievement.

A five-judge bench of the apex court chaired by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud sat on a holiday to address the dispute where a defiant judge overruled an order of a division bench that had quashed his direction for a CBI probe and asked the central agency to go ahead with the investigation.

India registered a thrilling 6-3 win over South Africa to advance to the final of the FIH Hockey5s Women's World Cup in Muscat.

The NSG calendar of 2024 is here! The calendar this year features some unique shots as those of CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) attack combat team, drone killers and CornerShot gun.

Airbus Helicopters will partner with the Tata Group to establish a final assembly line for helicopters in the country, a development that will help in boosting indigenous manufacturing activities. This will be the second final assembly line that will be built by Airbus in India after the 'Make in India' C295 military aircraft manufacturing facility in Gujarat. The Final Assembly Line (FAL) will produce Airbus H125 helicopters from its civil range for India and for exporting to some of the neighbouring countries, Airbus Helicopter said in a statement.

The mesmerizing march included elite marching contingents, missiles, warplanes, surveillance gadgets and lethal weapon systems, with French President Emmanuel Macron gracing the occasion as the chief guest.

The ministry of home affairs has identified around 1,700 km of fencing that needs to be done, BRO's additional director general (East) PKH Singh said.

The extended timing to offer prayers at the new Ram temple in Ayodhya came into effect on Thursday with 'darshan' being allowed from 6 am as key roads leading to the temple town remained closed to regulate vehicular movement.

India-France synergy is poised to open vistas of collaboration between the two countries, notes Rup Narayan Das.

Time to indulge in something sweet yet traditional.

Indian Army snipers on night patrol with the latest technology guard the Line of Control at Gurez in Bandipora in the Kashmir Valley.

The order came on the petition filed by Kuldeep Kumar, an Aam Aadmi Party councillor, who challenged the administration's order to postpone the polls.

Amid the huge rush of devotees in Ayodhya, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a meeting with officials in Lucknow to review the steps taken for crowd management and advised VIPs planning to visit the temple to inform the authorities in advance.

Lakshya Sen and Kiran George advanced to the second round but HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth made early exits after suffering narrow losses in their respective opening matches at the Indonesia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament in Jakarta on Wednesday.

By winning the New Hampshire primary after the Iowa Caucus, Trump has made the strongest ever case to be the Republican party's nominee for the November presidential elections.

Growth rate in per capita income is projected to fall to the lowest in 21 years this financial year - except for the financial years 2019-20 (FY20) and 2020-21 (FY21) - according to the first advance estimates. During the last 21 years, the two periods - FY20 and FY21 - saw growth rates in per capita income lower than 7.9 per cent, seen during FY24. This was despite the real gross domestic product (GDP) being projected to grow by 7.3 per cent in the current financial year by the first advance estimates.

Officials hint the visit could finally see a formal defence industrial road map being adopted by both nations.

Neeraj Kumar Chaudhary, physics educator at Unacademy for IIT-JEE exams, offers important tips for aspirants.

India's first $1 trillion company by market capitalisation (mcap) is achievable by 2032 and HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries (RIL) are seen as lead contenders, ICICI Securities said in a note on Monday. To achieve this, the shares of both the firms will have to appreciate at least 20 per cent annually for the next decade. ICICI Securities believes this is possible if India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth accelerates to 9 per cent per annum and corporate profitability cycle peaks. "Our calculations suggest that India's first $1 trillion mcap stock could emerge by 2032.

Benchmark indices--Sensex and Nifty--were 0.7-0.8 per cent higher from the Saturday closing. Among the widely-tracked Nifty 50 stocks, 39 advanced and the rest 11 declined at the opening bell. Among the individual stocks, Cipla, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Power Grid Corp, and Bharti Airtel were the top five gainers, while Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, Britania, HDFC Bank, and BPCL the losers, NSE data showed. On Monday, Indian stock exchanges were closed for trading on the occasion of Pran Pratistha of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.