Pranab Mukherjee Tables Economic Survey In Parliament

Pranab Mukherjee Tables Economic Survey In Parliament:

A day before unveiling the Union Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has tabled the Economic Survey in Parliament. India’s GDP expected to grow at 8.5% in 2010-2011.

Besides the Survey, the Minister will also present the report of the 13th Finance Commission on sharing of taxes between the centre and states for the five-year period beginning April 2010, along with an action taken report.

The Survey, which will provide the outlook for 2010-11, is expected to project around 7.5 per cent economic growth rate during the current fiscal, which will be marginally higher than 7.2 per cent estimated by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO).

Previous Survey, which was tabled in July by Mukherjee, had said the economy, despite the impact of the global financial crisis, could expand up to 7.75 per cent. It was reiterated by the Minister when he presented the Mid-Year Review of the Economy in December.

Driven by stimulus package, the economy during the second quarter of the fiscal ending September grew by 7.9 per cent, much above the expectation of the analysts.

The survey is also expected to underline the need for fiscal consolidation as the deficit of the government is estimated to shoot up to 6.8 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during 2009-10 from 6.2 per cent a year ago.

India,Pakistan Foreign Secretaries Meet

New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI) After a 14-month hiatus, Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan met here today for structured talks with an aim of ending the chill in the relations caused by Mumbai attacks.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao headed the Indian delegation while the Pakistani delegation was led by her counterpart Salman Bashir.
Before getting into the talks at Hyderbad House, Rao said, “I welcome Foreign Secretary of Pakistan Salman Bashir…I look forward to our talks”.

Bashir said, “…It is a pleasure for me to be back here. ….We are also looking forward to a very good, constructive engagement”.
At the talks, India was set to raise concerns over continued terrorism emanating from Pakistan and press it to end this scourge which was hampering normalisation of ties.

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Rail Budget Dedicated To People,Says Mamata

Rail Budget Dedicated To People,Says Mamata: Latest Updates About Rail Budget Dedicated To People,Says Mamata:

A new express train called “Peace Express” between Kashmir and Kanyakumari is likely to be announced in the Railway budget, which Mamata Banerjee said would be dedicated to the common man.

“It is dedicated to janata as common man is our asset and strength,” the Railway Minister told reporters as she gave finishing touches to the Budget 2010-11 she would present in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Refusing to say anything on the budget proposals, she said “wait for tomorrow to know everything.”

Besides the Peace Express, a “Culture Express” is also slated to be announced as railways’ tourism package to cover India’s important heritage sites.

Expansion of Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) connecting Mumbai with Kolkata and Chennai with Mangalore are also expected to be announced in the budget.

Currently Eastern DFC is linking Delhi with Kolkata and Western DFC is connecting Delhi with Mumbai.

Railways is likely to include Kharagpur station in the list of world class railway station project. It had already announced 50 stations to be upgraded as world class stations.

Besides a slew of projects for West Bengal, Ms. Mamata is likely to announce some big projects for Uttar Pradesh, sources said.

Stay On Sukhna Scam General’s Court Martial

Stay On Sukhna Scam General’s Court Martial:The Armed Forces Tribunal on Monday stayed court martial proceeding against retired military secretary Lt Gen Avadhesh Prakash in the Sukna land scam.

The court martial, ordered against Prakash after his indictment by a court of inquiry (COI), was to start on February 25 in Kolkata.

A two-member tribunal bench quashed the findings of the COI, which had indicted Prakash for using his official position to pressure the staff of the 33, Corps — based in Sukna, West Bengal — to facilitate the transfer of a plot of land to his family friend, Dilip Agarwal.

The Bench ordered a fresh CoI, to be completed within two months.

Observing that army rule was “violated” during the COI, the Bench said Prakash would get the chance to cross-examine the six witnesses who deposed against him. “It will be open to the petitioner to lead any evidence by calling witness or producing documentary evidence,” it said.

A BEST Bus Hits Another In Malad,13 Injured

A BEST Bus Hits Another In Malad,13 Injured:At least 13 people sustained minor injuries when a BEST bus dashed into another bus stationed at a bus stop in Malad on Monday morning.

All those injured were rushed to Bhagwati civic hospital, but were later released after basic first aid, informed the police.

According to witnesses, the incident happened at Bangur Nagar bus stop where the bus number 256 was stationed.

There were at least 50-60 passengers inside the bus at that time.

The witnesses added that, suddenly another BEST bus dashed into the one that was stationed.

“The driver of the bus number 205 lost his control , because of which he hit the one that was stationed,” said Sahil Khan, an eyewitness.

The witnesses added that a mob which gathered at the spot, tried to attack the bus driver of the bus number 205, but a police team which reached the spot, brought the situation under control.

Indian Markets Start On A Weak Note

Indian Markets Start On A Weak Note:A benchmark index of Indian equities began trade on a feeble note today, with huge selling activity across the board.

At 9.15 a. m., the 30-share index BSE Sensex, which belled the day opened at 16,213.14, stood at 16,221.27 after losing 15.78 points from its earlier closure.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty lost 10.45 points to trade at 4,845.95 as against its last close at 4,856.4 points on Monday.

Broader markets were also trading in the negative zone with the BSE midcap index trading 0.23% lower and the BSE small cap index trading 0.37% down. (With Input from Agencies)

Govt To Invoke NSA Against Fake Drug Dealers

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday decided to invoke the National Security Act (NSA) against offenders found engaged in dealing/trading in, or manufacturing fake drugs in the state. The extreme measure shall be resorted to in case of grave and extreme cases to rein in the drug mafia.

The decision by a high-level committee follows the Allahabad High Court rap for slackness in containing spurious drug racket and a two-month deadline to the government to set its house in order. The court’s warning comes at an opportune time when everything — from fake blood to fake life-saving antibiotics like Ciprofloxiciline, third generation of Cephalosporin and Carbpanem, substandard painkiller Voveron and insulin to a simple paracetamol tablet — find a ready and unsuspecting market.

Private Schools Are Free To Set Their Own Fees,Says Sibal

NEW DELHI: In what comes as a blow to the efforts of city parents’ associations which have been campaigning for reining in school fees, Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal said on Friday that the fees of private schools cannot be regulated and that each school had the right to fix the salaries of its teachers.

Sibal’s claims contradict provisions in the Delhi School Education Act, 1973, which stipulate that remuneration of teachers in private schools cannot be less than their counterparts in government schools. The minister said this contradiction will go away once the Right to Education Act is implemented from April 1 this year ^ implying that the central Act will override the state law.

“There is no such provision in RTE,” Sibal said about the salaries of teachers while addressing principals at the 37th annual meet of National Progressive Schools’ Conference — a group of nearly 110 private unaided schools in the city.

“The salaries of teachers in private schools do not have to be according to the government. They will decide to pay what they want to pay,” he declared, while countering a speaker at the meet who had earlier said that small schools, which are now mushrooming in the city, did not have quality teachers because they could not afford to pay good salaries.

Buddha Admits Failure,Appoints Panel To Probe Naxal Attack

Kolkata: Admitting serious security lapses, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday appointed a panel to probe into the recent Naxal attack on Shilda police camp in the West Midnapore district of the state.

Addressing a press conference in the state capital, the Chief Minister said, “There was a security lapse, I must say. There was breach in preparedness and lack of alertness that led to the killing of 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) jawans by Maoists in West Midnapore district.”

Although the Chief Minister refused to make further comments on the incident, he informed that a high-level commission has been appointed by the government to find the loopholes.

“I shall and I must not comment on the incident till the inquiry is over. I decided to order an enquiry since we want to know the whole truth. We have appointed a commission to probe every aspect of the Naxal attack that occurred recently, ” he added.

“We need to know if there was an intelligence failure ahead of the attack. We also need to know what the security forces were doing when the camp was attacked. We will conduct an inquiry and check if we had prior intelligence input on the Naxal attack,” he added.

Elaborating on the issue, Buddhadeb said, “The commission will find out as to what was their (Naxals) modus operandi. How they reached the area and what was our response to them.”

He also assured that appropriate “action” would be taken against senior officers if they were found lax.

While welcoming the central investigating teams for a fact finding mission to West Bengal, the Chief Minister said, “We have absolutely no problem in working with the teams constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The central teams are most welcome in Shilda.”

Clear Sky, Sunshine Greets Capital

New Delhi:Latest updates After braving cloudy climate and severe cold, people of Delhi found some relief as sun shone brightly today.

According to a spokesperson from India Meteorological Department, “Though shallow fog and partly clouded sky was reported in the morning, sky would mainly remain clear in the day. There are no signs of rain.”

The least temperature was 10 degrees Celsius, while the highest temperature was expected to hang around 23 degrees Celsius.

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