Think India Foundation

Special status for Bihar will buoy nation’s economy : Nitish

DARBHANGA : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Friday that granting special status to the State will accelerate economic growth in the country.

Nitish Kumar

“I firmly believe that the Centre will have to accord special status to Bihar if it wants to boost the economic growth in the country,” Kumar told a public meeting here during his two-day ‘Seva Yatra’. Read more

Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com

S&P warns India of downgrade; Govt says nothing to worry

Any downgrade would mean pushing the country's sovereign rating to junk status, making overseas borrowings by corporates costlier

New Delhi : Global agency Standard & Poor's today threatened to downgrade India's rating to 'junk' status if it fails to pursue reforms, "disappointing" the government which retorted by saying the international investors hold a different view and there was nothing to be worried about.

While retaining India's sovereign rating at 'BBB-' with a negative outlook citing high fiscal and current account deficits, S&P said there is at least a one-in-three likelihood of a downgrade within the next 12 months. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Montek pat, cash for Bihar

New Delhi : Bihar today drew praise from Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia for faring better than other states on per capita income.

“Bihar’s overall performance during 2012-13 has been very good and its growth in per capita income has been better than the country as a whole. Although the state started with a low base, this still is a remarkable growth,” he said after a meeting with chief minister Nitish Kumar. Read more

Source : www.telegraphindia.com

Mamata vows to free West Bengal from debt burden

Trinamool Congress government is consistently asking the Centre to allow a three-year moratorium on interest payment on loan taken by the previous government

Kolkata : Noting there has been a 30 per cent increase in revenue generation in West Bengal, state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today vowed to free the state from the crippling debt burden which had been passed on from by previous government.

Mamata Banerjee

Banerjee said that the revenue had gone up by 30%, but regretted that only 30 to 32 per cent of the money had been spent on development while the rest went to meet the interest on the 2.5 lakh crore debt. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

India Rides on a Growth Curve

The year 2012 was important in India’s perspective as the plan for the next five years was laid in this year. Based on those plans, the country will continue its further journey towards attaining the economic growth. Therefore, 2013 is expected to witness implementation of plans, schemes and decisions that have been taken a year before.

The new year has brought in new hopes, especially in the Indian businesses. The Government of India has released its Five Year Plan 2012-17, which is expected to boost the Indian businesses in many sectors. At the same time, foreign companies continue to look at India as an investment destination. This approach has led towards many partnerships and joint ventures. One of such notable joint ventures (JV) in 2012 was between Russian oil giant Sibur and Reliance Industries (RIL). Read more

Source : www.bulk-solids-handling.com

'Indian regulatory environment supportive of biz growth'

New Delhi: Buoyed by reform initiatives, majority of senior corporate executives are convinced that the current regulatory environment is supportive of business growth in the country, according to an E&Y survey.

Global consultancy Ernst & Young's survey also found that around 86 percent of the executives consider domestic economy to be stable or improving while investing capital is the priority for about 40 percent of the respondents. Read more

Source : zeenews.india.com

Seminar on status of migrant workers in Mumbai

MUMBAI: A seminar 'Migration, a question of survival: An urban Perspective' will be held at Yuva Centre in Kharghar on Tuesday. 

It will focus on issues related to urbanization and migration, migrant workers and growth of economy. The study will also present the demographic profile of migrants in New Mumbai. The panel discussion aims to examine the services and policies of the government for migrant workers and how to fill in the gaps. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

India reduced to a stumbling elephant

NEW DELHI - Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory - will this define India and its future? For all the talk of favorable demography, a huge middle class and likely impetus being provided by rapid urbanization and concomitant consumption, India is failing itself where it hurts the most - in the quality of governance. 

The eulogies reserved for India, even a decade back, seems to have been turned on their head as the global media space is awash with stories of never-ending streams of corruption (mostly from the government and bureaucracy) and severe attacks on civil liberties, especially violence against women. Read more

Source : www.atimes.com

RBI throws water on bankers' govt-cash hopes

Mumbai : Opening up the government's large cash balances will not solve the liquidity crisis for banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a post-policy interaction with analysts and researchers on Monday.

Bankers had met the central bank prior to its annual monetary and credit policy meet where it cut the repo rate by 25 basis points, to consider the possibility of auctioning the government’s large cash balances to commercial banks. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

Why TN, Kerala are ahead of UP, Bihar in terms of development

Bangalore: Quality of governance and better leadership has led to southern states surging ahead of their northern counterparts, widening the gap in terms of per capita income and poverty between the south and north, says a study.

Per capita incomes in the south (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala) have risen fast and poverty has declined in recent years. Reuters

Per capita incomes in the south (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala) have risen fast and poverty has declined in recent years and the reason is quality of governance, better leadership and political stability, according to study conducted by the Public Affairs Centre. Read more

Source : www.firstpost.com

Planning Commission approves Haryana's Rs 27,072 cr outlay for 2013-14

NEW DELHI: The Planning Commission today approved Haryana's Plan expenditure of Rs 27,072 crore for the current fiscal, which is just 2.2 per cent higher than the outlay for 2012-13. 

The state's annual plan outlay of Rs 27,072 crore for 2013-14 was finalised here at a meeting between Commission's Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a statement said here. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

India refuses to commit on duty waiver for industrial goods in select sectors

NEW DELHI : India has refused to commit to the complete elimination of duty on industrial goods in specific sectors. Some of the major developed countries want developing nations such as India, China and Brazil to undertake complete duty elimination in specific sectors such as electronic products, chemicals and industrial machinery. “India has reservations on account of the effect of such a commitment on sectors and products, which are critical for employment generation and economic growth. There is also a proposal to eliminate tariffs on a list of environmental goods, which has not been supported by India and some other developing countries,” Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, D. Purandeswari informed Parliament in a written reply.

She said India had raised concerns relating to the unfair trade practices and policies being followed by the U.S. Read more

Source : www.thehindu.com

Maharashtra shows exit route to SEZ developers

Govt has come up with a scheme to convert denotified SEZ into integrated industrial clusters under Maharastra Industrial Development Corporation

Mumbai : The new state industrial policy 2013-2108 has come up with exit route for special economic zone developers in the and at the same time evolve new strategy to tackle land availability for industrial purposes.

In order to solve the problem of availability of land, the state government has come up with a scheme to convert denotified SEZ into integrated industrial clusters under Maharastra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). Officials said this is an exit scheme for the SEZ developers who want to quit. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Despite success stories, most cities still offer a dark reality

While the majority of Indians still live in rural areas, this, too, is changing fast. From 1970 to 2010, India's urban population grew by 250 million. The next quarter-billion will be added in half that time. By 2030, 70 per cent of India's GDP will come from its cities.

But cities are simply unable to cope with the influx of migrants on the current scale. The fast-growing metropolises of India, China, Brazil, and other major emerging economies offer plenty of jobs, but basic amenities are lacking; as a result, many of the urban poor live in slums, without adequate health care, water supplies, or electricity. Read more

Source : www.timesofoman.com

New scandals may put brakes on economic reforms

After riding high since launching economic reforms in September, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's minority coalition has been brought to a new low, with key ministers entangled in corruption investigations and Singh facing calls to quit.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

In the space of just a week, Singh's government has seen its economic reform legislative agenda disintegrate in parliament as opposition members have repeatedly disrupted proceedings to demand the resignation of the two-term technocrat and his law and railway ministers. Read more

Source : businesstoday.intoday.in

Asian Development Bank facing funding crunch, warns India

NEW DELHI: The Asian Development Bank is facing a funding crunch as the multilateral lending agency seeks to reduce widespread poverty in emerging market nations and boost infrastructure, India warned Saturday. 

The Asia-Pacific region, despite boasting the world's fastest-growing economies, is still home to around two-thirds of the world's poor, with some 1.5 billion people living on less than $2 a day. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Taking away capital mgmt from RBI not advisable: Subbarao

Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao, who is known to have mind of his own, and has many times been at odds with the Finance Minister today voiced his discontent about the Financial Sector Legislative Reform Commission(FSLRC’s) recommendations regarding capital inflows.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18’s Latha Venkatesh, he stressed that taking away capital management from Reserve Bank of India is not advisable and that the central bank had made this suggestion to FSRLC when it was consulted. Read more

Source : www.moneycontrol.com

India's rating upgrade unlikely anytime soon: S&P

Amid high public-debt levels and concerns about deficit and subsidies, the India growth story still remains positive, global rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) said today. However, the rating agency ruled out rating upgrade of India anytime soon.

India's growth track record is good in current circumstances as the RBI attempts to counteract loose fiscal policy . The market has factored in one ore two rate cuts this year, the agency added. Read more

Source : www.moneycontrol.com

Cash-strapped VMC pins hopes on Hudco, State

VIJAYAWADA : The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation is pinning a lot of hopes on professional tax, Hudco loan of Rs.75 crore, and State government loan of Rs.57 crore to improve its financial health.

The authorities also hope that the VMC will have a “respite” if the Union Bank of India loan is cleared and the JNNURM projects are closed. Read more

Source : www.thehindu.com

RBI puts onus on government for monetary easing in future

NEW DELHI: RBI has once again lobbed the ball into the government's court, asking it to create the enabling conditions through fresh reform measures for future easing of monetary policy.

For the central bank, the two big risk factors are the current account deficit and the stubborn food inflation. While the government has been upbeat about growth prospects in the coming months, RBI seems to be taking a more conservative view on growth and inflation. Policymakers in the government have been euphoric about the moderation in wholesale price inflation but the central bank is worried about the supply constraints. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

2.97 mn professionals employed in IT-ITeS sector in FY13: Govt

New Delhi: The total number of professionals working in India's USD 100 billion IT-Information Technology Enabled Services (IT-ITeS) sector grew by 7 percent to 2.97 million in the last fiscal, Parliament was informed Friday.

The IT-ITeS sector, which contributes about 8 percent to the country's economy, provided employment to 2.77 million professionals in 2011-12 fiscal, Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. Read more

Source : zeenews.india.com

ADB sees India GDP growth at 6% in 2013-14

GREATER NOIDA : Asian Development Bank (ADB) sees the Indian economy growing at six per cent this fiscal.

Rajat M. Nag

The Indian economy could even return to 8-9 per cent growth levels if the country were to get its investment story right, Rajat Nag, Managing Director General, ADB, said at the 46th Annual Meet of the bank here today. Read more

Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com

Fewer farmers call for urban reform

One lazy assumption, that most Indians live in villages and work their farms, has been demolished by census numbers released on Tuesday. These show that the number of "cultivators", people who own farms, fell by nearly nine million in the decade from 2001. It is also the first time, since 1971, when the absolute number of farmers has fallen. This tallies with a robust observation of economic history: as nations develop, people move from farm to factory. However, as people move away from farms and into cities in search of something else to do, most are diverted into informal jobs. This increasing informalisation of the workforce is dangerous for three reasons: it tends to perpetuate poverty, reduce productivity and yield lower revenues to governments. India's rigid labour laws, drawn up to protect the interests of its tiny formal-worker elite, need to be thoroughly revamped to let employers absorb more workers in formal occupations. 

But that will not be enough. In February this year, economists Ejaz Ghani and Ravi Kanbur published a paper which showed that across the developing world, more and more people were moving into informal jobs in cities. They also found that this informality was remarkably persistent. Of the more than dozen nations they surveyed, India had the highest level of informality; and it was as high in 2005 as it was in pre-reform 1989. Though their work suggests that informality could decline as people become better off — Chile and Turkey are richer than India and have more people working formal jobs — it is not enough to sit around and play catch-up. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Poverty amid progress in Asia worries ADB chief

GREATER NOIDA : With Asia still facing many developmental challenges despite remarkable growth in the past few decades, Asian Development Bank (ADB) president Takehiko Nakao on Thursday lamented that the region was still home to over 800 million people steeped in poverty. 

President of Asian Development Bank Takehiko Nakao addresses a press conference in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.

“It is disheartening that in a region of such rapid progress, we still have a population of more than 800 million people living in absolute poverty. This, along with growing inequality, remains an overarching challenge,” Mr. Nakao said in his opening statement at a press conference at the 46th annual meeting of the ADB Board being held at the Indian Expo Mart at Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh) in the National Capital Region (NCR). Read more

Source : www.thehindu.com

ADB's India lending may reduce

Greater Noida : In the wake of lending to emerging economies not yielding adequate returns, multilateral lender Asian Development Bank on Thursday said that with limited capacities, its assistance to India and other developing countries may face constraints in future.

"We have no solid base of capital to continue to lend at higher levels than before. But of course there are challenges to keep this level of lending,” ADB President Takehiko Nakao, who is here for the bank’s annual meeting, told reporters. He did emphasise that the bank would increase its lending to India. He said that the bank’s income resources invested in advanced economies had come down due to softening of global interest rates and added that the bank was working on ways to maintain a sustainable level of lending. Read more

Source : www.deccanherald.com

CII charts growth agenda for south

South india contributes over 25% of India's GDP

Chennai : To boost further economic growth in the southern states, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) plans to highlight the high growth areas. For this, the industry body has announced the theme for the year, 'Accelerating growth with conscious competitiveness'.

B Santhanam, chairman, CII-Southern Region, said south India's contribution to the entire GDP stood at a $252 billion, ie, over 25 per cent. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Infrastructure financing: How to raise $1 trillion

The government faces hard but doable choices: create a sustainable bond market and cut the fiscal deficit

The recent slowdown of the Indian economy has brought to light a critical challenge facing policy makers, namely how to shift infrastructure spending into higher gear. Without a significant increase in investment, the country will not be able to raise growth rates to its full potential, build up infrastructure and, in turn, attract greater private investment in the economy. It would also slow progress in raising households out of poverty. Underscoring this challenge, the Planning Commission has identified $1 trillion in infrastructure investment finance requirements over the next five years. The good news is that the government was largely successful in meeting its earlier five-year target. The helpful news is that over the next five years, the government is not alone and can depend on the private sector, including through public-private-partnership initiatives, to help finance nearly half of the $1 trillion investment needed.

The ability to meet this target will critically depend on two factors. First, the authorities' ability to successfully increase reliance on the bond market as an alternative source of financing to bank loans and, second, their ability to implement fiscal consolidation as a means of freeing up bank lending and reducing upward pressure on interest rates. The two are closely linked. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Reform services sector to generate jobs: ADB to India

P Chidambaram who is chair of board of governors in ADB could not make it to the first day of ADB anual meet

Takehiko Nakao, ADB

Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh) : As critics accuse India's growth story of not creating enough jobs, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) today asked the country to reduce "burdensome" regulations to unleash the potential of services sector and improve investment climate to boost manufacturing so that young hands could be employed.

On its opening day of 46th annual meeting here, Takehiko Nakao said,"considering India’s young and growing labour force, the service sector needs to create more jobs for the millions who will join the workforce every year. We all know that India has to reduce burdensome regulations to allow the sector to be more competitive and dynamic." Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Campus Front protests against invalid cheques distribution to minority students

Murshidabad: Campus Front of India, West Bengal state committee organized a Dharna to protest in front of DM office at Berhampur in Mursidabad against invalid cheques distribution to minority students.

78000 cheques given in pre-matric scholarships to minority students in West Bengal have either been deemed invalid or bounced. West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (WBMDFC) have distributed the pre-matric scholarship for the year 2012-13 to nearly 12 lakhs minority students. Read more

Source : twocircles.net

'Technology, economy and energy new drivers of India-US ties'

Washington : With the cooperation between India and the US bilateral issues remaining on track, aspects like technology and energy have become new driving forces in the ties between two countries, Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao has said. 

Rao, while addressing an audience, here, expressed hope that the Obama Administration would soon give approval for the export of US natural gas to India. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

India Inc should share risk in model concession pacts under PPP: Montek

NEW DELHI : Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on Monday, made it clear to India Inc. that the GDP (gross domestic product) growth target of 8 per cent set for the XII Plan (2012-17) period would have to be scaled down if the private sector failed to contribute half of the estimated $1 trillion investment in infrastructure development. 

Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia in New Delhi on Monday. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

Inaugurating Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FICCI’s) ‘India PPP Summit 2013’, Mr. Ahulwalia pointed out that while private sector participation in infrastructure projects in public-private partnership (PPP) mode had grown substantially from 10 per cent of the required funding during the X Plan to 37 per cent in the XI Plan, no less than 50 per cent of the estimated investment would have to necessarily come from the private sector during the XII Plan. Read more

Source : www.thehindu.com

Chidambaram's race to reform Indian economy runs into political hurdles

NEW DELHI: Chidambaram is increasingly spoken of as a future prime minister if the Congress party retains power, although he denies any such ambition.

India's Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tokyo in this April 2, 2013. PHOTO: REUTERS

While the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has agreed in principle on land reform, it has refused to back the insurance bill, and with national elections due by May 2014, it is not in a mood to compromise. Read more

Source : tribune.com.pk

Learning from the inflationary mistakes of the past

New Delhi : Global macroeconomic stability was troubled the least after major central banks adopted inflation targeting

In its World Economic Outlook, the IMF said that after the ongoing “great recession”, central banks should rethink their position on inflation targeting.

The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) report too did not insist on inflation targeting. The central government can specify price stability, a fixed exchange rate, or the nominal GDP as the predominant objective in consultation with the RBI. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

ECB norms likely to be relaxed for low cost housing, infra

New Delhi : This will allow Indian companies access cheaper funds abroad

The government may further ease norms for raising funds through the external commercial borrowing (ECB) window, particularly for low-cost housing and infrastructure sectors like telecom and ports. This will allow Indian companies access cheaper funds abroad.
 
The finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India officials are likely to meet this week to consider ECB relaxation for these sectors so that capital flows can be attracted into the country, especially at a time when the widening current account deficit (CAD) has become a reason for the government’s worry. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Normal monsoon to boost growth

NEW DELHI: The forecast for normal monsoon rains have come as another shot in the arm for policymakers battling to reverse the growth slowdown in Asia's third-largest economy. Economists said the prospect of likely normal monsoon during June-September period augured well and should help boost growth, rural incomes and help in moderating stubborn food prices that have hovered around double-digits. 

The news comes close on the heels of softening global crude oil and gold prices, two of the country's largest imports, bringing temporary relief for the government trying to control a widening current account deficit ( CAD). "It will certainly help growth prospects and create potential for reduction in food prices," said D K Srivastava, chief policy adviser at Ernst & Young. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The Arriving Millions

Multitudes have to be connected to modernity for our great leap forward

A group of BPO recruits at a training session in Uttarakhand

It has become a cliche to speak of India as a land of paradoxes. The old joke about our country is that anything you say about India, the opposite is also true. We like to think of ourselves as an ancient civilisation but we are also a young republic; our IT experts stride confidently into the twenty-first century but much of our population seems to live in each of the other twenty centuries. Quite often, the opposites coexist quite cheerfully. One of my favourite images of India is from the last Kumbh Mela, of a naked sadhu, straight out of central casting, with matted hair, ash-smeared forehead and scraggly beard, a rudraksha mala around his scrawny neck and a distant gaze in his eyes, for all the world a picture of timeless other-worldliness, chatting away on a mobile phone.

Young Indians are growing into such a paradoxical India. What are the prospects for the expansion of the participative political space in tomorrow’s India, say over the next two decades? To me this desirable objective requires both growth and equity. It is happening, but there’s still a lot that needs to be done before we get there. Read more

Source : www.outlookindia.com

Indian government pitches for rating upgrade

New Delhi

(IANS)

: Indian government Thursday made a strong pitch for sovereign rating upgrade during a meeting with the representatives of Standard & Poor's, saying the recent reform initiatives would help contain deficits and boost investments and growth.

"There is a case for an upgrade because we have taken the kind of decisions that most of countries in the world have not been able to take," Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram told reporters after the meeting here. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Carbon tax: A revenue for investment in low carbon growth

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for phased adjustments in the energy prices to bring them to the international level, at the 57th meeting of the National Development Council.

The increase in energy prices is a politically sensitive issue which can invite critics as being hard on  common man and affecting economic growth, the Kirit Parikh committee report on ‘Viable and Sustainable System of Pricing of Petroleum Products’ invited criticism as worse for the aam admi . Read more

Source : www.deccanherald.com

FM focus on regulators

New Delhi : The government wants to set up regulators for coal and roadways as well as a rail tariff authority in the next few months as part of its reform initiatives. It has also sought the support of the Opposition to clear important bills in Parliament.

“We will continue to take small significant steps. India’s economy will continue to reform. The remaining bills have to be passed. There are many more executive actions that have to be taken. Some of these are executive actions, which we will take in the next two to four months,” finance minister P. Chidambaram said while addressing the India Summit organised by The Economist. Read more

Source : www.telegraphindia.com

Fiscal Instruments for climate friendly industrial development in West Bengal

New Delhi: CII with the support of UKFCO took up a project to develop fiscal instruments for low carbon industrial development in the state of West Bengal, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. The activities involved - a review of the state existing policies, developing a report on national and international best practices and identifying specific fiscal instruments along with cost benefits for each of the three states.

 

Five specific instruments focusing on - Power plants, industry, sponge iron industry, waste management and building sector have been developed. The instruments were shared with the stake holders (government, private sector and multilateral agencies) at a steering committee meeting at Bengal club on 22nd April 2013. Read more

Source : indiaeducationdiary.in

Assocham for Rs.20,000 crore package for Bengal

Kolkata

(IANS) : Reiterating that central government assistance is necessary for the debt-stressed West Bengal, industry lobby Assocham Tuesday said the centre should grant Rs.20,000 crore development-linked package to the state as its financial "problem is more serious than Bihar".

"West Bengal should be given Rs.20,000 crore development-linked package to enable it get over the financial crisis," Assocham secretary general D.S. Rawat said here. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

India has $1 trillion infrastructure deficit: FM tells World Bank

Washington, DC : India has a USD 1 trillion infrastructure deficit over the next five years, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has told the World Bank, which wants private sector participation to bridge the funding gap.

Chidambaram met World Bank President Jim Yong Kim yesterday morning on the sidelines of the annual Spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

PCMC launches 10-point reform programme booklet

PUNE: Stressing on the need for administrative reforms, the director general of Yashwant rao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (Yashada), Sanjay Chahande, said on Thursday that civic bodies should give importance to income generation as their existence depends on it. Various administrations all over the world have progressed, but the country still does not consider reforms important, he added.

Chahande along with municipal commissioner Shrikhar Pardeshi and Pimpri Chinchwad mayor Mohini Lande graced the occasion of a booklet release which lists a 10-point programme of the Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation. "The civic bodies perform three important tasks of regulation enforcement, infrastructure development and service delivery. The 10-point programme covers all these aspects," he said. He added that the corporators must have a broad mindset and give priority to the interests of the civic body. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee fumes as funds granted to other states

Calls it vendetta of the centre for narrow political gains

Kolkata: Terming a special package granted to states as “political discrimination against West Bengal”, chief minister Mamata Banerjee demanded justice for her cash-strapped state which has been identified by the 12th Finance Commission as one of the most debt-stressed states in the country.

Speaking to Gulf News, Banerjee said: “This is a political vendetta against the people of Bengal. The funds that the central government gives to states don’t belong to a particular political party or group of individuals. Bengal also contributes to it. But they are using it suit their political ends.” Read more

Source : gulfnews.com

Panchkula MC to revise budget

The Panchkula Municipal Corporation (PMC) is revising its budget for the current financial year after objections were raised by PMC Commissioner Ashima Brar that the income estimates projected in the Rs 80-crore budget were far-fetched.

The Commissioner pointed out that the estimates prepared by the corporation stating that it will realise Rs 24 crore from the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) on account of share from extension fee from the urban body could throw the corporation's plans out of gear as the HUDA has not been paying the money for more than 10 years and it is unlikely that the money will be recovered entirely this year. Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

Cabinet clears financial packages for Bihar, Orissa

Cabinet announces Rs.12,000 crore package for Bihar, which is ruled by the JD(U), a key ally of the BJP

New Delhi: The Union cabinet on Thursday cleared packages for Bihar and Orissa, states ruled by regional parties that are not currently part of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) that rules the country, presumably in an effort to woo the two parties in question.

It also approved an 8% increase in an allowance given to serving and retired Union government employees in a populist move that will cost the government nearly Rs.19,000 crore, although it could result in returns in the form of an increase in consumption. Read more

Source : www.livemint.com

Mamata Banerjee wants more central funds

KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee made use of her interactions with Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde to seek more central allocations for Bengal.

The two met at the 20th Eastern Zonal Council meeting that was hosted by the Bengal government at Town Hall on Wednesday. Shinde said he was grateful to Mamata for attending the meeting despite her illness. Finance minister Amit Mitra, who was being treated at the AIIMS in Delhi and was back only on Saturday, couldn't attend the event. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Special status to Bihar: Union Cabinet to decide today

New Delhi: With the BJP-JD-U war over Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi intensifying, the ruling Congress government at the Centre is trying hard to woo Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, with the Union Cabinet on Thursday considering his demand for granting special status to his state. 

Among other issues, the Cabinet will also examine changes to the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act that also provide for confiscation of property if a case of graft is established. Read more

Source : zeenews.india.com

Cabinet plans sops ahead of LS polls

New Delhi : Moving into an overdrive with political clamour rising, the UPA government is set for an image makeover by taking crucial decisions having possible implications before the next general elections.    

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be chairing a Cabinet meeting on Thursday to decide on issues ranging from special economic package for Janata Dal (United) ruled Bihar to a new health mission for urban areas, in addition to new stringent anti-corruption norms for bureaucrats and a new system for appointment of judges of the high courts and the Supreme Court. Read more

Source : www.hindustantimes.com

In Nitish Kumar's Bihar, reality counters claims of development

Gaya, Bihar: At every public platform, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his administration have flaunted economic data to show how effective policies and governance have created a resurgent Bihar.

But how do these claims translate on the ground, particularly for those at the centre of the state's politics? Read more

Source : www.ndtv.com