Tag: Union Budget

Centre to undertake ‘Operations Greens’ to curb tomato, potato, onion prices

The Operations Greens seeks to enhance value realisation of TOP farmers, linking farmers to the markets, building infrastructure and agro-logistics to reduce post-harvest losses.

November 6, 2018

Focus cannot only be on institutions of excellence

Knowledge is becoming superficial too. The semester system has a large role to play. It only eats into learning time by squeezing in another month-long semester examination. What is suitable for campus-based learning where all the facilities are available twenty-four hours, is not conducive to institutes whose hours of instruction are limited to several hours …

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August 27, 2018

Climate impacts food security and health

The Union budget released in February 2018 fixed the minimum support price (MSP) of kharif crops at least 50 per cent higher than the cost of production. The proposal is timely: Climatic imbalances such as floods and droughts have caused food insecurity and nutritional deficiency in important food crops, contributing to serious health risks.[ST1] Furthermore, …

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March 25, 2018

The micro-irrigation challenge

With the run-up time for this year’s assembly polls in several states contracting fast, and stage for the 2019 finals already in sight, the recent Union Budget attempted some ambitious allocations in the agriculture sector. Over Rs 5,000 crore was allocated to micro-irrigation, up by 276 per cent from the UPA-II regime (2009-14) – long …

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March 11, 2018

Chandrababu ready for ‘any sacrifice’

Demanding that Prime Minister and the Union ministers rectify the injustice meted out to Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu hit out at alliance partner BJP on Saturday and said he was ready “for any sacrifice” to ensure justice for the Telugus. Significantly, Naidu broke his long silence over the issue and for the …

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February 17, 2018

‘Formalising economy a crying need’

Arundhati Bhattacharya, the first woman to head the country’s largest bank, State Bank of India, seamlessly implemented a number of path-breaking changes in the banking sector. Born into a well-educated Bengali family, she started off as a probationary officer at SBI in 1977 when she was just 21. Gradually, Bhattacharya, through hard work and innate …

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February 17, 2018

‘Allocations to environment sector increased in Budget’

Refuting the stand by analysts that this year’s Union Budget proposals made no additional allocations for environment, Union environment minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said there is actually an increase in all the major programmes of the ministry. As against expectations raised by the Economic Survey, which gave much importance to environment, mainly climate change …

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February 14, 2018

Govt, Opp trade charges in no-holds-barred attack

Parliament last week completed the process of adopting Motions of Thanks to the President’s Address to its Joint Sitting, as also a General Discussion on the Union Budget for 2018-19, although it had frequent adjournments and disruptions. With this, the first part of the Budget Session, too, concluded, giving Parliamentary Standing Committees a 23-day recess …

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February 12, 2018

Government does not want to discuss Budget: Derek O’Brien

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien on Friday alleged that the Rajya Sabha was being disrupted by the members of the ruling party as the government did not want a discussion on the Union Budget. “The government does not have answers to questions being asked by the Opposition. So, the Rajya Sabha is being deliberately disrupted,” …

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February 9, 2018

RBI expects inflation to rise to 5.1 pc, repo rate unchanged

The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday maintained status quo on key interest rates and predicted that retail inflation would rise to 5.1 per cent in the last quarter of this financial year. In line with expectations, the RBI’s monetary policy committee (MPC) kept the repurchasing ~ or repo rate at which it lends to …

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February 7, 2018

Union budget anti-farmer, pro-corporate: Farmer leaders

Terming the announcement of 50 per cent profit over the input cost for agriculture commodities a “jumla” and “big fraud”, All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) on Tuesday said the Union Budget presented by the BJP government was anti-farmer and would only benefit corporates. The government has come up with a new definition for …

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February 7, 2018

Weak global sentiment behind Dalal Street crash, says Adhia

In a bid to allay fears on the blood bath in the stock market, Finance and Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on Monday said the huge sell-off in equity markets is due to weak global sentiment and not because of the imposition of long term capital gains tax (LTCG) announced in the Budget. “If the entire …

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February 6, 2018

Budget’s welfare thrust to be BJP’s weapon in key state polls

The BJP believes that the Union Budget’s thrust on welfare schemes, such as free LPG connection and health insurance for the poor, will resonate with the masses and help the party electorally ahead of Assembly polls in a number of key states. The party top brass has briefed leaders on the key pro- poor and …

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February 5, 2018

Union Budget has no vision, says Karnataka CM

Dubbing the Union Budget for fiscal 2018-19 anti-people and anti-growth, Karnataka Chief Minister on Thursday said it had no vision or direction. “The central Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley lacks vision and direction. Its proposals are disappointing, as they have nothing for the farmers, the poor and the common man,” said Siddaramaiah …

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February 2, 2018

Urbanisation our priority: Jaitley

Urbanisation is one of the government’s priorities, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday while presenting the Union Budget. He said the government has rolled out two interlinked programmes – Smart Cities Mission and the AMRUT. In what is probably the last budget of the present government ahead of Lok Sabha polls next year, Jaitley …

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February 2, 2018

Industry leaders give thumbs up to Union Budget

Industry leaders have welcomed the Union Budget 2018-19, saying it addressed key aspects of the economy such as agriculture distress, rural infrastructure, science, technology, healthcare and impetus to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. Chairman and Managing Director of Biocon Limited Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said “the wide ranging union budget covered some of the main points that …

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February 1, 2018

Union budget 2018: Tax sops likely for electric vehicles

The Centre may dole out incentives to promote electric vehicles in the country by considering lower GST and extending tax benefit for buyers in this week’s Budget for 2018-19, say sources. The announcement is expected in view of the government’s aim to have 100 per cent electric vehicles for public mobility and 40 per cent …

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January 28, 2018