Opposition-ruled states warn of steep annual losses; Centre assures higher consumption will offset revenue hit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Pamban sea bridge, providing rail link between Rameswaram island and the mainland and flagged off the new Rameswaram-Tambaram (Chennai) train service. The bridge is India's first vertical sea-lift bridge, spanning 2.08 kilometers, and includes a 72.5-meter-long vertical lift span that can be raised up to 17 meters, allowing the smooth passage of large ships while ensuring seamless train operations. Built at a cost of over Rs 550 crore, the bridge features stainless steel reinforcement, high-grade paint, and fully welded joints, enhancing durability while reducing maintenance requirements. The bridge is a remarkable blend of tradition and technology.
The DMK government in Tamil Nadu has sparked controversy by replacing the Indian Rupee symbol with a Tamil letter in the logo for its 2025-26 budget. The move has drawn criticism from the state BJP, which accused the ruling party of being "stupid." The development comes amidst the ongoing language row between the Centre and Tamil Nadu, with the latter alleging Hindi imposition by the Union government.
ndependent of the political fallout, which Stalin has sought to arrest through the withdrawal of the measures as fast as they were introduced, there are concerns about the way those decisions came to be taken, without adequate application of mind, not in official terms but in political and electoral contexts, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Economic stagnation is the advance payment for polarisation, which extracts a terrible price.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said the media needs to remain vigilant and flag shortcomings of the government with a view to improve the effectiveness of governance.
The Tamil Nadu government will constitute an 'economic advisory council' to the chief minister comprising Nobel laureates, former Reserve Bank of India governor and other economic experts from around the globe to advise the state on how to reverse the economic slowdown.
'Since the NDA took office in 2014, and aggressively since 2019, the Union government seems hell bent on centralising all power and resources, only to fail spectacularly.'
The finance ministry has set up two committees of state finance ministers which would rework rate slabs, review GST exempt items and identify potential evasion sources. Four years after the roll out of the national Goods and Services Tax (GST), which replaced the complex indirect tax structure, the centre and states have started work on moving towards a "simpler rate structure in GST" by reviewing the current rate slabs, including special rates and merger of rate slabs. The Group of Ministers (GoM) on rate rationalisation would also review items under inverted duty structure to help minimise refund payout, and review the supply of goods and services exempt under GST with an objective to expand the tax base and eliminate breaking of input tax credit (ITC) chain.
'From the tiniest to mid-level organisations and even some at the lower end of the large-scale ones would say that computerisation and the extensive documentation and regulatory requirements for GST have made the compliance process worse in many cases.'
The Palaniswami government is expected to utilise the Rangarajan Committee's recommendations before the 2021 assembly election.
'Welfare schemes are not a necessary evil, they are a necessary good.'
'Ram Sene or Bajrang Dal were supposed to be fringe elements, but with the BJP in power, they have become mainstream elements.' 'The government is either keeping quiet or indirectly supporting them.'
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will on Friday meet an all-party delegation from Tamil Nadu to discuss the state administrations' concerns over the Kudankulam nuclear project. He will meet the delegation at his residence in 7 Race Course Road in Delhi to dispel apprehensions about the safety of the nuclear project. The delegation will be headed by Tamil Nadu Finance Minister O Paneerselvam, who will present a memorandum to the prime minister.
From social engineering to bearing the cost of COVID-19 treatment to financial reconstruction of Tamil Nadu's debt the debutant chief minister is emerging as a leader with a difference, says Shjne Jacob
The demand for extension of the GST cess regime among others was made by several state finance ministers at a pre-budget consultation called by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi. Besides, many states also demanded raising the share of the Union government in the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS). Currently, the central government and state government share in some CSS is 60:40 while in others it is 75:25.
He was a nine-time MLA, one-time Lok Sabha member and former finance minister of Tamil Nadu and a close friend of former Chief Minister late Karunanidhi.
N Kalyanasundaram started saving up last year so that he could feed the hungry during the second COVID lockdown.
A panel will examine the merits and demerits of various dates for the commencement of the financial year.
Jayalalithaa loyalist and Tamil Nadu Finance Minister O Panneerselvam was chosen to be the next chief minister after the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo was convicted and sent to jail for four years in a corruption case.
No one was injured in the incident that triggered panic among road users, even as police cordoned off the area and diverted traffic.
Will just sit back and see, said Dinakaran over AIADMK merger.
Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiagarajan has proclaimed his determination to set Tamil Nadu's fiscal house in order in five years, and Friday will show how he plans to go about it when he rises to present the Stalin government's maiden budget, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
12 persons were rescued from the seven storied building.
Stalin has given due respect to seniority in the pecking order, but has also taken into consideration the demands of individual ministries and the suitability of individuals, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'I am not on OPS's side or anyone else's side.' 'I am on the side of truth. And the truth shall set us free,' says former MP P Kannan, who quit the AIADMK on Sunday.
In fact, no other recent Union Budget has held so much significance for the Indian economy as the one to be presented in about six weeks from now, notes A K Bhattacharya.
We should work in unison to boost growth: FM
The GST Council, that includes representatives of all states, will meet again on November 3-4 to decide on the tax rates
The sops sanctioned by J Jayalalithaa on her first day in office could cost the exchequer up to Rs 8,000 crore annually.
Speaking exclusively to rediff.com's Anita Katyal, Narayansamy recalled that Rajiv was to address a public meeting in Puducherry the morning after his rally in Sriperumbudur but unfortunately it was not to be.
Come May 16, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will have more seats from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh than any formation mustered by the Congress, notes T V R Shenoy.
'We have about Rs 4 lakh crore debt on a state budget of about Rs 1.5 lakh crore.' 'We are in a debt two-and-a-half times our annual budget,' says the banker who would have been Tamil Nadu's finance minister had the DMK won.
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