President Xi Jinping on Monday vowed to build China's military into a "Great Wall of steel" to protect its sovereignty and developmental interests as he sought a bigger role for Beijing in global affairs, days after brokering a Saudi Arabia-Iran detente, regarded as a diplomatic coup.
Sheela Bhatt recounts the tension, suspense and disruptions during P Chidambaram's interim budget in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The Budget session of the Parliament is likely to begin from February 25 with the Presidential Address to a joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha followed by presentation of rail budget and general budget on February 26 and 28.
'Not only in Kashmir, but in the rest of the country.'
A key United States Congressional Committee on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bill that imposes conditions on Pakistan for receiving American economic and military aid which will depend on the action Islamabad takes against terrorists and the menace of improvised explosive devices.
The revenue budget of the defence services is likely to go up 3.2 times in the next Budget if the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission are accepted. On an average, the services had recommended a salary hike of up to 4.5 times. They had also sought a five-and-a-half times increase in counter-insurgency allowances. They had expected an increase of 3.8 times. The increase in salaries that has been granted is 3.2 times. Allowances, by and large, have been doubled.
'Make in India'presents a huge opportunity for jobs.
New Delhi will spend in 2006-07 about the same on foreign arms as on education and health combined.
You don't prep for 2028 but for 2040, or even 2044. Sustained sporting excellence is based on mass support, grassroots development, and funding - and it is this trifecta India needs to work on, systematically, asserts Prem Panicker.
Chinese military build up is a cause of concern for the countries in the region, a top American commander said on Tuesday after China announced a 10 per cent increase in its defence budget.
'Is the appointment of a CDS likely to achieve the creation of battle-ready, tri-service military commands, from the current 17 single-service commands?', asks Ajai Shukla.
Defence issues have been a key impediment in relations between the two countries, with Japan repeatedly joining the United States in voicing concern about China's rapidly growing military budget
With access to foreign investment becoming easier, a host of Indian companies vie for a share of the $100-billion budget for equipment.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
'Since each chief single-mindedly pursues his service's interests in the competition for turf and in core matters such as budget share. The CDS, therefore, must act as an "honest broker" whose decisions serve the broader national purpose, rather than narrow service interests,' says Ajai Shukla.
'The fiscal situation is stressed (when is it not?!), economic growth has slowed, tax revenue has fallen short and the deficit is high if it is properly accounted,' points out T N Ninan.
In her first address to a joint sitting of the two Houses in the new Parliament building in which she touched on varied issues ranging from insurgency to inflation, Murmu said a country can progress at a fast pace only when it defeats the challenges of the past and puts maximum energy into building the future.
India's historical focus on its continental borders has overshadowed its maritime ambitions, but that is changing quickly, notes Ajai Shukla.
The "bumper" 40 per cent increase followed a number of sweeping reforms intended to transform the "bloated People's Liberation Army, into a more modern, nimble fighting force".
28 private sector companies are having FDI varying up to 26 per cent.
The Railways will grant 75 per cent concession from September 6 to widows of defence personnel killed in terrorist-action for travel in the second and the sleeper class of trains.
India is confronted with a rapidly rising China and all its attendant consequences, says Harsh V Pant
The stock market will most likely see bullish trends this week in the run up to Union Budget as investors pin hopes on strong reform measures to rev up the economy, say experts.
China is the world's second-largest economy, after the United States.
The army also stated that allocation of Rs 21,338 crore for modernisation is insufficient.
Though the government says public and private shipyards compete on equal terms, public shipyards feast at the high table with the defence ministry, with only scraps being tossed to private shipbuilders.
In an interview with a Turkish media house, Zardari, while raising concerns over the 30 per cent increase in India's defence budget following the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks, said South Asian countries should focus on humanitarian issues rather than building armies and piling up devastating weapons.
With Jaitley preferring continuity over change, good days might take a little longer to arrive, says Shankar Acharya.
Though not a blockbuster budget it does not undermine the fact that key issues were addressed and the finance minister certainly did not under-deliver, says Vatsal Srivastava.
Moving ahead with the economic reforms, the Cabinet tonight cleared the long-delayed proposal for raising FDI limit in defence to 49 per cent and fully opened up the railway infrastructure segment, like high-speed trains, for foreign investment.
The move comes close on the release of a report by Pentagon, which suggested that China has moved its new advanced longer range CSS-5 missiles close to its border with India and developed contingency plans to shift airborne forces to the region at short notice.
All credit to the finance minister for walking the fiscal and expectation tightrope extremely well in his budget speech, says Ganesh Natarajan.
Highlights of the Railway Budget 2004-2005 presented by the Union Minister of Railways Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The Congress feels there was no articulation of a bold vision of a statement of intent in the Budget, no articulation of a direction in which the economy has to go, and it lacks imagination. Renu Mittal reports.
The PM's vision of a lean, agile, mobile and technology driven force requires more than 1.7 percent of GDP that it now gets.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget.
Three key babus will make room for a new set of officers to carry the baton of Budget programmes.
To speed up the vacation of additional 2G and 3G telecom spectrum, the government will likely make a Rs 5,000-crore (Rs 50 billion) provision in the Budget for an alternative network for defence services. The spectrum released in lieu of that would increase the availability for civilian use.
'Where is the analysis that we need to spend at least Rs 4 trillion to keep India safe?'
