The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday decided to leave the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent but maintained an accommodative stance, implying rate cuts in the future if need arises to support the economy hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a pre-budget meeting with revenue secretary P V Bhide, a Ficci delegation asked the finance ministry to tread with caution on rolling back the stimulus measures taken to spur growth.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee might have to fall back on divestment and other non-tax revenue sources while presenting the Budget for 2009-10 on July 6, economists believe.
The Finance Ministry has told industry it should not expect any major fiscal sops in the Budget to be presented by the new UPA government, which has a limited headroom for giveaways due to the economic slowdown.
Elaborating on the recommendations, CII Vice-President Hari Bhartia said the forthcoming budget should focus on an investment-led growth by introducing broad-based reforms in the banking, finance and retail sectors. The Union Budget is expected to be presented in July, 2009.
The CII on Monday recommended raising personal income tax exemption limit by Rs 50,000, removal of Fringe Benefit Tax and surcharge on corporate tax along with measures to promote investment in the full budget to be presented by the new government in July.
Ahead of the new government assuming office later this month, the finance ministry has begun the Budget-making exercise to enable the incoming finance minister to present the full-fledged Budget for 2009-10.
The judicial custody of Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit, accused of being involved in the Malegaon blast, was on Monday extended till January 17 by a local court in a case relating to procuring arms license on fake documents.The army officer was produced before Judge V V Joshi after the end of his judicial custody today.The court sent Purohit in judicial remand for another 12 days, his counsel Avinash Bhide told PTI.
Very few things can faze Madhukar V Kulkarni, a cop of 30 years. Yet, an innocuous smartphone scares him. For those like him in Maharashtra's cities, tech classes have stepped in to teach them how to embrace Skype & WhatsApp. Ranjita Ganesan reports.
With the world getting more and more instrumented with smart devices, global enterprises are increasingly looking at undertaking a 'digital transformation' journey to stay ahead in the race. Emerging technologies such as social, mobility, analytics and cloud have given birth to new business opportunities and forcing enterprises to finetune their IT buying decisions -- quite differently from what they used to do.
'The Congress should have accepted our demands.' 'Gone are the days when it could decide how many crumbs to throw at us.' 'Now, we make the demands.'
The judicial custody of Lt Col Prasad Purohit, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast, was on Monday extended till February 21 by a court in Nashik, in a case of procuring arms license on fake documents. The army officer was produced before Judge V V Joshi as his remand in the arms license case ended on Monday, Purohit's counsel Avinash Bhide told PTI.
If the Bhima Koregaon commission is terminated before completing its work, the people affected by the violence 'would feel cheated'.
'In what must go down as one of the most nonchalant remarks by the head of any hospital, J J Hospital Dean Dr Ranjit Mankeshwar said: 'We do not know where the staff was, but he did not suffer serious wounds'.'
Ekbote was arrested soon after the Supreme Court turned down his anticipatory bail plea earlier in the day, the official added.
Arthur J Pais on a chef whose main ingredient is irreverence.
"Pawar said April 4 in the afternoon will be convenient for him as Parliament session would be over by then. Accordingly, the Commission has summoned him on April 4," Malik told reporters at the state secretariat in Mumbai.
'Those who attacked me, punish them.'
UP is an important state to roll out the government's agrarian reforms and job growth policies.
Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar, said Maharashtra Democratic Front, Maharashtra Left Front, besides 250 organisations, have supported Wednesday's shutdown.
The singer keeps Mumbai on its toes till 2 am!
The callousness with which these political dissidents are being treated goes against the Supreme Court's directive, given right at the beginning of the lockdown. The apex court had directed states to release prisoners to decongest jails, which had become hotspots of the coronavirus.
Complaints of electronic voting machine malfunctioning poured in from several booths on Tuesday during the third and largest phase of Lok Sabha polls which saw voters turning out in large numbers to cast their vote in 116 seats, including all constituencies of Gujarat and Kerala.
Re-inventing oneself, by letting go of old, non-productive habits, negative thought processes, judgments, and sometimes, even people who have been holding us back, can be a liberating feeling.
... The feeling won't last too long, says Paloma Sharma.
Bharadwaj claimed a number of human rights lawyers, activists and organisations were deliberately named to cast a stigma over them, obstruct their work and incite hatred against them.
'Corona will go on for more than six months now in Mumbai city.' 'It cannot vanish within just two or three months.' 'This infection may remain there in communities, somewhere or the other, like swine flu.'
Although demonetisation and improper implementation of GST along with falling prices are being blamed for much of the distress in rural India for some time, experts believe those may not be the only reason.
'Whenever Dalits have agitated on the streets, the government has blamed Naxalites.'
'The Elgar Parishad turned out to be the first rallying cry against the BJP and RSS in Maharashtra.' 'The speakers took a vow not to vote for the BJP.'
The Union home ministry has received a factual report from the Maharashtra government on the prevailing situation in the state in the wake of caste-based violence there, a ministry spokesperson said.
Pravin Gaikwad, the state coordinator of Maratha Kranti Morcha, has two rare qualities: he has an unparalleled connect with people from his community and, at the same time, underpins his ideology on a strong analytical base.
The police were aware of the bandh since the gram panchayats had informed them about it. Yet, they did nothing to prevent it.
Milind Bhade presents a list of 10 forts near Mumbai that offer a slice of history along with breathtaking views.
'It was immoral to cut the trees at Aarey, says Delhi law student Rishav Ranjan.
How did a young girl with no formal education become one of India's most inspiring teachers and social reformers?
'We told the victims this was the only opportunity for them to get their story recorded.' 'If they did not recount their version the other side would concoct their own theory about what happened at Bhima-Koregaon.'
The reasons for the snail's pace at which the commission is proceeding are linked both to the government's indifference to it as well as the indifference of the parties appearing before it.
