The staff at post offices misappropriated Rs 95.62 crore of public money between November 2002 and September 2021, the Comptroller and Auditor General has said. The money may seem small but it is what common citizen invested in post office savings, the oldest and the largest banking system in the country. The system serves the investment needs of urban and rural clients through schemes such as savings bank, recurring deposits, time deposits, national savings certificates, kisan vikas patras, public provident fund, monthly income account scheme, sukanya samriddhi accounts and senior citizens savings scheme.
The decision to scrap the plan for landless workers and focus only on small and marginal farmers was made as there was no proper method to find out who qualify as landless labourers.
With the fiscal deficit target staring at the government, the FY25 Budget has limited expenditure options, points out A K Bhattacharya.
The protest against the alleged sexual abuse of two girls at a school in Badlapur town of Maharashtra's Thane district turned violent on Tuesday as the angry agitators vandalised the school and also indulged in stone-pelting at the local railway station during the 'rail blockade', police said.
Pre-Budget excercise next month should scrupulously avoid adventurism of all types and refrain from making excessively ambitious projections on revenue and expenditure numbers for 2023-24, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
A land-owning class, the Jats are a powerful community and account for 28 per cent of Haryana's population. The time, they believe, has now come for them to take revenge.
'Arithmetic could decide the Haryana election given the presence of multi-cornered contests.'
Here are the key highlights of the BJP's 'Sankalp Patra' for the 2024 parliamentary polls.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a five-year-long reform-based result-linked power distribution scheme worth Rs 3.03 lakh crore, for strengthening system of utilities to improve efficiency. Briefing after the CCEA meet here, Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh said, "We have done a lot for power distribution reforms. It needs to be strengthened. Today, the Cabinet has approved the new scheme worth Rs 3.03 lakh crore, including Rs 97,000 crore central outlay." He said the funds would be given to power distribution companies (discoms) to strengthen their system.
The prime minister is expected to underline the role of ministers of state in the running of ministries and may ask Cabinet ministers to give their deputies adequate responsibilities.
The interim Budget proposals that will be presented on February 1 in the backdrop of the general elections scheduled in April/May 2024 are likely to have a hint of populism, believe analysts, but are unlikely to derail the government from its path of fiscal prudence.
It also promised financial assistance of Rs 24,000 annually to all dependent widows and single mothers, two free LPG cylinders to all the beneficiaries of the PM Ujjwala Yojana and 24x7 power supply.
With the farmers' protest against the three new laws and in support of legalising the minimum support price (MSP) going strong, state governments have announced a slew of measures in their annual Budgets to placate farmers. The Centre kicked things off in the Union Budget by assuring farmers that the MSP would continue and coming out with a report card to demonstrate its commitment. However, these efforts don't seem to have yielded tangible results. In their respective Budgets, states chose to go a step further by announcing a variety of measures.
Banks want the government to bear the cost of providing cover under the proposed credit guarantee scheme for distressed farmers.
The government will formulate a strategy to make India self-reliant in edible oils by boosting domestic output of oilseeds and launch a comprehensive programme to support dairy farmers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Thursday. India imports a large quantity of edible oils to meet the domestic demand. During the 2022-23 marketing year (November-October), the country imported nearly 165 lakh tonnes of cooking oils, valuing a whopping Rs 1.38 lakh crore.
In view of popular demand, the government will on Tuesday relaunch saving instrument Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP), wherein the invested money will get doubled in 8 years and 4 months.
Three industry bodies suggested changes in India's tax regime in their pre-Budget discussions with Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra in New Delhi on Tuesday. The bodies - Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) - held separate meetings with Malhotra during the day and put across their suggestions for the upcoming Budget.
Whether it was the MGNREGS or the NFSA or the Aadhaar-based DBT scheme for cash transfer, the Modi government has built on the basic architecture created by the Singh government. Policy makers in the Modi government, instead of discarding them as products of the previous political regime, worked on them, expanded their scope and reach, and used new tools to improve their performance, explains A K Bhattacharya.
Here are the key highlights of the Interim Budget 2019-20 presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
In the months of May, June and July, state and district level conventions of the SKM shall be held in every state/UT to galvanise and organise farmers and farm workers, it said.
'We have essentially tried to set out an agenda for the next five years and it, in essence, represents the political commitment to that agenda.'
Could the MPCE survey results be used as a basis of reconstructing the Consumer Price Index with new weights, asks Madan Sabnavis.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday released its manifesto for the November 17 Madhya Pradesh elections promising MSP for wheat at Rs 2,700 per quintal and paddy at Rs 3,100 and houses for beneficiaries of the state's flagship scheme 'Ladli Bahna'.
The "MSP Dilao, Kisan Bachao mahapanchayat", called by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni), was being held at a grain market in Pipli close to National Highway-44 which was blocked by farmers a few days ago demanding that the government procure sunflower seed at MSP.
In the coming few weeks, agriculture markets in North and Central India will be full of wheat, mustard, and chana - the three main rabi crops grown in these parts. Not only will the price trajectory of these determine the course of food inflation in the months to come, but it could also have a wider impact on the rural economy in the main growing states for these crops. Wheat and chana are largely grown in Madhya Pradesh (MP).
The sustainability of these savings schemes is more in doubt today than it ever was.
If the Budget makes no big announcements on new schemes, projects, or tax giveaways, the government would face a major political dilemma as it may have to reluctantly consider shunning the practice of unveiling pre-election sops to woo voters, notes A K Bhattacharya.
Here is a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh.
If Modi wants to leave a real legacy, breaking India's strategic triangulation would be the real gift, notes Shekhar Gupta.
ICICI Bank reported good results for the October-December 2023 quarter (Q3), with 24 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in profit after tax (PAT). Net interest margin (NIM) dropped 10 bps quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) to 4.43 per cent. Credit growth was at 19 per cent Y-o-Y (4 per cent Q-o-Q), while deposit growth was at 19 per cent Y-o-Y (3 per cent Q-o-Q).
'During times of adversity, a brick becomes better than a stone. That is how I look at the election season.'
Could it have been more reformist? Of course, but this is an election year Budget, observes Akash Prakash.
Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, the wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has filed a Rs 10 crore defamation suit against Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi for 'false' allegations of irregularities in a food processing project.
Here is a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh.
If states have to fall in line with MSPs declared by political parties, they will have to do so in violation of central order or bear the full expense of the surplus procured at above MSP rates.
The bond, which the Reserve Bank of India started issuing on behalf of the Union government in 2003, was considered one of the safest savings instruments for retail investors.
'...Market-linked debentures, high-value insurance, exemptions from capital gains by investment in real estate, etc.' 'So, there are a number of measures directed at collecting a fair share from higher income individuals.'
The government is doubling down on existing 'temporary' restrictions on the import of gold. Some were introduced under the last administration, and had a transitory effect, reducing gold imports through the official channel.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her sixth straight Budget ahead of the Parliamentary elections, matching the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which technically is a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, will seek Parliament's nod for a grant in advance to meet the central government's essential expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year that starts in April. A new government elected after the April/May general elections will present the full Budget, likely in July.
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