The Union government could target a fiscal deficit of 5.8-6 per cent of nominal GDP for 2023-24, and it should continue its capital expenditure push and look to simplify the personal income tax regime, economists recommended Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team during their pre-Budget interaction on Monday. Starting last week, Sitharaman had eight pre-Budget consultations this time. More than 110 invitees representing seven stakeholder groups participated in these meetings, the finance ministry said in a statement. The stakeholder groups included representatives and experts from agriculture and agro-processing industry; industry, infrastructure & climate change; financial sector and capital markets; services and trade; social sector; trade unions and labour organisations; and economists.
Five days after the induction of 18 ministers into his cabinet, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday allocated portfolios, keeping Urban Development and 11 other ministries with himself, while giving the crucial Home Department to Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
Northwest, central and east India are predicted to record maximum temperatures three to five degrees above normal over the next five days, the India meteorological department (IMD) said on Thursday.
At an average national price of Rs 90 a kg in the retail market, it shows a jump by 20% in the last two months.
In 1999, Sharad Pawar, along with P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar were expelled from Congress. The same year, Pawar founded the NCP.
An advisory issued by the Delhi development commissioner said that residents can distract the locusts by making high-decibel sound through beating of drums, utensils; playing high-volume music, bursting crackers, and burning neem leaves.
For this purpose, the government has identified two sites -- Escort Farms in the industrial town of Kashipur and Pant Nagar agriculture university. In both the places, vast land is available for a possible IIM, which requires 200 acres.
Even as the bilateral relationship between the two neighbouring countries remains hostile, there is growing coordination between India and Pakistan on one multilateral forum - the World Trade Organization (WTO). Both countries have made two joint submissions at the WTO as co-sponsors in the past two months. In June, Pakistan joined India, Cuba, and 44 African countries, seeking sufficient flexibility in intellectual property rights for developing countries to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
A Central team will survey flood-affected areas of Bihar on Monday and Tuesday. The team will comprise the joint secretaries of six Union ministries -- home, agriculture, finance, health & rehabilitation, civil supplies & food and social welfare. The team will assess the damage and submit a report to the Prime Minister's Office by the end of this week.
'It has been an ongoing process, talking to the relevant ministries about eliminating leakages and curbing non-core expenditure in various schemes.'
India and Australia would now implement the free trade agreement on a mutually agreed date as the Australian Parliament on Tuesday approved the pact between the two countries. "BREAKING: Our Free Trade Agreement with India has passed through parliament," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a tweet. The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AI-ECTA) needed ratification by the Australian parliament before its implementation.
The finance minister may stagger some of the recommendations.
The Ministry of Finance or Commerce would certainly need a larger hospitality budget than the Ministry of Agriculture.
The prime minister also asked senior ministers to hand-hold the new incumbents, sources said after the meeting.
No breakthrough has been possible in the five rounds of talks so far as the protesting farmers have stuck to their demand for the repeal of the laws despite the government's assurance to look into specific issues without abolishing the legislations.
In a bid to pitch India as an uplinking hub, the government on Tuesday announced relaxation in guidelines for compliance for television channels and also made a 30-minute daily public interest broadcast mandatory, mainly for entertainment channels.
The statement of the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office comes on the heels of India issuing a notice to Pakistan seeking a review and modification of the IWT in view of Islamabad's "intransigence" in complying with the dispute redressal mechanism of the pact that was inked over six decades ago for sharing of waters of cross-border rivers.
Candidates will be short-listed for interview on the basis of the information provided by them in their online application, the statement said.
'Aquaponics can effectively cushion the impact of a calamity like COVID.'
'The President of India, as advised by the prime minister, has accepted the resignation of Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect,' the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement.
The five ministers in UP government are: Kokab Hamid, Anuradha Chaudhary, Babu Lal, Thakur Tejpal Singh and Swami Omvesh.
In the interest of the people and welfare of the state, Pawar is always available for guidance and suggestions to whoever is in power, he said.
Neither Union agriculture minister nor junior ministers were present to hear our concerns. We asked why the minister is not meeting us, why the government is playing double standards by calling us here and ministers holding virtual meetings in Punjab. There was no proper response," Darshan Pal, member of the coordination committee of 29 farmers' organisations, said after the meeting.
The Centre was expecting over six per cent growth of gross domestic product during 2003-04 provided there was normal monsoon during the year.
The Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions of the NCP will hold their meetings in Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in south Mumbai and Bhujbal Knowledge City in suburban Bandra, respectively.
One per cent TDS will apply on non-agriculture immovable property of over Rs 50 lakh on the basis of sale price or the stamp duty value, which ever is higher, after an amendment in the Income Tax Act.
He also said that train services will resume after the state government and protesting farmer unions assure the safety of the tracks. Tomar and Union Food, Commerce and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal held a day-long meeting with representatives of various farmer unions at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a joint front of almost 40 farmer organisations, wrote a letter to the ministry of agriculture and farmers' welfare accepting the Centre's offer for dialogue and proposed December 29 as the next date for the meeting.
And the only answer one can think of is that this is being done to preserve the image of toughness and 56 inches and all the rest of it, notes Aakar Patel.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is determined to implement the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project despite the Centre's indifference.
Prices have continued to move up in Delhi's markets, wholesale and retail, on supply worries and spoilage due to record cold weather.
Talking tough, India on Friday threatened to drag the European Union to the World Trade Organization if the 28-nation bloc did not lift its ban on the import of Indian mangoes and vegetables.
Economy to grow by 7.2-7.5 per cent in second half of current fiscal, says FM.
In a letter to 40 union leaders, Union Agriculture Ministry Joint Secretary Vivek Aggarwal said the Centre is making all efforts with "an open heart" to find an appropriate solution to resolve all the concerns raised by farmers.
Fifteen Cabinet ministers and 28 Ministers of State were sworn-in by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday evening.
Asserting that the new farm laws are in the interest of the farming community, the government said obstacles do come whenever good things or measures are taken and it is taking longer to resolve the issue as farmers' leaders want a solution their own way.
The home ministry asked the state governments and UT administrations to inform it about different aspects of the lockdown and whether there are necessities to give exemptions to some more categories of people and services from the restrictions, a home ministry official said.
For the past one week, Modi has been holding in-person meetings with Union ministers apparently to take stock of the work done by the government in the last two years and to discuss various issues.
Farmer leader Kulwant Singh Sandhu had said that 32 farmer unions from Punjab held a meeting on Tuesday and discussed the next course of action.
It is largely due to his vision and efforts that we have almost quadrupled our per capita milk availability in the last 40 years, points out Shailesh Dobhal.
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