Govt. to promulgate fresh ordinance on Land Bill
Even as the opposition to the Land Acquisition Bill continues in different quarters, the NDA government is determined to bring to Parliament its amended Bill through a fresh Ordinance. The amended NDA
Hindu
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Budget 2008-09: The burden of expectations
N. Ravi The challenge before the Finance Minister in preparing a pre-election budget is to balance the minimal tax sops needed to keep the markets in an upbeat mood with massive spending programmes that will find resonance with the electorate. Preparing for the election-eve budget, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram must have found the burden of expectations unusually high. Not only is he expected to provide the usual budgetary sops to please all but he is also called upon to correct the sense of drift that has come to mark the last one year of functioning of the United Progressive Alliance government and recapture the popular imagination. And this he has to accomplish without overly stretching either fiscal norms or his own credibility that will be called into question by a sudden show of solicitude at election time. Budgets are invariably characterised as pro-poor, pro-growth or pro-rich, depending on one's perspective and if such labels can normally be shrugged off, they become particularly critical at this time. In a sense, the Finance Minister will have to be riding the two horses of populism and fostering growth. For while this year's budget can be expected to lean heavily towards giveaways, it cannot ignore measures needed to sustain economic performance. True the mood of industry and the markets does not necessarily translate into the mood of the electorate as the National Democratic Alliance government found to its cost when its overdrawn
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Chidambaram cannot afford a harsh budget
Ashok Dasgupta Elections are due in many State Assemblies this year P. Chidambaram With Assembly polls due in a number of States during the year-end and the general elections in 2009, it is a foregone conclusion that the Union budget for the next fiscal, to be presented by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in three days from now, will not be a harsh one, even at worst. For the simple reason that over the last few weeks, the people's aspirations of deriving some benefits by way of budgetary goodies have been raised so high through statements by various functionaries of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and its coalition partners that anything not matching up to their expectations would perhaps be viewed as a great betrayal. And that's something that the ruling regime can ill afford, especially when the government is set to unveil its policy programmes and statement of accounts, the fifth and final in its current Lok Sabha term. In effect, the government will not only have to but also be seen as compensating the
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I understand agony of Punjab farmers: Manmohan
A word of thanks: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi with Punjab farmers who thanked the Central government for waiving their loans, in New Delhi on Monday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday assured a gathering of farmers from Punjab that the UPA government would address their grievances. However, as the budget is to be presented on Friday, Dr. Singh said it would be inappropriate to discuss the issues raised by them at this juncture. The farmers called on him to express gratitude for waiving off their loans. They submitted a charter of demands to him. In particular, they wanted the government to announce a debt relief package for small and marginal farmers in the budget. Dr. Singh said, "I understand the agony of the people of Punjab, especially farmers,' and sought to remind them that even last year, the UPA government announced a loan waiver for Punjab. The government wanted to see Punjab prosper, he said and thanked the farmers for organising the "thanksgiving rally' as it "exposed' the Akali Dal's claim of the Centre ignoring the State's farmers. The Akali Dal had been organising rallies, saying the UPA government was not protecting the Punjab farmers. "This is absolutely wrong and by coming here in such large numbers, you have proved it. The rights and interests of the people of Punjab are safe in the hands of the UPA government.' Dr. Singh and Ms. Gandhi also met another delegation of farmers from north India at the Congress president's residence during the day. At a press conference, party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said the Congress strongly supported the legitimate demands of diverse sections of the farming community. Referring to farmers' meetings with the Prime Minister and Ms. Gandhi, he said the Congress always played a "pioneering and historic' role in developing agriculture. The government had kept up this tradition since 2004 with a series of "unique' initiatives "tailored and focussed' on the agricultural sector, which has seen an increase in allocation in the past three-and-half years of a scale not seen in the preceding years. He was confident that the government would respond positively to the farmers' demands for loan waiver or significant softening of the loan burden.
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BoA clears 14 new SEZs
The Board of Approval (BoA) of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on Monday cleared 14 new proposals, including ten formal approvals. While two SEZs each have been cleared in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, one each will come up in Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. The BoA granted formal approvals to two SEZs of the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd. (SIPCOT), one for transport engineering goods at Tirunelveli and another of automobile and auto ancillary at Thiruvannamalai. Similarly, two SEZs of Mahindra Worldcity (Jaipur) Ltd. of handicrafts and light engineering at Jaipur were given formal approvals. Other SEZs cleared include an information technology SEZ by Videocon Realtors and Infrastructure Ltd. at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, IT SEZ by Devbhumi Realtors Pvt. Ltd. at Ranga Reddy District in Andhra Pradesh, pharmaceuticals SEZ by JB SEZ Pvt. Ltd. at Panoli in Gujarat and Power SEZ by Wardha Power Company at Chandrapur in Maharashtra. According to Commerce Secretary G. K. Pillai, who also heads the Board of Approval, so far formal approvals have been granted for setting up of 439 SEZs out of which 201 have been notified as on date. The Commerce Secretary said that over Rs. 67,347 crore had been invested in these notified SEZs, giving direct employment to 97,478 persons, which is in addition to the employment provided to 1.83 lakh persons by the seven Central Government established SEZs.
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Sagarika missile test-fired successfully
India joins select club in underwater missile capability India on Tuesday proved that it had the capability to launch missiles from underwater by test-firing successfully the Sagarika missile from a pontoon off the coast of Visakhapatnam. The pontoon simulated the conditions of a submarine. Shortly after noon, the missile's booster ignited and Sagarika rose from the pontoon. Then in a spectacular display of firepower, it cleaved out of the waters of the Bay of Bengal and tore into the atmosphere as the air-booster erupted into life. It impacted the sea over 700 km away.
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Crop damage: special package announced
Stating that the recent unseasonal heavy rains were so rare that they occurred only the third time in the last 100 years, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy announced a "special package' to liberally assist farmers whose crops were damaged in 11 districts of the State. The cash compensation allowed on each crop damaged has been doubled under the package. The 11 districts are Prakasam, Nellore, Guntur, Krishna, Srikakulam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Kadapa, Kurnool and Nizamabad. Making a suo motu statement in the Assembly on Tuesday, Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy said the commercial crops faced the brunt as they were normally sown around this time of the year. The package provided for payment of compensation of Rs. 4, 500 per hectare in case of paddy, groundnut, chillies and vegetables and Rs. 3,750 per hectare for sunflower, maize and pulses. The government would recommend to cooperative and other banks to reschedule present crop loans and issue fresh ones.
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HMT land sale legal, says State government
Affidavit says HMT not legally bound to get sanction HMT Limited is legally entitled to deal with its 100 acres of land at Kalamassery in Ernakulam and the assignment of 70 acres of the land to a Mumbai-based company would not be invalid or illegal either for want of consent from the government or for non-utilisation of the land for industrial purpose, according to an affidavit filed by the State government before the Kerala High Court. The affidavit was filed before the court on Tuesday in response to a writ petition seeking a CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] probe into the HMT land deal and to resume the 100 acres in HMT's possession. The affidavit contended that the 70 acres sold by HMT formed part of the 100 acres of land for which permanent exemption had been granted by the government under Section 81(1) (a) of the Kerala Land Reforms Act. As such, HMT was not legally bound to obtain sanction or consent from the State government before selling the land. The allegation that Industries Minister Elamaram Karim had supported the sale of land at a meeting convened on June 6, 2007 was absolutely incorrect, the affidavit said. The meeting was convened to sort out a labour problem which had been pending for long in HMT. Mr. Karim had been trying his best, in his capacity as Minister, to augment the development of industries in the State and to see that infrastructure facilities were provided for entrepreneurs. All actions taken by the Minister in this regard were in compliance with the guidelines prescribed in the industrial and commercial policy of 2007. For creating a very good industrial climate and sending out a message that the situation in the State was very conducive for investment, the Minster had initiated steps for sorting out the labour problem in the company. The affidavit said the 70 acres sold by HMT did not come within the area of land ordered to be surrendered by HMT as per an order of the Kanayannur taluk land board. The affidavit said that HMT had absolute right, title and ownership of the land. HMT was fully competent to transfer the 100 acres or part of it to any person without the permission of the government. Therefore, the sale was perfectly in accordance with the law.
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Record foodgrain output in 2007-08'
Food grain production in 2007-08 is estimated at a record level of 219.32 million tonnes as per the second advance estimate. This is higher than the 217.28 million tonnes for 2006-07. This was stated by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar at a National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign here on Tuesday. Mr. Pawar said the rice production was estimated at 94.08 million tonnes, compared to 93.35 million tonnes the previous year. The production of coarse cereals was estimated at 36.09 million tonnes. The cotton production stood at 233.81 lakh bales in 2007-08, which, he termed a record. For 4 p.c. growth Pointing out that the government aimed at achieving 4 per cent growth in agriculture, Mr. Pawar said resource constraint would not be allowed to stand in the way of achieving this target. Necessary funds would be provided to States for all agricultural schemes. The target for agricultural growth in the XI Plan was fixed at 4 per cent per annum. To achieve this target, action on several areas was required. This included bringing technology to farmers, improving efficiency of investments, increasing systems support and rationalising subsidy, besides protecting food security concerns and fostering inclusiveness through group approach by which the poor would get better access to land, credit and skill, Mr. Pawar said. Directive to States The Minister asked the State governments to work out an action plan for implementing the National Policy for Farmers, keeping in view the grass roots level requirements. On maximising kharif output, he asked the States to popularise hybrid rice technology through demonstrations and availability of quality seeds.
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U.S. assumes satellite's fuel tank destroyed
The Defence Department said on Monday it had a "high degree of confidence' that the missile fired at a dead U.S. spy satellite in space destroyed the satellite's fuel tank as planned. In its most definitive statement yet on the outcome of last Wednesday's shootdown over the Pacific, the Pentagon said based on debris analysis it is clear the Navy missile destroyed the fuel tank, "reducing, if not eliminating, the risk to people on Earth from the hazardous chemical.' The tank had 454 kg of hydrazine, a toxic substance that U.S. government officials believed posed a potential health hazard to humans if the satellite had descended to Earth on its own. The presence of the hydrazine was cited by U.S. officials as the main reason to shoot down the satellite
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Sonia hailed for relief to farmers
Dressed in traditional attire and accompanied by musicians beating drums, a large number of senior Delhi Congress leaders met party president Sonia Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence here on Wednesday to thank her for enhancing the compensation payable to farmers on acquisition of their land from Rs.25 lakh per acre to Rs.75 lakh per acre. Led by Outer Delhi MP Sajjan Kumar, the delegation also lauded the permission granted to farmers -- through the new Master Plan for Delhi-2021