salman_jobs The economic growth rate was Friday revised upwards to 6.9 percent for 2013-14, as against 4.7 percent estimated earlier, after the government updated the base year for measuring national accounts.
The higher growth rate, however, may not provide any cushion on the fiscal deficit front as size of economy has shrunk to Rs 113.45 lakh crore following the revision.
India’s fiscal deficit overshot the budget estimate of Rs 5.31 lakh crore by December-end and may prompt the government to take tough steps in the remaining part of 2014-15 to restrict it to 4.1 percent of GDP.
As per the data released by Controller General (CGA) of Accounts Friday, the fiscal deficit during April-December period was Rs 5.32 lakh crore or 100.2 percent of the 2014-15 estimate, mainly because of subdued revenue realisation.
Notwithstanding the decline in global foreign direct investment inflows, India’s FDI increased by 26 percent in 2014 to an estimated USD 35 billion with maximum growth in the services sector, a UN report said Thursday.
China toppled the US in 2014 as the world’s largest recipient of FDI — a position that the US had been holding almost consistently since the 1980’s — though with a modest increase of 3 percent, the latest ‘Global Investment Trade Monitor’ report released by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said.
India has given Rs 37.12 million in financial assistance to Nepal for road upgradation work.
The 2.2 km-long road from Ghorbanda along Butwal-Pokhara highway to Chilangdi Bhanjyang at Chirtungdhara in Palpa district is expected to benefit Ex-Servicemen and the local population through quality road network.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed yesterday between Embassy of India, Kathmandu and Department of Roads, Palpa for the upgradation work.
Pakistan has warned of a renewed arms race in South Asia after India and US reached a brreakthrough on nuclear trade.
“Pakistan is examining the imbalance (likely to be caused by these agreements) and the possible ways and means for redressing it,” Pakistani Prime Minister`s Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said Thursday.
He made the comments at a seminar organised by Islamabad-based think tank Strategic Vision Institute on the implications of US President Barack Obama`s second visit to India Jan 25.
Pakistan has said the Indo-US agreements signed during President Barack Obama’s visit to New Delhi would spark an arms race in South Asia, days after the US and India reached a nuclear trade breakthrough and agreed to extend defence cooperation for another ten year.
“Pakistan is examining the imbalance (likely to be caused by these agreements) and the possible ways and means for redressing it,” National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz said yesterday at a seminar here organised by think- tank Strategic Vision Institute on implications of Obama’s visit to India.
Pakistan’s telecom regulator authority has blocked over 2 million SIM cards across the country under a campaign launched by the government for authentication of details of mobile phone subscribers.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) earlier this month gave 91 days to verify 103 million unverified SIMs through the Biometric Verification System (BVS), as part of security measures following the December Peshawar school massacre that killed 150 people, the Dawn reported.
The government of Pakistan`s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province Friday referred a list of terror suspects to the federal government for trial by newly formed militart courts.
The 45-page report contains 423 cases of terror suspects for trial by military courts, which also includes the name of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Mullah Fazlullah, Dawn reported.
At 116, Peshawar has the highest number of cases to be tried by military courts, whereas the remaining 307 cases are from other areas of the province.
Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala on Friday appealed to UCPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda to cooperate in forging consensus among the warring political parties over the drafting of a new constitution.
Koirala, who met Prachanda at his residence, said he told the Maoist leader “to cooperate with the government in promulgating a democratic constitution.”
He called on Prachanda to forge consensus “so as to institutionalise the achievements of the past democratic movements as people want lasting peace and stability in the country.”
Shiromani Akali Dal’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa with assets worth Rs.239 crore is the richest among the 673 candidates in the fray for the Delhi assembly polls, a think-tank said Friday.
The Shiromani Akali Dal is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sirsa is contesting the Feb 7 polls from Rajouri Garden assembly segment.
Drastic reduction in cost of funds and increased interest income helped Andhra Bank register a more than four-fold jump in its net profit during the third quarter ended December 2014.
Its net profit during the quarter was Rs.202 crore against Rs.45.57 crore in the same period of 2013-14.
The core operating profit of the bank during Q3 stood at Rs.923 crore compared to Rs.522 crore during corresponding quarter of previous year.
The US real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, below market expectation, the US Commerce Department said Friday.
The economy grew 5 percent in the third quarter and 4.6 percent in the second after contracting in the first quarter of 2014. In whole 2014, the economy expanded 2.4 percent, compared with an increase of 2.2 percent in 2013, Xinhua news agency reported citing the Commerce Department.
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal Friday announced the abolition of the e-trip system for major categories besides exempting traders having a turnover less than Rs.1 crore from filing VAT (value added tax) assessment.
Badal announced abolition of the existing e-transportation of information within Punjab (e-Trip) for iron and steel, yarn, vegetable oils, mustard oil, cotton and paper board.
The toll in Thursday’s mortar attacks that targeted security premises in Egypt’s North Sinai province rose to 33, a security source told Xinhua news agency Friday.
“The injured people include 31 military men and two civilians and they are being transferred from Arish to Cairo by air-ambulances for better treatment,” the source added.
On Thursday evening, massive attacks with car bombs and mortar shells targeted security premises in Arish and left dozens dead and injured. The attacks extended to two big security checkpoints in nearby Rafah city.
Manchester United legend Paul Scholes Friday supported Chelsea striker Diego Costa, who is involved in a ‘stamp’ controversy.
Spaniard Costa allegedly stamped on Liverpool’s German defender Emre Can Tuesday in the second leg of the Capital One semi-final at Stamford Bridge which the blues clinched 2-1 on aggregate.
In a column written for the Independent Scholes said he supports the Spanish striker as he believes he was under severe provocation from Liverpool defenders.
Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha Friday rejected the application for the release on medical parole of Clive Derby-Lewis, who killed Chris Hani, former South African Communist Party (SACP) secretary general.
“Our country is a constitutional democracy which is governed by the rule of law. Therefore, in reaching my decision, I have taken into account the relevant laws and prescripts that regulate the medical parole process,” Xinhua news agency quoted Masutha as saying in the ruling.
At least eight people have died due to swine flu in Haryana this month, health officials said here Friday.
A health department spokesman said 47 cases of swine flu have been confirmed so far in the state and the patients were being treated in the isolation wards of various hospitals.
These include eight from Faridabad, seven from Gurgaon and five from Hisar.
The spokesman said strict monitoring was being done of patients with any symptoms of swine flu.
IANS
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will Saturday embark on a three-day visit to China, where she will also attend a Russia-India-China meeting, an official statement said Friday.
During the visit, India and China would discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of their concern.
Sushma Swaraj is visiting China on the invitation of her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
She will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and other senior ministry officials. This will be Jaishankar’s first foreign trip after he assumed charge as the foreign secretary Thursday.
West Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra, behind bars in connection with the multi-crore rupee Saradha scam, has not been cooperating in the investigations, the CBI Friday told a city court during the Trinamool Congress leader’s appearance.
Mitra, whose judicial custody expired on the day, could not appear before the court due to illness as Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Haradhan Mukherjee extended his custody till Feb 12.
A crude oil port in Made island in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, jointly built by China and Myanmar, was put into service Friday.
The commissioning ceremony of Made Crude Oil Unloading Terminal and pre-commissioning of Southeast Asia Crude Oil Pipeline was attended by Myanmar’s Minister of Energy U Zay Yar Aung, Rakhine state Chief Minister U Maung Maung Ohn, Chinese Ambassador Yang Houlan and general manager of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Liao Yongyuan, Xinhua news agency reported.
Made island port is the starting point of China-Myanmar crude oil pipeline.
Unidentified gunmen kidnapped five coal miners in Pakistan`s Balochistan province Tuesday, media reported.
Police sources told Dawn online that the militants kidnapped seven miners belonging to the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation in Quetta`s Sorenge area but the kidnappers later freed two miners and took the other abductees to nearby mountains, Dawn online reported.
“Five coal miners are still with the kidnappers,” police said. They added that the number of kidnappers was yet to be confirmed.
With Pakistan seeking more information on three Indian NGOs’ funding and operational activities, a UN committee has deferred action on recommending them for special consultative status.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday sought to strengthen the party’s campaign for the Delhi assembly polls through a road show where he accused Prime Minster Narendra Modi of promoting his “PR” (public relations).
Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government of doing nothing for the poor people, Gandhi said it was only the Congress party which cared for such people.
The BJP Tuesday named two candidates – Shamsher Singh and Chander Mohan Sharma – for the Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
The names were approved Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah Shah, a BJP release issued here said.
IANS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said he was “touched” when US President Barack Obama gifted him a book on Swami Vivekananda during his visit to the White House last year.
Modi was replying to a question on how he felt when he went to the White House as the prime minister.
He said he never imagined that he would get a chance to visit the White House ever.
“When I had gone there for the first time, I got my photograph clicked outside the place,” he said on a special episode of “Mann Ki Baat” which he jointly addressed with the US president.