Month: July 2014

A harbour project at Tuticorin involving an outlay of Rs.11,635 crore, a mega solar power project, a smart city, an institute for ageing, mega textile park, an industrial corridor are some of the projects related to Tamil Nadu that were proposed by union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Thursday.

Presenting the union budget for 2014-15, Jaitley said: “Sixteen new port projects are proposed to be awarded this year with a focus on port connectivity. Rs.11,635 crore will be allocated for the development of Outer Harbour Project in Tuticorin for phase I.”

Nine people were killed after being struck by lightning in West Bengal’s Howrah district Thursday, an official said.

The incident occurred in Shyampur area of the district. Six others were injured and have been hospitalised.

“Nine of them died on the way… six more were injured and were admitted to the Uluberia subdivisional hospital. Out of them five are critical,” the official said.

At a function in Birbhum, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced Rs.2 lakh compensation each for the kin of the dead and cautioned people against venturing in extreme weather conditions.
(IANS)

Branding the Narendra Modi-led government as a “government of the FDI, by the FDI and for the FDI”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday slammed the union budget 2014-15 for depriving her state and said the present government is no different than the previous UPA.

“We have been ignored, our people are being ignored, the UPA neglected us for three years, the NDA is doing the same,” Banerjee said at a function in Birbhum district.

Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil sent his consolations to the Brazilian national team, which suffered a heavy 1-7 loss to Germany in the World Cup semifinal Tuesday.

Germany midfielder Ozil said through his Facebook account Wednesday: “You have a beautiful country, wonderful people and amazing footballers — this match may not destroy your pride!”, reports Efe.

Ozil’s message was posted in five languages — English, German, Portuguese, Turkish and Spanish — with a photo of an old Brazilian fan holding a replica of the World Cup trophy.
(IANS/EFE)

Brazil winger Dani Alves said that he doesn’t yet know if he going to stay with FC Barcelona or join another club next season.

After Tuesday’s World Cup semifinal against Germany which Brazil lost 1-7, Alves said that he does not know what he will do next season. He added that he will meet Barcelona officials and will see what happens next, reports Efe.

The Brazilian’s contract with Barcelona extends till 2015.
(IANS/EFE)

India Thursday hiked its health budget by 27 percent in 2014-15 to Rs.35,163 crore (Rs.351.63 billion), with special focus on improving affordable healthcare for all.

The government also hiked the allocation for AYUSH – Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Sidddha and Homoeopathy – by 36 percent. The department under the health ministry was allocated Rs.1,272.15 crore compared to Rs.935.75 crore in the last fiscal.

With the focus on health research, the government also allocated more funds for it.

The City Council of Perez Zeledon here decided to name its city’s stadium after goalkeeper Keylor Navas.

According to a decision by the city council of Navas’ hometown, Otto Ureña Fallas Stadium will now be called Municipal Stadium Keylor Navas Gamboa. The council cited the decision was made after seeing Navas’ performance in the World Cup, reports Efe.

The stadium can hold 6,000 spectators and is the home of Perez Zeledon and Puma AS Generaleña teams, who compete in Costa Rica’s Major Soccer League.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach hoped that the usual optimism of Brazilians will help them to forget the heavy 1-7 defeat their football team suffered at the hands of Germany in the World Cup semi-final.

Bach said here Wednesday he knows the Brazilians are optimistic people and hoped they would realize that every defeat creates a new chance which should be used, reports Efe.

Brazil lost their semi-final match to Germany 7-1, five goals of which were scored in the first half leaving the Brazilian fans devastated and speechless.

Giving impetus to the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the Centre has allocated Rs 50,548 crore in its 2014 general budget presented by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The funds to be pumped into various schemes are: Rs 32,387 crore for TSP scheme, Rs 200 crore for IFCI scheme for middle classes among the SCs and Rs 100 crore for implementing “Vanabandhu Kalyana Yojana” for Tribal welfare. (NSS)

Kisan TV, dedicated to the interests of the agriculture and allied sectors, will be launched in the current financial year.
This was disclosed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during his Budget Speech in Lok Sabha.
The Kisan TV will disseminate real time information to the farmers regarding new farming techniques, water conservation, organic farming and so on. It was proposed to earmark Rs 100 crore for
the purpose. (NSS)

The erstwhile Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers Union has split into three unions with the formation of Hyderabad Telangana NGOs union.
It may be mentioned here that in the wake of bifurcation of united State, the APNGOs Union has vertically split into two unions. Telangana NGOs Ad-hoc committee convener M. Satyanarayana Goud said all the Telangana employees in the APNGOs union walked out and formed separate unit. He also said all the unions in the Public Sector units in the State split into two unions. (NSS)

The Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), in association with “You & Me” organization, is conducting training classes for the Engineering Colleges Teaching Staff to improve their teaching talent and knowledge.

Welcoming the 2014 Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said it was an effort to bring back the derailed economic position of the country on the track.
In a statement here, Yanamala said the allocations in the budget for development of new Andhra Pradesh State were not sufficient.
The TDP MPs also welcomed the Union budget and said the proposed Visakhapatnam and Chennai corridor would help develop Andhra Pradesh. (NSS)

Osmania University Vice-Chancellor Prof. S. Satyanarayana, inaugurated the newly renovated office of the Department of Library and Information Science and also inaugurated one-day workshop on “Literature Searching for Research Scholars” at New Seminar Hall, University College of Arts and Social Sciences on Wednesday.
Speaking on the occasion, the VC said research and e-Resources search was more important to collect review of literature for research scholars. Some 120 scholars participated in the workshop.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today assured new States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh that the Centre would fulfill all promises made during the debate on AP Bifurcation Bill.

Demanding an explanation on what promises the BJP Government at the Centre has kept, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Ponnala Lakshmaiah today flayed the former for increasing the percentage of FDIs in its budget 2014 presented in Parliament.

In a bid to develop Tourism in a big across the country, the BJP led NDA Government has initiated measures to arrange “Visas on Arrival”.
It has decided to issue e-visas to foreigners soon after on their arrival at selected nine airports across India in a phased manner. Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, while presenting his maiden budget stated that the Centre has decided to issue e-visas to those coming from other nations to visit India. They will get visas on arrival in a hassle free manner, he said. (NSS)

The information technology sector in Hyderabad has welcomed the union budget for addressing certain operational aspects and also for its focus on investment and FDI saying this will spur general growth and thus help domestic IT consumption.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the union budget, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Thursday said it was the “most disappointing”.

“There is no indication of good days (achche din) for common man,” Gogoi tweeted.

In a statement later, Gogoi said: “There is no indication of good days (achche din) for the common man in the budget, as BJP’s much-trumpeted slogan during the Lok Sabha election campaign claimed to usher in.”

The chief minister also said whatever allocation Assam has got in the budget can be termed “peanuts” and this can hardly fulfill the expectations of the state.

Kerala got an IIT but no AIIMS in the maiden budget of the Narendra Modi government.

The state got the long talked about IIT, while the recent announcement by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan that the state will get an AIIMS, if land is provided, failed to materialise.

In the union budget presented in parliament Thursday by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, there was no mention of AIIMS to be set up in Kerala.

The government is committed to provide housing for all by 2022, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Thursday while announcing a slew of measures to boost housing.

The government intends to extend additional tax incentive on home loans to encourage people, especially the young, to own houses, Jaitley said in his budget speech.

He said the government will raise the housing loan interest deduction limit from Rs.1.5 lakh to Rs.2 lakh to revive the housing sector.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while presenting the General Budget 2014-15 in Lok Sabha today, proposed to provide Rs. 50 crores to set-up a Trade Facilitation Centre and a Crafts Museum to develop and promote handloom products and carry forward the rich tradition of handlooms of Varanasi. The Finance Minister has announced to set-up eight Textile Mega Clusters at Varanasi, Bareily, Lucknow, Surat, Kuttch, Bhagalpur, Mysore and one in Tamil Nadu with a sum of Rs. 200 crore.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his maiden budget speech has said that the government attaches utmost importance to the welfare of the girl child. He also announced plans to introduce a special small savings instrument to cater to the requirements of educating and marriage of the girl child. A National Savings Certificate with insurance cover will also be launched to provide additional benefits for the small saver.

The General Budget 2014-15 presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday raised the personal income-tax exemption limit from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 2.5 lakh in the case of individual taxpayers, below the age of 60 years. The exemption limit was raised from Rs. 2.5 lakh to Rs. 3 lakh in the case of senior citizens. However, there is no change in the rate of surcharge either for the corporates or the individuals, HUFs, firms etc. The budget proposes to continue education cess at three percent.

Vodafone Thursday said it will continue with the ongoing international arbitration to resolve the Rs.20,000-crore tax dispute against India.

“We note the Finance Minister’s announcement that existing cases arising from the 2012 retrospective tax law should follow the lawful process in which they are currently being adjudicated. Vodafone will, therefore, continue the process of international arbitration initiated under the India-Netherlands Bilateral Investment Treaty,” the company said in a statement.