Additional sum of Rs. 430 crore to modernise police machinery in states

September 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Union Government has released Rs 1,158 crore in the last fiscal, for the modernisation of the state police forces. The bulk of this money has been given to seven Maoist- affected and four insurgency-prone states.

July 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Raghu Menon, a former chief managing director of Air India, has taken over as secretary in the information and broadcasting ministry. Menon, a 1974-batch IAS officer from the Nagaland cadre, replaces Sushma Singh who retired in May.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Out of a total plan outlay of Rs.12,165 crore for the civil aviation ministry, a sum of Rs.190 crore will be provided as budgetary support to various organisations under the ministry, the government said Monday after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the annual budget in Parliament. Out of the Rs.190 crore, India's airport developer, Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been allocated Rs.99.15 crore for development of airports.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government has earmarked Rs.700 crore for the ministry of culture with more allocations for zonal cultural centres, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Lalit Kala Akademi, Sahitya Akademi, the National School of Drama, the Asiatic Society, the National Gallery of Modern Art and the Archaeological Survey of India. In the 2009-10 budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament Monday, Rs.36.1 crore has been earmarked for the building projects of attached and subordinate offices of the ministry of culture.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his budget speech on Monday said that the government has taken a conscious and bold decision to enhance the Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) for the Annual Plan 2009-10 by Rs.40,000 crore over the interim budget for 2009-10. He stressed that bulk of enhanced GBS is directed towards public investment in infrastructure with special emphasis on rural infrastructure, raising growth potential and leading to income generations.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Highlights of the union budget for the current fiscal presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha Monday: - Fiscal deficit estimated at 6.8 percent of GDP - National Housing Bank to get Rs.2,000 crore for rural housing funds - Higher education outlay increased by Rs.2,000 crore over interim budget - Geological Survey of India, Botanical and Zoological Survey of India to get Rs.15 crore each. - National River programmes to get Rs.562 crore, up from Rs.335 crore earlier - Rs.1,000 crore for reconstruction activities in the Aila-hit areas in West Bengal - An additional amount of Rs.430 crore allocated to modernise police machinery in states - Rs.190 crore budgetary support for civil aviation - One handloom mega cluster each will be set up in West bengal and Tamil Nadu - One powerloom mega cluster in Rajasthan - At least 50 percent of the total rural women to be brought under the self-help group (SHG) network - Banking network to be expanded to "unbankable" areas -Expert group to be set up to advice on petroleum and diesel prices - No change in corporate tax rate -Centralised processing centre at Bangalore to streamline taxation - Income tax exemption limit for senior citizens increased by Rs.15,000, for women and others by 10,000 each - New indirect tax will be introduced in 45 days - Fringe benefit tax abolished - Duties on life saving drugs reduced - Excise duty on petrol-driven trucks reduced - Goods and services tax (GST) will be introduced April 1, 2010 - An alternative dispute settlement mechanism to be set up to settle tax disputes - Lawyers brought under the ambit of service tax - Tax exemption on profits in the natural gas sector extended - Customs duty on LCD TVs reduced to 5 percent from 10 percent - Five percent customs tax imposed on set-top boxes - Rs.500 crore for the rehabilitation of displaced Sri Lankan Tamils and reconstruction activities in that country - Aligarh Muslim University off-campus centres to be set up in Murshidabad in West Bengal and Malappuram in Kerala - Allocation for the minority affairs ministry raised to Rs.1,740 crore - Plan expenditure up 34 percent, non-plan spend up 37 percent - Total spending increased to Rs.10.2 lakh crore - Rs.420 crore for new IITs and NITs - Commonwealth Games allocated Rs.3,472 crore - National unique identification numbers to start rolling out in 12-18 months - Paramilitary forces such as CRPF to get 100,000 homes - Banking services in under-banked areas to be increased, scheme allocated Rs.100 crore - Agriculture debt waiver extended by six months - Outlay for national rural health mission increased by Rs.2,057 crore from the Rs.12,070 crore provided in the interim budget - Allocation towards National Rural Employment Guarantee Act increased by Rs.39,100 crore - Allocation for Bharat Nirman scheme increased by 45 percent - Rs.20,000 crore for rural housing - Rural electrification scheme to get Rs.7,000 crore more - Tax department to work on early introduction of Saral 2 forms - Stimulus for print media extended from June 13 to Dec 31 - Rs.1,000 crore to accelerate irrigation projects - Agriculture development fund increased from Rs.2.87 lakh crore to Rs.3.25 lakh crore - Market development assistance scheme for exporters increased by 148 percent to Rs.124 crore - Pre-shipment interest subvention set at 2 percent for textile exporters - Sufficient funds for infrastructure development - Allocation for national highways development stepped up by 23 percent - Allocation for urban poor schemes to be raised to Rs.39,730 crore - LNG infrastructure to be expanded - Allocation for Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission raised by 87 percent to Rs.12,887 crore

July 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has proposed an outlay of Rs.40,745 crore for 2009-2010, which is 2840 crore more than the allocation proposed in the interim budget. "Rs. 15, 675 crore will be deployed through internal resources and Rs.9, 170 crore from market borrowings.

July 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Wednesday approved 21 foreign investment proposals amounting to Rs.84.9 crore ($17.78 million). Prominent among the proposals approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) is one by Germany's BASF, which plans to invest Rs.63 crore to manufacture speciality chemicals and trade in commoditised products.

June 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Realty major Unitech's net profit dipped 28 percent to about Rs.740 crore for 2008-09 from nearly Rs.1,031 crore posted the previous year, the company said Thursday. Its total income in the year under review decreased to Rs.2,455 crore from Rs.2,970 crore earned in 2007-08, it said in a regulatory statement.

May 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Rajasthan attracted investments worth Rs.69,052 crore, the highest among northern states, during 2008-09, a business chamber report released here Wednesday said. The report, 'Investment Prospects in Indian Economy 2008-09' by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham), said Haryana, which attracted investments worth Rs.52,852 crore, came second, followed by Uttarakhand with Rs.36,059 crore.

May 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Election Commission Wednesday said it will deploy additional observers in some areas of Tamil Nadu. Asked if the Election Commission has taken any action against Chief Minister M.

April 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - IT services exporter Tech Mahindra, which is taking over the fraud-hit IT giant Satyam Computer Services, Monday reported a net profit of Rs.221.3 crore for the fourth quarter of 2008-09. The company had reported a loss of Rs.207.07 crore in the corresponding period in 2007-08 after it accounted for one-time expense of Rs.440 crore, an official statement said.

April 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - State-owned power generation major NTPC will generate an additional 3,300 MW in 2009-10, but only about 2,000 MW of this will be available for commercial use this fiscal, a top official said here Wednesday. NTPC has planned a capacity addition of 22,430 MW by 2012.

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Monday revised the total expenditure estimate in the current fiscal to a little over Rs.9 trillion (Rs.900,953 crore), an increase of Rs.1.5 trillion (Rs.150,069 crore) on account of increased assistance to states, greater sectoral investments and a higher subsidy burden. In the interim budget that he presented in the Lok Sabha, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee hiked the plan expenditure by Rs.395.71 billion (Rs.39,571 crore) to Rs.2.82 trillion (Rs.282,957 crore), against the budgeted estimate of Rs.2.43 trillion (Rs.243,386 crore).

December 24th, 2008 PUDUCHERRY - Three companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were deployed to 'strengthen the law and order machinery' in Puducherry Thursday, a top official said. The move came on a day Alok Kumar Varma took charge as director general of police and T.M.