14 AUGUST 2016

Rail Budget's 92-year-old journey set to end

Putting an end to a 92-year-old tradition of the colonial era, the railway Budget will be merged with the general Budget from 2017-18 onwards. 

    The move will come as a relief to the national transporter, which, until now, has been reeling under an additional burden of Rs 40,000 crore from higher salaries, following implementation of the 7th Pay Commission.

It also has to bear close to RsRs 35,000 crore of subsidy burden. If the merger goes through, the Railways will get rid of the annual dividend it has to pay for gross budgetary support from the government.

Five electronic manufacturing clusters to be set up in Andhra Pradesh: Ravi Shankar Prasad

      Union Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the Union government will set up five electronic manufacturing clusters in Andhra Pradesh including Tirupati and Sri in Chittoor district and Anantapur where it is in final stage.

·         The Union Minister held a high-level official meeting with the authorities of NIC, UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), C.DOT and STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in Tirupati on Saturday.

·         Speaking to media on the occasion, Mr Prasad said that in Tirupati cluster, where 30 electronic companies are operating, in total made a business of 80 crore rupees, while at national level 41,000 crore rupees was exported.

·         Stating that the State of Andhra Pradesh is doing well with regard to IT and ITES, he said that NarendraModi government has also taken up application of technology to espouse the cause of poor by bringing in transparency. 

Chinese FM Wang Yi meets PM Modi amid strained ties over NSG bid

           Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi today called on Prime Minister NarendraModi and held talks with his counterpart SushmaSwaraj during which India's bid for membership of the NSG is understood to have figured among other regional and bilateral issues.

·         Wang and Swaraj also discussed issues relating to annual BRICS summit which will be hosted by India in Goa in           October.

           Wang had arrived in Goa yesterday on a three-day visit to India. He had met Goa Chief Minister LaxmikantParsekar and discussed about preparations for the BRICS summit.

Banks to start ITR e-verification without netbanking

      After Punjab National Bank and the United Bank of India, more banks are likely to start a facility wherein an account holder can electronically verify his income tax returns (ITR) without having a netbanking account, the Central Board of Direct Taxes has said. This e-verification facility was used by over 75.3 lakh taxpayers till August 5, latest data revealed. 

Govt approves Rs 1,911-crore highway projects in six states

      Government has approved Rs 1,911-crore highway projects for six states, including Karnataka and Maharashtra.

·         The standing finance committee (SFC) has approved six road projects in Nagaland, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh to be built at a cost of an estimated Rs 1,910.87 crore.

·         The official said SFC approved the NH 61 stretch in Nagaland for an estimated Rs 343 crore, besides         upgradation of Rayachoti-Kadapa stretch on NH 18 for an estimated Rs 350 crore in Andhra Pradesh.