 |
Saturday,
March 1, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Disinvestment: no specific
targets
Friendly tax
administration 60,000 cr for roads, railways,
airports Expenditure tax
withdrawn Diplomatic spending
increased J&K migrants’ funds cut
|
|||||||||
|
New scheme of health insurance New Delhi, February 28 Under the scheme public sector general insurance companies have been encouraged to pilot the programme. A premium equivalent to Re 1 per day (or Rs 365 per year) for an individual, Rs 1.50 per day for a family of five, and Rs 2 per day for a family of seven, will entitle eligibility to get reimbursement of medical expenses up to Rs 30,000 towards hospitalisation, a cover for death due to accident for Rs 25,000, and compensation due to loss of earning at the rate of Rs 50 per day up to a maximum of 15 days. To make the scheme affordable to below poverty line families, the government has decided to contribute Rs 100 per year towards their annual premium.
UNI |
||||||||||
|
Disinvestment: no specific
targets New Delhi, February 28 In carefully drafted wordage, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh steered clear of laying down any specific disinvestment targets for the year 2003-04 but exuded confidence that pace of disinvestment will hasten in the coming fiscal year. In the present fiscal year (2002-03) disinvestment of PSUs have fetched Rs 3,360 crore to the government kitty, much below the targeted Rs 12,000 crore. This is in conformity with the trend witnessed since the last couple of years where disinvestment proceeds have fell way short of the budgeted estimates. The move is being interpreted by experts as an attempt to pursue disinvestment as separate policy imperative without any ramifications on annual government accounts. The Finance Minister said details about the already announced Disinvestment Fund and Asset Management Company, to hold residual shares post-disinvestment, should be finalised early in 2003-04. Disinvestment is not merely for mobilising revenues for the government, it is mainly for unlocking productive potential of these undertakings and for reorienting the government, away from business and towards the business of governance, he said. |
||||||||||
|
Friendly tax
administration New Delhi, February 28 It has been decided to immediately abolish the present discretion-based system for selection of returns for scrutiny. This will be replaced by a computer generated, intelligent, random selection of only 2 per cent of the annual returns. The requirement of tax-clearance certificates currently needed by a person leaving India, or any person submitting a tender for a government contract, has also been abolished. Only expatriates who come to India in connection with business, profession or employment, would have to furnish a guarantee from their employer, etc in respect of the tax payable before they leave India. An Indian citizen, before leaving India, will only have to give his/her PAN number, and period of stay abroad to the emigration authorities. |
||||||||||
|
60,000 cr for roads, railways,
airports New Delhi, February 28 A sum of Rs 2,000 crore is proposed as initial contribution from the government for taking up new projects of road, railways, airports and sea ports sectors. The comprehensive initiative includes 48 new road projects with a total length of over 10,000 km, Rail Vikas Yojana for modernisation of Golden Quadrilateral and upgrading of Delhi and Mumbai airports to the international level as well as sea ports in Navi Mumbai and Cochin are being taken up through new innovative modes of funding. In the roads sector, the government proposes to take up for four-laning of at least 3,000 km this year. In addition the North-South-East-West Corridor of the National Highway Development Project will be funded through the additional levy of a cess of 50 paise per litre diesel and motor spirit. The Ministry of Railways will take up National Rail Vikas Yojana for which a special purpose vehicle has been established to take up projects worth Rs 8,000 crore for the Golden Quadrilateral. The projects will be funded through Rs 3,000 crore of worth equity from the government and remaining funds will be raised from the market. Setting up of two separate companies for modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports to make them of international standard and principal hubs of international travel to India has also been proposed in the Budget. Sea ports in Navi Mumbai and Cochin are also proposed for comprehensive modernisation at a cost of Rs 7,500 crore. |
||||||||||
|
Expenditure tax
withdrawn New Delhi, February 28 The benefit of Section 10 (23G) to financial institutions that advance long-term capital to hotels in three-star and above categories are also being extended, the Finance Minister has proposed in the Budget proposals for 2003-04. The minister said the benefit of set-off of unabsorbed loss and depreciation on amalgamation would, henceforth, be available to hotels under Section 72A of the Income Tax Act. The government will also reduce basic customs on imported equipment for recovery projects to 5 per cent without payment of countervailing duty and special additional duty. The minister expressed the hope that the states would now give a commensurate boost to the tourism sector by abolishing the luxury tax that they charged. Meanwhile, the budgetary allocation for 2003-04 for the Department of Tourism is Rs 366.3 crore against the revised estimate of Rs 288.63 crore for 2002-03 (as against the allocation of Rs 257.21 crore in the Budget last year). In the Department of Culture, the total outlay for 2003-04 is Rs 543.72 crore compared to the revised estimate of Rs 549.45 crore, far higher than the actual plan outlay of Rs 486.45 crore in the Budget last year. Interestingly, a sum of Rs 22 crore has been set aside in the budget of the Department of Culture for the northeastern states and Sikkim, which is Rs 1 crore less than that set aside in the revised estimates for 2002-03. A sum of Rs 1 crore each has been set aside for the celebrations of 50 years of the Republic and the tercentenary of the Khalsa Panth and Rs 10 crore each for the celebration of the birth centenaries of Jayaprakash Narayan and Chaudhary Charan Singh. |
||||||||||
|
Diplomatic spending
increased New Delhi, February 28 Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, who has been a high-profile External Affairs Minister also, announced considering a debt relief package for the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) owing overdue payments of substantial sums to India. The Finance Minister also unveiled a plan of the government to discontinue the practice of extending loans or credit lines to fellow developing countries. Instead, the government proposes to utilise the India Development Initiative for providing grants or project assistance to developing countries in Africa, South Asia and other parts of the developing world. The initiative, meant to promote India as both a production centre and an investment destination, would be set up in the Ministry of Finance with an allocation of Rs 200 crore for 2003-04. The Ministry of External Affairs’ budget for 2003-04 has been pegged at Rs 3,410 crore, a hike of Rs 210 crore from the revised estimates of last year’s Budget. An important highlight of the 2003-04 MEA budget is that the Special Diplomatic Expenditure (SDE), which provides for discretionary expenses, has been hiked by about Rs 29.50 crore over last year’s revised estimates. The SDE has been increased from Rs 795.01 crore to Rs.824.52 crore. Under the category of technical and economic cooperation with other countries, out of total allocation of Rs 1,250 crore, Bhutan gets the largest chunk of Rs 892 crore, an increase of 15 per cent over the revised estimates for last year. The figures for Nepal are Rs 92 crore (up from Rs 79 crore) and Bangladesh (Rs 40 crore). Myanmar, Central Asia and aid to African countries gets an allocation of Rs 9 crore each. Assistance to other developing countries has been pegged at Rs 170 crore, which is about Rs 80 crore less than the revised estimates. The allocation for the 161 Indian embassies and missions abroad has increased from Rs 783.54 crore to Rs 811.43 crore. These include the newly opened missions and posts in Kabul, Mandalay, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar and Jalalabad. The allocation for passport and emigration has been raised from Rs 93.76 crore to Rs 103.87 crore, while grants to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations have gone up by Rs 12.50 crore to Rs 54.50 crore. |
||||||||||
|
J&K migrants’ funds cut New Delhi, February 28 The government envisages to bring down the funds under this head in the next fiscal to Rs 145 crore from Rs 166.50 crore during the current financial year. Non-plan funds are meant for grant of relief to Kashmiri migrants and border migrants in Jammu and Kashmir, reimbursement to the state government for exgratia relief to next of kin of civilians and central paramilitary personnel killed in terrorist attacks and cross firing.
PTI |
||||||||||
Relief on kids’ education New Delhi, February 28 The Budget provides relief to guardians on children's education expenses. Education expenses up to Rs 12,000 per child for two children will be made eligible for rebate under Section 88 of the Income Tax Act. UNI
Rate cut on PPF, small savings Imported liquor cheaper Audio CDs to cost less |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
LTC restored for govt staff