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Highlights of Union Budget 2019 presented by Nirmala Sitharaman

News Network
July 5, 2019

* From 1.85 trillion dollars in 2014, the economy has reached 2.7 trillion US dollars; We can very well reach 5 trillion dollars in the next few years. The Indian economy will grow to become a 3 trillion dollar economy this year itself.

* The plan to reach $5 trillion economy will involve development of heavy investment in infrastructure, digital economy and job creation.

Employment

* 80 Livelihood business incubators and 20 technology business incubators to be set up in 2019-20 under ASPIRE to develop 75,000 skilled entrepreneurs in agro-rural industries.

* Increase focus on skill sets required by the youth to apply for job opportunities abroad like language skills and artificial intelligence (AI).

* We propose to start a television programme on DD National, exclusively for startups. This programme will be designed and executed by startup's themselves.

Banks

* Government considering to go below 51% to an appropriate level of ownership stake in non-financial public sector undertakings on case by case basis.

* Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to be provided Rs 70,000 crore to boost capital and improve credit.

* PSBs will use technology, enabling customer of one PSB to access service across all PSBs as well.

* For purchase of high-rated pooled assets of financially sound Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) amounting to Rs 1 lakh crore during 2019-20, one-time six-month partial credit guarantee to be given to PSBs.

* Proposals for strengthening regulatory authority of RBI over NBFCs have been made.

* Regulation authority over housing finance sector to be returned from National Housing Bank to RBI.

Railways

* Railway infra would need an investment of 50 lakh crores between 2018 and 2030; PPP to be used to unleash faster development and delivery of passenger freight services.

* Railways to be encouraged to invest more in suburban railways through Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) structures such as Rapid Regional Transport System (RRTS); more Public Private Partner (PPP) initiatives to be encouraged in rail sector.

* Massive programme of railway station modernization to be launched in 2019.

GST

* Rs 350 crore allocated for 2% interest subvention for all GST-registered MSMEs on fresh or incremental loans.

* Government has already moved GST council to lower the GST rate on electric vehicles (EV) from 12% to 5%. Also to make EVs affordable for consumers our government will provide additional income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on the loans taken to purchase EVs.

Connectivity

* FAME II scheme aims to encourage faster adoption of electric vehicles by right incentives and charging infrastructure. Comprehensive restructuring of National Highways Programme to be done, to ensure creation of National Highways Grid of desirable capacity. Government envisions using rivers for cargo transportation, which will also decongest roads and railways.

* 657 km of metro rail network has become operational in the country.

* The government has given a massive push to all forms of physical connectivity via PMGSY, Industrial corridors, Dedicated freight corridors, Bharatmala, Sagarmala, Jal Marg vikas and UDAN schemes.

Swachh Bharat Mission

* Proposal to expand Swachh Bharat mission to undertake solid waste management in every village.

* India to be open defecation free (ODF) by October 2 2019. To mark this occasion, Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra to be inaugurated at Raj Ghat, on the same day.

Gandhi-pedia

* 'Gandhi-pedia' too to be developed on the lines of Encyclopedia to help promote Gandhian school of thought.

Education and research

* Establish a National Research Foundation to fund, to coordinate and to promote research in the country.

* National Research Foundation to be set up to strengthen overall research ecosystem in the country; funds available under all Ministries to be integrated with NRF.

* New National Educational Policy to be brought in to transform Indian educational system; major changes in higher as well as school system to be introduced.

* Rs 400 crore under head, World Class Institutions in 2019-20, more than three times the revised estimates of previous year. 'Study In India' to be started to bring in foreign students into Indian higher education system.

'Naari tu Narayaani'

* I draw attention to the women of India, 'Naari tu Narayaani'. This government believes that we can progress, with greater women participation.

* To further encourage women entrepreneurship, Women Self-help Groups (SHGs) Interest Subvention Programme to be expanded to all districts in India.

* An overdraft of Rs 5,000 will be allowed for every verified woman SHG member having a Jan Dhan account.

* One woman in every SHG shall be made eligible for a loan of 1 lakh rupees under MUDRA scheme.

Rural

* By 2022, every single rural family except those who are unwilling to take the connection, will have an electricity and a clean cooking facility.

* In second phase of PMAY-Gramin, 1.95 crore houses to be provided to eligible beneficiaries, during 2019-20 to 2021-22; they will have amenities such as LPG, electricity and toilets.

Pension

* Pension benefit to be extended to around 3 crore retail traders and shopkeepers with an annual turnover less than Rs 1.5 crore under Pradhan Mantri Karam Yogi Man Dhan Scheme.

Space

* To harness India's space ability commercially, a public sector enterprise, New Space India Limited (NSIL) has been incorporated to tap the benefits of Isro.

Social stock exchange

* Electronic fundraising platform, a social stock exchange, to be set up to list social enterprises and voluntary organizations working for social welfare objectives.

NRIs

* Aadhaar card for NRIs with Indian passports to be issued after their arrival in India, without waiting for the mandatory 180 days.

* To provide NRIs seamless access to Indian equities, NRI portfolio investment route to be merged with foreign portfolio investment route.

Bahi-khata

* Sitharaman departed from the 'colonial' practice of bringing the Budget documents in a leather briefcase and instead switched to a four-fold red-cotton cloth called a 'bahi-khata'.

* This is the 89th Union Budget, which is the financial statement of the government, detailing its revenue and expenditure in the past, as well as estimated spending and projections for the coming year.

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News Network
January 23,2020

Mumbai, Jan 23: Rashmi Sahijwala never expected to start working at the age of 59, let alone join India’s gig economy—now she is part of an army of housewives turning their homes into “cloud kitchens” to feed time-starved millennials.

Asia’s third-largest economy is battling a slowdown so sharp it is creating a drag on global growth, the International Monetary Fund said Monday, but there are some bright spots.

The gig economy, aided by cheap mobile data and abundant labour, has flourished in India, opening up new markets across the vast nation.

Although Indian women have long battled for access to education and employment opportunities, the biggest hurdle for many is convincing conservative families to let them leave home.

But new apps like Curryful, Homefoodi, and Nanighar are tapping the skills of housewives to slice, dice and prepare meals for hungry urbanites from the comfort of their homes.

The so-called cloud kitchens—restaurants that have no physical presence and a delivery-only model—are rising in popularity as there is a boom in food delivery apps such as Swiggy and Zomato.

“We want to be the Uber of home-cooked food,” said Ben Mathew, who launched Curryful in 2018, convinced that housewives were a huge untapped resource.

His company—which employs five people for the app’s daily operations—works with 52 women and three men, and the 31-year-old web entrepreneur hopes to get one million female chefs on-board by 2022.

“We usually train them in processes of sanitisation, cooking, prep time and packaging... and then launch them on the platform,” Mathew told news agency.

One of the first housewives to join Curryful in November 2018 shortly after its launch, Sahijwala was initially apprehensive, despite having four decades of experience in the kitchen.

But backed by her children, including her son who gave her regular feedback about her proposed dishes, she took the plunge.

Since then, she’s undergone a crash course in how to run a business, from creating weekly menus to buying supplies from wholesale markets to cut costs.

The learning curve was steep and Sahijwala switched from cooking everything from scratch to preparing curries and batters for breads in advance to save time and limit leftovers.

She even bought a massive freezer to store fruits and vegetables despite her husband’s reservations about the cost.

“I told him that I am a professional now,” she told news agency.

‘Internet restaurants’

Kallol Banerjee, co-founder of Rebel Foods which runs 301 cloud kitchens backing up 2,200 “internet restaurants”, was among the first entrepreneurs to embrace the concept in 2012.

“We could do more brands from one kitchen and cater to different customer requirements at multiple price points,” Banerjee told AFP.

The chefs buy the ingredients, supply the cookware and pay the utility bills.

The apps—which make their money through charging commission, such as more than 18 percent per order for Curryful—offer training and supply the chefs with containers and bags to pack the food in.

Curryful chef Chand Vyas, 55, spent years trying to set up a lunch delivery business but finally gave up after failing to compete with dabbawalas, Mumbai’s famously efficient food porters.

Today Vyas works seven hours a day, five days a week in her kitchen, serving up a bevy of Indian vegetarian staples, from street food favourites to lentils and rice according to the app’s weekly set menus.

“I don’t understand marketing or how to run a business but I know how to cook. So, the current partnership helps me focus on just that while Curryful takes care of the rest,” Vyas told AFP.

She pockets up to $150 (Rs 10,000 approx) a month after accounting for the commissions and costs, but hopes to earn more as the orders increase.

In contrast, a chef at a bricks-and-mortar restaurant takes home a monthly wage of between $300 (Rs 20,000 approx) and $1,000 (Rs 70,000) approx for working six days a week.

With India’s cloud kitchen sector expected to reach $1.05 billion by 2023, according to data platform Inc42, other companies are also keen to get a slice of the action.

Swiggy, for example, has invested 2.5 billion rupees ($35.3 million) in opening 1,000 cloud kitchens across the nation.

Back in her Mumbai kitchen, Sahijwala is elated to have embarked on a career at an age when her contemporaries are eyeing retirement.

Over the past year, she has seen her profit grow to $200 (Rs 15,000 approx) a month, but more importantly, she said, “My passion has finally found an outlet.

“I am just glad life has given me this chance.”

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Agencies
June 25,2020

Patna, Jun 25: At least 83 people died due to thunderstorms in Bihar in the last 24 hours, according to Chief Minister's Office.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced Rs 4 lakhs each for the families of deceased.

Thirteen people died in Gopalganj, 8 each in Madhubani and Nawada, 6 each in Baghalpur and Siwan, 5 each in Darbhanga, Banka, East Champaran and 3 each in Khagaria and Aurangabad.

Due to thunderstorms, two people each lost their lives in West Champaran, Kishanganj, Jamui, Jahanabad, Purnia, Supaul, Buxar, Kaimur while one death each was reported in Samastipur, Shivhar, Saran, Sitamarhi and Madhepura.

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Agencies
March 14,2020

New Delhi, Mar 14: A Delhi court on Friday granted bail to three alleged members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) -- Parvez (Delhi President), Iliyas (Delhi Secretary) and Danish -- in connection with the organization's role in the northeast Delhi violence last month.

Metropolitan Magistrate Prabhdeep Kaur granted bail to all three accused on furnishing personal bail bonds of Rs 30,000 each.

The court said that "Investigating Officer (IO) has nowhere mentioned that any of the non-bailable offences has been disclosed or has come out during investigation till now, therefore, accused be enlarged on bail."

According to police, the three men were arrested for allegedly spreading fake propaganda during the anti-CAA protests.

Delhi police, while opposing bail and seeking remand, stated that police custody is required because accused were involved in a conspiracy of communal riots which resulted in the death of 50 innocent people and injuries to approximately 300 persons and huge loss of government and public properties.

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