PM, ministers incurred Rs 393 cr travel expenditure

Agencies
May 11, 2019

Mumbai, May 11: A Right to Information (RTI) query has revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his council of ministers incurred an expenditure of Rs 393 crore on foreign and domestic travel in the last five fiscal years.

City-based RTI activist Anil Galgali had filed an RTI query with the PMO seeking the total Foreign Travel Expenses (FTE) and Domestic Travel Expenses (DTE) incurred by the prime minister and his council since May 2014.

In December 2018, the Modi government, replying to queries on foreign travel expenses in Rajya Sabha, had said that an expenditure of over Rs 2,021 crore was incurred on chartered flights, maintenance of aircraft and hotline facilities during Modi's visits to foreign countries since June 2014.

The RTI filed by Galgali finds that Rs 263 crore was spent by the PM and his cabinet colleagues on their foreign visits, while Rs 48 crore were spent in their domestic visits.

As far as ministers of state are concerned, the RTI reply states that they incurred expenses of Rs 29 crore on foreign visits and Rs 53 crore on domestic visits.

Replying to his query, Satish Goyal, the senior accounts officer of Pay and Account Office of the Cabinet Affairs, has stated that cumulative expenditure incurred on FTE and DTE by the PM and the ministers from the financial year 2014-15 to 2018-19 was Rs 393.58 crore.

Citing e-lekha reports, Goyal gave separate expenditures of the cabinet ministers, the prime minister and the ministers of state.

According to the RTI reply, cabinet ministers and the prime minister spent Rs 311 crore, while ministers of state spent Rs 82 crores on their foreign and domestic visits.

A major chunk of expenses was incurred in the year 2014-15 when Rs 88 crore was spent on foreign travels by the prime minister and his cabinet colleagues.

Galgali asked why all details were not kept separately and termed it a "lack of transparency".

"This information on travel expenditure does not give the full picture and therefore, it is a lack of transparency. The government should keep all records of each minister and their numbers of trips and their expenses and all these information should be available in the public domain."

Replying to Galgali's previous RTI query, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had said that it does not keep records of the expenses incurred on the domestic visits of the prime minister exclusively.

Praveen Kumar, Under Secretary and the Central Public Information Officer of the PMO, had replied that the MPs' domestic visits are organised by the different public authorities and documentation of the expenses incurred on the PM's domestic visits is not part of the records and information maintained.

Kumar also said that the prime minister's tours related to poll campaigns are not official ones and the PMO does not have to incur any expenditure on them, therefore, the details cannot be provided.

As per PMO website, the expenses on domestic visits of the prime minister are met out of the budget of the Ministry of Defence, while the expenses of his foreign tours are met out of the budget head "Cabinet Ministers Maintenance of PM's aircraft Other charges".

According to the PMO website, Modi has made 49 foreign trips from May 2014 to February 22, 2019. It also lists the expenses incurred on chartered flights on these 49 foreign trips.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

Ghaziabad, Jul 28: Days ahead of Eid-ul-Adha, Nand Kishore Gurjar, a BJP MLA from Loni assembly constituency in Ghaziabad, has stoked controversy as he asked people celebrating the festival to "sacrifice their children instead of animals" on the occasion. He also claimed that "meat spreads coronavirus" so people should not be allowed to sacrifice innocent animals.

"People who want to sacrifice on Eid should sacrifice their children. I will not let people consume meat and alcohol in Loni. We will not let people sacrifice innocent animals because meat spreads coronavirus," the BJP legislator said while speaking to reporters.

"The way people have followed the guidelines of the government by not offering prayers and namaz at temples and mosques to contain COVID-19, in the same way, they must not give the sacrifice of animals on this Eid," he added.

"Earlier, sacrifices of animals used to be done in Sanatan Dharam as well. However, now coconut is offered instead. I request the Muslim brothers not to give 'qurbani' of animals. We will stop those who will perform the ritual animal sacrifice. We will not let this happen in Loni," he said.

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News Network
May 28,2020

May 28: Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday asked the central government to unlock its coffers and help the needy affected by the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

In a video message posted as part of the Congress' 'Speak Up India' campaign, she lamented that even though the country is passing through a serious economic crisis with loss of livelihood due to the pandemic and the lockdown, the central government has not heard the cries of pain and trauma of people.

"We again urge the Centre to unlock its coffers and help the needy. Put direct cash of Rs 7,500 per month in the account of every family for the next six months and provide Rs 10,000 immediately; ensure safe and free travel of labourers back home, employment opportunity and rations; and also increase the number of work days under MNREGA to 200 days to facilitate jobs in villages," Gandhi said.

"Instead of loans, provide financial relief to small and medium industry so that crores of jobs are saved and the country progresses," she said in her video message on the party's social media handles.

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News Network
March 6,2020

New Delhi, Mar 6: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday will move the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha.

In December last year, the Union Cabinet had approved a proposal to promulgate an ordinance to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016.

The amendments will remove certain ambiguities in the IBC 2016 and ensure smooth implementation of the code, an official statement said.

The move is aimed at easing the insolvency resolution process and promoting the ease of doing business. Aimed at streamlining of the insolvency resolution process, the amendments seek to protect last-mile funding and boost investment in financially-distressed sectors.

Under the amendments, the liability of a corporate debtor for an offence committed before the corporate insolvency resolution process will cease.

The debtor will not be prosecuted for an offence from the date the resolution plan has been approved by the adjudicating authority if a resolution plan results in change in the management or control of the corporate debtor to a person who was not a promoter or in the management or control of the corporate debtor or a related party of such a person.

The amendments are aimed at providing more protection to bidders participating in the recovery proceedings and in turn boosting investor confidence in the country's financial system.

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