Sitharaman only the 2nd woman to present Union Budget

Agencies
July 5, 2019

New Delhi, Jul 5: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday became only the second women in the history of independent India to present the Union Budget.

Sitharaman, 59, presented the Modi 2.0 government's maiden budget in the Lok Sabha.

Prior to the presentation, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the Budget for 2019-20.

She handed over a copy of the Union Budget to President Ram Nath Kovind before her maiden budget speech.

Breaking away from the brown Budget briefcase, Sitharaman held a red parcel like a bag with a keyhole on the emblem.

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was the first and only women till now to have presented the Union Budget. In 1970, she presented the Union Budget of India for 1970-71, after she took over the finance portfolio following the resignation of Morarji Desai as finance minister.

Gandhi held the portfolio for a year before appointing her home minister, Yashwantrao Chavan, as finance minister. Morarji Desai holds the distinction of presenting the most number of budgets -- 10.

Sitharaman's will present the 29th budget (excluding interim ones) post-economic liberalisation in 1991.

Prior to her, six finance ministers: Manmohan Singh (1991-1996), Yashwant Sinha (1998-2003), Jaswant Singh (2003-2004), P Chidambaram (1996-1998, 2004-2009, 2013-2014), Pranab Mukherjee (2009-2013), and Arun Jaitley (2014-2019) had presented 28 budgets.

In the post-liberalisation era, Chidambaram presented the most number of budgets at eight. Manmohan Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Jaitley presented five budgets each while Pranab Mukherjee presented four. Jaswant Singh presented only one budget.

Jaitley presented all the five Budgets of the Modi government's first tenure but missed out on presenting the interim budget in February this year due to ill-health. Stand-in finance minister Piyush Goyal presented the pre-general election interim budget on February 1 this year.

Sitharaman was also the second women defence minister after Indira Gandhi who held the portfolio till 1982. However, unlike Gandhi, she was the first full-time women defence minister.

Gandhi held the defence ministry portfolio between November 1975 and December 1975 and again from January 1980 to January 1982 alongside being the Prime Minister of the country.

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News Network
July 24,2020

New Delhi, Jul 24: India reported the highest single-day spike of 49,310 coronavirus cases on Friday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total COVID-19 positive cases stand at 12,87,945 including 4,40,135 active cases, 8,17,209 cured/discharged/migrated.
With 740 deaths in the last 24 hours, the cumulative toll reached 30,601.

Maharashtra has reported 3,47,502 coronavirus cases, the highest among states and Union Territories in the country. A total of 1,92,964 cases have been reported from Tamil Nadu till now, while Delhi has recorded 1,27,364 coronavirus cases.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 3,52,801 samples were tested for coronavirus on Thursday and overall 1,54,28,170 samples have been tested so far. 

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News Network
March 30,2020

New Delhi, Mar 30: The number of COVID-19 cases climbed to 1,071 in India on Monday, while the death toll rose to 29, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 942, while 99 people were either cured or discharged and one had migrated, the ministry stated.

In its updated data at 10.30 am, it said two fresh deaths were reported from Maharashtra.

Thus, Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of eight COVID-19 deaths so far, followed by Gujarat (5), Karnataka (3), Madhya Pradesh (2), Delhi (2) and Jammu and Kashmir (2).

Kerala, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have reported a death each.

The total number of 1,071 cases includes 49 foreigners.

The highest number of confirmed cases of the pandemic has been reported from Kerala (194) so far, followed by Maharashtra at 193.

The number of cases has gone up to 80 in Karnataka, while Uttar Pradesh has reported 75 cases.

The number of cases has risen to 69 in Telangana, 58 in Gujarat and 57 in Rajasthan.

Delhi has reported 53 cases, while in Tamil Nadu, the number of positive cases is 50.

Punjab has reported 38 cases, while 33 COVID-19 cases have been detected each in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.

There are 31 cases of the contagion in Jammu and Kashmir, followed by Andhra Pradesh (19), West Bengal (19) and Ladakh (13).

Bihar has 11 cases, while nine cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Chandigarh has eight cases, while Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand have reported seven cases each.

Goa has reported five coronavirus cases, while Himachal Pradesh and Odisha have reported three cases each. Puducherry, Mizoram and Manipur have reported a case each, the Health Ministry said.

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News Network
August 7,2020

Idukki, Aug 7: Several people lost their lives and dozens of tea estate workers are feared trapped under soil in Kerala’s Munnar after torrential rains triggered a massive landslide on today. 

As many as five bodies have been recovered and rescue workers are fighting inclement weather to remove the debris.

According to rescue workers, four lanes of quarters and a church are buried under mud and around 80 people are feared trapped.

Seven people have been rescued so far and shifted to the hospital.

Sources said a portion of Pettimudi came crashing down on the workers colony with a deafening roar in the wee hours of Friday.

As people were sleeping in the quarters, there was little time to escape.

Further, with the Periyavara bridge being washed away, it became all the more difficult for rescue workers to reach the spot.

The construction of a new temporary Periyavara bridge however, is underway.

The bridge was previously destructed during the deluge of August 2018. Later during the north west monsoons and the south west monsoon of 2019, it suffered damage again.

The present bridge, which got damaged on Thursday after Kannimala river levels rose, was constructed under the leadership of Coir fed.

Although a new concrete bridge has been constructed near the temporary bridge in Periyavara, vehicle  movement has not been possible because the authorities are yet to build its approach via road.

The new bridge is to be constructed at a cost of Rs 4.75 crore from Devikulam MLA S Rajendran's fund.

The entire area has been cut off from outside world and communication networks have also crashed.

Teams of Fire and Rescue personnel, NDRF, revenue officials, estate workers and police are struggling to conduct rescue operations.

Meanwhile, District collector H Dhineshan said a team of rescue personnel was sent to Pettymudy after he was briefed about the mishap and search operations to locate and rescue people are underway.

Facilities have been arranged at the hospitals nearby to provide necessary treatment facilities to the people being rescued.

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