India News
Uttar Pradesh Budget: Provision of Rs 276.66 crore for special security forces for religious places, budget aims for US$ one trillion economy
Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna on Thursday presented the second term maiden budget of Yogi Adityanath led government of Rs 6.15 lakh crore in the state assembly. In the budget, there were provisions for several new schemes.
Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna on Thursday presented the second term maiden budget of Yogi Adityanath led government of Rs 6.15 lakh crore in the state assembly. In the budget, there were provisions for several new schemes.
While presenting the budget, Khanna said that the economy of the state is improving rapidly, and they believe that they will be successful in taking the state’s economy to USD 1 trillion.
Know the key highlights of the Uttar Pradesh Budget here:
- Rs 276.66 crore provision is for Uttar Pradesh Special Security Force for the protection of courts, religious places like Ayodhya, Kashi, and Mathura, metro rails, and historical places like the Taj Mahal, airports, banks, and other places of significance.
- In the coming next five years, 2 crore smartphones/tablets will be distributed to the youth. Earlier, for youth, the free tablet and smartphones scheme was started in December last year and now around 12 lakh tablets/smartphones were distributed.
- A provision of Rs 10 crore was also proposed to provide financial assistance to young lawyers for purchasing books and magazines for the first three years of work.
- Rs 75.50 crore was proposed for the women’s empowerment scheme. The state government also proposed setting up cyber help desks at the district level for women.
- For establishing International Cricket Stadium in Varanasi, Rs 95 crore was proposed.
- Rs 50 crore was proposed for establishing Major Dhyan Chand Sports University.
- In secondary education, 40,402 teachers have been selected and 7,450 posts were also created by ending the interview in teachers selection.
- For installing solar lights in the village under the scheme named after Kalyan Singh that is Babuji Kalyan Singh Gram Unnati Yojna, Rs 22.50 crore was allotted.
- Other than this, under the MGNREGA scheme, 26 crore man-days were created in the financial year 2021-22, and a target has been set to generate 32 crore man-days under the scheme in the financial year 2022-23.
India News
Lok Sabha elections: INDIA bloc in Bihar seals seat-sharing deal, Congress get 9 seats, RJD 26
Purnea and Katihar, currently held by the Janata Dal (United), had emerged as the sticking point in seat-sharing talks between the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress for the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.
The Opposition INDIA bloc sealed the seat-sharing deal in Bihar for 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Mahagathbandhan’s largest constituent, RJD will field its candidates from 26 seats, including Purnea and Hajipur, while the Congress will contest on nine seats, including Kishanganj and Patna Sahib. Meanwhile, the Left will fight on five seats.
Purnea and Katihar, currently held by the Janata Dal (United), had emerged as the sticking point in seat-sharing talks between the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress for the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.
Reportedly, the Congress has been made to give up the Purnea Lok Sabha seat, which recent entrant Pappu Yadav, husband of Rajya Sabha MP Ranjeet Ranjan, was hoping to contest, mentioning that he had received assurance of Congress ticket from Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.
The seat will be contested by RJD, which recently gave the party ticket to JD(U) turncoat Bima Bharti, but stopped short of announcing it formally. The INDIA bloc seat-sharing announcement comes a day after the filing of nomination papers for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls was over. The RJD has fielded its candidates in all four seats going to elections in the first phase.
Earlier, Tejashwi Yadav attended an INDIA bloc meeting regarding Bihar’s seat-sharing formula at Congress leader Mukul Wasnik’s residence and said that the RJD, the Congress and the Left will fight the Lok Sabha elections together in Bihar. He added that the INDIA bloc partners have agreed verbally on the seat-sharing arrangement and all the constituents are getting a respectable deal. Tejashwi Yadav’s remarks came amid reports of disquiet in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance in Bihar over seat sharing.
In the previous Lok Sabha elections, the National Democratic Alliance, including the BJP, JD(U) and LJP won 39 seats. The first phase of the Lok Sabha elections is scheduled for April 19.
India News
Tax terrorism has to stop, says Congress after Income Tax Department issues fresh Rs 1,700 crore notice
The Congress has accused the BJP of squeezing it financially and of using tax authorities against it ahead of Lok Sabha elections beginning April 19.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the Congress’ financial woes worsened once again with the Income Tax Department issuing a fresh Rs 1,700 crore notice. The tax department issued the notice due to discrepancies in tax returns.
The fresh notice is for assessment years 2017-18 to 2020-21 and includes penalty and interest. This comes a day after the Delhi High Court dismissed the party’s petition challenging the tax notices.
The opposition party is already facing a funds crunch after Income Tax authorities imposed a penalty of Rs 200 crore and froze its funds. Furthermore, the party has not received any relief from the High Court in the case and is likely to approach the Supreme Court. The Congress has accused the BJP of squeezing it financially and of using tax authorities against it ahead of Lok Sabha elections beginning April 19.
Addressing a press conference, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said that the notices are being sent to cripple the party financially. Calling the action as tax terrorism, Jairam Ramesh said that this attack on Congress has to stop.
Earlier in February, the Income Tax department had found fault in the party’s tax returns and demanded Rs 200 crore. Subsequently, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) had asked the party to pay the dues and froze their accounts. The Congress stated the tax tribunal’s order freezing its funds was an attack on democracy as the order came just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
AICC general secretary K C Venugopal stated that this is a deliberate attempt by the Narendra Modi-led to bankrupt the Congress ahead of elections. He mentioned that the timing of the penalty notice, following the Delhi High Court’s dismissal of Congress petitions challenging tax reassessment proceedings, reeks of political vendetta.
He underlined that while political parties are typically exempt from taxes, this penalty is allegedly due to delayed filing of returns. He asserted that it is a blatant move by the Modi government to cripple the Congress financially, especially during the elections. He further asserted that in response to the notice, the Congress plans to stage a nationwide protest, condemning BJP’s exploitation of central agencies to target opposition parties.
India News
Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Tejashwi Yadav mourns demise of Mukhtar Ansari, demand probe
Akhilesh Yadav mentioned that such doubtful cases should be investigated under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge.
Mukhtar Ansari, gangster turned politician, who has been in jail since 2005, died due to cardiac arrest on Thursday. After Ansari’s death, his family alleged that the politician had been poisoned in the jail.
Expressing sorrow, several opposition leaders demanded a probe into the death of Mukhtar Ansari. Notably, the gangster turned politician submitted an application in Barabanki court, alleging he was given some poisonous substance along with his food. He claimed that on March 19, his nerves and limbs started paining after he consumed the food.
Former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav wrote on X that a few days ago Mukhtar Ansari complained that he had been poisoned in jail, yet it was not taken seriously. He added that prima facie the move does not seem justifiable and humane. He stated that constitutional institutions should take suo motu cognizance of such strange cases and incidents.
Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi Party Chief, Akhilesh Yadav said that the state is going through the worst phase of government anarchy. He added that it is the responsibility and duty of the government to protect someone’s life in every situation and at every place.
The former Chief Minister added that the death of a hostage or prisoner while being confined in the police station, in a fight inside the jail, on falling ill inside the prison, while being taken to court, while being taken to hospital or during treatment in hospital will erode public confidence in the judicial process. He mentioned that such doubtful cases should be investigated under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge. He claimed that the way the government bypasses the judicial process and adopts other methods is completely illegal.
Taking to social media platform X, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati said that the persistent apprehensions and serious allegations made by Mukhtar Ansari’s family regarding his death in jail require a high-level investigation so that the facts in his death can be revealed.
AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said that the people of Ghazipur lost their favourite son and brother. He added that Mukhtar Ansari had made serious allegations against the administration that he was poisoned, but the government did not pay any attention to his treatment.
Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput stated that custodial deaths and firing in jail has become very common in Uttar Pradesh. He added that high level investigation should be conducted.
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