Union Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda Presented Rail Budget 2014-15:

Union Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda Presented Rail Budget 2014-15: 

Union Rail Budget 2014-15 was presented by the Union Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda on 8 July 2014. This is the first rail budget presented by any Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister and it is also Gowda’s first rail budget.

 

Union Rail Budget 2014-15: Highlights

Railways to build FOB and escalators, toilets on all stations
• Railways also proposes to set up Food Courts at major stations

• RO drinking water facilities to be installed at stations
• Separate housekeeping wing at 50 major stations
• CCTV to monitor cleanliness activities
• Mechanized laundry will be introduced
• Dedicated freight corridor on Eastern and Western corridors
• Tourist trains to be introduced to link all major places of tourist interests across the country
• 4000 women constables to be recruited to ensure safety of women
• 17000 Railway Protection Force (RPF) constables to provide safety to passengers
• Setting up of Railway University for technical and non-technical study
• Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detection System (UBRD) to detect problem in track
• Proposal to start Bullet trains in Mumbai—Ahmedabad route
• Diamond Quadrilateral project of high speed trains to connect all major metros
• Efforts will be made to increase speed of trains to 160-200km/h on select sectors. The identified sectors are: Delhi-Agra; Delhi-Chandigarh; Delhi-Kanpur; Nagpur-Bilaspur; Mysore-Bengaluru-Chennai; Mumbai-Goa; Mumbai-Ahmedabad; Chennai-Hyderabad and Nagpur-Secunderabad.
• E-ticketing system to be improved. Future e-ticketing to support 7200 tickets per minute & to allow 120000 simultaneous users
• Wi-fi in A1 and A category stations and in select trains. Internet-based platform and unreserved tickets
• Will develop 10 metro stations with state-of-the-art facilities
• Outsourcing at 50 major stations; on board housekeeping to be extended to more trains; launching feedback service through IVRS on the quality
• Hospital Management Information System to integrate all railway health units and hospitals
• Special milk tanker trains to be introduced
• Temperature-controlled storage for fruits and vegetable
• setting up of Railway University for technical and non-technical subjects, tie-up with technical institutions
• Paperless office of Indian railways in 5 years. Digital reservation charts at stations
• Ready-to-eat meals to be introduced in phased manners
• New trains in Rail Budget: 5 Jansadharan, 5 Premium, 6 AC, 27 express trains, 8 passenger, 5 DEMU & 2 MEMU services; 11 train extensions
• Office-on-wheels: Internet and workstation facilities on select trains
• Temperature-controlled storage for fruits and vegetable

Union Budget 2014-15

Highlights of Union Budget 2014-15

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley detailed his budget for 2014-15 today, the first under Prime

Minister Narendra Modi's new government.

Here are the highlights of Budget 2014:

1.    Fiscal deficit for 2014-15 pegged at 4.3% and for next year at 3%

2.    Revenue Deficit seen at 2.9% for FY15

3.     Aim to achieve 7-8 per cent economic growth rate in next 3-4 years: FM

4.    Committed for growth of agriculture at the rate of 4 per cent.

5.    Defence FDI cap raised to 49% from 26% at present

6.    Exemption limit on income tax from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 2.5 lakh.

7.    For senior citizens, the exemption on income has been raised to Rs. 3 lakh per annum.

8.    Tax-free cap on home loan interest from Rs. 1.5 to Rs. 2 lakh.

9.    No change in Income tax rates and slabs .

10.  Annual PPF ceiling to be enhanced to Rs 1.5 lakh, from Rs 1 lakh

11.  Women Safety:

i. Outlay of Rs. 50 crores for a pilot scheme on road safety

ii. Another 150 crores to be spent by MHA on safety on women in larger cities

iii.  'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana' - 100 crores

12.  Rs 3600 cr set aside for National Rural Drinking Water: FM

13.  Rural housing: Rs 8000 crore for national housing banking programme

14.  Metro rails in PPP mode; Rs. 100 cr set aside for metro scheme in Ahmadabad and Lucknow

15.  Each year government will be adding AIIMS to ensure there is an AIIMS in every state: Jaitley

16.  Rs 100 crores to set up virtual classrooms

17.  Rs 500 crores for setting up 5 more IIMs and IITs

18.  FM Proposes to enhance the scope of income tax settlement commission

19.  Rs 7,060 crore allocated for building new cities

20.  Jaitley announces e-visas to promote tourism

21.  The government is committed to the welfare of scheduled castes and tribes.

22.  Rs 200 crores credit scheme for start-ups by those from scheduled castes and tribes

23.  Government is committed to providing 24x7 electricity in all houses

24.  15 Braille press to come up.

25.  Currency note with Braille-like signs

26.  Promote FDI selectively in sectors. India needs a boost in job creation in the manufacturing sector

27.  24x7 electricity in all houses

28.  Minimum pension of Rs.1000 per month to all PP schemes.

29.  Rs 50,548 cr proposed for SC development

30.  Bharat Swach Yojna proposed for hygiene and cleanliness.

31.  Rs. 200 crore for Statue of Unity, a statue of Sardar Patel in Gujarat.

32.  Rs. 1000 cr for irrigation plan named Pradhan mantri krishi sichayin yojana.

33.  Skill India initiative to make youth employable and create more entrepreneurs.

34.  Kisan Vikas Patra to be expanded.

35.  e-visa for nine cities.

36.  Rs. 7060 cr for creating smart cities.

37.  Assam and Jharkhand to get Centre of Excellence on farming

38.  Rs. 100 crores for modernization of Madrasas

39.  Jaitley announces Skill India, a programme to train youth for jobs

40.  Equity in PSU banks to be raised through share sale to the public

41.  Rural housing: Rs 8000 crores for national housing banking programme

42.  MGNREGA programme to made more productive

43.   Senior Citizens Pension Plan Extended Till August 2015

44.  National Adaption Fund for climate change to be set up

45.  Rs. 500 crore for price stabilization fund.

46.  100 soil testing laboratories across the country.

47.  House resumes. Budget Speech continues.

48.  Agriculture University in AP and Rajasthan, and Horticulture University in Haryana, Telangana; Rs. 200 cr set aside

49.  An AIIMS will be created in every state.

50.  All six new AIIMS are functional. Four more AIIMS under consideration. 12 more medical  colleges will be added. Rs. 500 crore allocated for this.

51.  MGNREGA programme will be made more productive

52.  Crisis Management Center for women at Delhi

53.  Start up village at Rs 100 crore to promote entrepreneurship among rural youth.

54.  Rs. 14,389 crores for PM Sadak Yojana

55.  Rs 200 crore allocated to set up six textiles clusters

GK UPDATE - 20 - 21st April

1.    Ila Patnaik appointed as Principal Economic Advisor

i. Centre has appointed columnist and RBI Chair Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Ila Patnaik, as Principal Economic Advisor, a post that had been vacant since November 2013.

ii. The appointment assumes significance as Dr. Patnaik has in her columns by-and-large concurred with Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan’s policy stances. “

iii. The most important factor that favours success this time is Governor Raghuram Rajan,” Dr. Patnaik wrote days after Dr. Rajan’s appointment in a column on an RBI proposal about interest rate futures.

iv. More recently, in April she wrote: “His strategy of an aggressive attack on inflation, despite the scepticism often voiced in the Indian monetary policy debate about the effectiveness of monetary policy, was the right strategy and is yielding results.”

v. Ms. Patnaik did her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Surrey, Guildford, U.K.

Note: The post of the Principal Economic Advisor was last held by Dipak Dasgupta, a former Lead Economist for India and South Asia at the World Bank.

2.    Justice G Rohini becomes first woman Chief Justice of Delhi HC

i. Justice G Rohini has taken over as the first woman Chief Justice of Delhi High Court. 
ii. She was administered the oath of office by Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung in New Delhi today.
iii. Before being elevated as Chief Justice, Justice Rohini was the senior most judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. With her joining, the strength of women judges at the Delhi High Court has increased to 10.
iv. Born in 1955, Justice Rohini studied at Osmania University in Hyderabad and then at the College of Law under Andhra University in Visakhapatnam.
v. She was enrolled as an advocate in December 1980 and later became chairman of the Andhra Pradesh State Bar Council.
vi. She was appointed a government pleader in the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 1995 and became additional judge in 2001 and permanent judge in 2002.

3.    BCCI suggests three-man committee to SC to probe IPL scandal

i. Faced with a credibility crisis arising out of the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal, the BCCI on Sunday suggested to the Supreme Court a three-member committee made up of eminent persons to probe the corruption case on the directives of the apex court.

ii. The all-powerful Working Committee of the Board in its emergent meeting in Mumbai decided to suggest names of former India all-rounder Ravi Shastri, former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice J N Patel and ex-CBI Director R K Raghavan as members of the probe committee. 

iii. The SC has directed the BCCI in the last hearing of the case on April 16 to suggest names of persons who will conduct a "fair probe" into the IPL VI spot-fixing and betting scandal. 

iv. On April 16, the Supreme Court had said that the BCCI should conduct a probe against N Srinivasan and 12 others in the betting and spot fixing scandal to maintain its institutional autonomy as the court cannot "close its eyes" to the allegations made by the Justice Mukul Mudgal committee. 

4.    Gopalakrishna takes charge as CAFRAL director

i. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) executive director G. Gopalakrishna has voluntarily retired from the service and joined as director of Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL).

ii. CAFRAL, a not-for-profit organisation, is an independent body fully funded by the RBI.

iii. Mr. Gopalakrishna’s name was in the reckoning for Deputy Governor in place of Anand Sinha who retired in January. He was the senior most among nine executive directors who appeared before the search panel headed by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan. However, R. Gandhi was selected for the post of Deputy Governor earlier this month.

iv. He was appointed as Executive Director on October 26, 2007, and looked after banking supervision, financial stability and communication before seeking retirement from the RBI. He also had a stint as the Executive Director of the Deposit Insurance & Credit Guarantee Corporation.

5.    HDFC Bank set World Record for Blood collection in a single day

i. Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Bank set World record for Blood collection in a single day. The blood donation camp organised by HDFC Bank on 6 December 2013 was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. 

ii. The camp involved 61902 participants with 1115 blood donation camps held across 709 locations in the country. The camp has found a place in Guinness Book of Records as the largest such drive on a single day.

iii. With this HDFC became the first corporate firm to hold such recognition. 

iv. Earlier in 2010 Shiv Sena, a political party of Maharashtra, was entered into the Guinness Book of Records for organizing the blood donation camps. 

Note: According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a country needs a minimum stock of blood equal to 1% of its population. This means India needs 12 million units of blood. 

6.    Indians top foreign investors’ list in Dubai

i. Indians have topped the list of foreign investors in real estate in Dubai, pumping in 1.6 billion dollars during the first quarter of 2014.

ii. According to Dubai Land Department, Indians were at the top spot for international investment, both in terms of the number of investors and the amount of expenditure.

iii. British ranked the second investors followed by Pakistanis. The Dubai Land Department also said United Arab Emirates were ranked as the highest among all investors in terms of the value of investments.

7.    ECGC to offer direct factoring facility for MSMEs

i. The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) will be offering direct factoring facility for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

ii. The corporation had recently introduced a new country-risk rating for the benefit of MSMEs, he added.

iii. ECGC, which has 62 branches now, would be opening three new branches in Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kollam soon, he added.

iv. TS Vijayan, Chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, formally inaugurated the branch premises.

8.    Crisil sees economy growing at 6.5% in next 5 years

i. Rating agency Crisil has said a stable Government post-elections is likely to help the country grow at an average of 6.5 per cent for the next five years.

ii. “Our base-case forecast of an average GDP growth of 6.5 per cent between FY15 and FY19 is premised on a decisive mandate in the upcoming general elections,” the rating agency majority-owned by Standard & Poor’s said in a report.

iii. The International Monetary Fund has predicted global growth for the calendar years 2014-18 at 4 per cent. However, Crisil said it is not the election results which impact the economy, except in improving sentiment, but policies formulated by the new Government that will boost growth.

iv. Economic growth eased to 4.6 per cent in the first three quarters of FY14 after clocking 9.3 per cent in FY12 and the just-concluded financial year may log the lowest growth rate in decades.

9.    Book entitled Hard Choices to be released in June 2014

i. Publisher Simon & Shuster announced that they will release a book named Hard Choices authored by Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former first lady and New York senator on 10 June 2014.

ii. The upcoming book talks about her role as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state for four year. 

iii. Clinton’s book will offer inside account of choices, crisis and challenges faced by her as a secretary of the state and how the experiences gained during her tenure drive her view of the future. 

10.  Stanislas Wawrinka beat Roger Federer to bag Monte Carlo Masters Tennis title

i. Stanislas Wawrinka has defeated former world number one Roger Federer to bag the Monte Carlo Masters Tennis title.

ii. In the all Swiss finals last evening, third seed Wawrinka beat Federer, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 to win his maiden Monte Carlo title.
iii. America's top seeded Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, won the Doubles trophy, beating the third seeded Croatian-Brazilian team of Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, 6-3, 3-6, 10-8.

11.  Shaik Abdul Hameed won the 2014 Thailand Tour title of Asian Bowling Federation

i. Shaik Abdul Hameed of India won the 2014 Thailand Tour title of Asian Bowling Federation (ABF) on 19 April 2014 at Blu-O Rhythm & Bowl Ratchayothinon in Bangkok, Thailand.

ii.  With this Hameed became the first Indian to win the title of ABF. Hameed defeated Mahamood Al Attar of UAE 242-183 in the final.

12.  The Unsung Hero of the NASA’s Apollo Program John C. Houbolt Died

i. The unsung hero of the NASA’s Apollo Program John C. Houbolt died on 20 April 2014 after the complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 95. 

ii. He was an engineer in the Apollo Program. His contributions to the US space program were vital to NASA's successful Moon landing in 1969.
iii. Houbolt was the catalyst in securing US commitment to the science and engineering theory that eventually carried the Apollo crew to the moon and back safely. 

iv. His efforts in the early 1960s are largely credited with convincing NASA to focus on the launch of a module carrying a crew from lunar orbit, rather than a rocket from Earth or a spacecraft while orbiting the planet. 

13.  Maxwell plays another blinder, leads Punjab to stunning win 

i. Glenn Maxwell played a whirlwind knock of 89 runs before David Miller provided the finishing touches with a breathtaking 19-ball 51 as Kings XI Punjab hammered Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in a high-scoring IPL Twenty20 cricket match,in Sharjah on Sunday.

ii. Chasing an imposing 192 to win, Maxwell and Miller put on display an incredible power-hitting show as Punjab overhauled the target with eight balls to spare.

iii. Young batsman Sanju Samson (52) hit a classy half-century and Shane Watson (50) played a captain's knock to guide Rajasthan Royals to 191 for five after being put into bat but their effort proved little.

iv. Miller hit four sixes off the paceman Dhawal Kulkarni as Punjab creamed off 27 runs in the 18th over. It was all over for Rajasthan in that over.

Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals: 191 for 5 in 20 overs. (Shane Watson 50, Sanju Samson 52; Askhar Patel 1/22).
Kings XI Punjab: 193 for 3 in 18.4 overs.(Glenn Maxwell 89, David Miller 51 not out; Kane Richardson 1/25).