Month: February 2021

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced higher capital expenditure for the FY 2021-22 and focused on providing a major boost to healthcare and infrastructure building.

In her Budget speech, Sitharaman mentioned that this year’s budget focused on six pillars- Health and Wellbeing, Physical and Financial Capital, and Infrastructure, Inclusive Development for Aspirational India, Reinvigorating Human Capital, Innovation and R&D and minimum government and maximum governance.

Presenting the first-ever digital Union Budget, the minister stated that India’s fight against COVID-19 continues into 2021 and that this moment in history, when the political, economic, and strategic relations in the post-COVID world are changing, is the dawn of a new era – one in which India is well-poised to truly be the land of promise and hope.

Key highlights of Union Budget 2021-22:

1. A new Centre-sponsored scheme Prime Minister Atmanirbhar Swasthya Bharat Yojana with an outlay of Rs 64,180 crores to boost healthcare infrastructure across the country amid ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Senior citizens above 75 years of age, having pension and interest income exempted from filing tax returns
3. A National Faceless Income tax Appellate Tribunal Centre shall be established and all the communication between the Tribunal and the appellant shall be made electronically
4. In order to provide transparent tax appellate mechanism, it is proposed to make the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal faceless and jurisdiction-less
5. For reducing litigation and to give an impetus to the dispute resolution for small taxpayers, a Dispute Resolution Committee is proposed to be constituted.
6. To incentivise digital transactions and to reduce the compliance burden of the person who is carrying almost all of their transactions digitally, it is proposed to increase the limit for tax audit for persons who are undertaking 95 per cent of their transactions digitally from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore
7. Rs 1,000 crore to be provided for welfare scheme for tea workers of Assam & West Bengal especially women and children
8. National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) expanded to 7,400 projects
9. Rs 2,23,846 crore outlay for Health and Wellbeing in Budget Estimates (BE) 2021-22 as against Rs 94,452 crore in BE 2020-21 – an increase of 137 per cent
10. Rs 35,000 crore for COVID-19 vaccine in Budget Estimates 2021-22
11. Rs 64,180 crore outlay over 6 years for PM AatmaNirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana – a new centrally sponsored scheme to be launched, in addition to NHM
12. Rs. 2,87,000 crore over 5 years for Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) to be launched
13. Rs. 1,41,678 crore over 5 years for Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0
14. Rs. 2,217 crore to tackle air pollution, for 42 urban centers with a million-plus population
15. Voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and unfit vehicles (After 20 years in case of personal vehicles and 15 years in case of commercial vehicles)
16. Rs 1.97 lakh crore in the next 5 years for Production Linked Incentive scheme (PLI) schemes in 13 Sector
17. Rs 20,000 crore to set up and capitalise a Development Financial Institution (DFI) – to act as a provider, enabler and catalyst for infrastructure financing
18. Rs 5.54 lakh crore capital expenditure in BE 2021-22 – a sharp increase of 34.5 per cent over Rs. 4.12 lakh crore allocated in BE 2020-21
19. Rs 1,18,101 lakh crore, highest ever outlay, for Ministry of Road Transport and Highways – of which Rs 1,08,230 crore is for capital
20. Rs 1,10,055 crore for Railways of which Rs. 1,07,100 crore is for capital expenditure
21. Rs 3,05,984 crore over 5 years for a revamped, reforms-based and result-linked new power distribution sector scheme
22. Capital infusion of Rs 1,000 crore to Solar Energy Corporation of India and Rs 1,500 crore to Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency
23. FDI limit in Insurance Sector increased from 49 per cent to 74 per cent
24. Rural Infrastructure Development Fund to be enhanced to Rs 40,000 crore from Rs 30,000 crore
25. Rs 15,700 crore budget allocation to MSME Sector, more than double of this year’s BE
26. An agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess of Rs 2.5 per litre has been imposed on petrol and Rs 4 per litre on diesel. Unbranded petrol and diesel will attract basic excise duty of Rs 1.4 and Rs 1.8 per litre respectively
27. 100 per cent Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess on Alcoholic beverages (ANI)

Former Trinamool Congress (TMC) minister who recently joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rajib Banerjee will now have Z+ category security in West Bengal and Y+ in other parts of the country.

According to a government source, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been asked to provide him with security.

Banerjee, who was the forest minister in the West Bengal government had resigned from the Trinamool Congress and as MLA of the West Bengal Assembly on January 29.

Soon after resigning from TMC, Banerjee along with two other TMC MLAs who joined BJP met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi.

Several TMC leaders including Suvendu Adhikari left the TMC to join the BJP earlier in January.

The West Bengal Assembly Elections for 294 seats are scheduled to take place this year. However, the dates of the polls have not yet been announced by the Election Commission. (ANI)

The ‘Mr. Perfectionist’ of Bollywood Aamir Khan has decided to turn off his cell phone till the release of his upcoming film ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’.

The decision to forgo his phone stemmed from the fact that the actor felt it constantly interfered with the manner in which he conducts his work.

While it’s well known that the ‘PK’ actor gets under the skin of his characters like none other and fully surrenders to the projects he works on, he doesn’t want his phone to become a hindrance while he does the same with ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ and hence is taking this step.

‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ reunites Aamir and Kareena Kapoor Khan, who last worked together in ‘3 Idiots’. Apart from Kareena, Vijay Sethupathi and Mona Singh will also be seen in the movie.

Adapted by Atul Kulkarni and directed by Advait Chandan, ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ is an official Hindi remake of Robert Zemeckis’ Oscar Award-winning 1994 film ‘Forrest Gump’, that featured Hollywood star Tom Hanks in the titular role.

‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ will reportedly unfold some of India’s historic events as seen through the eyes of a man with a low IQ. Reportedly, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan will appear in cameo roles in the upcoming movie.

Being touted as the most anticipated release of this year, the upcoming movie will hit the big screens on Christmas. (ANI)

Congress MPs from Punjab — Jasbir Singh Gill and Gurjeet Singh Aujla — wore a black gown to the Parliament on Monday, as a mark of their protest against the three farm laws which have led to farmers protesting at Delhi borders for over two months.

This comes at a day when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is presenting Union Budget 2021-22 in Parliament.

“Internet has been suspended at Haryana borders. Is it a digital India? They are presenting the digital budget but do not provide access to the internet to people. The government is not listening to its people. We are here to be the voice of farmers,” Jasbir Singh Gill, Lok Sabha MP from Khadoor Sahib of Punjab told ANI.

Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Lok Sabha MP from Punjab’s Amritsar said, “The people for whom the budget is presented are on the streets. Farmers are protesting for over two months and still, the government is not listening to them.”

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up as farmers continue to make their way to the protest sites for the past two to three days.

Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. (ANI)

Get ready to witness another fresh pairing on screen! Bollywood actor Rakul Preet Singh has joined the cast of Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer ‘Doctor G’, marking their first-ever collaboration.

Indian film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh shared the news on his Instagram handle. He wrote, “RAKUL PREET OPPOSITE AYUSHMANN KHURRANA… #RakulPreetSingh and #AyushmannKhurrana will share screen space for the first time in #DoctorG… A campus comedy-drama… Directed by Anubhuti Kashyap… Produced by Junglee Pictures.”

The upcoming film will be based in a campus of a medical institute. While Ayushmann will be playing the role of Dr Uday Gupta, Rakul will be seen as Dr Fatima, a medical student who plays Ayushmann’s senior in the film.

Speaking about ‘Doctor G’, Rakul said in a statement, “I am super excited to be a part of Doctor G. There are many first’s in this film for me starting with my co-star Ayushmann and I am thankful to Junglee Pictures and the director Anubhuti for bringing us together.”

She further said, “I was in love with the script from the time I had heard it. It’s a very interesting concept of medical drama and campus comedy that will bring a new perspective to the audience. I cannot wait to start shooting for the film.”

The director of the film, Anubhuti Kashyap, also spoke about the movie and said, “It is always amazing to see two talented individuals coming together. For Doctor G, we wanted a very interesting cast and I am happy we have Ayushmann and Rakul with us. Their on-screen pairing is fresh just like the characters they play in the film and their energies and chemistry will be unique and refreshing for the audience”.

Anubhuti will make her debut as a feature film director with the upcoming project. She has in the past directed the dark comedy mini-series ‘Afsos’ and the critically-acclaimed short film ‘Moi Marjaani’.

The film is written by Anubhuti, Sumit Saxena, Vishal Wagh, and Saurabh Bharat and is slated to go on floors soon. In December, Ayushmann had announced the film with a photo of himself posing with the script of the movie. This marks Ayushmann’s third collaboration with Jungalee Pictures, after Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017) and Badhaai Ho (2018).

Apart from ‘Doctor G’, Rakul will also be seen in Ajay Devgn’s ‘MayDay’, co-starring Amitabh Bachchan. Rakul will play the role of a pilot in MayDay, which is slated to release on April 29, 2022. Rakul also has another movie titled ‘Thank God’, co-starring Ajay Devgn and Sidharth Malhotra, in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, Ayushmann, who was last seen in Shoojit Sircar’s ‘Gulabo Sitabo’, alongside Amitabh Bachchan, is currently shooting for director Abhishek Kapoor’s ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’ in the titular city. The movie also stars Vaani Kapoor and is expected to release in 2021. (ANI)

India on Monday expressed “deep concern” on the developments in Myanmar and said it believes that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld.

The Myanmar military on Monday staged a coup and detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and several other civilian leaders.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it is monitoring the situation closely.

“We have noted the developments in Myanmar with deep concern. India has always been steadfast in its support to the process of democratic transition in Myanmar. We believe that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld. We are monitoring the situation closely,” the ministry statement read.

The military on Monday declared a state of emergency in the country for one year, following the coup, where Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and other senior officials have been detained by the military.

The state power has been handed over to Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Min Aung Hlaing, while Myanmar’s first Vice-President Myint Swe will serve as the acting president of the country,

Telecommunications in the capital city of Naypyitaw and some other regions and states are also being cut off.

The newly-elected lower house of the parliament was due to convene on Monday however the military called for a postponement.

According to Sputnik, In January, Myanmar’s military raised the prospect of a coup d’etat after what they believed was widespread voter fraud during the November 8 election, which was the country’s second general election since the end of military rule in 2011. (ANI)

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the increasing participation of women in every field in the country during his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat,’ actor Deepika Padukone expressed happiness towards the Prime Minister’s words.

The ‘Chhapaak’ actor shared a tweet by the Prime Minister in which he had posted some snippets from his radio programme that was aired on Sunday.

Sharing the tweet, Deepika penned down a powerful quote about bringing a change in the world, by the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi and dedicated those words to the “incredible women” around the world.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”-Mahatma Gandhi These words couldn’t be truer for these incredible women and for every single woman around the world! #NariShakti #MannKiBaat@PMOIndia,” she wrote as she shared the tweet by the Prime Minister.

PM Modi addressed the 73rd episode of the ‘Mann ki Baat’ programme and the first episode of the year 2021 on Sunday.

Hailing various departments and discussing many important events in the country, the Prime Minister also underlined the increasing participation of the country’s women in different fields.

The Prime Minister accentuated the historic move where Air India’s longest direct route flight with the all-women pilot team on January 11 landed at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru from San Francisco, flying over the North Pole and covering a distance of about 16,000 kilometers.

Two IAF women officers became the first women pilots to participate in the Republic Day parade. India’s one of the first three women fighter pilots, Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kanth, became the first woman fighter pilot to be part of the Indian Air Force contingent at the Republic Day parade.

Flight Lieutenant Swati Rathore became the first woman to be part of the flypast over Rajpath as she flew a Mi-17 V5 helicopter in a formation of four choppers. (ANI)