Maritime India Summit: To invest Rs 1 lakh crore to double port capacity, says PM

The Centre has firmed up a comprehensive plan to increase India's port capacity to 3,000 million tonnes (MT) by 2025 from the present level of 1,400 million tonnes. To meet this target, the government has envisaged an investment of Rs 1 trillion to meet this target, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in his inaugural speech at the maiden Maritime India Summit 2016 on Thursday.

The proposed plan includes development of five new ports in addition to the existing 12 major ports and the ongoing development at three new ports, the Prime Minister said. A slew of initiatives, including the Sagarmala project — which will allow leveraging of the 7,500-km long coastline — will help revive and restore India's position in the global maritime sector, he added.

Speaking about the initial efforts taken by the Centre, Modi said that major ports had added 165 million tonnes capacity with record addition each year in last two years. The traffic in major ports showed 4% growth in the same period despite global slowdown. Operating margins, which were on a decline, also saw an improvement. In the year ended March 2016, operating profit of 12 major ports increased by nearly Rs 6.7 billion, he said.

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Furthermore, he said that the Jawaharlal Nehru Port alone had posted a net profit of Rs 10 billion, helped by 12% increase in efficiency. This is just a beginning as the government wants to do more, he added. “We are enhancing our own capacities of execution and implementation of ports,” Modi noted.

Modi said the Centre is engaging with the immediate and regional neighbours to promote shippingand maritime security.

Assuring assistance on all fronts, the Prime Minister invited investors to come to India with an open mind, “This is the right time to come to India and even better time to come via sea route. Do not miss it.”Read More.

Aadhaar cleared through Money Bill route: Why Modi cannot use this option every time

Will the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government now use the Money Bills route to get Parliament — more to the point the Rajya Sabha where it does not have a majority — to clear legislation?
The fact is, getting all Bills to be classified as Money Bills to circumvent the Rajya Sabha could be a stretch.
The law on this is crystal clear.
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Under Article 110(1) of the Constitution, a Bill is deemed to be a Money Bill if it contains only provisions dealing with all or any of the following matters, namely:
(a) the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax;
(b) the regulation of the borrowing of money or the giving of any guarantee by the Government of India, or the amendment of the law with respect to any financial obligations undertaken or to be undertaken by the Government of India;
(c) the custody of the Consolidated Fund or the Contingency Fund of India, the payment of moneys into or the withdrawal of moneys from any such fund;
(d) the appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of India;
(e) the declaring of any expenditure to be expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India or the increasing of the amount of any such expenditure;
(f) the receipt of money on account of the Consolidated Fund of India or the public account of India or the custody or issue of such money or the audit of the accounts of the Union or of a State; or
(g) any matter incidental to any of the matters specified in sub-clauses (a) to (f).
A Bill is not deemed to be Money Bill by reason only that it provides for the imposition of fines or other pecuniary penalties, or for the demand or payment of fees for licences or fees for services rendered, or by reason that it provides for the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax by any local authority or body for local purposes.

46 days in India and counting...

Frequent foreign visits and increased engagement with the Indian Diaspora have defined Prime Minister Narendra Modi foreign policy initiatives in the first 20 months of his tenure. But Modi is unlikely to be as keen on travelling overseas in 2016.

The PM, given his busy domestic schedule, is yet to travel outside India in 2016. His last foreign visit was to Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan (December 23-25, 2015). The PM, therefore, has spent an uninterrupted 46 days in India. This is the second longest unbroken stay of Modi in India since he took over as the PM on May 26, 2014.

**Modi's flights abroad bill: Rs 77 crore**

The frequent and frequently discussed foreign trips of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have chalked up a bill of Rs 77 crore for chartered flights in the first six months of his tenure, according to data from his office.

Modi took charge as prime minister on May 26, 2014. According to data from the Prime Minister's Office, this is the amount spent on five international trips between June 15 and November 20 (see chart). He also went twice to Nepal, but flew in Indian Air Force aircraft.

The expenditure for these trips has not been revealed. Till December 2015, Modi has flown abroad 19 times, but the bills have been processed only for 2014 till now. Click here for more details.

PM Modi upset over complaints regarding customs, excise sector

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took strong exception to people's complaints and grievances related to thecustoms and excise sector and directed strict action against the officials responsible.

He also asked all Secretaries, whose departments have extensive public dealing, to set up a system for top-level monitoring of grievances immediately, a PMO statement said.

His directions came while chairing the 9th meeting ofPRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation), an IT-based multi-modal platform under which he interacts with top officials of various central departments and state governments via video conferencing.

Budget 2016: Easwar panel wants higher threshold & lower rates for TDS on bank deposits

Ahead of the Union Budget 2016, a committee asked to make recommendations on simplifying the current income tax (I-T) law has recommended a higher threshold for deduction of tax at source and cuts in rates, plus measures to reduce litigation.

The Union Budget 2016-17 is to be tabled on February 29.   

The 10-member panel is chaired by R V Easwar, a former high court judge. Appointed in late October 2015, its first report, 78 pages, was given on Monday. This is a draft report, issued to elicit feedback before finalisation. It focuses on simpler issues that it feels need immediate attention. Comments have been invited till the coming Saturday, after which the committee will finalise the first part of the report by January 31.

'Start-up India' the ultimate break with License Raj: Arun Jaitley

India will unveil entrepreneurial friendly taxation policies in the forthcoming budget that would help startups build new businesses for both the local market as well as global markets. This would also be the ultimate break from the license Raj, which held in shackles Indian entrepreneurs and businesses to grow, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at the inaugural of the Start-up India event.
"We have already worked upon entrepreneurial friendly taxation. Some of this can be done through notification, some steps have been taken and other requires legislative consent that would be included when the finance bill is presented," said Jaitley.
"StartupIndia is the ultimate break that you have from the conventional license raj of India," the FM added.

PM to address youth on Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday extended wishes to 'venerable' Swami Vivekananda on his birth anniversary.

"I salute the venerable SwamiVivekananda on his birth anniversary," said Prime Minister Modi on Twitter.

He also said that he will address the National Youth Festival in Chhattisgarh via video conference today.

Earlier, Prime Minister Modi at the 21st International Conference on Frontiers in Yoga Research and its Applications, had recalled Swami Vivekananda and praised him for sharing India's ancient wisdom with the world.

Our children must breathe cleaner city air: Modi

Admitting that India’s bureaucracy has crippled science and technology research, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the government would take necessary steps to rectify this.

“We will make it easier to do science and research in India, improve science administration, and expand the supply and improve the quality of science education and research in India,” said Modi, inaugurating the 103rd Indian Science Congress being held at the University of Mysore in its centenary year. Modi also highlighted the country’s focus to promote indigenous scientific research has to be razor-sharp given the lack of resources coupled with the immense scale of the country.

Solving problems through science by prioritising policy was the key takeaway from his speech, during which Modi also coined a new mantra of five Es - economy, environment, energy, empathy and equity - possibly to celebrate the 100th year of Albert Einstein’s publishing of the theory of relativity. 

PM delivers a moving speech, but Dalit entreprenurs want action on the ground

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a stirring speech at a meeting of the Dalit Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) on Tuesday, but several Dalit entrepreneurs who were present said they would like to see more action on the ground by government to foster the Dalit entrepreneurial spirit.

DICCI was formed as a parallel body to industry and trade pressure groups such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) because Dalit entrepreneurs saw these groups as old boys’ clubs where everyone knew everyone and helped each other, but were unable to appreciate the special handicaps that weighed down the socially disempowered. 

The idea of a venture capital (VC) fund only for Dalits was floated by DICCI and was seized upon enthusiastically by the then deputy chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who took a personal interest in the architecture of the fund. It was announced amid great fanfare by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in 2012 as a way to financing the expansion and modernisation of Dalit-run businesses and funding prospective Dalit entrepreneurs. 

Arvind Kejriwal tweets 'office raided by CBI', calls Modi a 'coward' and 'psychopath'

A massive political row erupted between the Delhi government and the Centre after CBI raided CM Arvind Kejriwal’s office at Delhi Secretariat this morning with Kejriwal lashing out at the Prime Minister labeling him a “coward and a pychopath.”

While the CBI maintained that the raid was in connection with a corruption case against his Principal Secretary Rajender Kumar, the AAP government questioned why the Chief Minister’s office on the third floor was sealed and office files searched.
ALSO READ: Why Rajender Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal principal secretary is under the CBI lens
Refusing to accept the government explanation, AAP has mobilized its workers to get ready to hit the streets in protest against the BJP’s attck on a democratically elected government.      
ALSO READ: CBI raid not against Kejriwal: Arun Jaitley                                      Charging the Centre with “political vendetta”, the issue echoed in the Parliament as well with Opposition Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien raising it in the Rajya Sabha. Leader of House Arun Jaitley clarified that the CM has not been raided and it was in connection with a corruption case against an officer in the Chief minister’s staff. He added, that the CBI had raided 14 other places as well.  

A livid Kejriwal took to Twitter to lash out against PM Modi and the Central government.

While whole morning AAP fielded its spokespersons to lash out against the BJP led Centre claiming that it could not come to terms with their humiliating defeat in Delhi and was hence targetting the AAP through the CBI, BJP too hit back with Prakash Javadekar alleging that the CM was “supporting corruption” and described his comments on the PM as “atrocious.” 
This fresh round of confrontation between the Delhi Government and the Centre has also provided fresh ammunition to the Congress led Opposition which had been gunning against the government on charges of “political vendetta." 

This is the second instance of a CBI raid on a chief ministers office in the NDA regime. Recently Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadhra Singh’s office and residence were raided.