MUMBAI, Apr 29 (UNI): Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray has said ''bhangra'' during cricket matches would be more exciting.
Thackeray's views have come in the wake of the controversy surrounding cheer-leaders.
In an informal talk with reporters here yesterday, Mr Thackeray, said Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who also heads the BCCI, should take an equal interest in farmers' issues as he does in cricket.
To a question, Mr Thackeray said his party has always been opposed to Pakistani players playing here in the country.
On the infighting within BJP, the Shiv Sena's ally, Mr Thackeray said,''The party is recovering and I have personally spoken to both Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari.'' ''Munde had met Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray before and after going to Delhi and followed his guidance,'' Uddhav Thackeray said on Munde's recent unhappy reaction against his party, the BJP.
RS passes resolution extending President's rule in Karnataka New Delhi, Apr 29 (UNI): The Rajya Sabha today approved by a voice vote the extension of President's rule in Karnataka, which is going to polls in three phases in May, for six months.
Laying the Statutary Motion before the House, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said that President's rule imposed in the state in November 2007 would come to an end on May 19, 2008 while the election process for the state assembly would be completed only by May 28 so it was required that the President's rule be extended.
Though President's rule could be extended for at least six months under article 356 of the Constitution, it could be revoked any time, he pointed out.
The Election Commission has announced assembly polls in the state in three phases- on May 10 for 89 assembly constituencies, on May 16 for 66 seats and on May 22 for 69 constituencies.
Counting for all the seats would be held on May 25 and the election process completed by May 28, he informed.
The entire house passed the statutary resolution with a voice vote.
Earlier, while laying of the Special Mention Jaya Bachchan of the Samajwadi Party tried to tell a ''fun story'' to the House but was denied permission by Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan.
Peeved at not being allowed to give details of her mention on 'concern over the denial of treatment to patients, particularly pregnant women, by hospitals in Delhi' Ms Bachchan tried to tell the story of a doctor telling a person bitten by dog about his duty being over.
However, the Chair ruled that nothing would go on record and she must lay the written text of her special mention in the house.
B B Tiwari of the Samajwadi Party during Zero hour pointed out the plight of farmers of Uttar Pradesh due to the apathy of the state government and the stepmotherly treatment from the Centre.
He said that the FCI instead of procuring wheat from farmers directly, was taking it from traders and middlemen.
These traders and middlemen were exploiting farmers who were losing Rs 100 per quintal of wheat, he claimed and asked the Centre to prevent this ''loot of farmers''.
Muslim children enrolment at elementary level highest in W Bengal New Delhi, Apr 29 (UNI) West Bengal has the highest number of Muslim children enrolled in elementary education as compared to other states.
The data collected by the District Information System for Education (DISE) shows a national coverage of 9.39 per cent at primary and 7.62 per cent at upper primary level for the year 2006.
In West Bengal, it is 27.9 per cent at the primary level and 19.63 at the upper primary level, while in Kerala, it is 10.13 per cent and 9.59 per cent for the two levels respectively, Minister of State for Human Resource Development D Purandeswari told the Lok Sabha in a written reply today.
In Andhra Pradesh, the enrolment of Muslim children at primary level was 10.00 per cent and at upper primary 9.11 per cent.
Uttar Pradesh has 9.24 per cent of Muslim children enrolled at the primary level and 7.18 per cent at the upper primary level.
Dr Purandeswari said to encourage enrolment of children from the community; the Centre had launched a scheme of pre/post matric scholarship for students of class 1 to 10th.
Duty cut on steel, milk, butter: FM NEW DELHI, Apr 29 (UNI): Announcing a series of further measures to check inflation, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today cut customs duty on iron and steel, milk powder, butter oil and newsprint and raised export duty on basmati rice.
At the same time, Mr Chidambaram announced a hike in the export duty on iron and steel to augment domestic supply and contain prices.
An export duty of 15 per cent has been imposed on specific primary forms and semi-finished products, 10 per cent on rolled products and cold-rolled pipes and tubes and 5 per cent on galvanised steel.
In his hour-long reply in the Lok Sabha to the debate on the Finance Bill, the Minister assured the House that the country was headed for a record production and procurement of rice and wheat and as such there was no cause for any concern over possible food shortages in India which was haunting several countries.
After the reply, the House passed the Finance Bill with official amendments amid a walkout by the Left parties.
Disclosing that steel accounted for as much as 21.3 per cent of the rise in inflation, which stood at 7.33 per cent, the Minister cut the basic customs duty on sponge iron, ingots, semi-finished HR and CR coils, bars and rods from five per cent to nil.
Countervailing duty, which is 14 per cent now, has been removed on TMT bars and structural bars.
The five per cent basic customs duty has been removed for three critical components of steel making - metallurgical coke, ferro alloys and zinc.
Basic customs duty on skimmed milk powder has been reduced from 15 per cent to five per cent and on butter oil from 40 per cent to 30 per cent.
Export duty on basmati rice will be charged at Rs 8,000 a tonne and the minimum export price will be 1,000 dollars a tonne.
India has sufficient food grains to feed its people: FM NEW DELHI, Apr 29 (UNI): Dismissing as 'unrealistic' the perception of impending food shortage in India, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today announced in the Lok Sabha that the country has sufficient foodgrains to feed its people, with wheat and rice procurement touching a new high this year.
Replying to the debate on the Finance Bill, the Finance Minister said till yesterday the total procurement of wheat had been recorded at 13.4 million tonnes(mt) as against the 7.6 mt during this period last year.
On the commendable achievement in wheat procurement, the Minister appreciated the role and cooperation extended by the Punjab and Haryana governments to the Food Corporation of India(FCI), the nodal agency that procures foodgrains for the country's food kitty.
Similarly, the procurement of rice, as of now, touched 22.9 mt when it was only 20.9 mt during the corresponding period last year.
The total procurement of rice this year was expected to be to the tune of 27 mt.
For higher procurement of rice, the FM hailed the efforts undertaken by by Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
Referring to the production of wheat and rice during 2007-08, he said they were expected to be at an all time high of 76.7 mt and 95.6 mt respectively.
And the overall foodgrains production was at 227 mt according to the third advance assessment.
With the record production of foodgrains, the country could augument supplies and foodgrains through the Public Distribution System (PDS) and help eradicating malnutrition and hunger being suffered by the people living below the poverty line.
Chidambaram appealed to the State governments to ensure efficient and regular supply of PDS items at fair price shops.
Totally ruling out the possibility of any food crisis, Chidambaram said the production of rice and wheat would be more than the consumption needs of the country.
Rice production was 95.68 million tonnes in 2007-08 and of wheat was 76.78 million tonnes.
Both were alltime records.
The food situation was improving every day, there was no reason to assume that the country was in for any food crisis.
Domestic procurement of wheat as on April 28 (yesterday) was 134 lakh tonnes against 76.32 lakh tonnes achieved last year.
The target of 150 lakh tonnes for the current year would be far exceeded, thanks to Punjab and Haryana, he said.
Rice procurement had touched 229 lakh tonnes and the year was expected to finish at 270 lakh tonnes dut to the efforts of farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
Edible oil would be supplied through the PDS at a subsidy of Rs 15 a litre, he said.
On the direct taxes front, Chidambaram said there would not be any increase in the tax rates, but the exemption clauses would be removed progressively.
A new income tax code would become law after deliberations in Parliament.
Only genuine charitable organisations would be allowed exemption under clause (3) and any trade, commerce or business wearing such masks would not be allowed to escape the tax net.
Charitable organisations running educational and medical institutions and other genuine activities mentioned under the clause would be eligible for exemption.
Agricultural produce marketing committees (APMCs) and State Agricultural Boards (SAGBs) would be allowed tax exemptions and this would be mentioned specifically in the clause to avoid any dispute.
The Coir Board would allowed tax exemption with retrospective effect from April 1, 2002.
There would be no tax exemption for refineries of mineral oils as the refining margins were high, the Minister said.
The oil refineries at Paradip, Bina and Bathinda which are coming up under the PSUs would be allowed the exemption if they begin operations by March 31, 2012.
Tax exemption would continue on anonymous donations to religious institutions, but in the case of schools and hospitals, a record would have to be maintained, identifying such donors.
Non-merit subsidies should go: FM NEW DELHI, Apr 29 (UNI): Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the government would have to keep reviewing the subsidies as such concessions, both through the Budget and off it, were rising steadily.
While the subsidies on food, fertilizer and power for irrigation were necessary, the government had to subsidise fuel as the international prices had spiralled, Chidambaram said in his reply to the Lok Sabha debate on the Finance Bill.
At this rate, subsidies ''may become unsustainable'' as the government had already issued bonds, unable to bear such provisions in the Budget.
But these bonds would have to be redeemed on maturity and this would put a strain on the Budget at that time, he explained.
In view of this, there was need for constantly reviewing the subsidies.
Some non-merit subsidies might turn merit subsidies and vice versa at various points of time, he reasoned.
The revenue deficit had been brought down to 1.4 per cent and the fiscal deficit to 3.1 per cent in 2007-08 without taking into account the off-Budget subsidies.
However, these would have been higher at two per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively if such subsidies were also taken into account, he said.
Still these deficits were considerably lower than the figures for 2003-04 when these were placed at 3.6 per cent and 4.5 per cent (without taking into account off-Budget subsidies) and 3.7 per cent and 4.5 per cent after accounting for such concessions.
