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Union Budget: All key demands of Telangana ignored

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The Union Budget 2022-23 came as a big shock for Telangana as all its demands for additional funds and new projects were ignored.

The budget speech of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also had no mention of the commitments made to the state under Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014.

The state had high hopes from the budget and it had demanded allocation of Rs 60,000 crore for various projects. It was for this reason the budget evoked angry reaction from Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who termed it as ‘golmal’ and ‘useless’ budget.

Telangana’s long pending demand for national status to either Kaleshwaram or Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation projects was again ignored by the Centre.

As per the budget estimates, Telangana will get Rs 17,165 crore during 2022-23 as its share in the central taxes. This is Rs 3,175.85 crore higher than the 2021-22 budget estimates and Rs 1,240.14 crore higher than the revised estimates.

However, there was no allocation to the state in addition to the state’s share in central taxes, funds for local bodies as per the recommendation of Finance Commission and allocation for centrally sponsored schemes.

With the Centre imposing a huge cut of Rs 25,000 crore on allocation of MGNREGS across the country, the flow of funds to the state under the rural employment guarantee scheme is likely to be badly hit.

Telangana has 1.19 crore workers registered under the scheme and they are provided work for 100 days in a year with minimum daily wages of Rs 237. With the cut in allocation the state may be forced to cut the number of workers or work days under the scheme. For the current financial year, the state has received Rs 3,053 crore under the central scheme.

The Centre also did not take the recommendation of 15th Finance Commission to allocate Rs 2,362 crore for state-specific grants for four years from 2022-23 into consideration. As per this recommendation, the state was expecting Rs 471 crore every year.

The state has also not received arrears towards the special assistance for development of backward areas under AP Reorganisation Act. For the last three years, the state government had been demanding release of Rs 24,205 crore as per the recommendation of NITI Aayog.

Similarly, the demand to allocate funds for Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya as per the recommendation of NITI Aayog was once again ignored. Ahead of the budget, state finance minister T. Harish Rao had written to union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman seeking Rs 5,205 crore for Mission Kakatiya, Rs 19,000 crore for Mission Bhagiratha as recommended by NITI Aayog.

Under Mission Kakatiya, the government has taken up revival of irrigation tanks and while Mission Bhagiratha is aimed at supplying drinking water to every house by laying pipelines.

Though the Telangana government has been urging the Centre for last seven years to fulfill the commitments made in AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, the same were ignored once again.

Under the Act, the Centre had promised railway coach factory at Kazipet, a tribal university and a steel factory at Bayyaram.

Telangana’s repeated demand for revival of Information Technology and Investment Region (ITIR) was once again ignored. In 2014, the then Congress-led UPA government had sanctioned ITIR for Hyderabad but after BJP-led NDA came to power, the project was shelved.

The state had also demanded setting up of IIM, Navodaya Vidayalayas, six industrial corridors, funds for Kakatiya mega textile park, Hyderabad Pharma City and various other urban infrastructure projects.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government has been demanding that a progressive state like Telangana should be encouraged with allocation of funds and projects. The party leaders said once again the state was given a raw deal.

Ahead of the budget, Telangana ministers wrote a series of letters to Sitharaman seeking funds and projects for the state.

Minister for industries, information technology, municipal administration and urban development, K.T. Rama Rao, finance minister T. Harish Rao and tribal welfare minister Satyavathi Rathod wrote to Sitharaman and other union ministers seeking nearly Rs 60,000 crore to Telangana in the budget.

Rama Rao had sought Rs 7,800 crore for urban development, Rs 954 crore for textiles and handlooms, R. 14,000 crore for Hyderabad Pharma City.

State Planning Commission vice-chairman B. Vinod Kumar wrote to the Railway Minister seeking completion of pending railway projects and announcement of new railway lines for Telangana in the budget.

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India Set To Lead The World In 6G, Says Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia

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In a bold declaration at the inaugural address of the Indian Mobile Congress 2024 (IMC) on Tuesday, Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia has said that India will lead the world in the adoption of 6G.

In his address at the event, Scindia emphasized that India is now prepared to lead the world in the development of 6G technology.

India’s Technological Rise: From Following to Leading

“It is our belief and commitment that India, which followed the world in 4G and marched with it in 5G, will lead the world in 6G,” Scindia stated.

The minister highlighted India’s remarkable achievements in the telecommunications sector over the last ten years, the country has become a global leader in innovation and technology.

“It’s a fundamental change in approach towards technology development,” he said, attributing this transformation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.

Telecom Sector Growth Under PM Modi’s Leadership

“Prime Minister who has always put people at the heart of progress Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishvas aur Sabka Prayas combined with his second motto, One Earth, One Family and One Future. It is combination of these two mottos that leads India under PM Narendra Modi leadership one of the leading sectors in the committee of Nations,” Scindia said.

Scindia underscored government’s initiatives to bridge the digital divide, particularly through the BharatNet program, the world’s largest rural broadband connectivity initiative to connect every panchayat of the nation. Over the past three years, the government has invested more than USD 10 billion and laid 7 lakh kilometres of fiber across rural India.

Digital Payments and UPI: Pillars of India’s Digital Economy

He cited staggering growth in mobile and broadband connectivity, with mobile connections rising from 94 million to 1.16 billion, and broadband users growing from 60 million to 924 million in just a decade. India’s optical fibre cable (OFC) networks has expanded from 11 million kilometers to 41 million kilometres over the last ten years, he added.

The minister further said that this growth is accompanied by the success of India’s digital payment systems, the 4G stack, and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which serve as pillars of India’s digital economy are expected to contribute significantly to the global digital infrastructure.

Scindia further noted that the government’s efforts to ensure that policy frameworks keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital landscape. “The recent changes to the Telecommunications act 2023 is a case in point. It has been drawing light upon hither to undressed areas such as a high potential sector of satellite communications, addressing the challenges of the digital leader. The most important being cyber security. The telecom sector much like other growth critical sectors in India is aggressive, is ambitioushe said.

“The telecom sector much like other growth critical sectors in India is aggressive, is ambitious and its outlook in our Journey from Amritkal to Shatabdikal is to lead the world,” Scindia said. By mid-next year, India will have achieved 100 per cent saturation of 4G across the entire country, covering even the most remote villages, the minister said.

He emphasised PM Modi’s vision of India as a first mover in 6G technology, underscoring the nation’s resolve to lead the world in future telecom innovations.

“The attitude put forward by the prime minister of not just embracing, but raising ourselves to becoming the first mover in the 6G technology,” he added.

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Indian Markets Gave Better Returns Than China In Last 5 Years, Says Sebi Member

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Sebi Whole-time Member Ananth Narayan G on Monday reminded investors that Indian equities have consistently delivered 15 per cent returns over the last 5 years whereas the same has been zero or even negative in China.

Terming the Indian markets “sone pe suhaga” for delivering higher returns for lower risks, Narayan also flagged a few areas of caution for investors and asked them to be conscious of the risks.

“There’s a lot of talk about China markets over the last few days. But over the last five years, while Indian markets have given around 15 per cent compound annual growth rate consistently, Chinese markets are nowhere close to that. It’s almost zero. In fact, in some cases, like in Hong Kong, it’s actually negative,” Narayan said.

Speaking at an event marking the start of the Investor Awareness Week at NSE, Narayan said FY24 was a “remarkable” year for India, with the benchmark indices returning 28 per cent and the volatility just 10 per cent.

“That’s like ‘sone pe suhaga’. It’s like the best of all worlds: low risk and very high return,” Narayan said, underlining that there are side effects of this as well.

Making it clear that it will not be the same going forward and investors should not assume it to be a one-way street, Narayan said such handsome returns can lead to complacency and pointed to a lot of youngsters opening up demat accounts to join the bandwagon.

Educating people about risks is very important, Narayan said, giving the analogy of driving a car. “There has to be a light push on the accelerator to get more investors to provide risk capital for the economic growth, we also need to be aware of risks and use the brakes if need be.” He said that 40 per cent of the small and midcap scrips have shot up by 5 times in the last five years, because of an imbalance between inflow of investor money and supply of new paper.

On its part, the capital markets regulator is trying hard to ensure that fund-raising clearances are done early so that there is a steady stream of quality paper supply in the market.

From a broader, longer-term perspective, Indian markets will only go north from here given the economic growth prospects in the country, Narayan said, issuing specific advice to investors.

Investors need to have the right intermediaries to capitalise on this opportunity presented by India, and not fall for the unregistered and fly-by-night ‘finfluencers’ who might be driven by vested interests, he said.

Using the oft-repeated idiom of “all roads lead to Rome”, Narayan remarked that Rome is not a traveller-friendly place and one may get scammed there as well. Therefore, it is important to seek advice from the right people for the investors, he said.

He also said that it is in investors’ interests to trade less and stay invested for longer for higher returns, and added that studies prove the same.

Sebi, which has flagged certain areas like derivatives recently, is not against speculation or participants taking short-term trades, but it would want investors to understand the risks, Narayan said.

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Ratan Tata Rubbishes Rumors Of ‘Critical Health’; Says No Cause For Concern

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Ratan Tata Rubbishes Rumors Of 'Critical Health'; Says No Cause For Concern

Tata Group’s Ratan Tata has denied rumours of his critical health that have been reported and have surfaced in the recent hours.

Ratan Tata’s associates took to his official Instagram account to debunk the news of him being ‘Critical’.

In the post, Ratan Tata said, “I am aware of recent rumors circulating regarding my health and want to assure everyone that these claims are unfounded. I am currently undergoing medical check-ups due to my age and related medical conditions.

There is no cause for concern. I remain in good spirits and request that the public and media respect refrain from spreading misinformation.

For more than fifty years, Ratan Tata has led the Indian business community’s entrance hall. The 86-year-old has been suffering from illnesses associated with ageing. Tata has participated in social life to the best of his limited ability despite his health issues.

Recently, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, on October 2, Ratan Tata, expressed his congratulations to the Prime Minister on this occasion. “I congratulate the honourable Prime Minister on the 10-year commemoration of programmes that have benefitted millions in rural India.”

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