Poverty: Montek Singh Ahluwalia blames it on numbers, again
The Planning Commission on Tuesday once again defended its calculation of the number of poor in the country. The Planning body said that the numbers were based on the consumer expenditure survey.
At the same time, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, accepted that the benefits of the social sector schemes have not reached the people at the bottom of the pyramid.
“The data suggests that the bottom 15% people have not benefited much and the disparity among the rich and the poor has increased,” said Ahluwalia.
The opposition parties rebuked the Planning Commission in the Parliament for claiming that the poverty in the country had reduced by more than 7%, by bringing down the level of poverty criteria.
The plan panel data states poverty in rural areas declined at a faster pace than in urban areas between 2004-05 and 2009-10. Ahluwalia also emphasised the fact that the new poverty number will not be used to decide the number of beneficiaries under the proposed Food Security Bill.
“The Tendulkar poverty line has been criticised on the grounds that it is too low, and therefore underestimates the scale of the population that needs special assistance. Any poverty line is essentially arbitrary and the planning commission has only accepted the line recommended by the Tendulkar Committee. We have also indicated that the line will be revised from time-to-time based on the recommendations of experts,” added Ahluwalia.
Kingfisher halts overseas operations but keeps licence
Kingfisher, the cash-strapped Indian airline, will suspend all international operations and cut down on local routes, as it seeks funding.
It comes as the country's aviation regulator said it would not cancel the airline's licence, but that it was monitoring the situation.
Kingfisher, owned by billionaire Vijay Mallya, operates flights to Europe, and countries in Asia. The airline cancelled dozens of flights recently, as it faces a cash crunch.
Flight disruptions
Kingfisher has been struggling to maintain its day-to-day operations after banks refused to lend more to the debt-laden carrier. It owes money to airports, tax authorities, lenders and its own staff.
On Tuesday, Kingfisher said it would cut back local flights to 110-125 a day with a fleet of 20 planes. The carriers had 340 flights a day in October. It also said it would end all international flights to eight overseas destination by April 10. It comes after the airline was suspended from an international billing facility which hurt its international bookings.
License threat
Mr Mallya was asked to give regulators and the government a plan for recovery or risk losing Kingfisher's flying licence.
"We have not submitted an ambitious plan. We have submitted a holding plan," Mr Mallya told reporters after his meeting with Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief Bharat Bhushan. However, the government did not sound convinced of the airline's financial viability.
"The problem is in the last two to three months, he's given so many plans and he's not adhered to any of them," Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told reporters in New Delhi. Kingfisher shares plunged 5.5% on Tuesday to their lowest level since they began trading.
Small savings set to fetch higher returns
There is finally some good news for individuals in a season of duty hikes and provident fund rate cut. The government is raising interest rate on small savings schemes such as National Savings Certificate (NSC) and post office deposits by 20-50 basis points.
The new rates will, however, be applicable on investments that you make from April 1 and not on those that you park over the next 10 days to meet your tax saving requirements.
As a result, NSC and public provident fund (PPF), which is a voluntary deposit as opposed to employee provident fund, will earn you 8.8-8.9% instead of 8.6% a year. The shorter tenure deposits, such as term deposits in post offices, are expected to fetch you more than the longer tenure products such as PPF or the 10-year NSC. Savings bank accounts in post offices will, however, not see any change as the 4% return is in line with what most banks pay at present.
Excise duty on jewellery not to impact small artisans: CBEC
Amidst gold and jewellery traders protesting the proposed one per cent excise duty on precious metal jewellery, the government on Tuesday said the move would not impact small artisans.
In order to streamline the excise duty, the scope of the levy has been altered to include both branded and unbranded jewellery within its scope, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said in a statement.
"However, several provisions have been incorporated to make the levy simple in its operation and keep small artisans and goldsmiths outside its purview," it said. Those artisans or goldsmiths who only manufacture jewellery for others on job-work need not obtain registration.
"Even if artisans and goldsmiths manufacture and sell jewellery themselves, the benefit of small-scale exemption is available," the CBEC said.
It said that most jewelers get jewellery manufactured on job-work from small artisans and goldsmiths, the responsibility of registering with Central Excise authorities and paying the duty has been assigned to the "principal" manufacturer who gets the goods manufactured.
"It has also been provided that for the purpose of this exemption, the aggregate value of clearances would be computed on the basis of tariff value i.e. 30 per cent of the transaction value," it added.
The All-India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) had claimed that the small jewelers are irked with the levy of excise as they do not understand the legalities of it. In March 2011, Government had levied an excise duty of one per cent on branded precious metal jewellery. But there have been disputes about the interpretation of the term "branded" jewellery.
The protest by gold and jewellery traders have entered the fourth day even as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee justified the hike in customs duty on gold saying its imports cause strain on balance of payment and impacts rupee's exchange rate.
The CBEC further said "at the current prices of gold of approximately Rs 27,000 per 10 grams, the duty payable works out to a nominal amount of about Rs 84 per 10 grams," it added.
Bangladesh stuns Sri Lanka; enter final
It will be Bangladesh versus Pakistan final in the Asia Cup 2012 as the hosts registered their second big win in a row upstaging Sri Lanka by five wickets in front of a jam packed vociferous crowd and a proud Bangladesh Prime Minisher, Sheikh Haseena at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium, Mirpur on Tuesday.
Messi sinks Granada in record show
Lionel Messi hit a hat trick to become Barcelona's all-time leading scorer and keep the defending Spanish champions in the title chase with a 5-3 win over Granada on Tuesday.
Barcelona's sixth consecutive league victory reduced leader Real Madrid's advantage to five points, turning up the pressure on their archrivals to avoid a costly slip at Villarreal on Wednesday that would tighten the title hunt further.
A three-time FIFA player of the year, Messi has 17 goals during a seven-game scoring streak and leads La Liga with 34 goals, two ahead of Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo.
The hat trick was Messi's 18th for Barcelona and gave him 154 goals in his last 153 games over three seasons. His six hat tricks in La Liga this season tie the record set by Ronaldo last year.
Julio Cesar saved Messi's hard strike shortly after, but could do nothing but look on as Messi made club history in the 17th.
Granada did what they could to hold back Barcelona's attacking waves, and Messi uncharacteristically misfired a low cross from Cuenca with only the keeper to beat at point-blank range at the start of the second half.
