Attempt to balance Rural and Urban Development

Attempt to balance Rural and Urban Development

Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa who presented the State Budget 2010-11 on Friday 5th March 2010, attempted to balance the Rural and Urban Growth by providing Rs. 500 Crore to 'Jalasiri Andolana' to built 2 Lakh Water Recharging Units for stabilising agriculture while proposing Rs 600 crore urban infrastructure development programmes.

To improve power supply in rural areas for irrigation pump sets in 126 Taluks, he proposed Rs. 1200 Crore investment grant to Power Supply Companies in 70 Taluks for Nirantara Jyoti Project in the year 2010-11. He said the Project will be materialised in two years.

He proposed to establish 'Antarganga Sookshma Neeravari Nigam' with Rs. 100 Crore investment, Karnataka Mavu Mandali with Rs. 10 Crore, Food Processing Development Corporation with Rs. 10 Crore. He said Agriculture Sciences University will be setup at Shimoga with Rs. 10 Crore, Horticulture Collages will be setup at Mysore, Hiriyur, Shirsi, and Koppal with the assistance of Rs. 5 Crore grant each. He also proposed University of Animal Husbandry at Athani with the grant of Rs. 15 Crores. He said an Institution for Sugar also will be setup at Mandya.

While increasing taxes on tobacco as also slapping a toll of Rs 500 on heavy goods vehicles entering the state to raise revenues, Yeddyurappa, who also holds the finance portfolio, announced reducing VAT on some commodities, including, masala powder vermecilli and schools bags, from 12.5 per cent to five per cent, the state would end the 2010-11 fiscal with a revenue surplus of Rs 51.42 crore.

The Rs 600 crore allocated to the urban development programme "Mukyamanthri Nagarothana Yojane" will be spent on developing seven city corporations, 44 municipal councils, 94 town municipal councils and 68 town panchayats.

On tobacco products value added tax was raised by 2.5 per cent while an upward revision ranging from 1 to 2 per cent was announced on the motor vehicles tax.

The life time tax on two wheelers with selling price of up to Rs 50,000 was raised from eight per cent to ten per cent and vehicles with selling price from Rs 50,000 to Rs one lakh from 10 per cent to 12 per cent.

Additional resources of Rs 249 crore is expected from the changes made in the motor vehicles taxes, he said.

The budget also proposed a toll of Rs 500 on every trip made by vehicles of more than 16 tonne weight in transporting materials, including mineral ores.

Yeddyurappa sought a vote on account for four months till July 31 PTI adds.

As per the Revised Estimates (RE) for 2009-10, Yeddyurappa said, the total revenue receipts are expected to be Rs 55,381 crore against Rs 61,070 crore in the budget estimates.

The RE of total government expenditure was expected to be Rs 60,051 crore against Rs 62,414 crore estimated in the budget.

The final deficit after taking net of public account is likely to be Rs 44.80 crore, while it was estimated to be Rs 43.08 crore in 2009-10 budget.

On the 2010-11 budget estimates, he said total receipts are estimated to be Rs 68,564 crore, consisting of Rs 53,639 crore of revenue receipts and Rs 2,903 crore non-debt capital receipts.

The total expenditure in 2010-11 is estimated to be Rs 70,063 crore consisting of Rs 53,138 crore of revenue expenditure and Rs 16,925 crore of capital expenditure.

The government expects to collect Rs 36,228 crore of tax revenue and Rs 2,820 crore of non-tax revenue. The total central transfers, including taxes and grants, would be Rs 14,591 crore, he said.

The revenue surplus is estimated to be Rs 500.49 crore, while the fiscal deficit is estimated to be Rs 9,708.46 crore, which is 0.15 per cent and 2.96 per cent of the GSDP respectively.

This is in accordance with the stipulations made in the Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act 2002 for the current year, he said.

Imput Courtesy: Various sources including PTI. To view the Budget details in Kannada click the image above.

-Nethrakere Udaya Shankara

Proud moment to India: Chandrayaan founds water on Moon..!

Proud moment to India:

Chandrayaan founds

Water on Moon..!

BANGALORE/MUMBAI: This is the moment we should be proud. Yes, It is a giant leap for India's space programme and the biggest scientific discovery of the 21st Century.

India's maiden Moon Mission, Chandrayaan-1 has found water, a discovery that scientists say will upend thinking about space and boost research. And, of course, it has helped shake off the failure tag from the Rs 386-crore Chandrayaan-I project that was aborted last month.

India's own Moon Impact Probe (MIP) on board the country's maiden lunar craft had discovered water on the moon, a finding confirmed by US space agency NASA's probe that was also aboard Chandrayaan-1, India's top space scientist G Madhavan Nair said here on Friday. ( Watch Video by Times Now)

India's first lunar mission had made a "path-breaking and real discovery" by establishing the presence of water on the moon, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Nair said.

While expressing pride in the achievement, Nair added: "But the water is not in the form of sea or lake or puddle or drops. It is embedded on the surface in minerals and rocks."

Apart from India's MIP, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) of NASA on board Chandrayaan-1 confirmed the presence of water. The lunar mission had to be aborted Aug 30 after it lost radio contact with Earth.

According to Nair, the "quantity found is much larger than expected".

On whether water can be extracted, Nair said: "Yes, we can. But one tonne of soil may yield half a litre."

Nair said MIP picked up signals about the presence of water as it journeyed down to land on the moon surface.

"One of the main objectives of Chandrayaan-1 was to look for the presence of water. Our MIP confirmed it."

Click the links to image to view the pictures.

(Imputs from ISRO and various other sources)

-Nethrakere Udaya Shankara