English rendering of the Prime Minister’s address ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi delivering his statement to media ahead of Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on January 31, 2017. The Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Ananth Kumar, the Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C), Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh, the Minister of State for Minority Affairs (Independent Charge) and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri S.S. Ahluwalia are also seen.

The 2017 Budget Session of Parliament gets underway today. The President’s Address to the Parliament, Budget and detailed discussion on several issues will take place during the Session.

In the recent past, there has been discussions with all the Political Parties individually and collectively. It is imperative to ensure that this Session should be utilised for a constructive debate in the larger interests of the public and yet at the same time, detailed discussions should take place on Budget.

For the first time, the Union Budget will be presented on 1st February. You may recall that earlier the Union Budget was presented at 5.00 pm. Its timing was changed in the morning when Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government came into power and Budget was presented just after the commencement of the Parliament Session.

Yet another new tradition comes into effect from today. Budget is being presented one month ahead and the rail Budget has now become a part of the Union Budget. There will be extensive debate in the Parliament on this issue and it will also reflect the ensuing benefits from the decision in the days to come. I am optimistic that all political parties will join hands to ensure a healthy debate in the Parliament in the larger public interest.

Prez lauds note ban, surgical strikes; favours joint polls

New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) Lauding the demonetisation decision and the surgical strikes across Line of Control (LoC) as "bold" decisions in the interest of the country, President Pranab Mukherjee today favoured a constructive debate on simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assemblies and funding of polls to eradicate money power.

The Government, he said, is committed to combating the "grave challenge" of terrorism and to ensure that perpetrators of such acts are brought to justice.

In his address to the joint session of both the Houses of Parliament, marking the opening of the Budget session, Mukherjee spoke about a host of government schemes and initiatives covering aspects like housing, LPG connections, electrification, healthcare, education, farmers' welfare, welfare of the specially-abled, rural development and urban development.

When he referred to the demonetisation decision to fight blackmoney and corruption as also the surgical strikes across the LoC as "bold" decisions, there was thumping of desks by the members of the ruling alliance.

"My government has taken decisive steps to give a fitting reply to the repeated incursions on our territorial sovereignty," Mukherjee said.

"On 29th September 2016, our defence forces successfully conducted surgical strikes at several launch pads along the Line of Control to prevent infiltration by terrorists," he added.

The strikes were conducted in the wake of terror attack on army camp in Uri in Kashmir in which 17 soldiers were killed.

The mention about the surgical strikes in the President's address assumes significance as some quarters had questioned whether the action had actually taken place. There were also demands for showing proof in this regard.

"We are proud of the exemplary courage and valour displayed by our defence personnel and owe a debt of the gratitude to them," the President said.

He also talked about the issue of holding of joint elections to the Lok Sabha and Assemblies, favouring a debate on it.

"Frequent elections put on hold development programmes, disrupt normal public life and impact essential services and burden human resource with prolonged period of election duty.

"My government welcomes a constructive debate on simultaneous conduct of elections to Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies. Funding of elections to eradicate misuse of money power also needs to be debated," he said.

In the speech, the President said Government would welcome any decision taken by Election Commission in this regard after consultations.

On combatting the "grave challenge" of terrorism which India has been facing for the last four decades, he said the scourge poses a "serious danger to the global community".

India, he said, will "actively collaborate with other nations in decisively defeating these forces".

The President asserted that the government is committed to combatting terrorism and to ensure that the perpetrators of such acts are brought to justice.

GDP to be lower at 6.5% in FY17; rebound next fiscal: Survey

New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) India's economic growth has been pegged at 6.5 per cent for the current fiscal, down from 7.6 per cent recorded in the last financial year, but is expected to rebound in the range of 6.75-7.5 per cent in 2017-18.

The Economic Survey for 2016-17, tabled in the Parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today, underlined the need for more reforms.

The Survey's GDP growth figure for the current fiscal is lower than 7.1 per cent the Central Statistics Office had forecast earlier this month.

The Survey lists some of the challenges that might impede India s progress. These include ambivalence about property rights and the private sector, deficiencies in state capacity, especially in delivering essential services and inefficient redistribution. .

Shri Ram Vilas Paswan approves recommendations of 7th CPC for employees of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)

Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, has given approval for applicability of revised pay scales to employees of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as per recommendations of 7th CPC.

The Union Minister said “Approval given to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for applicability of revised pay scales to its employees on recommendations of 7th CPC. Financial arrangements to provide new pay scales to the employees of BIS will be made from own resources of this organization.”

"Corrupt hands" of Manmohan, Chidambaram helped Mallya: BJP

New Delhi, Jan 30 (PTI) Ahead of the Budget Session, BJP today alleged Congress has been pushed against the wall as "corrupt hands" of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambram ensured bank loans to Vijay Mallya's "sinking" Kingfisher Airlines.

The party quoted from purported letters written by businessman Mallya to Singh in which he sought his intervention following which his now defunct company received loans.

Claiming that Mallya had written letters to Finance Ministry during UPA's tenure seeking an appointment with SBI Chairman, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Was the Finance Ministry office during UPA time working as private secretary to SBI Chairman." 

She said congress leaders are passing on the buck to each other but not answering the questions which are being raised on the alleged helping hand extended by their leaders to Mallya.

Replying to a question on setting up a team to investigate the matter, her Cabinet colleague, Piyush Goyal said,"It is a good suggestion which government should look at.

But today we are not here as government. We are here on behalf of BJP. It is for the government to decide." 

Sitharaman said, "We will see what we can do about it." 

Earlier in the day, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, said,"The corrupt hands which pulled the strings to ensure that Mallya received loans are visible now. It belonged to Chidambaram and Singh." 

He also dragged the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi into the row, saying they should explain at whose behest the defaulting company got loans.

"Did the hands of 10, Janpath also pull the string? Sonia and Rahul Gandhi should come out in public to say at whose behest the loans were sanctioned to Kingfisher Airline," Patra said.

Voda, Idea in talks to create India's largest telco

New Delhi, Jan 30 (PTI) Britain's Vodafone Group today said it is in talks to merge its Indian unit with Idea Cellular in an all-share deal to create the country's largest telecom operator to compete with Reliance Jio that has unleashed a fierce price war.

The merger of Vodafone -- the world's second-largest cellphone network operator -- with the Aditya Birla Group firm -- India's third-largest cellular operator would create a company with around 387 million users and form one of the largest telecoms companies in the world.

In a statement, the UK-based company said it is in talks with Idea about an all-share merger, but the deal under consideration excludes its 42 per cent holding in Indus Towers, a joint venture with Bharti and Idea.

"Any merger would be effected through the issue of new shares in Idea to Vodafone and would result in Vodafone de-consolidating Vodafone India," the company said. "There is no certainty that any transaction will be agreed, nor as to the terms or timing of any transaction."

Since its entry in India in 2007, Vodafone has become number 2 operator in the country, but its journey has been tumultuous as it is locked in a legal battle with the government over a USD 2 billion retrospective tax claim over its acquisition of Vodafone India from Hutchison in 2007.

It had written down value of business by 5 billion pound (USD 3.35 billion) late last year. The British firm has pumped in more than USD 7 billion into the India unit.

Backed by India's richest man, Reliance Jio Infocomm is offering free voice calls and data till March and has notched up 74 million users. It has already invested over USD 25 billion and is investing another Rs 30,000 crore (USD 4.8 billion).

The Aditya Birla group owns 42.2 per cent of Idea while Malaysian carrier Axiata Group Bhd has a 19.8 per cent stake.

Vodafone India Ltd is a wholly-owned unit of Vodafone Group Plc.

Idea rose as much as 29 per cent, the most since the shares began trading in 2007, taking the company's market valuation above USD 5 billion. Vodafone gained as much as 4.1 per cent.

In a separate BSE filing, Idea Cellular said it plans to raise Rs 500 crore through non-convertible debentures on private placement basis.

RBI lifts restrictions on withdrawals from ATMs, current a/cs

Mumbai, Jan 30 (PTI) In a big relief to people and small businesses, RBI on Monday announced lifting of restrictions on daily withdrawal of money from ATMs and from current accounts but the weekly limit of Rs 24,000 on savings bank accounts will continue.

The Reserve Bank also promised to review the weekly limit in the near future depending on the pace of remonetisation.

"On a review of the pace of remonetisation, it has been decided to partially restore status quo ante," RBI said adding, cash withdrawal limit from ATMs stands withdrawn from February 1, 2017.

Banks, however, have been asked to fix their own limits, as has been the case before November 8, 2016, the day government scrapped high denomination currency notes of Rs 500 and 1,000.

RBI has also removed all limits on cash withdrawals from current accounts/ cash credit accounts/ overdraft accounts with immediate effect.

"The limits on Savings Bank accounts will continue for the present and are under consideration for withdrawal in the near future," it said.

It further said that banks have been "urged to encourage their constituents to sustain the movement towards digitisation of payments and switching over of payments from cash mode to non-cash mode." 

Government and RBI had imposed limits on withdrawal of money from ATMs and bank branches in view of currency shortage following demonetisation.

These limits, however, were gradually eased with RBI pumping in new notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2000.

Sindhu, Sameer triumph at Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold

Lucknow, Jan 29 (PTI) Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and National champion Sameer Verma began the new season on a resounding note by winning the women's and men's singles crowns respectively at the USD 120,000 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here today.

In fact, India scooped up three titles out of the five events in the tournament.

Top seed Sindhu, who has been in rampaging form last season, brushed aside Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska in the summit clash, while Sameer, who had reached the finals of Hong Kong Super Series, defeated compatriot B Sai Praneeth 21-19 21-16 in a 44-minute final.

Second seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy, who had won Grand Prix titles at Brazil and Russia, also lay claim to their maiden GPG title in mixed doubles after beating compatriots Ashwini Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy, seventh seeds, 22-20 21-10 in the finals.

In the women's singles final, Sindhu didn't break any sweat as she took just 30 minutes to outplay Mariska for her maiden Syed Modi title. She had lost the finals to former World No. 1 Saina Nehwal in 2014 edition.

The girl from Hyderabad led right from the start and never allowed her younger opponent to pose any threat. She entered the break at 11-5 and 11-6 in the first and second games respectively and never looked back.

In the end, it was a couple of returns going to net from the Indonesian which sealed the issue for Sindhu.

Sameer, on the other hand, fought back from 5-11 down in both the games to outwit fellow Indian Praneeth, who looked slightly in discomfort with his right shoulder and also committed too many unforced errors to hand over the match, despite earning early leads.

In the first game, Sameer erased a deficit of 10-15 to eventually edge out Praneeth, who succumbed to his rivals brilliant smashes and accurate placements.

In the second game, Praneeth once again zoomed to a 6-3 lead after Sameer kept hitting the shuttle out.

The Madhya Pradesh shuttler tried to gather a couple of points at his opponent's forecourt but he committed a few unforced errors and Praneeth also dominated the net play to move into the break at 11-5 advantage.

However, just like in the opening game, Sameer once again scripted a comeback and levelled the scores when his rival hit wide. He then produced a cross court smash to take the lead.

Praneeth seemed off colour after that as his shots went wide and long and also he failed to retrieve some of the returns of Sameer, who sealed the match with a cross court smash.

Putin, Trump discuss anti-terrorism coordination, agree to keep in touch

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump discussed a wide range of global and bilateral issues, including coordination of anti-terrorism efforts, and agreed to keep in touch during their first phone talk on Saturday evening.

"The pressing international problems, including tackling terrorism, the developments in the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the strategic stability and non-proliferation area, the situation around Iran’s nuclear program and the Korean Peninsula were discussed in detail. The key aspects of the Ukrainian crisis have been touched upon as well. It has been agreed to establish partner-type cooperation in those and other areas," the Kremlin press service said in a statement.

The priority was set on joining forces in tackling the key threat, which is the international terrorism, the Kremlin said.

"The presidents spoke in favor of creating real coordination of Russian and American actions with a purpose to defeat the ISIL (the former name of the Islamic State) and other terrorist groups in Syria," the Kremlin statement reads.

The two leaders also agreed that it was important to restore mutually beneficial trade ties.

"Both sides demonstrated their will to take joint steps to stabilize and expand the cooperation between Russia and the United States, on a constructive, equal and mutually beneficial basis," the Kremlin said.

"It was stressed that it is important to restore the mutually advantageous trade and economic ties between business circles of the two countries, which could further enhance a gradual and sustainable development of bilateral relations," Kremlin said.

Putin and Trump also tasked their teams with determining the possible date and location of their personal meeting and agreed to maintain regular contact.

"Donald Trump asked to convey his wishes of happiness and prosperity to the people of Russia, adding that the US people have good feelings toward the Russia and its citizens. Vladimir Putin said, in his turn, that Russians have similar attitude toward the Americans. He reminded that Russia has supported the United States for more than two centuries, was its ally in the two global wars and currently views the United States as an important partner in the fight against the international terrorism," the Kremlin statement reads.

It was the first conversation between Putin and Trump since the latter was sworn in as the president of the United States on January 20.

According to the Kremlin, the conversation was held in a positive and business-like atmosphere. Putin congratulated Trump on taking office and wished him success.

Muslims barred from flights to US, as others detained

Tehran, Jan 28 (AFP) Iranians and Iraqis planning to fly to the United States were prevented from boarding today after US President Donald Trump's order to restrict arrivals from seven Muslim countries.

Trump's move sparked widespread criticism and concern across the world.

Travellers from the Middle East were stopped from boarding US-bound planes and some already in the air when Trump signed the executive order were detained on arrival, the New York Times reported.

In Tehran, two travel agencies told AFP they had been instructed by Etihad Airways, Emirates and Turkish Airlines not to sell US tickets or allow Iranians holding American visas to board US-bound flights.

An Iranian studying in California visiting her home country said today that she could not return because her ticket had been cancelled under the new restrictions.

"I had a ticket for Turkish Airlines on February 4, but it has been cancelled," the girl who did not wish to be identified told AFP.

"I've informed the university officials by mail and they were surprised. They are going to send me a letter so I can try fly from Europe."

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani did not comment directly on the visa ban today, but did criticise Trump, saying that now was "not the time to build walls between nations".

"They have forgotten that the Berlin Wall collapsed many years ago. Even if there are walls between nations, they must be removed," Rouhani said.

More than a million Iranians live in the United States.

Today in Egypt, a country not included in the new restrictions, an Iraqi couple and their two children were told they could not board an EgyptAir flight from Cairo to New York.

Airport officials said the four Iraqis all had American visas.

The New York Times reported that two Iraqi refugees who landed at New York's John F Kennedy airport hours after Trump signed the tough new measures were detained by authorities.

Today, the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups filed a legal challenge to Trump's order after the two Iraqi men were detained.

Lawyers representing the pair also filed a court appeal for their release, saying they were being unlawfully detained.

Reacting to Trump's move, the United Nations urged him to continue his country's "long tradition" of welcoming refugees and to ensure their equal treatment, regardless of race, nationality or religion.

French President Francois Hollande said Europe must have a "firm response" to Trump, and "when he refuses the arrival of refugees, while Europe has done its duty, we have to respond".