Call Rates may Fall

The telecom regulator made radical changes to the industry’s tariff structure, slashing by 30% the amount that mobile operators pay to each other for calls made from one network to another and scrapping similar charges for wireline operators — moves that may lower call rates.
A mobile phone operator now needs to pay 14 paise a minute for each call terminating on a rival’s network, compared with 20 paise earlier, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in an order on Monday. Calls made from landlines to a landline or a mobile phone won’t include any such interconnection usage charge (IUC), which was 20 paise earlier.
IUC makes up about 20% of the mobile call tariff that a user pays.
The IUC, which has historically been revised every two to three years, was last amended in 2009 and the matter has been pending in the apex court. “As a significant amount of time has lapsed since the last review, the Authority initiated this review of the IUC regime in November 2014,“ Trai said.

Congress chatter

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has gone on “leave of absence“ for a few weeks bang at the start of the crucial budget session of Parliament, triggering surprise and befuddlement in Congress ranks along with some mirth in political circles because his sabbatical comes at a time he was widely expected to lead his party's charge against the government.
The Congress leadership said that Gandhi, who is expected to take over the reins of the party from his mother and party president Sonia Gandhi soon, had gone to an undisclosed location for a few weeks to “reflect on recent events related to the party and its future course ahead of the upcoming AICC session“. The Congress scion's so-called vanishing act comes just two days before he was scheduled to lead a high-profile protest organised by his party at Delhi's Jantar Mantar against the government's Land Acquisition ordinance. It predictably surprised many , including most Congress leaders, and sent Delhi abuzz with all kinds of speculation about his possible motives.
Some speculated that that he had “gone into a sulk“ over differences with senior leaders over Congress' future strategies, organisational structure and office bearers. Another theory doing the rounds was that he was probably “readying himself through soul-searching“ for the last lap to succeed his mother. A third said his action possibly presaged a “Sidhartha-like abdication of politics and power“, with those propounding this theory citing his January 2012 speech in Jaipur in which he said “power is poison“.
Responding to media queries in Parliament on her son going on leave, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said: “He has been given a few weeks. He needs some time.“
Yet, Rahul Gandhi's move to leave the Capital right in the middle of its hottest political season -the budget session has just started and when the Modi government is on the defensive after the BJP's loss in the Delhi assembly elections and amid mounting criticism including from within the Sangh Parivar ­ was once again seen as a self-goal of sorts. Congress leaders, who had been girding their loins to fight the government over the land acquisition issue, were left with the unenviable feeling of what one privately said was being in a ship deserted by its captain in the high seas.
Gandhi's sabbatical comes at a time many senior leaders have exhorted him to take over as party president at the upcoming special AICC session in March-April or at a plenary session in August-September. Some senior leaders are of the view that the March-April session could be converted into a three-day plenary for his coronation.

UP Budget snippets

`Kisan' is back in focus in UP . Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav reached out to the Samajwadi Party's core constituency through his budget proposals. Akhilesh presented a Rs.3.02 lakh crore budget ­ 10.2% bigger than the previous year ­ which had farm and rural sector as its thrust areas. The SP government kept fiscal deficit at 2.96%, and set aside Rs.9,388.79 crore for new schemes. From declaring its decision to observe 2015-16 as Kisan Varsh (year of the farmer), setting up more than 1,000 agri junctions for the sale of agriculture produce, and offering a 5% interest subsidy on farm loans, the government made its intent to take the last mile development connectivity to villages. There are no new taxes. Laptops are back but in a scaled-down manner.
Delivering his budget speech on Tuesday , Akhilesh claimed UP recorded a growth rate of 5%, which is 0.3% higher than the national average, and said his government had decided to pump in additional funds in infrastructure, roads, highways, power and health sectors to ensure the benefits trickled down to the last village.
Another point that stands out in the budget is that the government appeared focused on giving an impetus to schemes that were already announced by the state in the previous fiscals instead of announcing too many fresh schemes. Akhilesh said, “The first two years of our government were focused on fulfilling our manifesto promises.Now, our focus has shifted to ensuring the implementation of what we started.“
Promising to focus on rural electrification of nearly 1 lakh `dark' villages, the government made an outlay of Rs.25,764 crore for the power sector. While 24-hour power has been promised to urban areas, rural areas have been promised 16 hours of electricity supply . The government has also set aside Rs.1,152 crore in the agriculture sector for settling cane dues to farmers.Akhilesh also said the government plans to build more CC roads, and create a stronger network of ambulances to offer emergency health care facilities to rural masses. The chief minister also announced an outlay of Rs.1,533 crore towards the implementation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat campaign, where funds for building each toilet has been increased from Rs.10,000 to Rs.12,000.
While consolidated allocations for infrastructure development were pegged at Rs.51517 cr, and for highways and bridges at Rs.17872 cr, the government also set aside Rs.7881 cr for strengthening irrigation networks in UP.
If the farm sector is a large beneficiary of budgetary allocations, funds were also earmarked for urban development. Calling it a “balanced budget“, experts pointed out Akhilesh steered clear, for the first time, of offering tax sops or waivers to all but the farm sector. This means that the government has neither imposed new taxes, nor reduced existing state tax rates being implemented across sectors.
It wasn't as if the populist measures were kept out entirely; the free laptop scheme and the Kanya Vidya Dhan (KVD) made a comeback, but with considerably slashed budgets and tighter norms. While budget allocation for KVD is Rs.300 crore, the free laptop scheme has been given a Rs.100 crore budget.
The government also announced a Rs.2,776 crore budgetary allocation for minority welfare, only marginally increased from last year's allocation. It also set aside Rs.2,727 crore corpus for implementing the Samajwadi Pension scheme, which will reach out to 5 lakh more women beneficiaries in the next fiscal, Akhilesh said.
In comparison to the previous year, UP's allocation to the flagship Samajwadi Pension scheme has increased marginally from Rs.2,424 crore to Rs.2,727 crore this year. The government's dream projects ­ the Lucknow Metro rail and Agra-Lucknow Greenfield expressway--also have considerable budgetary allocations. While the Lucknow Metro has got an allocation of Rs.425 core, up from previous year's Rs.95 crore, the expressway project has been granted Rs.3,000 crore, down from last year's Rs.3,280 crore allocation.
In a bid to overcome regional imbalances, the state government has also announced has also announced a Rs.800 cr Bundelkhand package, in addition to funds earmarked for special schemes in Purvanchal. Both announcements were also made last year.

BJP, PDP seal deal

The BJP and PDP have formally announced that they are coming together to form a government in Jammu - Kashmir. The announcement was made by PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and BJP president Amit Shah after their crucial 45-minute meeting.
PDP patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, who is set to be the chief minister, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday to discuss Common Minimum Programme of the alliance covering Article 370 and AFSPA.

Ayodhya settlement?!

There's fresh hope for an out-of-court settlement for the 65 year-old Ayodhya title suit as negotiators have come up with a formula that suggests that the 70 acres of disputed premises would accommodate both a mosque and Ram temple with a 100-feet high wall separating them.
Hashim Ansari, the oldest litigant from the Muslim side, and Akhara Parishad chief Mahant Gyan Das, met at Hanuman Garhi on Monday to discuss the proposal. Nirmohi Akhara, the litigant from the Hindu side, comes under the Akhara Parishad. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad would not be involved with the negotiation process, Ansari and Das said.
Das said, “We've discussed our proposal with almost all the Hindu religious establishments and main spiritual leaders. Everyone seems to be agreed. Soon, we'll meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and present our negotiation proposal before him and seek his help and cooperation for the peaceful solution of this dispute.“
He added, “The VHP is not a party to our peace process, as its leaders never want to build Ram temple, they just want to create communal tension.“ Convener of All India Babri Masjid Action Committee Zafaryab Jilani said he has full faith in Ansari and his stand in the courts till date. “Based on my discussions with him, I can say his stand is that of all the Muslims in India, and there's no reason to believe that he would change his stance.“
Jilani, who is seen as a crusader for re-building the Babri Masjid, said of the eight original petitioners, Ansari and Sunningdale central Waqf Board happen to be the only two original petitioners. “The rest of the original petitioners have died but their inheritors are pursuing the case,“ he said. Gyan Das was away from Ayodhya for the past three months looking after the religious services at Nasik Kumbh and Ujjain. He came back to the temple town on Monday morning when Ansari went to meet him.
“We're in favour of construction of both Ram temple and Babri Masjid adjacent to each other but with a huge wall of more than 100 feet in between, as we want to avoid any dispute later.We are drafting the final points of negotiation draft which will be presented before the Supreme Court soon after the hearing restarts,“ Das said.
While the case is being heard by the Supreme Court, various parties involved with the dispute are also exploring the possibility of an out-of-court settlement.
The Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute is continuing since 1950. The Allahabad high court pronounced its verdict on September 30, 2010, saying that the disputed spot was Lord Ram's birthplace, that the mosque was built after the demolition of a temple, and that it was not built in accordance with the tenets of Islam.
The court had ruled that two-thirds of the disputed site should be allocated to Hindu groups, with the remainder to Muslims. The case then went to the Supreme Court which in its order dated January 27, 2013, ordered status quo in the area governing the disputed site.

Copies of 6 ordinances laid in Lok Sabha

Copies of six ordinances promulgated recently on issues such as land acquisition and coal were laid in the Lok Sabha amid protests by some members against the trend of using the ordinance route.
The copies were laid by minister of state for parliamentary affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy on the first day of the Budget session. The government intends to get bills passed on these ordinances which will expire before the end of the first half of the Budget session on March 20.
As Rudy laid the copies, members of Trinamool Congress raised slogans demanding “end the ordinance raj“ of the government. The six ordinances include those on land acquisition, FDI in insurance, auction of coal blocks, e-rickshaws, mines and minerals and amendment to Citizenship Act by merging the status of OCI and PIO Cards.

Anna returns

Social activist Anna Hazare slammed the NDA government for its anti-farmer stance on Monday . The Gandhian, who began his two day sit-in at Jantar Mantar, said the election of the new government may have brought achche din (good days) for few corporates, but the poor continue to suffer. “The ordinance on land acquisition is as draconian as British laws. It removes the need for seeking consent from farmers before taking away their land in the name of development projects,“ said Hazare while addressing supporters.He added that while talks are on with the government seeking to amend the ordinance to include few pro-farmer steps, he would stop protests only if the earlier ordinance is withdrawn completely .
Unlike his previous protests, Monday's sit-in witnessed a very thin crowd. Except for Medha Patekar, no other activist was present. But Hazare seemed unfazed with the poor turnout. He sat quietly on the stage, standing up only to wave the national flag or address supporters.“I am not here for the cam eras but to seek relief for farmers. If the government doesn't act soon, we will take the agitation across the country and come back to Ramlila Maidan to launch a jail bharo aandolan,“ the 77-year-old said.
Monday's protest gave a platform to many to place their demands in front of the media and people. “In Greater Noida, the government took our land cheap and sold them to corporates at higher rates. That's why we are supporting Anna,“ said Hait Ram, a farmer.
Meanwhile, sources said members of an organization taking part in Hazare's stir met home minister Rajnath Singh and put forth their grievances.Singh assured that their concerns would be considered.