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A prime example is her tug of war with urban development minister S Jaipal Reddy over the East-West Metro project in Kolkata, which Banerjee says should be transferred to the railway ministry.

The Rs4,876-crore project sanctioned by the Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) proposes to link central Kolkata to its suburbs. The metro system is a 13.77-km stretch of underground and elevated tracks from Salt Lake to Howrah. Spanning 900 mt it would go 32 mt below the surface of the Hoogly river.

"As soon as Mamata took over as railway minister she asked Jaipal Reddy for details on the project," an urban development ministry source said.

Source: dnaindia.com Mamata vs Jaipal over Kolkata metro

"The fee has shot up from Rs. 79,500 last year to Rs. 1,23,000. The revised fee is far stiffer for new entrants to the university, who will have to pay Rs. 1,83,000 this year," said a third-year student. "While it may seem comparable to the cost of education at the IIMs, over a period of five years it becomes a much larger amount."

The WBNUJS ranked among the top three law universities in the country. Students are concerned that the hike may affect the quality of intake in the institute.

It is not the only university to have hiked the fees.

According to announcements on the CLAT website, two other universities the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, and the National Law Institute University have also raised their fees.

"After the hike, I will have to pay an additional Rs. 90,000 for completing my education. The bank has declined my request to extend my educational loan," said a fourth-year student at WBNUJS. "It will make the quality education that the institute provides hard to afford for middle class students, let alone those who are financially weak," he added.

Transport minister Subhas Chakrabarty said that all these vehicles will become illegal from that day and the government will prevent them from plying on the streets.

Home secretary Ardhendu Sen stated categorically that the state government will not move court any more to seek extension of deadline. Instead, it will launch a drive to nab illegal vehicles from August 1.

"We cannot give them any more time. Since we are not keeping them under pressure, they too are not opting for vehicles running on clean fuel. We have schemes ready and owners have to take a little bit of business risk, and it is not that it will cost them dear. Many owners have already opted for clean vehicles, which shows that it is possible to go for the changeover," Sen said.

Source: Times Of India Old vehicles: Scrap axe poised

There is a hint of a cautious move to deregulate fuel prices in the government's decision to hike retail prices of autofuels now. Also interesting is the timing of the move, on two counts. The West Bengal civic elections are over, and so crucial coalition partner Mamata Banerjee's opposition to such a move will be muted. More significantly, the hike in autofuel prices on the eve of the Budget paves the way for the government to perform two kinds of fiscal reforms. One, to include fuel subsidies in budgetary accounting, instead of fudging the figures by counting oil bonds meant to finance fuel subsidies as off-budget items. Two, to keep the now expanded fiscal deficit down by reducing the amount of subsidy on retail fuels.

The last time autofuel prices were increased was on June 4, 2008, which was followed by two quick rounds of price reduction in December 2008 and January 2009, well before the general elections were announced, as global crude prices came down sharply. As a result, petrol got cheaper by Rs 10 a litre and diesel Rs 4 a litre.

The government is also considering to compensate state-owned oil marketing companies--IOC, BPCL and HPCL--through budgetary provisions. This will be a departure from the current ad-hoc practice of compensating them through oil bonds.

Fuel prices were increased after consulting UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, oil minister Murli Deora said at a press conference.

Source: Economic Times Petrol costlier by Rs 4, diesel Rs 2, LPG spared

Job loss is one of the worst fallout of any economic slowdown. What began as a housing mortgage crisis in the US last year quickly sipralled into a global economic meltdown and from September 2008 companies across the world began downsizing their workforce to cut losses.

India too felt the tremors with close to 50,000 laid off in a span of two months, according to executive search firm Redileon Search Partners.

Sectors that have witnessed the axe include real estate and construction whic saw 79 per cent cut in its workforce. Job is export and trade, too, are down by 79 per cent while IT and hospitality sectors have witnessed a dip of 50 per cent. Banking and financial sector saw job cuts by 22 per cent.

But numbers alone don't explain the full story.

''One afternoon when I went to office… I was suddenly called by the editor and all of a sudden he said that you have to go,'' says Barid Baran, who worked as corporate communication manager.

Source: ibnlive.in.comIndian job market better off than western countries

Leading developers like DLF, Parsvnath, Unitech, Tatas, Puravankara and Akruti are banking on the volumes this segment promises to generate.

The 11th Five-Year Plan estimate of a shortage of 24.7 million units in urban housing, mainly for economically weaker sections (EWS) and the lower income group (LIG) has added to their excitement and expectations.

But while everyone's talking of affordable housing, no one's sure what it exactly means and what's in store for it. What is affordable in Mumbai may not be affordable in a tier II city.
There is no official definition provided for it by either the government or a housing agency.

Says Crisil Research head Sudhir Nair, "We believe affordable housing is a dwelling unit that can be purchased by at least 60 per cent of the families within a city. Here, we also assume that the bottom 40 per cent (the low income category) would be unable to afford a house, whereas the top 20 per cent (the high income category) would have the funds to buy any house, anywhere in the city."

HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh's letter in the company's annual report says the real agenda for affordable housing has still not been brought to the table.

"Affordable housing is not about box-sized, budget homes in far-flung places where there is no connectivity to work places and little surrounding infrastructure. Affordable housing has to be able to cut across all income segments and has to make economic sense in terms of proximity to the work place. The agenda for affordable housing requires a combined public private collaboration and a strong political will to enforce change," Parekh adds.
There are also concerns that funds raised for affordable housing may not be utilised for the projects they are meant for.

Source: mydigitalfc.com House for Mr India

"The government is already on the right track. It is planning to increase the income-tax exemption limit available for interest payment on home loans to Rs 2.5 lakh a year. However, there are still a number of issues to be sorted out," says Anuj Puri, chairman & country head of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj.

Santosh Kumar Rungta, president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (Credai) says, "The real estate sector alone can contribute 1-1.5 per cent to the GDP if the government makes efforts to solve urban housing problem while moving towards a slum-free urban India. We are seeking fiscal incentives to encourage `affordable mass housing' with unit sizes ranging between 300 sq ft and 1,000 sq ft."

The industry realizes that the government will have to face a daunting task in coming out with a balanced budget. "We understand that the finance minister's task to balance between industry requirements and widening fiscal deficit will be challenging and trust that the decision would be taken after careful consideration of many aspects. However, we hope that levy of fresh taxes, which could adversely impact the sector, would be avoided. Chances of service tax being increased to 12 per cent, cenvat rate being reversed to 10 per cent and excise duty on steel and cement being brought back to 12 per cent, are high," says Sachin Sandhir, director and country head of Royal Institute of Chartered Surveryors (RICS) India, an organisation of property and construction professionals.

Affordable housing-related sops and tax holidays for those involved in the sector are on top of the agenda. Other demands include further relaxation of ECB and FDI norms, rationalisation of stamp duty and registration charges, confirmation on abolition of service tax on renting immovable property, already announced by the high court, clarity on extension of tax waiver for STPI units and extension of tax holiday under section 80-IA (4) (iii) for developers who build industrial parks, which in turn would boost the recession-hit IT industry
"By considering the hiking of income-tax exemption for interest payment on housing loans, the government has hit the nail. Grant of infrastructure status would bring relief to the hospitality industry and boost upcoming hotel projects in the country. The budget should take a decision on FDI in retail. We hope that VAT on cement/RMC would be reduced to 4 per cent, says Mahesh Iyer, chief financial officer of Mumbai-based Phoenix Mills.

Source: mydigitalfc.com Betting big on affordable housing sops

The just-released World Bank report, Doing Business in India 2009, has an answer: Ludhiana. Hyderabad and Bhubaneshwar were ranked second and third respectively by the report.

Delhi has been ranked sixth among the 17 cities that have been included in the report, while Kolkata is at the bottom of the table.

Dealing with construction permits, registering property, paying taxes, enforcing contracts, trading across borders and the ease of closing a business were the parametres on the basis of which the report was prepared.

The report added that the cities most conducive to business, where a unit can be started in the shortest possible time (in 30 days), are Mumbai and Noida. In terms of cost, it is least expensive to begin in Patna.

Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chennai, Indore, Ranchi, Guwahati, Kolkata and Kochi are some other places where setting up shop is easy.

Speaking at the release of the report, Industry Secretary Ajay Shankar said: "The timing of the report is just right because India is ready to take on any super power."

The report also states that compared to economies worldwide, cities in India lag when it comes to closing a business and paying taxes.

West Bengal's Left Front government, trying to come to terms with its worst electoral performance in the state in 32 years, is facing a new problem: an exodus of senior civil servants who want to move on to other, hopefully less stressful, postings.

At least eight principal secretaries in the state government, including two additional chief secretaries, are looking to leave. That makes for about one-sixth of the state administration officials with the rank of principal secretary.

Most of them are "headed for Delhi" to work in the Union government, said S.N. Haque, principal secretary in the personnel and administrative reforms department, who is responsible for human resources. "We have already issued no objections to five applicants," he said.

The flight of bureaucrats from the state government follows the April-May general election that saw the Left Front's tally of Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal drop to 15, from 35 in 2004.

Among some civil servants in a state that has for long been a Left bastion, there's no mistaking a sense of frustration.

"If you work in Delhi, you can deliver because of better work culture. Also, in Delhi, there isn't much political interference... Here, things don't move," said urban development secretary P.K. Pradhan, who is looking to leave.

Not only are bureaucrats looking to leave Kolkata's Writers Buildings, the state government secretariat, even those on deputation in New Delhi are not willing to return, according to Haque, an officer from the 1982 batch of the Indian Administrative Service, or IAS.

Source: Live Mint Bengal Faces An Exodus Of Bbureaucrats

The intensity of the syndrome could become severe when a team member working on a project is benched or sent out, a leading psychiatrist said.

"It's a mental situation where IT professionals who of late have seen their colleagues, who are often friends, too, being laid off," B.N. Gangadhar, professor of psychiatry at the premier National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) here, said.

"First, it is the anxiety that the axe may fall upon them the next time and, secondly, a sense of remorse, with a tinge of guilt that they have survived, whereas their colleagues sitting next to them have lost jobs," Gangadhar said.

Two million people were employed in the Indian IT and BPO industry in 2007-08, according to the IT industry body Nasscom. The BPO sector employed more than 7 lakh persons.

"These are bad times. Recently two of my colleagues, who are also close friends, were fired. I am feeling terrible after the episode," said Sundar Gopal working with a reputed Indian IT company.

UNITES-Professionals (Union of Information Technology-Enabled Services Professionals), says there is no clear estimate of the job loss in these sectors in the wake of the global economic meltdown.

Source: The Tribune Pink slip fear drives techies to docs

Madhavan said, "There are four essential elements of good governance: Transparency, informed citizenry, accountability and containment of corruption. The soul of the Right to Information Act is the disclosure of information regarding matters related to public authority."

He suggested that the government should contemplate introducing "oath of transparency" in place of "oath of secrecy" taken by the ministers, legislators and members of Parliament.

On a survey conducted by Transparency International, Madhavan said the survey had revealed that corruption had been reduced by 15 per cent in India by RTI enforcement.

KN Chaturvedi, former Secretary, Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice, spoke about the historical and legal perspective of the RTI Act.

RP Bajpai, Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University, said the government should think about punishing people who just want to harass the administration by repeatedly seeking information under the Act.

However, he said if used properly, the Act was a tool to empower people and to bring transparency in the system.

"Why is he eying land of closed CPSUs? Is it for use of housing? The state government will use the land for real estate as happened in the case of closed Usha factory&aposs land in south Kolkata (where a residential-cum-commercial complex has come up),"she said.

The Trinamool Congress chief told reporters before leaving for Delhi that this was originally her party&aposs proposal for employment generation in the state.

The Union Ministry for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises was already working on revival of the closed MAMC in Durgapur, she said.

West Bengal's state-owned industrial development agency is looking to borrow Rs500 crore from banks to partly fund the acquisition of 15,000 acres required to restart 15 stalled projects, in a move that comes barely a month after the ruling Left Front government's poor performance in parliamentary elections in the state--a performance attributed by several people within the party to the state government's industrial drive and efforts to acquire land for industrial projects.

The West Bengal Industrial Development Corp. Ltd, or WBIDC, is in the process of finalizing deals with banks to borrow Rs500 crore, said WBIDC's managing director Subrata Gupta. Gupta declined to name the banks.

The loan drive marks the first major step by the West Bengal government to revive industrial projects in the state since the general election held in April and May. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM-led Left Front, which has ruled West Bengal for the past 32 years, could win only 15 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state; in 2004, it had won 35.

Several Left Front leaders, including some members of the CPM politburo--the party's highest decision-making body--had blamed the party's poor performance on the state government's industrialization drive. The state's commerce and industry minister Nirupam Sen, in an exclusive interview a month ago, had said, "It is undeniable that the debate over land acquisition has influenced voters, particularly peasants. Because they aren't convinced that industrialization could make a significant difference to their lives, they are concerned that they might get uprooted if they lose their land."

Over the past few years, West Bengal has seen its share of protests against forcible land acquisition by the state for industrial projects. Several projects, such as Tata Motors Ltd's small-car factory in Singur, DLF Ltd's proposed 4,840-acre township in Hooghly, and the chemical hub that Indonesia's Salim Group had planned to build in Nandigram, had to be abandoned in the face of these protests.

Source: Live Mint Bengal looks to tap funds for industry

Subsequently, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is believed to have written to prime minister Manmohan Singh, highlighting the need for a law to ensure food security. This was one of the electoral promises of the UPA government. The food security law is all about eradication of hunger and malnutrition. According to the draft bill, every family living below the poverty line will be entitled to 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 per kg.

Bharat Nirman, which was the flagship programme of the UPA government in the past five years, would also make a comeback in the media ad space, a source pointed out. The government has decided to raise the targets for the programme during the current regime.

Bharat Nirman's objective was to improve infrastructure in rural areas of the country mainly in the areas of power, road, telecom, housing and irrigation.

Source: dnaindia.com Food security focus of UPA-II promos

"On March 27, 2009, I filed an RTI application with the PCB and requested them to provide certified copies of information regarding property number 4 located at Prince of Wales drive in Wanavdi. I also requested them to provide me the information within the time limit specified under the RTI. But I was surprised when I received a letter (a copy of which is with the Indian Express) from K V Shirodkar, central public information officer, PCB, on April 6 mentioning that I would have to pay Rs 200 per copy towards copying fees charges," said Bhog.

However, Shirodkar feigned ignorance when asked about the exorbitant amount the PCB charges per copy. "A few years ago, a resolution was passed in the PCB according to which we charge Rs 200 per copy of general application. When certified copies are asked under the RTI Act, we charge the applicants only the cost as laid down in the RTI or the cost of photo copying. We definitely do not charge Rs 200 per copy if the information is demanded under the RTI," he said.

Source: The Indian Express Lawyer seeks info under RTI, PCB says pay Rs 200 per copy