The Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government is working closely with RBI on the debt restructuring demand of the industry keeping in mind the adverse effects caused by Kovid – 19. Addressing the National Executive Committee Meeting (NECM ) of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) , Sitharaman said , ‘The focus is on rescheduling. The Finance Ministry is actively working with the RBI on this. Theoretically, the idea that rescheduling may be necessary is being considered. ‘

Regarding the comprehensive deliberations on the reform measures being announced by the government, Mrs Sitharaman said , ‘ Every step being announced is taken only after extensive consultation with the stakeholders and within the government , so that it To ensure that any step does not fail simply because we have not made the necessary related changes. We have taken all these steps to ensure that its impact is seen at the ground level. ‘

Addressing the concerns expressed by the members of FICCI on the difficulties faced by MSMEs in availing loans under the ‘Emergency Credit Guarantee Scheme’ announced by the Government , Sitharaman said , ‘Loans to MSMEs falling under the Bank Emergency Credit Facility Can not refuse to give. If refused , he should be informed of such cases. I will look into it. ‘

On FICCI’s suggestion to set up a ‘Development Finance Institute’ to meet the credit related demands being made by the industry , the Finance Minister said , ‘ Development Finance Institute is under progress. The format would be like , in this regard, we will know soon. Stressing the need for reciprocity in trade deals, Sitharaman said , ‘ We are being asked to make reciprocity arrangements with the countries with which we have opened our markets. Reciprocity is a very important point or issue in our trade negotiations. The Finance Minister said that the decision to reduce GST rates on healthcare and other products will be taken by the GST Council.

Sitharaman said that the Finance Ministry is working closely with the RBI on the demand for extension or rescheduling of the hospitality sector . He said , ‘I understand the demand for extension or rescheduling of the hospitality sector very well. We are working closely with the RBI on this. ‘

FICCI Chairperson Dr. Sangeeta Reddy praised the government’s proactive approach in dealing with this situation. Dr. Reddy said , “Though there are signs of improvement or improvement, but to maintain this improvement in the operational parameters of the business people, constant support from the government will be required. Cooperation is needed especially to strengthen the market demand and to increase the general demand. ‘

Uday Shankar, Senior Vice President, FICCI, proposed the vote of thanks and said that his Chamber will work closely with the Government to reduce the challenges facing the industry.

Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said that commitment of the Government is “Politic Empowerment and not Political Exploitation”. Several “bold and big reforms” are a reflection of our honest and effective efforts which have delivered better results, he said.

Naqvi was addressing Muslim women from across the country through virtual conference along with Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani on the occasion of “Muslim Women Rights Day”. Manjit Singh Rai, Vice-Chairperson, National Commission for Minoritieswas also present at the event. 

Naqvi said that 1st August is a day which made Muslim women free from social evil of Triple Talaq. 1st August has been recorded in the country’s history as Muslim Women Rights Day. 1st August will remain as a golden moment of Indian democracy and Parliamentary history.
Naqvi said that the law which makes social evil of Triple Talaq a criminal offence has strengthened self-reliance, self-respect and self-confidence of the Muslim women of the country.

He said that the Government has ensured gender equality and strengthened constitutional, fundamental and democratic rights of the Muslim women by bringing law against the cruel social evil of Triple Talaq. Naqvi said that Triple Talaq or Talaq-a-Biddat was neither Islamic nor legal. Despite of the fact, the social evil of Triple Talaq was given political patronage by Merchants of Votes
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Naqvi said that the law against social evil of Triple Talaq could have been passed in 1986 when the Supreme Court had given historic judgement in the Shahbano Case. The Congress had absolute majority in Parliament with more than 400 out of 545 Lok Sabha Members and more than 159 out of 245 Members in the Rajya Sabha. But the then Rajiv Gandhi Government used its strength in the Parliament to make the Supreme Court judgement ineffective and deprive the Muslim women of their constitutional and fundamental rights, he pointed out.

Naqvi said that several Muslim-majority nations of the world had declared Triple Talaq as illegal and un-Islamic much earlier. Egypt was the first Muslim nation which abolished this social evil in 1929. Sudan in 1929, Pakistan in 1956, Bangladesh in 1972, Iraq in 1959, Syria in 1953, Malaysia in 1969 had abolished the practice of Triple Talaq. Besides, countries such as Cyprus, Jordan, Algeria, Iran, Brunei, Morocco, Qatar, UAE also ended this social evil many years ago. But Muslim women in India struggled for decades to get freedom from this cruel social evil.

The Minister said that the Government made the law against Triple Talaq to make effective the Supreme Court’s judgement. One year has passed since the law against Triple Talaq was passed and there is a decline of about 82 per cent in Triple Talaq cases thereafter. If any such case was reported, the law has taken action.
 
Speaking on the occasion, Union Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked why did it take India 70 years to bring a law against triple talaq and pointed out that it is a law for women’s rights and self-respect. He said that he will work towards suggestions to make Muslim women digitally literate.

Smriti Irani, in her address, said the passage of the Triple Talaq Bill is a victory for millions of Muslim women and called it a true testimony to ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’.
On the occasion, the ministers addressed Muslim women from different states of the country through virtual conference. About 50,000 Muslim women from various places across the country including Uttam Nagar and Batla House in New Delhi, Greater Noida, Lucknow and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Jaipur in Rajasthan, Mumbai in Maharashtra, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad etc joined the virtual conference.
 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the implementation of PM-SVANidhi Scheme of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs earlier today. It was informed over 2.6 lakh applications have been received, over 64,000 have been sanctioned and over 5,500 have been disbursed.  He expressed satisfaction on use of end-to-end IT solution through a web-portal and mobile App for administration of the Scheme to ensure transparency, accountability and speed. 

While noting that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is working on a complete IT solution including mobile application for seamless implementation of the scheme, Prime Minister said that the scheme design should incentive use of end-to-end digital transactions by the street vendors. This should cover the entire gamut of their business – from procurement of raw material to collection of sale proceeds. Appropriate incentives and trainings should be conducted for this purpose. Use of digital payments would also help build a credit profile for the street vendor helping them in future financial needs.

Prime Minister said that the scheme should not be just seen from the perspective for extending loans to street vendors. It should also be seen as a part of an outreach to the street vendors for their holistic development and economic upliftment. One step in this direction would be by capturing their entire socio-economic details to facilitate necessary policy interventions. 

Such data could also be used by different Ministries of Government of India to benefit them under various Schemes for which they are eligible, on priority. These include housing under PMAY-U, cooking gas under Ujjawala, electricity under Saubhagya, health under Ayushman Bharat, skilling under DAY-NULM, Bank account under Jan Dhan etc. 
 
Background
Government of India has launched PM SVANidhi Scheme to facilitate collateral free working capital loan upto Rs.10,000/- of one-year tenure, to approximately, 50 lakh street vendors, to resume their businesses.  Incentives in the form of interest subsidy (@ 7% per annum) and cash back (upto Rs.1,200/- per annum) are being provided to promote good repayment behaviour and digital transactions respectively. The interest subsidy effectively works out to 30 % of the entire interest burden for a loan of Rs. 10,000 @ 24 % annual interest.

Therefore, in effect the vendor does not pay any interest, rather gets a subsidy on the loan amount if he repays in time and uses digital transactions for all receipts and payments. The scheme entails enhanced next tranche of loan on early or timely repayment.  Loan processing has begun since July 02, 2020 through an IT platform “PM SVANidhi” with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), which is the implementing agency for the scheme administration.

मुख्यमंत्री त्रिवेन्द्र सिंह रावत ने शुक्रवार को सचिवालय में डिजिटल माध्यम से त्रिस्तरीय पंचायतों (ग्राम पंचायत, क्षेत्र पंचायत एवं जिला पंचायत) को 15वें वित्त आयोग के टाईड अनुदान की कुल 143.50 करोड़ धनराशि का डिजिटल हस्तान्तरण किया। यह धनराशि उत्तराखण्ड की 7791 ग्राम पंचायतों, 95 क्षेत्र पंचायतों एवं 13 जिला पंचायतों को दी गई।

मुख्यमंत्री रावत ने कहा कि पंचायतों को धनराशि का डिजिटल स्थानान्तरण होने से कार्यों में तेजी व पारदर्शिता आयेगी। सरकारी सिस्टम के प्रति लोगों का विश्वास भी बढ़ेगा। राज्य सरकार ग्रोथ सेंटर को बढ़ावा देने के लिए हर सम्भव प्रयास कर रही है। इसमें पंचायतों एवं पंचायतीराज विभाग की महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका होगी। राज्य सरकार का प्रयास है कि न्याय पंचायतों पर जो भी ग्रोथ सेंटर बने, उनकी अपनी अलग पहचान हो। प्रत्येक ग्रोथ सेंटर के उत्पादों की अच्छी ब्रांडिंग हो।

मुख्यमंत्री ने पंचायतीराज विभाग के अधिकारियों को निर्देश दिये कि पंचायतों में जो भी कार्य हो रहे हैं, उनकी जियो टैगिंग एवं जीआईएस मैपिंग की जाय। सभी कार्यों में मानकों एवं डिजायन का विशेष ध्यान रखा जाय। कार्यों की नियमित माॅनिटरिंग की जाय। यह सुनिश्चित किया जाय कि पचायतों की दी जाने वाली धनराशि का सही उपयोग हो। पंचायतों में पथ प्रकाश की व्यवस्था का ध्यान रखा जाय। जल संरक्षण से संबधित कार्यों में विशेषज्ञों से भी राय ली जाय। मुख्यमंत्री श्री त्रिवेन्द्र सिंह रावत ने कहा कि भारत सरकार द्वारा लागू प्रधानमंत्री की महत्वाकांक्षी योजना डिजिटल इंडिया प्रोग्राम का उद्देश्य सरकारी सेवाओं को उन्नत करना, सरकारी योजनाओं की जानकारी ऑनलाइन पंहुचाना एवं ई-गवर्नेंस को बढ़ावा देना है।

पंचायती राज विभाग के निदेशक एच.सी.सेमवाल ने बताया कि सभी त्रिस्तरीय पंचायतों को अपनी कार्य योजना ई-ग्राम स्वराज पोर्टल पर अपलोड करनी है और इसी पोर्टल के अनुरूप जियो टैगिंग व अन्य कार्य संपादित करने हैं। उन्होंने जानकारी दी कि वर्तमान में 7791 ग्राम पंचायतों में से 6773 ग्राम पंचायतों में ई-ग्राम स्वराज पोर्टल क्रियाशील हो चुकी हैं। 3554 ग्राम पंचायतों ने ऑनलाइन पेमेण्ट प्रारम्भ कर दिया है। इस पोर्टल के माध्यम से पंचायत को केन्द्रीय वित्त, राज्य वित्त व अन्य श्रोतों से प्राप्त धनराशि और पंचायत में कराये जा रहे विकास कार्यों की प्रगति के साथ-साथ अन्य जानकारी प्राप्त की जा सकती है।

• डॉ लक्ष्मी भट्ट

गीत गजल दोहा चौपाई, मेरे बस की बात नहीं।
पल-पल तेरी याद रुबाई, मेरे बस की बात नहीं।।

सावन भीगूँ भादौ नाचूँ, तन मन में श्रृंगार भरूँ।
प्रेम मिलन हो सदा जुदाई, मेरे बस की बात नहीं।।

खुद मैं सबसे जुड़ी रही, सबको खुद से जोड़ा है।
ढाई आखर प्रेम लड़ाई, मेरे बस की बात नहीं।।

कस्तूरी संग जनम हुआ, खोज जगत में सदा रही।
पास हुई अब और पढ़ाई, मेरे बस की बात नहीं।।

सदा समर्पण भाव रहा, बहकावे में रही नहीं।
तू मेरा मैं रहूं पराई, मेरे बस की बात नहीं।।

( डॉ.लक्ष्मी भट्ट लेखिका व कवियत्री हैं। मंचों पर कविता प्रस्तुत करती हैं।)

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman today held Video Conference with Secretaries of the Ministries of Civil Aviation, and Steel, and the Chairman Railway Board (CRB), along with the CMDs of 7 Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) belonging to these Ministries, to review the Capital Expenditure in this Financial Year (FY). This was 2nd meeting in the ongoing series of review meetings that the Finance Minister is conducting with various stakeholders to accelerate the economic growth in the background of COVID-19 pandemic.

The combined CAPEX target for FY 2020-21 for these 7 CPSEs is Rs. 24,663 crore. In FY 2019-20, against the CAPEX target of Rs.30,420 crore for these 7 CPSEs, the achievement was Rs. 25,974 crore i.e. 85 %. During Q1 of FY 2019-20, achievement was Rs. 3,878 crore (13%) and achievement of Q1 of FY 2020-21 is Rs. 3,557 crore (14%).

While mentioning the significant role of CPSEs in giving a push to the growth of the Indian economy, the Finance Minister encouraged the CPSEs to perform better to achieve their targets and to ensure that the capital outlay provided to them for the financial year 2020-21 is spent properly and within time. Smt. Sitharaman said that better performance of CPSEs can help the economy in a big way to recover from the impact of COVID-19.

The Finance Minister asked the concerned Secretaries and the Chairman Railway Board to closely monitor the performance of CPSEs in order to ensure capital expenditure of 50% of capital outlay by the end of Q2 of FY 2020-21 and make appropriate plan for it. Sitharaman stated that unresolved issues should be flagged immediately to the DEA/DPE/DIPAM for immediate action on them. The Finance Minister said that she will hold such review meetings on the performance of CAPEX of CPSEs every month.

The CPSEs discussed constraints being faced by them especially due to COVID-19 pandemic. The Finance Minister stated that extraordinary situation requires extraordinary efforts and with collective efforts, we will not only perform better but also help the Indian economy to achieve better results.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat invites Google to invest in state. Chief Minister Trivendra urged Google CEO Sundar Pichai to invest in the state, saying there is a great scope for investments in the information technology (IT) sector in small towns.

In a letter to Pichai, Rawat requested him to include Uttarakhand in Google’s India investment plan and said need is being felt in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic to work on an alternative development model.

Rawat said there is a great scope for investments in the IT sector in small towns, and also assured the firm of all co-operation from the state government in the venture, an official release said.

Rawat asked Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh and Additional Chief Secretary Manisha Panwar to coordinate with the management of Google regarding the matter.