RAMALLAH: Reiterating India’s support for an independent, sovereign  and peaceful Palestine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asserted that relations between India and Palestine have “stood the test of time.’’

As he wound up his brief visit to Palestine, Mr Modi, in his joint press statement along with Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas, said that India hopes for return of peace in the region. He favoured the path of negotiation for establishing peace in the region. It was the first visit by any Indian Prime Minister to Palestine which, Mr Modi said, has always occupied a top spot in India’s foreign policy.

Speaking in Hindi, Mr. Modi said that he hoped for a “peaceful co-existence’’ of Palestine with Israel and added that deep and involved diplomacy could play a vital role in it. “I know it is not easy but efforts should be continued towards this goal,’’ he said.

“People of Palestine have shown exemplary courage in challenging and tough times when there was an unstable environment. We appreciate it,’’ Mr Modi said, President Abbas described Mr. Modi as a “great guest” and said Palestine was relying on India’s influence, its voice on strategic and economic levels and standing on the international fora which would be conducive to the desired goal of peace process process with Israel.  Mr. Modi was also conferred with the Grand Collar of the State of Palestine, highest honour to a foreign dignitary.

President Abbas, in his press statement, said: “I would like to assert our commitment to political action and  negotiations as means of achieving our national goals to freedom and  independence in accordance with the two states’ relation along the lines of 1967.’’

The two sides also signed six agreements and Mr Modi referred to a new  technology park being set up in Ramallah, Institute for Diplomacy and doubling of youth exchange from 50 to 100 from this year. He said that a new skill centre, capacity building centre, IT centres would also be set up with India’s cooperation to hone skills and provide employment to Palestinian youth.

“India remains committed to take care of the Palestinian peoples’ interests and we hope that soon Palestine will become a free country in a peaceful manner,’’ he said.

Prime Minister Modi returned to Jordanian capital Amman from where he will be flying to the United Arab Emirates on the second leg of his three-nation tour.

In the UAE, he will meet Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. He is also scheduled to speak at the World Government Summit in Dubai, where India is the guest country.

It will be Mr. Modi’s first visit to Oman as Prime Minister and will hold talks with the Sultan of Oman and other leaders. He would also interact with leading businesspersons of Oman on developing stronger economic and business links with India.

More than nine million Indians work and live in the Gulf region, of which about one third live in the UAE alone. In Oman, they constitute the largest expatriate community.  

Jaipur :  With over 7 million users and 60 crores attempted Questions, Mumbai-based start-up today launched its first online center in Sikar and third in Rajasthan. There are two Online Centres already present in Jaipur. Testbook is One Stop Solution to aspirants preparing for SSC (CHSL, CGL), Railways, GATE, RRB, Bank PO, Bank Clerk, Police and Insurance examinations. It looks to be the promising solution for government job aspirants, who can pre- prepare for the new Online exam mode and compete with students from metro cities. 

The founders had noticed that a large proportion of the government job exam aspirants are from tier 2 and tier 3 cities and they often face the problem of non-reliable internet connectivity and many do not have access to computers. So, Testbook came up with a hybrid model and it launched branded Online Centres with computers, internet connectivity and power backup facility for its students. Keeping in mind that a student who comes from tier 2/3 cities.

“Testbook Pass” facility has been provided by Testbook which has made easy for students to buy the online test series as cash solutions for them. Students can purchase the Pass either from Testbook Online Centres (TOC) or Testbook Smart Lab (TSL) or network Bookstores and can activate the unique code printed on it in a single step on Testbook.com or from the Testbook Mobile App.

“Testbook truly believes that with the use of technology, education can and should be imparted to one and all. As I belong to Ajmer and had seen the difficulty faced by the students when they appear for the online government exam jobs. The whole concept behind Testbook Online Center is that we are solving the core issues faced by the aspirants i.e. lack of computer knowledge and infrastructure unavailability. We as an organization believe in empowering each and every student who is aspiring to Government Job. Computer literacy is an important key aspect of this area. We are providing students Real Exam Environment along with computer infrastructure so that when a student sits for the online exam they should be experts with the interface used during the real exam.” said Narendra Agrawal, Co-Founder, Testbook.com

At the launch of Testbook Online Center, Parmeshwar Dadich, partner TOC Sikar said ” Testbook.com will help as helping hand and will benefit the aspirants by Practicing Online Mock Test in Real Exam Environment at the Testbook Online Center.” 

Testbook mobile App is widely loved by students all across the country. With a rating of 4.5, it is the highest rated e-learning education app on the google play store to prepare students for Govt. Jobs. The team behind Testbook.com is already working on leveraging the massive data that is being collected on the platform to make learning more personalized for students so that they can seek better guidance and improve faster. 

Hyderabad : Stars and galaxies in the universe may appear to be static to us as they are located millions of light years away. But the universe is actually dynamic with events occurring in timescales much shorter – years, days and even hours. India is now joining a global network to monitor the dynamic cosmos.

A new telescope is getting ready for commissioning at the Indian Astronomical Observatory at Hanle in Ladakh, as part of an international network specifically designed to watch dynamic events or transient objects in the universe. The programme is called Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH).

Observatories in this network are located in a way that will allow uninterrupted observation of transient events.

“A lot of interesting objects and events occur in the universe which need to be caught very young and soon after they happen, such as supernovae, gamma ray bursts, active galactic nuclei, and many more. They are called transients because electromagnetic signature radiated as a result is transient in nature. Gravitational wave events too fall in this category,” explained G C Anupama, the Indian principal investigator of the project at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, while speaking to India Science Wire here.

The facility will also track asteroids. “Near-earth asteroids are not transients in the sense of their light emitting capability, but they do come close to the earth and that is when you need to track them. This time period is very short. In this sense, they are transient in terms of time,” said Anupama.

The new 70 cm telescope is much smaller than the 2 meter Himalayan Chandra Telescope at Hanle. “HCT is already over-booked, while the new telescope will be purely for observing transients. It is different from HCT in the sense that it will only be an imaging telescope and all spectroscopy will happen at HCT,” Anupama said.

The fully robotic telescope costing Rs. 3.5 crore has been funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) of the Department of Science and Technology. “The telescope is equipped with a sensitive camera that can detect some of the faint transients found by our partner survey telescopes like the Zwicky Transient Facility at Palomar, California,” she added. The new facility will be commissioned this summer.

The telescope will be remotely operated from IIA’s Centre For Research and Education in Science and Technology near Bangalore. The facility houses the control room for remote operations of the HCT and is the data hub for the telescope. The new telescope will be programmed to directly communicate with various ground-based and space-based surveys that are searching for transient sources.

Transient events in the universe are caused due to several factors such as relatively benign flares on stars, accretion of matter on compact objects, stellar mergers and explosions. All this results in a flash in the sky for a period and then slowly fades away. By capturing these electromagnetic signatures, astronomers try to gain an insight about cosmic objects as well as physical processes that govern their evolution. Finding such objects requires continuous monitoring of large areas of the sky. Telescopes deployed for ‘transient surveys’ are usually small, wide-field instruments but they can’t see very faint objects.

According to Dr. Mansi Kasliwal, who is heading GROWTH project at Caltech, the project is “primarily looking at optical transients from a host of different observatories to build a more complete picture of the physical processes of their evolution. The network has 18 observatories in the Northern Hemisphere. As the earth rotates and daylight creeps, the network switches observations to facilities westward that is still enjoying night-time.” (India Science Wire)

India avoided major embarrassment in January this year when it stopped road construction by Chinese army inside Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh near Line of Actual Control (LAC) and forced Chinese personnel to return. However, what is startling is the fact that it took Indian authorities 72-hours to detect major intrusion near Bishing village by Chinese forces with their road-building equipment operating two kilometers inside the Indian territory. It was failure of Indian communication mechanism that led to this fiasco.

We tell you how the Department of Telecom (DoT) and its arm — Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) — has failed miserably in building a robust telecom network in the strategically important Northeast despite getting Union Cabinet almost four years ago…

Bishing episode of Chinese intrusion inside LAC is a wake-up call for the Indian government. But more than that it is a matter of shame for the DoT and USOF for having failed to live up to the expectation of the people of the Northeast who have been demanding proper telecom network for past two decades.

While telecom network across the country has continued to grow, eight North-eastern states have lagged behind, thanks to the apathy of the DoT, USOF (which is responsible of providing funds to build telecom infrastructure in villages and remote areas) and the private telecom operators who are more concerned about their bottom-line and for them licence conditions of providing proper coverage in their telecom circles does not matter.

It was just months after assuming office, Prime Minister Narendra Modihad approved the proposal to implement a comprehensive telecom development plan for the North-Eastern region covering 8621 villages in eight states with an estimate of Rs.5,336 crores, with funds coming from USOF. Of this, around 2500 towers were to come up in remote villages of Arunachal Pradesh, three of which were approved for Bishing, where the Chinese intrusion took place.

Bishing village is located in Gelling tehsil of Upper Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh, India only 2 kms away from Chinese border. It is situated 80 kms away from sub-district headquarter Gelling and 280 kms away from district headquarter Yingkiong. The closest town to Bishing village is Tuting which is 40 kms away. There is no motorable road up to Bishing village, which is connected through a narrow walkable street that passes over Siang river which has two hanging bridges. As there is no connectivity, information can be exchanged only if person moves physically 80 kms or 40 kms.

According to locals in Bishing village near McMahon line in Arunachal Pradesh, Chinese personnel were caught doing track alignment work constructing a 12-feet wide road, 1-km in length by using heavy machinery. The work was going on in the remote area situated at an altitude of over 12,000 feet. Though the area is manned by the ITBP, the track construction activity took place about 2 km away from the nearest ITBP post. It was only after a porter working in the area spotted the Chinese personnel, he managed to pass on the information to nearest civil administration only after 72 hours after he reached nearest town. Since there was no mobile communication, this delay in getting information about the Chinese intrusion has become a major source of embarrassment for the Indian army, ITBP and the civil administration.

It is now learnt that the senior officials of the Army and the ITBP have expressed their displeasure over undue delay by the DoT in getting mobile towers installed in villages close to the Chinese border. Defence Ministry, Army, Union Home Ministry and border paramilitary forces like the ITBP and the BSF have in the past written several letters to the DoT expressing concern over the delay in installation of robust mobile infrastructure along international borders.

Ironically, USOF, which has been mandated by the Union Cabinet to get mobile infrastructure installed in border and remote areas of the Northeast, has been sitting on this project for last four years. MPs from the Northeast including Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju and Congress MP Ninong Ering, both hail from Arunachal Pradesh, have written to Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha expressing concern over undue delay in Northeast mobile connectivity project.

Telecom Ministry insiders told ICTFlash.com that all actions of the USOF indicate that it is trying to delay and sabotage the NE telecom project. “While USOF is trying to delay a part of the project which is to be implemented by BSNL by putting unnecessary conditions and delaying payments, the remaining portion of the project which is to be awarded to private operators several key norms have been compromised and tender conditions diluted to favour private companies,” said a senior DoT official who have been opposing the arbitrary and illegal manner in which USOF is implementing the project.

“The entire modus operandi of USOF in dealing in NE project reeks of favouritism. USOF is not only neglecting state-run BSNL but also openly violating laid government guidelines. Moreover, it is taking dubious decisions despite clear laid down policy of government,” the official said.

“The way USOF is implementing the ambitious NE project, is also a major setback for Prime Minister’s ‘Make In India’ initiative. BSNL is bound to implement preferential market access (PMA) policy allowing only domestic equipment manufacturer to bid in its project, but private operators are not bound by PMA. In Northeast, which shares crucial borders with China, foreign players, including Chinese companies, are being allowed to put up their equipment in gross negligence of national security interests,” the official added.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a historic visit to Palestine, the first ever visit by any Indian Prime Minister, Ministry of External Affairs announced here.

MEA officials said the Prime Minister will be visiting Ramallah on February 10.  He will also be visiting United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman from February 10 to 12.

He will reach UAE in the late evening of February 10. Mr. Modi will be visiting UAE at the invitation of UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the MEA said.

While the visit to Palestine will be the first by an Indian Prime Minister, it will be Mr. Modi’s second visit to UAE and the first to Oman. The MEA said that Mr. Modi will hold discussions on matters of mutual interest with the leaders of these nations.

During his visit, he will hold a meeting with the Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas.  In July last year, Mr. Modi had visited Israel at the invitation of his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu. He had not visited Palestine at that time. The Israeli Prime Minister visited India last month. In Palestine, Mr Modi will visit the Yasser Arafat Museum before beginning formal talks, MEA official said.  Mr Modi will also address a joint press conference with Palestine President Abbas. He will also attend a banquet lunch and then embark on his visit to UAE. Palestine and India had agreed to deepen engagement in sectors like health, IT, tourism, youth affairs and sports.

Describing the Palestine visit as “significant’’, MEA officials said that it indicates that India has decided to de-hyphenate ties with Israel. It would also lay the ground work for India’s participation in nation-building projects in Palestine for developing infrastructure there.

Also, Prime Minister Modi will be addressing the Sixth World Government Summit to be held in Dubai, at which India has been extended the ‘Guest of Honour’ status.

He will also meet the Indian community in UAE and Oman respectively.  

NEW DELHI: It was a tribute to the Bharatnatyam Guru N.V. Venkataraman from his daughter-disciple Rani Shinghal, herself an accomplished exponent of the oldest classical dance form. 
She conceived and performed Sankeertana, a dance-based interactive session to commemorate the 86th birth anniversary of her Guru and father Late N.V. Venkataraman at Mind Space, Sanskriti Kendra in the Capital’s Anandgram recently. The performance and dialogue were based upon appreciation of the connections within and between different cultural practices-Bharatnatyam, bhajan, keertana all about Tirupati.
It was a collaborative presentation by Rani Shinghal and Jaya Iyer, an eminent theatre artist. 
Rani Shinghal who now heads Natya Sudha and trains disciples in finer nuances and techniques of Bharatnatyam has maintained the traditional style of Guru-Shishya parampara. She has been able to compose new choreography while teaching her students. She has performed with her troupe not only across India but also in many foreign countries. 
Her mother Guru Ma Padma Venkatraman had worked tirelessly to establish Natya Sudha in Delhi way back in 1959 to promote performing arts to upcoming artists.Both Guru N.V.Venkatraman and Guru Ma Padma trained hundreds of students in the classical dance form. 
Natya Sudha continues till date to impart quality training in Bharatnatyam and Carnatic sangeet with focus on customized learning program without diluting the intensity of the dance form create a culture of innovation and it was also the reason for the institute’s efforts to introduce the classical arts to economically underprivileged segments of the society. The effort continues even today at a number of centres being run by Rani Shinghal in many parts of the Capital. 

“The budget is expected to give a boost to the hopes and aspirations of 125 crore people of the country. It is expected to accelerate the development process of the country. It is farmer friendly, common man friendly, business environment friendly as well as development friendly. Ease of Doing Business as well as Ease of Living are in focus in this budget. More savings for the middle class, new generation infrastructure for 21st Century India and assurance of better health – all these are concrete steps towards Ease of Living.” said Prime Minister Modi.

Expenditure: The government proposes to spend Rs 24,42,213 crore in 2018-19, which is 10.1% above the revised estimate of 2017-18.

Receipts: The receipts (other than net borrowings) are expected to increase by 12% to Rs 18,17937 crore, owing to higher estimated revenue from the goods and services tax and income tax.

GDP growth: The government has assumed a nominal GDP growth rate of 11.5% (i.e., real growth plus inflation) in2018-19. The nominal growth estimate for 2017-18 was 11.75%.

Deficits: Revenue deficit is targeted at 2.2% of GDP, which is lower than 2.6% in the revised estimate of 2017-18. Fiscal deficit is targeted at 3.3% of GDP, lower than the revised estimate of 3.5% in 2017-18. Note that during the year, the government breached its budgeted target for both fiscal deficit (3.2%), and revenue deficit (1.9%).

Ministry allocations: Among the ten highest allocations to ministries, the highest percentage increase is observed in the Ministries of Railways (31.7%), followed by Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (17.6%). Allocation for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas decreased by 6.3% over the revised estimate of 2017-18.

Some changes in the Finance Bill include:

Income tax:  Currently, an additional surcharge of 15% is levied on the income of individuals earning over Rs one crore.  In this budget, a surcharge of 10% has been introduced for those with income exceeding Rs. 50 lakh up to Rs one crore.

For salaried individuals, a standard tax deduction of Rs 40,000 has been introduced.  The deduction for transport allowance and medical reimbursements has been removed.

Education cess:  The 3% Education Cess has been replaced by a 4% Health and Education Cess for non-resident persons, including foreign companies.

Corporation tax:  Currently, companies with annual turnover of less than Rs 50 crore pay corporate income tax at the rate of 25%.  This threshold has been increased to Rs 250 crores.

Long-term capital gains:  Currently, long term capital gains from transfer of equity shares or unit of equity oriented fund or a unit of business trust is exempt from payment of income tax.  These transfers will now be taxed at 10%, if the profit from the transaction exceeds one lakh rupees.  For computing gains, the purchase price would be considered as the higher of the actual purchase price or the price as on January 31, 2018.

Deductions for senior citizens:  Certain tax deductions have been increased for senior citizens.  These include: (i) deduction towards premium on health insurance policy or medical expenditure from Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000; (ii) deduction for medical treatment of specified diseases to Rs one lakh; and (iii) deduction of up to Rs. 50,000 on interest income. 

Change in custom duties:   Custom duty rates have been amended for certain items.  Further, a 10% social welfare surcharge has been imposed on aggregate customs duties. 

Road and infrastructure cess:  The existing Road Cess has been converted to Road and Infrastructure Cess.  This cess on petrol and high-speed diesel has been increased by Rs 2 per litre, while the excise and customs duty have been cut by the same amount.  Unlike customs and excise duty, the cess does not form a part of the pool of taxes devolved to states. 

Some Policy Highlights include:

Agriculture:  Currently, the Minimum Support Price for Rabi crops has been 1.5 times their cost.  This is proposed to be extended to Kharif crops as well.  This move will facilitate the objective of doubling farmers’ income by 2022.

Health: The National Health Protection Scheme will be launched to cover over 10 crore poor families, with a coverage up to Rs five lakh per family per year.

Education: A new scheme called ‘Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE) by 2022’ will be launched, with a total investment of Rs 1,00,000 crore in the next four years.  This aims to promote investments in research and related infrastructure in premier educational and health institutions. 

Employee Provident Fund:  Amendments will be made to the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 in due course to reduce the contribution of women employees to the Employee Provident Fund.  This reduced contribution of 8% will be applicable for the first three years of their employment, as compared to the existing rate of 12% or 10% as applicable.

(Source PRS Legislative)

New Delhi : Social activist and Arya Samaji Swami Agnivesh has said  religion should be a matter of informed choice and wished for an ideal set up where there was  a certain minimum age for choosing one’s religious values, like we have for voting, for marriage etc.

” Everyone of us  in this society carries  the burden of a religion that we did not choose for ourselves. It would be so redeeming if we were allowed to do so,” Swami Agnivesh said participating in a panel discussion here. He spoke about the dangers of  institutionalised religion .

Agnivesh , who was born in an orthodox brahmin family in Andhra Pradesh,  said he was taught untouchability by his elders as his ‘dharma’ and had to accept that  as he as a child had no other option. The discussion, whose theme was ‘ Hinduism and Hindutva’, was organised by a group of civil servants and war veterans on the 70th anniversary of Gandhiji’s assassination. It was moderated and presided over by chairman  of the Indian Humanist Union Vir Narain.

Dr Ram Puniyani,  who heads the Centre of Study of Society and Secularism,  and   poet and  former civil servant Ashok Vajpeyi were the other prominent panelist. They all spoke about  how organised and institutionalised religion in alignment with political  power had created havoc in society everywhere in the world through the ages. They said that in the present  day India,  Hindutva, which was quite different from Hinduism, represented such  phenomena .

Dr Puniyani also brought out how the British played the game of divide and rule by  encouraging formation of civil associations on religious lines. They backed Muslim nawabs and zamindars in formation of Muslim League as they exploited the fears of these classes from the rise of newer ones with  the rise in commerce and industry and introduction of modern education . The British declared the  rajas and landlord as representatives of Muslims of India.

The formation of the Muslim League led to the formation  of Punjab Hindu Sabha and eventually Hindu Mahasabha. On the other hand,  newer classes were forming secular association like the Indian national Congress, the Republican Party of India and Naujawan Bharat Sabha, founded by Shaheed Bhagat Singh. It was the fear of losing political power to these classes that led the Hindu and Muslim elites to propound the theory of their religion being in danger, Dr Puniyani said.

He said the same dynamics could be seen in play in the case of  the present day Hindutva, which was trying to usurp the entire culture, identity and history of India .

Mr Vajpeyi in his remarks  highlighted the rich history of dissent in the country, and also said that today’s Hindutva was not a religious movement at all. He said it was unfortunate that today all religions had become very aggressive and enemy of their own plurality.

DENVER : Construction has officially begun on the spaceship that will achieve America’s goal of returning astronauts to the Moon. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) technicians and engineers at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans welded together the first two components of the Orion crew module capsule for Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2).

Orion is America’s exploration spaceship, and the EM-2 mission will be its first flight with astronauts on board, taking them farther into the solar system than ever before. This flight, launched atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, will usher in a new era of space exploration, laying the groundwork for NASA’s lunar Deep Space Gateway, and ultimately for human missions to Mars. 

“Orion has tremendous momentum. We’re finishing assembly of the EM-1 Orion spacecraft in Florida, and simultaneously starting production on the first one that will carry crew,” said Mike Hawes, Lockheed Martin vice president and program manager for Orion. “This is not only the most advanced spacecraft ever built, its production will be more efficient than any previous capsule. For example, look at the progress we’ve made on the EM-2 pressure vessel compared to the first one we built. The latest version is 30 percent lighter and has 80 percent fewer parts. That equates to a substantially more cost-effective and capable spacecraft.”

Designed specifically to withstand the harsh and demanding environment of deep space travel while keeping the crew safe and productive, the main structure of the crew module, or pressure vessel, is comprised of seven large machined aluminum alloy pieces that are welded together to produce a strong, yet light-weight, air-tight capsule. The first weld joined the forward bulkhead with the tunnel section to create the top of the spacecraft.

The pressure vessel capsule will continue to be built out over the spring and summer in Michoud incorporating the three cone panels, the large barrel and the aft bulkhead. Once completed in September, it will be shipped to the Kennedy Space Center where the Lockheed Martin team will perform assembly and test of the EM-2 spacecraft.

“The EM-1 and EM-2 crew modules are very similar in design, but we’ve made a lot of improvements since we built EM-1, including processes, scheduling, and supply chain, all contributing to a lower cost and faster manufacturing,” said Paul Anderson, director of Orion EM-2 production at Lockheed Martin.

But the historical importance of this Orion mission isn’t lost to Anderson and his team. “Each of these spacecraft are important, but we realize that the EM-2 capsule is special as it’s the first one to carry astronauts back out to the Moon, something we haven’t done in a long time. It’s something we think about every day.”

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister  Arun Jaitley on Thursday presented  general Budget 2018-19 in Parliament.  

Budget guided by mission to strengthen agriculture, rural development, health, education,employment, MSME and infrastructure sectors  

Government says, a series of structural reforms will propel India among the fastest growing economies of the world. Country firmly on course to achieve over 8 % growth as manufacturing, services and exports back on good growth path.  

MSP for all unannounced kharif crops will be one and half times of their production cost like majority of rabi crops: Institutional Farm Credit raised to 11 lakh crore in 2018-19 from 8.5 lakh crore in 2014-15.  22,000 rural haats to be developed and upgraded into Gramin Agricultural Markets toØ protect the interests of 86% small and marginal farmers.  

“Operation Greens” launched to address price fluctuations in potato, tomato and onion for benefit of farmers and consumers.  Two New Funds of Rs10,000 crore announced for Fisheries and Animal Husbandary sectors; Re-structured National Bamboo Mission gets Rs.1290 crore.  

Loans to Women Self Help Groups will increase to Rs.75,000 crore in 2019 from 42,500Ø crore last year.  

Higher targets for Ujjwala, Saubhagya and Swachh Mission to cater to lower and middle class in providing free LPG connections, electricity and toilets.  

Outlay on health, education and social protection will be 1.38 lakh crore. Tribal students to get Ekalavya Residential School in each tribal block by 2022. Welfare fund for SCs gets a boost.  

World?s largest Health Protection Scheme covering over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families launched with a family limit upto Rs.5 lakh for secondary and tertiary treatment.  Fiscal Deficit pegged at 3.5 %, projected at 3.3 % for 2018-19.