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VR1 MEDIA FREE ONLINE TRAINING ON PRECEPTS AND TRADE-31- ON MORALITY THE WAY OF CULTIVATION -Doing business not so easy in Bangalore - 2020 Project, Training Indian novices in Thailand-Obama says court still allows for racial diversity-
Filed under: General
Posted by: site admin @ 9:10 pm
VR1
 MEDIA FREE ONLINE TRAINING ON PRECEPTS AND TRADE-31

 ON MORALITY
THE WAY OF CULTIVATION

Morality is something that should be culyivated and is the one thing that sets humans apart from animala. Morality is what ensures that there will be law and order in a nation. If the people of a national loose their moral standards, then government officials will be corrupt, using public office for private gain; businesspeople will steal and deceive; among friends, doubt and jealousy will arise, leading to harma nd slander; among neighours there will be discord, deception, and lying; and society will be rife with foolishness and fallacy. Everywhere there will be people who struggle with oneanother for their own benefit, profiting at the expence of others, and having no sense of shame. This being the case, only with a sense of morality and by leading moral life will society be harmonious, families will be happy, friends keep promises, and will be able to help one another.

Doing business not so easy in Bangalore

World
Bank report ranks city 13th among 17 select cities


Starting a business is fastest in Mumbai

and Noida

In Bangalore, 13 procedures have to be completed to register a firm


BANGALORE: Doing business is not so easy in Bangalore and it takes at least 40 days to complete procedures and register a firm.

A World Bank Report on “Doing Business in India -2009” ranked
Bangalore 13th among 17 select cities. Doing business was easier in
Ludhiana, Hyderabad, and Bhubaneswar and these cities respectively
ranked first, second and third.

It was difficult to start the business in Bangalore (13th), Patna (14th), Chennai (15th), Kochi (16th), and Kolkata (17th).

“Starting a business is fastest in Mumbai and Noida, at 30 days, while it takes 41 in Kochi.”

In Bangalore, 13 procedures have to be completed to register a firm
and it takes 40 days while it was 33 days in Hyderabad with 12
procedures.

The number of procedures to formally open a business ranges from 11
to 13, of which eight are national in nature and similar in all cities.

The time required to start a business varied among cities due to
different local practices and different performance levels of the local
branches of national agencies, it said.

In Patna, Kolkata, and Bhubaneswar, entrepreneurs spend less than 40
per cent of income per capita to open a business; for those in
Bangalore (64.7) and Mumbai (70.9), the cost is double because of local
government fees and taxes, the bank said.

The report compared business regulations in the 17 cities, focussing
on local regulations that affect seven stages in the life of a small or
mid-sized domestic enterprise — starting a business, dealing with
construction permits, registering property, paying taxes, trading
across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business.

The selected cities are Ludhiana Mumbai, Hyderabad, Indore,
Bhubaneshwar, Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Patna, New Delhi,
Chennai, Jaipur, Kochi, Guwahati, Kolkata and Ranchi.


Construction

The process to obtain construction-related permits and clearances
was easiest in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, where 15 procedures
are required, but more cumbersome in Kolkata and Mumbai, where more
than 30 procedures were needed.

Entrepreneurs pay 15 per cent of income per capita in Bangalore to
register under the Shops and Establishments Act, but pay nothing in
Chennai.


Registration

Cities in India do well on the number of procedures required to
register property — on average, only five procedures are needed, the
report said this performance ranked the average Indian city at 47th out
of 181 economies.

The Jaipur city takes least number of days (24) to register a property.

The number of days required for registration of property in
Bangalore is 28 days, Hyderabad 37, Chennai 48 and Bhubaneshwar 126
days, the report said.

The number of procedures required to register the property in
Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, New
Delhi, Noida, Patna, and Ranchi is five while Chennai required highest
number (seven), the report said.

“Reforms that cut red tape, clarify property rights, and streamline
regulatory compliance, can yield big payoff for firms and workers,” the
study said which was conducted in collaboration with the Union Commerce
Ministry and Confederation of Indian Industry.


2020 Project, Training Indian novices in Thailand

From: Ken and Visakha Kawasaki
Subject: 2020 Project, Training Indian novices in Thailand
To:
Date: Thursday, 9 July, 2009, 9:07 PM

Dear Friends, Donors, and Supporters,

Buddhist
Relief Mission has long been interested in the revival of Buddhism in
India, which in recent years has depended greatly on the movement among
the Dalits, the downtrodden castes, which began with the conversion of
Dr. Ambedkar in 1956. One of the main hindrances to the growth of
Buddhism in the land of its birth has been the severe lack of trained
monks. There have been several attempts to establish bhikkhu training
centers and to educate monks abroad, but these programs have not
produced enough monks. A few years ago, a new program was begun. This
program, called 2020, hopes to train as many as 2000 monks in Thailand
by the year 2020. Two groups, totaling about 40 novices have already
[]   []
 
Here are
recent photos of the latest batch of novices at Bodhisukha Monastery, Kolkata, before they left for Thailand.

Buddhist
Relief Mission strongly supports this endeavor. We invite all those who
are interested to join our effort. Details are available at:

< http://www.brelief.org/metta-2020/metta-2020.html>      

Thank you for your interest and your support.

With metta,
Ken and Visakha Kawasaki
Buddhist Relief Mission           

PS. Please let us know if you wish to be taken off our mailing list. A brief e-mail will do.

Please visit our websites
Buddhist Relief Mission: http://www.brelief.org/
Sri Lanka reports: http://www.brelief.org/reports/

http://www.washingt onpost.com/ wp-dyn/content/ article/2009/ 07/02/AR20090702 01864.html



Obama says court still allows for racial diversity




By MARK SHERMAN


The Associated Press


Thursday, July 2, 2009; 3:25 PM




WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama cast this week’s Supreme Court


decision in favor of white firefighters as a narrow case that


nevertheless allows employers and educators to take race into account


in hiring, promotions and admissions.




Obama, a former constitutional law professor, said the court was


“moving the ball” on affirmative action by telling public and private


employers they could not easily discard promotion exams just because


the results left no African-Americans likely to be promoted.




“This was a very narrow case, so it’s hard to gauge where they will


take it,” Obama said in an interview Thursday with The Associated


Press. He did not criticize the court’s ruling, even though the


justices voted 5-4 to reverse a decision that his own high court


nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, endorsed as an appeals court judge.




As a senator, Obama voted against confirming two justices in the


majority in the firefighters case: Chief Justice John Roberts and


Justice Samuel Alito, the two nominees of President George W. Bush.




The president was critical of the clumsy process that New Haven,


Conn., used to administer promotion exams, then tossed them aside


because of the racially skewed results.




He said the city might have prevailed if it “had thought through how


it was going to approach the issue ahead of time and said, ‘We think


merit and highly qualified firefighters are absolutely important. That


doesn’t contradict our desire to make sure that there is diversity in


a city that’s 60 percent black and Hispanic. Let’s design promotion


approaches that reconcile those two things.’”




Instead, Obama said, “I think what people instinctively, probably,


reacted to on that particular case had more to do with the fact that


the people that studied for those tests already had a set of


expectations that were thwarted.”




Critics of racial preferences have argued that Obama’s election


demonstrates that affirmative action is no longer necessary. But the


president noted that “the Supreme Court didn’t close the door to


affirmative action, if properly structured.”




He said such programs have not been nearly as helpful to minorities or


damaging to whites as they have been portrayed.




“Crude quotas” are unnecessary and constitutionally impermissible, he


said. But, “I do think that there are still circumstances in which on


a college admissions or on a hiring decision, taking into account


issues of past discrimination or taking into account issues of


diversity of a workforce or a student body can still be appropriate, “


the president said.


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VR1 MEDIA FREE ONLINE TRAINING ON PRECEPTS AND TRADE-30 - ON ETHICS THE WAY OF HOME LIFE -Apex court allows razing of Lucknow jail-Now, 2,000 sq feet replica of Ambedkar Memorial-Bramhnical/Manuwadi propaganda machinery :Show me the money
Filed under: General
Posted by: site admin @ 7:14 am
VR1
 MEDIA FREE ONLINE TRAINING ON PRECEPTS AND TRADE-30

 ON ETHICS
THE WAY OF HOME LIFE

A disciple should show respect for his or her teacher in five ways:
1) by attending to him or her properly,
2) by making offerings and respecting him or her,
3) by looking up ti him or her,
4) by following his or her instructions, and 5) by upholding the Dhamma from the teacher and never forgetting it.

A teacher should show respect for his or her disciple in five ways:
1) by teaching according to one’s ability to learn the Dhamma,
2) by instructing the disciple in what he or she has never heard,
3) by explaining and answering his or her questions,
4) by showing one’s friendliness and kindness, and
5) by not being sparing in instruction.

The Confuscious used to say: “The aged will be cared for to the end, the mature will work, the young will be matured, and widowers, widows, the unmarried, and the handicapped will be cared for”. For the layperson observing today’s Buddhism, wisdom should be used in handling the emotions surrounding human relations. The Dhamma is used to purify, beautify, spresd, and add Buddhism to lay life. The aged, midddle-aged and the young should treat one another;because familial relations are interlinked. Fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters are all held together like inseperable links in a chain. Each person must do his or her utmost to love and respect others and strive for harmony. Each person must do his or her utmost to love and respect others and strive for harmony. For only when afamily laughs together will familial relations be happy and harmonious.


Buddhist term is made of 2 terms Buddhi and ist. Buddhi means
intellect and ist means liking. Therefore the term Buddhist means one
who likes to use his/her intellect and not just accept things blindly.
 
with metta,

Bhanteji

Dear friends,
Greetings from COVA!

Commercialization of, especially,
school education in India is one of the worst outcomes of the
neo-liberal policies of our governments.  The government schools
neither address the current demands of society, nor do they match the
glitz of some of the private companies running education factories. The
state and central governments appear to have no intention to alter the
situation.

In Hyderabad, shocked by the exorbitant
hike in fees in private schools this year, even the otherwise-complacen
t middle class took to streets. COVA is spearheading this campaign in
association with a number of parents’ associations. An Open Forum last
week declared that it is high time the autocracy of the private schools
was checked. Two students’ unions called for a ‘bandh’ on two separate
days. COVA is in the process of enlisting the support of major
political parties against gross commercialization of education and for
improvement of government school system.

 If the state shows lack of
political will to provide basic services like education and health to
its citizens, you and I have to raise our voice to improve the state of
affairs. Apart from systemic changes, individuals too have their
responsibility and can make a difference to the system. Please spare 10 minutes to read the enclosed attachment.

In solidarity for peace, harmony and social justice,

COVA

Apex court allows razing of Lucknow jail

New Delhi, July 8 (Inditop.com) The Supreme Court Wednesday allowed
the Uttar Pradesh government to raze a 195-acre jail besides the
Ambedkar Park in the heart of Lucknow city for construction of an
ecological park there
.

 State Advocate General
P.C. Mishra sought to assure the court that the new ecological park
will have neither statues nor memorials of anybody.

Mishra also sought to convince the court that the new jail on the outskirts of Lucknow will be much more spacious.

“A total of 4,660 prisoners can be housed in the new jail, while the old one had just 2,000-odd prisoners,” said Mishra.

The bench gave the order on a lawsuit by the state government
challenging May 14 order of the Allahabad High Court that had denied
permission to demolish the jail.

SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY


Now, 2,000 sq feet replica of Ambedkar Memorial

Lucknow Barely ten days after Chief Minister Mayawati inaugurating the
‘Pratibimb’ alongwith 14 other memorial structures, the 2,000-square
feet miniature replica of the Ambedkar Memorial has come up within the
complex in Gomti Nagar.
Displaying the layout of the memorial on a slanted plywood board, it
has replicas of all the structures in the complex and is flanked by
the statues of Mayawati and her mentor Kanshiram.

The two temporary statues, made of fibre, will soon be replaced with
24-feet-high bronze ones, each costing Rs 1.5 crore.


The model stands at the end of the 200-metre-long elephant gallery,
partly on the land which was incorporated after demolishing the
Bhimrao Ambedkar stadium last year.

The Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam has prepared the foundation of
Pratibimb, which will have a vast rectangular base, with steps on all
four sides leading to the top platform of over 5,000-square feet on
which the model has been created.

The base and the steps have been covered with granite slabs.
 An official associated with the project said: “The main
structure of Pratibimb will have a slope in front of it to give
support to the display board. After construction, the structure will
be covered with pink sandstone.”

According to sources, the replica was ordered when the government
decided to inaugurate the projects on July 3. The plan, however, went
haywire when Mayawati decided to inaugurate Pratibimb, along with 14
other projects, suddenly on June 25 in the wake of a PIL challenging
the installation of her statues.

Memorials open from 10 am to 6 pm
From now on, memorials, spots and parks in Lucknow will remain open
from 10 am to 6 pm for public view. On Mondays, these will remain
closed. Mukesh Kumar Meshram, member secretary of the Memorial, Spot
and Institutions Management, Protection and Maintenance Committee,
said entry to these places will be free till further orders.

Bramhnical/Manuwadi 
propaganda machinery :

The Manuwadi lies manufacturing and distribution
machinery is at it again. I don’t know which school of journalism the
journalists in manuwadi print and electronic media get themselves
trained ( if at all they do ) in journalism. They all have same
straight line of thoughts which lacks imagination and journalistic
accumen. Since last fortnight the manuwadi media is flooded
with articles, news and opinions against the memorials of SC/ST
Bahujan icons constructed by Uttar Pradesh government. All of them just
making one allegation that UP government is wasting public money in
constructing statues and parks at the cost of welfare of people. This
is nothing but concoction of lies by deliberately hiding the real
facts. The Manuwadis allege that Rs. 3000 Cr is being spent on Parks
and Statues. Even if that is true, with an yearly budget of about 1.5
Lac Crores, this amount comes to 2 % of  yearly budgetary provisions.
Since the provision for the expenditure
on memorials would have been made over years, this expenditure would come to less than 1% of yearly budget.

1 % expenditure to correct the historical wrong and
injustice meted out to SC/ST Bahujan icons by the bramhinwadis/
manuwadis of congress, BJP and SP, and to honour the great
contributions of the SC/ST Bahujan heroes by constructing their
memorials ,is a small price that 85 % of the SC/ST Bahujans of India
are ready to pay happily.


As Bahen Mayawati has rightly said , in past, if the bramhinwadi/
manuwadi congress had had given due respect to the SC/ST Bahujan icons
and honoured their revolutionary contributions, Bahen Mayawati would
not have had to do this work herself. Bahen Mayawati has to do what she
is doing, is  because the bramhnical/manuwadi congress went on
building memorials/statues , naming roads, educational institutions,
parks, in name of tom dick and harries of nehru, gandhi family,
throughout the country, projecting them as big heroes and forgetting
the real heroes like Mahatma Phule, Ramaswami Periyar, Narayan Guru,
Birsa Munda, Chatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Savitri Mai Phule, Matoshri
Ramamai Ambedkar and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.

Would the bramhnical/manuwadi congress let the nation
know as to why it’s government could not provide a land for Samadhi of
Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in Delhi ?


 Would they let the nation know why Chaityabhoomi - Samadhi of
Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar could not get an inch more than meagre just 2
Guntas in Mumbai in last 53 years inspite of continuous pleas by the
Ambedkarites ?

Would
the bramhnical/manuwadi congress let the nation know how much of prime
land in national capital they have wasted for samadhis of M K Gandhi,
Jawahar Nehru, Rajeev and Sanjay Gandhi, Indira bai, Kamla Nehru, etc.
?

With current market price, what is the cost of this prime land in delhi

How much of public money they have squandered on maintenance of these samadhis ?

 Did the corrupt congresswalas spent any money from their
ill gotten loot stashed in swiss banks to maintain these samadhis or it
was the money spent from the public exchequer at the cost of welfare of
the poor ?


Just to give idea of great developmental and welfare
work UP government is doing under stewardship of BSP Supremo bahen
Mayawati, following are the various developmental plans of UP
government for year 2009-2010. These facts exposes the concocted lies
being planted by the bramhnical/manuwadi media.

Facts of UP Government’s  plans in budget for 2009-2010  for Public welfare :

 A provision of Rs. 9,400 crore has been made for the
various schemes being implemented for the social security and welfare
of weaker and deprived sections of society, which is 29 per cent more
than the provision made in the last years budget.


Mahamaya Garib Balika Ashirvad Yojana has been launched to
  make the girls self-dependent and develop a positive
thinking in society to their birth, besides encouraging adult
marriages. An amount of Rs. 900 crore has been earmarked in the budget
for 2009-10 for the purpose.


Savitri Bai Phule Balika Shiksha Madad Yojana has been
launched to encourage girl education of the BPL families. An amount of
Rs. 412 crore has been provided in the budget


A provision of Rs. 1,704 crore has been made under the
Oldage/ Kisan Pension Scheme to cover all eligible old people above 60
years.


A provision of
Rs. 120 crore has been made in this budget to ease the burden of debt
on poor and unemployed beneficiaries of scheduled castes (SC), whose
loans under several self-employment schemes are more than 10 years old
and are unable to repay them


Rs. 117 crore has been earmarked for providing financial
assistance for the marriage and treatment of girls belonging to poor families.


About 1.37 crore students belonging to SC/ST and General
categories studying in pre-10th and post 10th classes will be benefited
under the Pre-10th and Post 10th Scholarship Scheme. An amount of Rs.
1,193 crore has been earmarked for the purpose


Infrastructure

 A provision of Rs. 9,846 crore has been made in the
budget for various schemes under implementation for increasing the
power generation capacity and improving the power supply system.

A provision of Rs. 7,657 crore made for roads and bridges in budget for 2009-10
Provision of Rs. 3,609 crore proposed for the construction of
rural roads.

Target has been fixed to purchase 2,209 buses in 2009-10.

 Provision of Rs. 6,231 crore made in the budget for
irrigation and flood control projects, which is about 14 percent more
than last year.


An
amount of Rs. 4,845 crore provided in the budget for housing, drinking
water, sewerage and other urban development programme under urban
infrastructure, which is 27 percent more than the provision made last
year

Provision of Rs.
1,250 crore made in the budget for houses to the urban poor free of
cost under Manyawar Shri Kanshiram Ji Shahari Garib Awas Yojana. Target
for construction of one lakh one thousand houses under the scheme


An amount of Rs. 200 crore earmarked in the budget for interest free loan to urban bodies for expansion of
infrastructure facilities and development works under Manyawar Shri Kanshiram Ji Nagar Vikas Yojana


Social Infrastructure -


 Provision of Rs. 19,037 crore made in the budget for the
education sector, which is 42 percent more than last year

At least one Girls High School to be opened in each
development block in partnership with private management in 426
identified development blocks in 2009-10 to provide secondary level
education to girls


About
3,000 new primary schools, 710 new junior high schools and 10,000
additional class-rooms will be constructed in 2009-10.


Target for construction of boundary walls of 14,000 schools and
electrification of 42,000 schools fixed under Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan Yojana in 2009-10


Provision of Rs. 1,211 crore made in 2009-10 for
Government Degree Colleges, aided and non-government degree colleges,
state universities and other higher education programmes

State Quality Assurance Agency will be set up to
evaluate the quality of higher education in Universities and Degree
Colleges


Five New Indian Information Technology Institutes are proposed to be set up.

Medical and Health :

An amount of Rs. 6,503 crore has been made in the budget
for Medical, Health and Family Welfare Schemes, which is 16 percent
more than the last year.

Budgetary provisions of Rs. 85 crore made for the construction of PHCs
and Rs. 290 crore for CHCs buildings in 2009-10.


A provision of Rs. 1240 crore made in the budget of
2009-10 for Family Welfare Programme, which is 25 percent more than
last year.


An amount of
Rs. 1,239 crore provided for Allopathic Medical Colleges, Medical
University and super specialty Medical Institutes.


An amount of Rs. 300 crore provided for State’s share
in the National Rural Health Mission, which is 28 percent more than
last year


Provision of Rs. 362 crore in the budget for Ayurvedic and Unani hospitals.

Provision of Rs. 184 crore made for the construction,
strengthening and up-gradation of Homoeopathic Medical Colleges and
Government Homeopathic Hospitals.


Women and Child Development :

With the objective of making girls self-dependent,
developing a positive attitude in society on their birth and to promote
adult marriages Mahamaya Garib Balika Ashirwad Yojana has been
launched. Under the scheme a provision of Rs. 150 crore in the
financial year 2008-09 and Rs.900 crore for the financial year 2009-10
has been made.


A
provision of Rs. 561 crore has been made under grant scheme for the
education of widows and their children. This will benefit 15 lakh 63
thousand destitute women.

Under Integrated Child Development Programme a sum of Rs. 1708 crore has been earmarked
Provision of Rs.
1022 crore has been made in the financial year 2009-10 to benefit 2 crore 26 lakh beneficiaries under Supplementary Meal Scheme

Rural development :

Under Dr. Ambedkar Gram Sabha Vikas Yojana a target of
six lakh for BPL and approximately one lakh individual toilets for APL
has been set for the 3712 Dr. Ambedkar Gram Sabhas selected for the
financial year 2009-10. For other village Panchayats a target of 12.89
lakh toilets for BPL families and 1.29 lakh toilets for APL families
has been fixed.


Provision of Rs. 1000 crore proposed for Rural Electrification.

Under the Rural Drinking Water scheme, Accelerated Rural
Drinking Water Scheme and Rural Drinking Water Supply Scheme are being
implemented. In the year 2009-10 budgetary provision of Rs. 378 crore
for Accelerated Rural Drinking Water Schemes has been proposed.


Budgetary provision of Rs. 223 crore has been made for
construction of 2 lakh 85 thousand houses under Indira Awas Yojna


Under Dr. Ambedkar Gram Sabha Development Scheme,
budgetary provision of Rs. 1457 crore under special component plan for
saturating all revenue villages of selected 3712 Gram Sabhas with
electricity and link roads.

For the Rural Infrastructure Development Schemes funded by Rural
Infrastructure Development Fund, a provision of Rs. 1440 crore made for
2009-10 as against Rs. 750 crores for the year 2008-09.


A target of providing employment to 50,000 persons and
generation of 35 lakh man days is fixed which is to be achieved by
increasing fish production to 4.19 lakh tonns with the implementation
of inter regional fisheries development projects in the state.

Industrial Development

Target of establishing 33000 micro and minor
enterprises, will provide employment opportunities to 1.30 lakh people.

 
 Target of providing employment to 30000 weavers by producing 62 crore meter handloom cloth.

Under Mukhya Mantri Gramoodyog Rozgar Scheme, target of
establishing 6500 new village industrial units fixed, which will
provide employment opportunities to 52000 persons


Agriculture and allied activities :

A provision of approximately Rs. 11064 crore year has
been made in this budget for Agriculture and allied activities which is
23 per cent more than the previous year.


 Multi Dimensional Farmer Interest Scheme is being
implemented with the objective of making fallow land cultivable. The
project costing Rs. 171 core will treat 1.40 lakh hectares land per
annum and will create 1.10 crore man days.


 Jayant Ramteke

Mayawati bashes ‘anti-people’ budget


http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/mayawati-bashes-antipeople-budget/485983/

Mayawati bashes ‘anti-people’ budget
Express News Service Posted: Jul 07, 2009 at 0536 hrs

Lucknow Chief Minister Mayawati has dismissed the Union budget as
directionless and anti-people, which has disillusioned all sections of
society.
She said the budget proposals have vindicated her stand that the UPA
government stands only for the rich and privileged sections.

Taking particular exception to the Finance Minister’s proposal for tax
exemption on benami donations received by charitable trusts, Mayawati
said this will encourage generation of black money.

“The budget has not fulfilled the expectations of the poor and weaker
sections of the country and the budgetary arrangements suggest that it
is loaded in favour of capitalists,” she said.

It is full of relief and concessions for rich people, business and the
corporate world. Tax exemption for branded jewellery is one such
proposal which will benefit only big businesses and the corporate
world.

Criticising the Finance Minister for withdrawing the Fringe Benefit
Tax, Mayawati said this was another big concession for the corporate
world. Similarly, for the benefit of the business community, commodity
trade tax has been abolished.

Low income groups had been given only a notional relief in income tax,
while surcharge for tax payers with an annual income of Rs 10 lakh or
more has been abolished.

The Finance Minister had ignored the interests of millions of weavers
who are mostly from the SC/ST and minority communities. Moreover,
instead of providing relief to the handloom sector, the Finance
Minister had imposed eight per cent tax on the handloom products. She
alleged that this would only benefit big companies manufacturing yarn.

The chief minister also said that with the objective of benefiting a
particular business house, the Finance Minister had announced a tax
holiday for companies involved in oil and gas exploration and
production. Though in his speech, the Finance Minister mentioned
electricity in rural areas, he did not announce any specific plan for
the electrification of the villages of SC/STs and poor sections, she
added.

Show me the money


In the run-up to Budget 2009, there
was a demand to increase the allocation of funds for SC/STs in the
country under the Special Component Plan. Whether these demands have
reached him or not, the Finance Minister promptly submitted a budget
which reduced the SCP allocation for 
SC/STs by 18 per cent.

Special Central
Assistance to the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan is the single most important
scheme for the
SC/STs, and the lion’s share of the budget of the
Ministry for Social Justice is generally set aside and it is used
exclusively for the economic upliftment of
SC/STs. What is inexplicable
is that the SCA budget fell from Rs 577.71 crores in 2008-09 to Rs 469
crores in the 2009-10 budget.

Ironically, few
weeks before the budget exercise, the Congress party, in its new found
love for
SC/STs, visited and dined with  SC/STs in their basties in
Uttar Pradesh. Probably in return, the budget launched a new scheme
called Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) with a gap funding of
just ten lakh rupees per village for a thousand villages. This budget
is pittance to what Uttar Pradesh spends under Ambedkar Gram Vikas
Yojana started in 1991 with more than ten thousand villages, from which
the PMAGY is inspired. The budget set aside this year is a mere Rs 100
crores for PMAGY. While this scheme claims that there are 44,000
villages with more than 50 percent SC population in India, the 2001
census shows only 28,672.


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