Category: UNCLASSIFIED

Were you tempted by the Rs 2,900 Akash tablet, or the Rs 3,250 Penta tablet from BSNL, but put off by their resistive touch-screen displays? Help is at hand, in the form of Wishtel, an Indian company that has brought in a decent capacitive-touch tablet at Rs 5,500. The Wishtel IRA and ‘IRA Thing’ tablets […]

The following are the proposals related to the development of infrastructure and industry, contained in the Union Budget 2012-13 presented today. Infrastructure  Government has approved guidelines for establishing joint venture companies by defence PSUs in PPP mode.  First Infrastructure Debt Fund with an initial size of `8,000 crore launched earlier this month.  […]

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has suggested putting a limit of 6 minutes per hour for advertisements on pay channels. The Authority, which issued a consultation paper in this regard today, also suggested putting a cap of 12 minutes per hour on ads in free-to-air channels, like Doordarshan. In live sports events, it […]

Prices are again on the upward spiral, going by the latest consumer price index (CPI) numbers released by the Central Government today. The CPI is calculated on the basis of country-wide surveys by the National Sample Survey, the government survey agency, and is now being released on a per-state basis as well. Consumer prices rose […]

If you thought being a member of the legislative assembly, with a salary between Rs 5,000 to 50,000 a month, is bad for your financial health, think again. Every month, the MLAs increased their assets by 3 to 6 lakhs on average, according to a comparison of asset declarations made by MLAs at the time […]

Corruption and financial or political scandals are the biggest worries for 71 percent Indians, according to a global poll by Ipsos – a leading global market research company. Terrorism (38%) is the 2nd biggest worry followed by Crime and Violence (34%); Poverty and Social Inequality (31%); Unemployment and jobs (28%); high tax rate (15%); and […]

In just three months, a total of 112 websites belonging to various government bodies, including that of BSNL, were hacked, the ministry of communications and IT, headed by Kapil Sibal, told the Lok Sabha today. The ministry, currently on an ambitious project to build an organization to monitor online traffic, was replying to a question […]

Despite raising a hullabaloo over getting access to blackberry encrypted messages for the last three years, the government is yet to get the ability to check such messages, it said on Wednesday. While it was assumed that it now has the capacity to ‘screen’ all communications going in and out of India, the new statement […]

IDEA Cellular said it has extended its 3G services to all the districts in Kerala. Idea has now launched 3G services in the Idukki district, in towns such as Adimali, Munnar, Kattapana, Thekkady, Mayiladumpara, Anakara, Cheruthony, Kumily, Thadiyampadu and Nedumkandam, the company said. Idukki is one of the most difficult and backward districts in the […]

After nearly two decades, Iraqi Airways will restart its flights to India, starting with Mumbai. Direct flights between India and Iraq were stopped during the first Gulf War in 1990-91. The first flight from Baghdad and the holy city of Najaf will arrive in Mumbai on 18th March, 2012, a statement from Iraqi Airlines said. […]

G Haridutt, the CBI investigating officer who set alarm bells ringing in the higher echelons of the Kerala police with his stinging report on the death in custody of murder-accused Sampath, has been found dead in his apartment. Haridutt had repeatedly expressed fear to the Courts that he was being targeted by the higher ups […]

Tax proposals for 2012-13 mark progress in the direction of movement towards DTC and GST in the budget 2012-13  DTC rates proposed to be introduced for personal income tax.  Exemption limit for the general category of individual taxpayers proposed to be enhanced from `1,80,000 to `2,00,000 giving tax relief of `2,000.  Upper […]

30% of the 6,500 scientist posts in India’s premier agricultural research body is lying vacant, according to minister of state for agriculture Harish Rawat. Nearly 1,960 scientist posts, mostly at the level of ‘Senior Scientists’ are lying vacant in the Indian Council for Agircultural Research (ICAR), the minister said in response to a query by […]

The Budget 2012-13 envisions total tax income in excess of Rs 10.7 lakh crore, while expenditure of more than Rs 14.9 lakh crore.  Gross Tax Receipts estimated at `10,77,612 crore.  Net Tax to Centre estimated at `7,71,071 crore.  Non-tax Revenue Receipts estimated at `1,64,614 crore.  Non-debt Capital Receipts estimated at `41,650 […]

The following are the highlights of the Union Budget proposals with regard to all indirect taxes — including service tax, custom duties, excise and all other central taxes.  Standard rate of excise duty to be raised from 10 per cent to 12 per cent, merit rate from 5 per cent to 6 per cent […]

The following are the main proposals in the Union Budget for 2012-13 that relate to Agriculture:  Plan Outlay for Department of Agriculture and Co-operation increased by 18 percent.  Outlay for Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) increased to `9,217 crore in 2012-13.  Initiative of Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI) – Allocation […]

Hiring activity in India hit a record high in February, according to the latest readings of the Naukri.com Job Speak index. The Index hit a record level of 1209 — indicating that hiring levels were about 20% higher than in July 2008, which forms the base month for the index. It had previously hit a […]