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BJP putting everyone in jail to win polls: Mamata Banerjee

Santipur, Feb 1 (PTI) A day after her Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged land scam case, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged that the BJP was imprisoning opposition leaders to win the upcoming general elections. Speaking at a public distribution programme at Santipur in Nadia district, Banerjee said even if she was put behind bars, she would come out of it. “BJP is putting everyone in jail only to win the election,” Banerjee said. She reiterated that while her party was eager to form an alliance with the

Govt allocates 4.55 trln rupees for food, fertiliser, employment subsidies

NEW DELHI, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Government will spend 4.55 trillion rupees ($54.84 billion) on subsidies for food, fertilisers and rural employment schemes in the fiscal year starting April 1, down 7% from the current financial year, an official budget document showed on Thursday. The Asian country has budgeted food subsidy for the financial year starting April 1 at 2.05 trillion rupees, a decrease of 3.3% from this year’s estimated 2.12 trillion rupees. The fertiliser bill declined by 13% to 1.63 trillion rupees from an estimated 1.88 trillion rupees for the ongoing financial year. The outgo on the Mahatma Gandhi

No changes in tax rates for direct, indirect taxes: FM

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said there are no changes in tax rates for direct and indirect taxes, including import duties. She also said the number of tax filers has swollen 2.4 times and the direct tax collection has trebled since 2014. The processing time of tax returns has been reduced from 93 days in FY14 to 10 days; and refunds have been made faster, she said. The government continues to be on the path of fiscal consolidation to reduce fiscal deficit to 4.5 pc in 2025-26. She added that the tax base of

Finance Minister promises reforms to drive growth

NEW DELHI, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promised economic reforms to drive growth in a speech on the government’s budget on Thursday, the last before a national election due by May. India’s economy, the fastest growing among major nations, is going through profound change, Sitharaman said to the thumping of desks in parliament. The interim budget for 2024/25 is being seen as an economic manifesto for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party and will give clues to the market on its plans for fiscal consolidation, borrowings and future taxation policy. “The next five years will be years

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