LIVE: Opposition members sit in protest inside RS after House adjourned

 Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar moved two agriculture sector Bills in the Rajya Sabha on Sunday. These Bills are -- Farmers' and Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020. Both of them were passed by the Lower House with a voice vote a couple of days back.

Hailing the passage of the bills, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had described this proposed legislation as historic and said that they will rid farmers and the farm sector of middlemen and other bottlenecks. The Prime Minister further stated that these agrarian reforms will open new doors for farmers to sell their produce, which will fetch them more profit for their produce.

Farmers in Haryana began their three-hour protest against the agriculture-related farm bills on Sunday. The farmers have started to gather at various places in the state amid elaborate security arrangements which have been made to ensure that the event passes off smoothly. The Bharatiya Kisan Union's Haryana unit, supported by some other farmer outfits, is holding a statewide protest against the Centre's farm bills during which they will block roads for three hours from 12 pm to 3 pm.

The farmers are also joined by the 'arhitiyas' or commission agents during their protest.

Stay tuned for the latest news of the day.

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04:40 PM 

PSBs report frauds worth over Rs 19,964 cr in Apr-Jun, says RBI

Public sector banks (PSBs) reported frauds worth over Rs 19,964 crore in total 2,867 cases during the April-June quarter of the ongoing fiscal year, according to a reply to an RTI query. The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) saw the highest number of fraud cases; however, Bank of India was the worst hit in terms of value, as per a reply from the Reserve Bank on frauds reported by these lenders to RTI activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur.

Of the 12 PSBs, SBI reported the maximum 2,050 fraud cases involving Rs 2,325.88 crore during April-June 2020.

Bank of India took the biggest hit in terms of valuation at Rs 5,124.87 crore in 47 cases, followed by Canara Bank Rs 3,885.26 crore in 33 cases, Bank of Baroda Rs 2,842.94 crore in 60 cases, Indian Bank Rs 1,469.79 crore in 45 cases, Indian Overseas Bank Rs 1,207.65 crore in 37 cases and Bank of Maharashtra Rs 1,140.37 crore in 9 cases.

04:25 PM 

It is a landmark day: Rajnath Singh on passage of farm bills in Rajya Sabha

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hailed the passage of two big ticket farm bills by Rajya Sabha on Sunday, calling it a "landmark day" for India's agriculture sector and farmers.

 

While major opposition parties are against the bills, the government has been maintaining that the proposed legislations will help small and marginal farmers secure competitive prices for their produce.

 

"With the passing of two landmark agriculture Bills in Rajya Sabha today, India has cemented the strong foundation for Atmanirbhar Agriculture'," the defence minister tweeted.

04:11 PM 

Trump backs TikTok deal involving Oracle and Walmart

US President Donald Trump has announced a proposed deal on TikTok involving two American companies - Oracle and Walmart that would allow the US operations of the Chinese video sharing application, which was placed on a ban list due to security concerns.

The deal mandates the creation of a new American company -- incorporated in Texas -- and the prospect of 25,000 new jobs. Further, TikTok will give USD 5 billion to fund the education of American youths.

03:56 PM 

A watershed moment in history: PM Modi on farm bills

03:44 PM 

Ashiana Housing to invest nearly Rs 400 cr on new housing projects

Realty firm Ashiana Housing will invest around Rs 400 crore over the next four years on new housing projects that it plans to launch during this fiscal year, and is also looking for partnerships with landowners for expansion of its business, a top company official said.

 

In an interview with PTI, Delhi-based Ashiana Housing's MD Vishal Gupta said housing sales are recovering gradually post lockdown. "We will launch over 14 lakh sq ft area during this financial year. This will be new phases in existing projects as well as entirely new projects," Gupta said.

03:28 PM 

Opposition members sit in protest inside RS after House adjourned

The Congress and other opposition party member sat in protest inside Rajya Sabha even after the House was adjourned for the day after the passage of two farm bills.

Members of the Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, Left parties and some others sat in protest inside the Rajya Sabha chamber even after it was adjourned.

The House sitting ends at 1 PM and Rajya Sabha chamber has to be sanitised by 3 PM when Lok Sabha sits for a session. Both the chambers of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are being used for each House to allow members to follow physical distancing norms.

Congress chief whip in Rajya Sabha told PTI that the opposition members will continue to sit in Rajya Sabha chamber till 3 PM to lodge their protest against the government's attitude.

03:03 PM 

MHA calls meet to discuss 3 key issues of Assam; Shah, Sonowal to attend

Union Home Ministry has convened a high-level meeting here on Sunday to discuss three key issues of Assam -- the NRC, demand for granting ST status to six communities and report of a committee set up for implementation of a vital clause of the Assam Accord, officials said.

 

A team of top functionaries of the Assam government, led by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, has arrived in Delhi for the meeting. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and top officials of the home ministry will attend it.

02:40 PM 

Karnataka's new industrial policy to push mobile production in state to Rs 30K cr: ICEA

The new industrial policy of Karnataka is expected to push mobile production in value terms in the state to Rs 30,000 crore and create 120,000 jobs by 2023, mobile handset and electronics body ICEA said on Sunday.

In August, Karnataka announced New Industrial Policy (NIP) 2020-25 which has a provision to incentivise mobile manufacturing.

The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), whose members include Apple, Winstron, Lava, among others, said specific policy incentives such as production linked incentive of 1 per cent of annual turnover during the policy period for five years is a welcome and bold step by the state government.

02:23 PM 

Karnataka: NDRF carries out rescue operation in Udupi

02:03 PM 

Chaos in Rajya Sabha as it pushes for passage of two farm bills

Rajya Sabha on Sunday witnessed uproarious scenes when some opposition members led by the TMC climbed on to the chairman's podium as the government pushed for the passage of two contentious farm bills.

Slogan-shouting opposition members, including those from the TMC, Congress and Left, created ruckus after Deputy Chairman Harivansh did not consider their demand for a division of votes on a resolution to send the two bills to a select committee.

Amid the ruckus, the House was adjourned briefly.

Earlier, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad demanded that reply to the debate on the two bills be postponed for tomorrow as the scheduled time for sitting on Sunday was over.

FM directs CBI to use director identification number in notices to bankers

Days after Prime Minister NarendraModi asked lenders to take loan decisions without fear, the finance ministry on Saturday tried to allay apprehensions of public sector banks (PSBs) related to investigative agencies by bringing the brass of PSBs and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to the same table.
After the meeting, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the CBI would ensure that all the notices sent by it to bankers carried a director identification number (DIN), as is being done by the income-tax (I-T) department. This, she said, would remove the possibility of unauthorised communication “and consequent harassment”, which was a cause of concern for bankers.

Sitharaman said the CBI brass tried to clear the “misgivings and apprehensions” in the bankers’ minds. “In the recent past, banks have gone through a worrying period, when decision-making became difficult. They were worried about three Cs — the CBI, CVC (Central Vigilance Commission), and CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India). There was concern that there would be undue harassment even if decisions were genuine and bona fide,” she told reporters.
The finance minister will chair similar meetings of bankers and officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and the Enforcement Directorate.
The meeting of bankers with the finance ministry, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the CBI came days after the prime minister and the finance minister asked banks to take decisions fearlessly. The PM, at an event in the national capital, had assured India Inc and bankers that no action would be initiated if genuine commercial decisions turned bad.
Sitharaman said CBI officials told bankers that any fraudulent activities did not automatically mean that the bank staff was involved in those.
To probe on prima facie evidence, the CBI needs the permission of banks. “The CBI does not take up cases of bank frauds until lenders decide to send them to the agency,” she said.
There is an arrangement that any fraudulent activity of above Rs 3 crore will be first checked by an internal committee of the bank concerned. Only when the matter is informed to the Reserve Bank of India, the reference will be made to the CBI, she said.
CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla will hold a separate meeting and workshops with public sector bankers to explain the investigation procedure in detail and the roles that they have to play in it.
The FM further said banks should not sit on old cases, and directed them to form general manager-led committees to expedite the pending cases. “Vigilances cases of the past have accumulated over several years. We have given a clear instruction to banks to go back to GM-level committees and look at the pending vigilance cases. They should either pursue them or close them expeditiously,” Sitharaman said.
While pursuing criminal action against those responsible, the CBI will be sensitive to the distinction between genuine commercial failures and culpability. It was also noted that there was a need for preserving the value of the business enterprise by treating it on a separate footing from culpability of individuals, the finance ministry later said in a statement.
A press release issued by the ministry said banks were advised to devise standard operating procedures for carrying out forensic audit. The Indian Banks’ Association has been told to tie up with the CBI for training forensic auditors, put in place “robust arrangements for assessing adherence to standards by forensic auditors”, and strengthen the forensic auditor empanelment process.
FM directs CBI to use director identification number in notices to bankers

Rahul Bajaj says firms don't dare criticise Modi govt; Amit Shah responds

Indian businesses are worried about repercussions should they criticise Prime Minister NarendraModi’s administration, billionaire Rahul Bajaj said in a rare display of a corporate leader expressing reservations about the government publicly.
“None of our industrial friends will speak about it, but I’ll say that openly,” Bajaj told an audience in Mumbai on Saturday that included one of Modi’s most-trusted aides, Amit Shah. “You’re doing a good job, but despite that, we’re not confident you’ll appreciate if we openly criticise you.”

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was reported as saying on Friday that there is “profound fear and distrust among our various economic participants” ranging from industrialists to policy makers and bankers. Some have said that Modi’s government, which came to power in 2014, poses a threat to India’s traditions of tolerance and public debate.
Bajaj, 81, is chairman of Bajaj Auto, the world’s largest maker of three-wheelers. He attended Harvard Business School and also owns stakes in an investment company and an insurance firm. His grandfather, Jamnalal Bajaj, an Indian independence fighter and Mahatma Gandhi confidant, founded the group in 1926.
Shah, who is home minister, pushed back against Bajaj’s remarks at the event organised by the Economic Times newspaper.
“I don’t think anyone will believe people are scared after you asked this question,” said Shah, who holds what’s considered India’s second-most important job. “The government has been run in the most transparent way, and we’re not afraid of any sort of opposition.”
India is saddled with the slowest economic growth in more than six years as consumers curb spending, businesses hold back on investments and export demand slumps.

Pak denial of airspace to PM: India takes up issue with International body

India has taken up Pakistan's denial of use of its airspace to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flight with the International Civil Aviation Organisation, government sources said on Monday.
Modi is travelling to Saudi Arabia later in the day on a bilateral visit. India has sought overflight clearance from Pakistan for the prime minister's aircraft to go to Saudi Arabia.

Sources said India regrets Pakistan's decision to yet again deny overflight clearance for the VVIP special flight which is otherwise granted routinely by any normal country.
India has taken up the issue of denial of overflight clearance with the relevant international civil aviation body, they said.
"Overflight clearances are sought, and granted by other countries as per prescribed ICAO guidelines," said a source.
India will continue to seek such overflight clearances, sources said.
Citing alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan on Sunday denied India's request to allow Modi's aircraft to move in its airspace for his visit to Saudi Arabia.
In a statement on Sunday, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Pakistan has decided to not allow Prime Minister Modi to use the country's airspace, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.
He said the decision has been taken in context of the "black day" and in view of the alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, it added.

Govt's mega bank overhaul may hurt NPA clean-up, fight against growth slump

India’s biggest bank overhaul in decades may hurt the nation’s bad loan clean-up and slow the lending approvals needed to reverse its economic slump.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government late Friday surprised observers by announcing several state bank mergers, a move it said would create larger, healthier lenders. While that may be true in the long-term, analysts predict that the efforts may be hurt by a near-term shift in management attention to aligning resources such as personnel, technology and branch networks.
“Recent precedence shows the amalgamation process takes up to six months and management bandwidth of the merging banks may get occupied," said Anil Gupta, who oversees financial sector ratings at ICRA Ltd, the local unit of Moody’s Investors Service. “The amalgamation will require harmonisation of asset quality and provisioning levels among the merging banks, and may spike up the credit provisions this year."
ALSO READ: How technology integration, regional synergies drove bank merger plan
The merged lenders, which control more than half the assets held by Indian banks, will get Rs 552.5 billion ($7.7 billion) of capital to jumpstart the process. Still, that may not be enough to keep money flowing into the economy given India continues its struggle to contain the world’s worst pile of stressed loans despite $37 billion of handouts over three years.
Another risk is that credit growth again plummets as it did in 2016, when a shock cash ban by Modi made bankers responsible for exchanging old bills for new, leaving them no time to dispense loans. Such a slowdown would further damage an economy already growing at the slowest pace in six years.
Business may also be disrupted by strikes threatened by the banks’ employee unions, who fear that the consolidation will result in fewer branches and job opportunities.

ALSO READ: Not a single job will be lost due to merger of banks: Nirmala Sitharaman
“All nine bank unions will meet on September 11 in Delhi and decide a timeline of protests against the mergers, including agitation and prolonged strikes,” CH Venkatachalam, general secretary of the All India Bank Employees’ Association, the largest union covering 400,000 staff, said by phone. The government’s announcement is “diverting attention from the economic slowdown to the merger of banks," he said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sprang the merger announcement just minutes before official data confirmed a fifth straight quarter of slowing economic growth, with expansion coming in at a much-weaker-than-expected 5%. Under the hood, the numbers offer more cause for concern on whether output – once adjusted for inflation -- will increase fast enough to ensure borrowers cover their interest payments.
Any more debt repayment delays or defaults risk reversing an expected recovery in India’s gross bad loan ratio and worsen a widening shadow bank crisis.
ALSO READ: Economic slowdown: Govt is curing problem from wrong side, says Pronab Sen
The government decided to go ahead with the mergers now because the banks are almost adequately capitalised, there will be no disruption to business, and no bank employee will be hurt by the process, Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar said in an interview.
“The idea is that supply side needs to be put in place whenever the sectoral stresses are over and demand picks up," he said, citing a roadmap offered by the earlier merger of Bank of Baroda with Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank.
That combination didn’t significantly reduce bad loans, leading to investors continuing to sell Bank of Baroda shares, said Abhimanyu Sofat, head of research at IIFL Securities Ltd. The lender has lost 31% of its market value since the merger was first announced about a year ago, compared with a 1.1% gain in the S&P BSE Bankex index.
ALSO READ: PSBs consolidation building block for $5 trillion economy: Finance secy
Mona Khetan, an analyst at Reliance Securities Ltd, says the latest planned mergers will help the banks scale up but issues including personnel and non-performing debt could impact interim profitability.
“It is likely that management attention and bandwidth of the entities being merged could get split, impacting loan growth,” said Prakash Agarwal, who heads the financial institutions group at India Ratings and Research, the local unit of Fitch Ratings. ‘The current mergers may face more friction than the last one.”

Jobs in exchange for consumers: India offers sensible bargain to the world

The beleaguered Indian economy is finally making a sensible bargain with the rest of the world: “Take our billion-plus customers, give us jobs.”
Under a new foreign direct investment policy announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government Wednesday, India is undertaking its biggest liberalisation of single-brand retail in seven years. One major concession: Contentious local sourcing requirements will need to be met as an average for the first five-year period, not annually.
That’s a big help to Apple Inc, which will no longer have to struggle with a 30% local procurement norm to open its long-awaited own store in India and will now have time to scale up what it buys from Taiwanese contractor Wistron Corp’s Bangalore factory.
Nor will it be necessary for companies to back every dollar of Indian revenue with 30 cents of domestic sourcing. The likes of Ikea or H&M already source from India for their stores globally. But now they’ll get credit for it.
ALSO READ: FDI norms eased for single brand retail, digital media, manufacturing
Ikea, for instance, has previously said that it might be buying $667 million in furnishings, furniture and trinkets from India by 2020. Under the new rules, it can then sell goods worth $2.2 billion in India annually – even if all of it is made in China or Bangladesh. If it wants more headroom for expansion, it needs to buy more from the country for international markets.
Similarly, Apple, which tests the assembly of its latest iPhone X in a Foxconn Technology Group factory near Chennai, can step up the engagement to include other devices it sells globally.
The reforms have been years in the making. Beset by corruption scandals and accusations of policy paralysis, the previous prime minister, Manmohan Singh, had risked splintering his unwieldy coalition government in 2012 to open up the closely protected consumer market, paving the way for Ikea to finally open its first store in India in 2018 – after a 12-year wait.

ALSO READ: MSMEs must create 50 million jobs in 5 years, says Nitin Gadkari
Singh’s reforms came too late. By the summer of 2013, investors were making a beeline for the exit. His government fell the next year. The situation now has differences and similarities. Having just returned for a second term with a thumping majority, Modi is far more secure politically. But the economy is once again floundering. Six out of eight high-frequency indicators tracked by Bloomberg worsened in July. Auto sales are crashing and a crisis of confidence in the financial industry is threatening to spiral out of control.
With unemployment at a 45-year high and consumption sputtering in rural areas, the three export-oriented industries that can create the most jobs for the country's bulging youth population are textiles, electronics and auto. Multinationals that want a slice of India's spending are being told to help expand the middle class first.
As I wrote recently, New Delhi is no longer in denial, though it doesn’t have a good strategy to counter the slowdown.
The pragmatic stance taken on retail is the first good step that goes beyond damage control and toward filling a strategic gap. To sweeten the deal some more for Apple, New Delhi will allow it to sell online to Indian device buyers as long as the Cupertino, California-based company opens a physical store in two years. An online store for India is something Apple is poised to start within months, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.
ALSO READ: Reform push: Corporate bosses see higher demand and fast recovery
Apple’s eagerness is easy to explain. For one thing, the damage being done to the iPhone’s brand premium through heavy discounting by resellers on marketplaces run by Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc-owned Flipkart will be contained. India is the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market and Apple’s share is less than 2%. However, while demand for $400 to $600 smartphones is currently modest, this top end of the Indian market is still growing at a rapid 16% rate.
To play freely, what can Apple make in India and export to the world? For now, some amount of software (something India is good at) and assembly and packaging of devices may have to suffice. India isn’t really plugged into the global electronics supply chain. The trade war between Washington and Beijing is reshaping things, but those leaving China are more inclined to relocate to Vietnam, where Google may move production of its Pixel smartphone, according to Nikkei. To make a success of the new retail policy, India must shed its notorious reputation of being an exporter-unfriendly place.
Importing components to re-export finished goods is a customs nightmare. For example, the government may deny a waiver of import duty if what came into the country were tires and an axle and what went out was a trailer. With less red tape, and even small improvements in infrastructure, India’s customers-for-jobs bargain could start to pay off.

Chinese telecom firms 'unacceptable security risk' for India: RSS affiliate

A group affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is considered close to the Prime Minister Narendra Narendra Modi's government, has stepped up criticism of Chinese telecom equipment makers, warning that their presence in India posed "an unacceptable security risk".
The RSS's economic wing has been campaigning to keep Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies out of India's plans to install the next-generation 5G cellular network.

But now it is extending the campaign to other Chinese telecom equipment makers.
"India must recognise the full extent of the national and economic security threat posed by foreign and especially Chinese equipment in India's ICT (information and communication technology) networks," said Ashwani Mahajan, who heads economic wing of the RSS, known as Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), in a statement on Sunday.
"China today controls a significant section of India's telecom networks even though information dominance is at the core of China's military strategy, posing an unacceptable security risk," Mahajan said.
Huawei is at the centre of a tug-of-war between China and the United States. US President Donald Trump's administration put the company on a blacklist in May, citing national security concerns.
The RSS's economic wing has had significant influence on Indian government investment policy in the past year, especially in getting new regulations in place to protect small traders from US owned e-commerce companies Amazon.com Inc and Walmart's Flipkart.
China is India's second biggest trading partner. Chinese products - from mobile phones made by companies such as Xiaomi Corp to televisions and air conditioners - are ubiquitous in India.
In October, Modi will host Chinese President Xi Jinping in Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, where the two are expected to address trade issues including India's concerns about its $53 billion trade deficit with China in the year to March 2019.
Mahajan said earlier this month that India was unlikely to sign a China-backed Asia-Pacific trade pact because of opposition from industry and farmers, in a blow to prospects for creating a giant free trade zone.

India's path to become a $5 trillion economy passes through UP: Amit Shah

India’s path to become a $5 trillion economy passes through Uttar Pradesh, said home minister Amit Shah on Sunday in Lucknow where a ground-breaking ceremony began work on 292 projects worth Rs 65,000.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had spurred competition among states for attracting investments and introducing their ranks in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index, said Shah.

“Earlier, it was said the path for becoming the country’s Prime Minister passed through Lucknow. However, the path for India to become $5 trillion economy also traverses through Lucknow,” he said about the state capital.
“When PM Modi talked about the $5 trillion dream, there were voices of dissent. However, the Modi government during 2014-19 had already laid a strong foundation for achieving the target,” he said.
India was world’s 11th biggest economy in 2004 when the BJP government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee lost power. “When we came to power in 2014, the country was still on the same place and the previous dispensation was taking pride that India did not slide further in their regime,” Shah said, referring to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
Shah said Chief Minister Adityanath’s government had changed the perception about Uttar Pradesh by improving the rule of law and controlling crime.
“When Yogi ji was selected to lead the state in 2017, some people had called me up to say that he (Yogi) lacked past administrative and political experience to lead a big state like UP. But, Modi ji and I were convinced of his abilities springing out of diligence and full commitment,” he said about the BJP leader.
The ground-breaking started work on projects in agriculture, tourism, micro small and medium enterprises (MSME), excise, healthcare, power, textile, urban development, science & technology, green energy, and other fields.
Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, Tata Sons chief N Chandrasekaran, Lulu Group chairman Yusuf Ali, Pepsico India chief Ahmed El Sheikh, and Samsung Electronics Southwest Asia president and CEO H C Hong were guests at the ceremony.
These projects are part of the Rs 4.68 trillion worth of 1,047 memorandums of understanding the Adityanath government signed with public and private sector companies at the ‘UP Investors Summit’ in Lucknow on February 21-22.

VDO.AI

2019 polls: Govt planning monthly income support, cash handout for farmers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is studying three options, including a cash handout for farmers, people with knowledge of the matter said, as his administration seeks to ease an agrarian distress and shore up popular support ahead of next year’s general election.
The government is weighing options including a monthly income support program for farmers, a cash handout plan for the shortfall between the actual sale price and state-set procurement rate and a revamped crop insurance program, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified as they aren’t authorized to speak to the media. The final program could be one of these or a combination of all three.

The plan for the handout comes soon after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was voted out in key state elections this month, forcing Modi to draw up a course correction before federal polls due by May. The government, which has already exceeded the annual budget gap aim, has little room for spending in the current year, having forgone some tax revenue on goods and services following the defeat.
The income support program involves a certain amount as monthly payout to farmers and could benefit as many as 150 million farm households, a key bloc that can influence the election outcome.
Distress Sales
In July, the government raised support prices of crops such as cotton, soybeans and paddy rice to ensure farmers get at least 50 per cent more than the estimated production costs. While that has largely failed to shield farmers from distress sales due to lack of sufficient state procurement, the government now plans to pay cash to farmers if their produce sells at a discount to the government-set rates.
Modi’s Pledge on Farm Income Wilts as India Crop Prices Drop
Another alternative being considered is a revamp of the crop insurance program.
The changes could include a reduction in premium paid by farmers, inclusion of more crops to avail state incentives and bringing tenant farmers under the cover.
Finance ministry spokesman DS Malik didn’t respond to two calls made to his mobile phone. An agriculture ministry spokeswoman declined to comment.
ALSO READ: Inflation remained within comfort zone for most of 2018, but farmers hit
Modi, who is seeking a second term, has to win over farmers before the election. They have been hit by falling crop prices and rising input costs, forcing them to hit the streets seeking debt waivers and protection from distress sales. Add to it, the pressure from opposition Indian National Congress which waived off farm loans after wresting power from the BJP in three states earlier this month.
The income support program could help reduce poverty in a country that’s home to a third of the world’s poor and still spends less than 2 per cent of its gross domestic product on social security.
With the government already exceeding its budgeted annual deficit in October, any sops will need to be balanced with possible reductions in spending to achieve the fiscal gap target of 3.3 per cent of gross domestic product.

PM Modi pays tribute to 2004 tsunami victims in Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid floral tributes to the victims of the 2004 tsunami at a memorial in Car Nicobar here on Sunday.
The Prime Minister who reached the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Saturday evening is scheduled to meet tribal chiefs and attend a public function at BJR stadium in Car Nicobar.

Later in the day, Modi will hold a review meeting with the local administration at Raj Bhawan, Port Blair, and hoist a high mast flag at South Point Sea Shore.
He will visit the cellular jail at Port Blair and pay tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to mark the 75th year of the freedom fighter's historic visit to the islands and the hoisting of the national flag at Port Blair.
At the Netaji Stadium, the prime minister will release a commemorative postal stamp and coin. He will also release the innovation and start-up policy for the islands.
The prime minister will inaugurate a 7 MW solar power plant, and solar village. He will also lay the foundation stone for a number of development projects and address a gathering.