Cabinet may consider hike in dearness allowance of Central Govt employees in a meeting today

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet is expected to meet this evening to consider a 7 per cent hike in the Dearness Allowance (DA) of Central government employees.

Once approved, it will benefit over 52 lakh government employees.

The Cabinet will also take a decision on computerisation of the Public Distribution System (PDS). A Food Ministry proposal seeks to digitise ration cards and fully computerise the PDS network especially at the back-end.

Also, a bailout package for state power distribution companies is on the cards. The Cabinet is likely to consider a proposal for debt recasting of power distribution companies.

The meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI), scheduled for Friday, were postponed apparently in view of the rapid political developments in the aftermath of the government's decision to hike diesel prices and operationalise its earlier move to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi- brand retail.

The hike in dearness allowance will be effective from July 1, 2012, and the employees would be entitled to arrears from that date.

The additional burden on exchequer on account of increase in DA would be around R

s.

 5,000 crore for the eight-month period between July, 2012 and February, 2013. It will be R

s.

 7,400 crore for the full financial year.

The government had last increased DA in March this year from 58 per cent to 65 per cent, which was effective from January 1, 2012. It will now be increased to 72 per cent.

The government periodically hikes the DA, which is linked to consumer price index for industrial workers. The consumer price index (CPI) based on movement in retail prices, soared to 10.03 per cent in August, from 9.86 per cent in July.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/cabinet-may-consider-hike-in-dearness-allowance-of-central-govt-employees-in-a-meeting-today-271232?pfrom=home-otherstories

Anna Hazare will be back with us in three-four months, says Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Less than a week after splitting with Anna Hazare, anti-graft activist Arvind Kejriwal today said that the Gandhian will be back with him in another "three-four months" if he can work honestly in politics. 

"He will come back in three-four months once he sees our honest and dedicated work," Mr Kejriwal said today at Jantar Mantar, where he led a protest against hike in power tariffs, alleging that the Delhi government and private discoms were out to loot people.

 

"Everybody's been saying Anna's left us. Anna has not left us, he's in our hearts. He just thinks politics is dirty. We think there's no option but to enter and do a cleanup. We have immense respect for Anna," Mr Kejriwal said.

"I've been forced to enter politics. I'm not doing it out of choice," he added.

Earlier this week, Anna had asked the Kejriwal-led group not to use his name or poster during its campaign as a political group. Anna, 75, and his supporters, including Kiran Bedi, parted ways with the Kejriwal-led group on September 19 over the anti-graft activists deciding to launch a political party.

Mr Kejriwal and his group gathered at Jantar Mantar this afternoon and shouted slogans against Congress-led Delhi government and private discoms. They also burnt electricity bills.

The protest, which is being seen as a prelude to an entry into politics formally, demonstrated keenness of the Kejriwal-led group to fight Delhi Assembly elections slated next year as it targeted Sheila Dikshit's Congress government in the national capital.

However, today's protest did not attract the kind of response which earlier protests by India Against Corruption used to witness; around a 1000-odd people turned up.

Besides Mr Kejriwal, other prominent activists who attended today's protest were Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Kumar Vishwas and Sanjay Singh.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/anna-hazare-will-be-back-with-us-in-three-four-months-says-arvind-kejriwal-271108?pfrom=home-otherstories

Voda mulls $2.2bn tax provision

NEWBURY: Vodafone Group, which has resisted setting aside money for a $2.2 billion tax bill in India, may make a provision to cover the legal risks, chief financial officer Andy Halford said in an interview. The world's second-largest mobile-phone operator is consulting on the need for a provision after an amendment by India's government to its tax law made the company potentially liable for the payment, Halford said. A decision will be made by November, he said.

"The situation has changed and we are looking at it," Halford said from Vodafone's headquarters in Newbury, England. The company's test over whether to take a provision "is now being applied differently against a recently introduced, albeit retrospective, legislation."

The potential tax payment would add to Vodafone's costs of investing in the second-largest wireless market. The operator in January defeated the initial government demand for taxes stemming from its 2007 acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa's Indian operations in the country's top court. In March, the government unveiled an amendment to the law to retrospectively tax cross-border transactions dating back to April 1, 1962. Vodafone's shares fell as much as 1.5% to 173.30 pence and traded 1.3% lower as of 10:24 am in London. The stock is the biggest decliner by index points on the FTSE 100 Index, which slipped 0.4%.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/international-business/Voda-mulls-2-2bn-tax-provision/articleshow/16443524.cms