Cabinet approves Union Budget for 2020-21
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday approved the Budget for the financial year beginning April 1, that may see measures to lift the economy from the worst economic slowdown in 11 years.
Before coming to Parliament for presenting her second budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team met President Ram Nath Kovind.
She was accompanied by Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur and top officials of her ministry including Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar.
"As per tradition, Finance Minister @nsitharaman calls on President Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan before presenting the Union Budget," tweeted the President of India's handle along with two photographs from the meeting.
Like last year, Sitharaman opted for a traditional red-coloured 'bahi-khata' to carry budget documents.
Dressed in a crisp yellow silk saree, she posed for cameramen at the Parliament House gate with the budget documents wrapped in a red silk cloth, adorned with a golden Indian emblem.
Facing the worst economic slowdown in more than a decade, Sitharaman is expected to pull out all stops to spur consumer demand and investment, government sources and economists said.
The real gross domestic product (GDP) growth is estimated to fall to an 11-year low of 5 per cent in FY20 from 6.1 per cent in FY19. Estimated nominal growth at 7.5 per cent in FY20 is the lowest since 1975-76 (FY76) as per the FY12-based GDP series.
Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growth turned positive but remained low at 1.8 per cent in November 2019 after contracting by (-) 4 per cent in October 2019.
Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation increased to a 65-month high of 7.4 per cent in December 2019, its fifth sequential rise, mainly due to persistently rising vegetable prices.
Also, growth in bank credit fell to a 25-month low of 8 per cent in November 2019.
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Road crash in UP leaves 10 dead
Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) (PTI): Ten people were killed when a van collided head-on with a truck on the Sisaiya-Lakhimpur national highway on Monday, police said.
The van was going to Sisaiya from Lakhimpur when the accident took place between Unchgaon and Bharehta villages.
Circle Officer of Dhaurahra, Shamsher Bahadur Singh, said all nine passengers travelling in the van and the driver were killed.
District Magistrate of Lakhimpur Kheri Anjani Kumar Singh told reporters that the van collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction, leading to nine casualties on the spot, while one succumbed to injuries at the district hospital.
Circle Officer, Dhaurahra, Shamsher Bahadur Singh told PTI, "Efforts are on to establish the identity of other deceased persons."
The seven of the deceased have been identified as Jaideep Singh (25), Pawan (23), Sohan (21), Ram Goyal (42), Sahajram (35), Pappu (18), all residents of Bahraich district and Adnan Khan (15), a resident of Lakhimpur Kheri district, police said.
Condoling the loss of lives in the accident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a post on X, said, "The loss of life in the unfortunate road accident in Lakhimpur Kheri district is deeply distressing and heart-wrenching. My condolences are with the bereaved families."
"I have directed the local administration to provide prompt and adequate assistance to the injured and the victims. I pray to Lord Shri Ram to grant the departed souls a place at His divine feet and to bestow a speedy recovery upon the injured," Adityanath said on X.
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak too condoled the loss of lives in the accident.
"The loss of lives resulting from the road accident in Lakhimpur Kheri district is deeply tragic and heart-wrenching. My deepest condolences go out to the bereaved families," Maurya said.
