Government meets 2017-18 fiscal deficit target
New Delhi, May 31: The Central government broadly met its revised fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent for financial year 2017-18, official data showed here on Thursday.
According to the figures released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), fiscal deficit -- the difference between revenue and expenditure -- for the last financial year stood at 3.53 per cent of the country's GDP.
As per the provisional CGA data, the deficit reached Rs 5.91 lakh crore as against the revised estimates of Rs 5.94 lakh crore.
In budget 2018-19, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley revised the fiscal deficit target to 3.5 per cent from 3.2 per cent.
Besides, the data showed that the exchequer's total receipts during the fiscal under review yielded Rs 15.51 lakh crore, or 95.6 per cent of the estimates.
In addition, the total expenditure during the April-March 2017-18 period was Rs 21.42 lakh crore, or 96.6 per cent of the entire fiscal's estimate.
"The seasonal trend of revenue receipts out pacing revenue expenditure in March 2018 and a reversal in certain loans that had been extended previously, led to the total fiscal deficit for FY2018 printing marginally lower than the revised estimate," Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist, ICRA was quoted as saying in a statement.
"However, the revenue deficit for FY2018 has modestly exceeded the revised level."
On a monthly basis, the fiscal deficit in April 2018 touched Rs 1.51 lakh crore or 24.3 per cent of Budget estimates for 2018-19.
The CGA figures showed that the 2018-19 deficit has been pegged at Rs 6.24 lakh crore.
The total receipts during the month under review was Rs 71,450 crore, or 3.9 per cent of the estimates, whereas the total expenditure was Rs 2.23 lakh crore, or 9.1 per cent of the entire fiscal's estimate.
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Sanjay Raut demands re-election, alleges irregularities in EVMs during Maharashtra polls
Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.
"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.
Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.
The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."
Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.
"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.
Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.
He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.
"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.
