UPA coordination committee to meet over budget
New Delhi: A meeting of the coordination committee of the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance under the stewardship of the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, will be held in New Delhi today.The meeting is set to will finalise a broad outline of the first Railway Budget and the General Budget of the Manmohan Singh government.

Major proposals being included in the budget speeches of the Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and Finance Minister P Chidambaram on July 6 and 8 respectively, are likely to be discussed today.Twenty members from among the Congress and it's allies will also be chosen to assist Sonia in the National Advisory Council (NAC), which is entrusted with the task of monitoring the implementation of the CMP.
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First meet for India and Pak on nuclear CBMs
New Delhi: A high-level Pakistani delegation arrives today to discuss a range of issues aimed at nuclear risk reduction. This will be India and Pakistan's first discussion on nuclear confidence-building measures (CBMs).

On the agenda at the two-day meeting from Saturday, are hotlines between India's Prime Minister and the Pakistani President. The same may also be extended between the Nuclear command authority heads of both countries. Six years after India and Pakistan carried out nuclear tests it would be the first meeting to examine the issue. But the peace process has seen many highs and lows, so the main concern would be whether the two nuclear weapons states can find a common language.
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Austria willing to fund Godavari irrigation projects
Hyderabad: The Austrian Government is willing to provide a Rs 3,000-crore 'Cash & Kind' loan assistance to irrigation projects in Andhra Pradesh. In the first phase, the AP Government proposes to tie up for the Godavari lift irrigation project (Devadula) and the 350 MW power project at Dummagudem in the Khammam district.

In the second phase, three more projects in Yellampalli, Singareddypalle and Polavaram are to be taken up. An Austrian delegation headed by the Austrian Ambassador to India, Dr Jutta Stefan Bastl and the Trade Commissioner, Dr Sepp Dabringer, on Wednesday met the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, and the Major Irrigation Minister and discussed the issues. Austrian companies are leaders in hydropower, mechanised irrigation systems and water and crop management.
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