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Railway
Budget: No hikes
New Delhi: As expected Railway Minister Lalu Prasad
Yadav has made no increase in passenger fares nor have
freight rates been hiked in the Railway budget for 2004-05.
Unfazed
by the NDA's decision to boycott the budget presentation,
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said he would be carrying
out the exercise for the people of the country and not
for those who have been rejected in Lok Sabha polls.
Declaring
he would make every effort to improve railway performance,
Lalu Prasad has promised nine new lines and assured that
the railways will complete 17 gauge conversion projects
during this fiscal. Presenting
his maiden budget, Yadav also proposed to survey 18 new
lines including Machlipattnam-Repalli, Chhapra-Muzaffapur,
Chennai- Sriperumbudur and Budge Budge-Pujali.
Railway Budget Highlights
- Freight
rates remain unchanged
- Biggest
challenge is security of passengers
- No
increase in passenger fares
- Parcel
booking rates of Rajdhani up 7.1 per cent
- Free
second class travel for unemployed youth
- New
Express trains to be introduced
- Village
on wheels trains to be introduced
- Frequency
of 12 popular trains to be increased
- 273
kms of new lines to be completed
- Railways
to deploy Lady Ticket checking squads
- 17
Sampark Gandhi Express to be introduced
- 215
crores allocated to improve passenger amenities
- 75
per cent concession to defence personnel widows travel
- Railway
to add 1650 kms broad gauge lines
- Railways
to complete doubling of 381 kms of lines
- 75%
concession for hemophilia patients
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HRD
Ministry to focus on education for minorities
New Delhi: The Human Resource Development (HRD)
Minister, Arjun Singh, has said that the Government would
take decisive steps for the welfare and educational advancement
of minorities within four months. The Minister said that
the measures would be in line with the targets set in
the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive
Alliance.
In an official press statement, Mr Singh was quoted as
saying that the dialogue process, initiated by the HRD
Ministry with the minority leaders and institutions, will
continue at various levels. Referring to the education
of children belonging to minority groups especially of
the girl child, Mr Singh said that in the coming days
the Government will take some concrete steps in this direction.
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CMP
does provide room for reform: Montek
New Delhi: The Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission,
Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on assuming office has said
that there was enough scope within the framework of the
Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) Government to carry out hard decisions
and push for economic reforms to realise the seven to
eight per cent economic growth projected in the CMP.
Dr
Ahulwalia told newspersons that the commission with its
seven members would undertake mid-term review of the Tenth
Plan (2002-07) programmes. He said policies and programmes
pertaining to different sectors, including rural infrastructure,
agriculture, education and health, would be looked into
in order to see how best they could be reoriented or redesigned
to reflect the CMP's objectives.
He said the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, had directed
him to see to that the declining trend in agricultural
growth rate in the past few years was reversed to ensure
higher economic growth and employment generation. Apart
from the Deputy Chairman, other members who took charge
include Balchandra Mungekar, Vice-chancellor, Mumbai University;
Anwar-ul-Hoda, former Deputy Director General, WTO; Prof
Abhijit Sen, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Dr Syeda
Hameed, member, National Commission for Women.
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