Vilasrao Deshmukh to take charge in Maharashtra
Mumbai: Former Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, emerged as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party in Maharashtra. Earlier, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) decided on the former Home Minister, R.R. Patil, as the leader of their legislature party.

Deshmukh, who is from Latur in Marathwada, became Chief Minister of the Democratic Front Government in 1999. He was asked to step down in January 2003 to make way for the Dalit face of the Congress, Sushil Kumar Shinde. A protégé of the prominent Maratha politician, S. B. Chavan, Deshmukh was the first Chief Minister from the backward Marathwada region.At the CLP meeting Shinde proposed Deshmukh's name.
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Fiscal deficit down by 34 percent for H1
New Delhi: Fiscal deficit has come down by over 34 per cent to Rs53,235 crore in the first half of 2004-05 on the back of the government's expenditure control measures and higher tax mop up.

Revenue deficit was at Rs59,951 crore during the first half of this fiscal, which accounts for a whopping 78.7 per cent of the budget estimate of Rs76,171 crore, according to figures released by the Controller General of Accounts.

The fiscal deficit, which works out to be 1.7 per cent of the GDP, was 38.7 per cent of the budgeted Rs1,37,407 crore (4.4 per cent of GDP) for 2004-05. The Centre's fiscal deficit during the first six months of 2004-05 at Rs53,235 crore was much lower than Rs81,014 crore in the year-ago period.

While receipts stood at Rs1,42,338 crore, expenditure was reined in at Rs1,95,573 crore. Revenue receipts were at Rs1,06,507 crore during the first six months of this fiscal, of which tax mop up amounted to Rs77,860 crore.

Tax mop up till September amounted to 33.3 per cent of the budget estimate of Rs2,33,906 crore for 2004-05. On the expenditure side, Plan Expenditure stood at Rs53,274 crore, which accounts for 36.6 per cent of the budgeted Rs1,45,590 crore for the entire fiscal. Non-Plan Expenditure stood at Rs1,42,299 crore till September, which amounts to 42.8 per cent of the budgeted Rs 3,32,239 crore for 2004-05.

Centre's market borrowings were at a meagre Rs20,912 crore till September which is 23 per cent of the budgeted Rs90,365 crore. Back to News Review index page  

Inflation rate unchanged for the week
New Delhi: The annual wholesale price index-based inflation rate remained unchanged at 7.1 per cent for the week ended October 16, despite a rise in fuel prices.

The year-on-year inflation rate stayed constant during the latest reported week, after having declined for three straight weeks.
According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the WPI rose by 0.1 per cent to 188.6 points mainly due to rise in fuel prices and those of some manufactured products, even as primary articles turned cheaper.

The index of Primary Articles' group fell to 190.5 points due to cheaper food and non-food items. Prices, however, increased in the case of raw jute (two per cent) and castor seed, groundnut seed, gingelly seed, raw skins, fodder, copra and safflower (one per cent each).

The index of machinery and machine tools' group surged by 0.5 per cent to 140.7 points due to higher prices of rubber insulated cables, other cables, PVC insulated cables and enamelled copper wires. Transport Equipment and Parts' group index rose by 0.3 per cent to 155.4 points due to six per cent increase in the price of bicycles.

The Government also revised inflation to 8.46 per cent for the week ended August 21, as against the provisional figure of 8.17 per cent, while final WPI was revised to 188.5 points, as against the provisional figure of 188 points.

4=Power capacity addition targets for 10th plan may be met
Chennai: THE Centre is confident of adding slightly more than 40,000 MW during the Tenth Plan, which will be close to the target of 41,000 MW for the Plan period.

This will be something of a record for the country's capacity addition programme, for a total of just 35,000 MW was added during the previous two plan periods.

The Centre's reform initiatives in the power sector were also bearing fruit. Under the Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme, a survey conducted by the Power Finance Corporation of 16 State power utilities showed that they had registered a loss reduction of Rs7,500 crore in the two years the programme had been in operation.

The average plant load factor of the power stations had also increased to about 73 per cent now against 56 per cent about 10-12 years ago.

This growth in electricity generation had given a boost to the manufacturing sector in the country, Mr Shahi said inaugurating Energy Summit 2004, a two-day meet on energy conservation and renewable energy technology, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
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