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Rural Employment Guarantee Bill: Govt. incorporates suggestions of Left parties
New Delhi: Following a meeting between the Left leaders and a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by the Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, the Government has agreed to incorporate five major amendments in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, slated to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

It has been agreed that minimum wage under the scheme would be fixed at Rs60 per head per day, extension of the scheme throughout the country within five years from the launch of the scheme and ensuring that one-third of the beneficiaries should be women.

It has also been agreed that the implementing agencies, the respective State Governments in this case, would be taken into confidence and the Centre should ensure unhindered flow of funds and in case the funds were delayed, the Centre would compensate the States.

The meeting was also attended by the Rural Development minister, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, and the Parliamentary Affairs minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad. The Left leaders present in the meeting included Nilotpal Basu and Ms Brinda Karat of the CPI (M), Gurudas Das Gupta and Ajay Chakravarti of the CPI, Debabrata Biswas of the Forward Block and Manoj Mukherjee of the RSP.
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ASSOCHAM moots proposal for single tax authority
New Delhi: The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has mooted a proposal for the creation of a single taxation authority, which can tax all aspects of any transaction. According to the association, currently varying assessments are being made by Union and State Governments, which burdens the taxpayer unnecessarily.

In a memorandum submitted to the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, ASSOCHAM president, Mahendra K. Sanghi says that the proposed authority is necessary to resolve issues of imposition of Service Tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) for work contracts undertaken by a large number of builders and contractors.

The ASSOCHAM chief points out that presently on every work contract, the labour part is being taxed for Service Tax by the Union Government and its material part is taxed under VAT laws in the states that have adopted the new tax regime.

"While the material part of any work contract in non-VAT states is currently being taxed under Sales Tax, in totality there is confusion and over taxation is causing great inconvenience to taxpayers. The issue needs to be urgently addressed", Sanghi says.

He suggests that the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers should immediately take up the issue of creation of a single authority with Finance Ministry so that all transactions that are creating confusion are taxed by this authority. This will bring in a lot of transparency and simplicity, says Sanghi.
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Ground station for Chandrayan project to be located near Bangalore
Hyderabad: After settling down in an orbit 100 km from the moon's surface, the Chandrayan spacecraft will directly communicate with a 300-tonne ground station antenna, with a dish width that will equal the height of a 10-storeyed building. The ground station is currently coming up at Byalalu village near Bangalore at the cost of Rs100 crore.

The 32-metre-diameter Deep Space Network (DSN) antenna, which will point directly at the spacecraft orbiting four lakh km away, will propel India into the orbit of a very select group of countries. Only three such large-sized antennae exist in the world.

The Rs 60-crore antenna, being developed by Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL), Hyderabad, will be ready by March 2007 to pave the way for India's first attempt of moon exploration slated for September that year. The Chandrayan mission is aimed at high-resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of the permanently shadowed north and south Polar regions. It would also look for surface or sub-surface water ice on the moon.

The upcoming antenna would generate revenues too for the country in the long run, as it can lease out services to countries that might need its services. The antenna would also be used for other space missions of the country.

Meanwhile the project is currently undergoing its Preliminary Design Review which marks a major milestone for the project and paves the way for the execution phase, officials said.

Joining ECIL in developing and installation of the antenna are L&T and Godrej.
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