02022024-TTB-01.qxd 2/2/2024 12:08 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 32 | 22 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 HARYANA INCLUSIVE AND INNOVATIVE 6 BUDGETS, FM EQUALS EX-PM DESAI’S RECORD spur countless job opportunities for youth. Narendra Modi, PM FM Nirmala Sitharaman has equalled the record set by former PM Morarji Desai, who as Finance Minister presented five annual Budgets and one Interim Budget ❝ The Budget is both inclusive & innovative. It’ll not only help build modern infra for 21st century India but also /thetribunechd LACKS VISION FOR JOBS word jobs was used only once in entire ❝ TheSchemes are being renamed, buttheisn’t clear Budget. it how the promises will be fulfilled. Mallikarjun Kharge, CONG CHIEF friday | 2 february 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Our Fearless Founder Sure of Modi 3.0, FM shuns populist path No change in tax slabs; focus on infra with 11% hike in spending Housing plan for middle class soon; For youth, ~1 lakh cr corpus to be set 2 cr more houses under Awas Yojana up with 50-year interest-free loan Sandeep Dikshit Tribune News Service T ODAY, on our Founder’s Day, we celebrate the memory of Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, the rare visionary who established The Tribune 143 years ago at Lahore. Our Founder was a truly exceptional Punjabi: a highly successful businessman, pioneer banker, philosopher, spiritualist and a great nationalist who ploughed his entire wealth and riches back into society to enlarge the awareness of his people, to provide opportunities for education to Punjabi youth and for strongly supporting the struggle for national freedom. An uncompromising liberal and steadfast democrat, the Sardar gave very high importance to the functioning of a fearless, free and fair Press. His precious principles, which have continued to serve as our foundational values, are ingrained in the first editorial published on February 2, 1881. It is a matter of great pride and rejoicing that notwithstanding the continuing threats, pressures and severe financial and other challenges which were faced over the past more than a century, The Tribune and, later, its two sister publications in Hindi and Punjabi have never faltered or failed in continuing to strongly champion the rightful causes and in fearlessly voicing the grievances of over sixty million people who inhabit northern India. On this auspicious day, the Trustees, all the functionaries engaged in the publication of the three newspapers, and the teachers, students and staff of The Tribune School pay respectful homage to the Founder and vow to continue their devoted endeavours for keeping alive and further strengthening this cherished heritage. NN Vohra, President, The Tribune Trust SPECIAL PULLOUTS FROM TODAY Starting today, four-page daily pullouts — Haryana Tribune, Himachal Tribune and Delhi Tribune — will be distributed along with The Tribune, offering hyperlocal news to our readers. The local supplements will offer vibrant coverage of the cities and their civic issues, making the newspaper more interactive and responsive. Editor-in-Chief 4 abduct, gangrape minor in Moga FARIDKOT: The police on Thursday booked four youths of a village in Moga for the alleged abduction and gangrape of a minor girl. The 17-year-old victim, daughter of a daily wager, was abducted when she was on her way home after buying groceries. The girl alleged that one of the accused, Laxman Singh, who lives in her neighbourhood, dragged her into a car in which three other youths were already there. They took her to a field, beat her up in a room there and allegedly gangraped her. INSIDE Champai stakes claim to form govt NEW DELHI: The political crisis in Jharkhand, which has been without a CM since Wednesday evening after Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case related to an alleged land scam, intensified after MLAs of the ruling JMM-Congress-RJD alliance were herded in an aircraft to Hyderabad to protect them from poaching. Champai Soren, Hemant’s confidant, met the Governor to stake claim to form the government, saying he had adequate numbers. BACK PAGE New Delhi, February 1 The Interim Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday maintained the pace of expansion in capital expenditure for infrastructure sectors as well as provided healthy outlays for social sectors, but left the middle class disappointed due to the absence of any changes in tax slabs. Stating that every challenge of the pre-2014 era was overcome through economic management and governance, she said the government, in its July Budget, would present a detailed roadmap to make India a developed country. “We continue on the path of fiscal consolidation, as announced in my Budget speech for 2021-22, to reduce the fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26,” Sitharaman said. The total expenditure in the Interim Budget 2024-25 has been proposed at Rs 47.65 lakh crore as against actuals of Rs 44.90 lakh in 2023-24, an increase of Rs 2.75 lakh crore. For states, it continued on page 16 edit: Pragmatic Budget ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE FOR 2024-25 KEY TAKEAWAYS TAX BENEFITS to startups and investments made by sovereign wealth or pension funds extended by 1 year till March 31, 2025 ~47.65 LAKH CR 2023-24 ~44.9 LAKH CR CAPITALEXPENDITURE hiked 11% to ~11.11 lakh cr Shubhadeep Choudhury Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 1 The Union Government has continued with its push to strengthen the country’s infrastructure sector such as roads, ports and airports having increased the capex for 2024-25 by 11% to Rs 11.11 lakh crore in the Interim Budget for 2024-25. “Building on the massive tripling of the capital expenditure outlay in the past four years, resulting in huge mul- New Delhi, February 1 The Interim Budget has announced an extension of tax benefits to startups and some investments made by sovereign wealth funds. It also announced exemption for businesses housed in the International Financial Services Centre in GIFT City for another year till March 31, 2025. Such extension of benefits has been done by several successive Union Budgets. Startups eligible under the 6.21 Ministry of Roads & Highways 2.78 Ministry of Railways 2.55 Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution 2.13 1.77 Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers 1.68 Ministry of Communications 1.37 Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare GOVT TO BORROW ~14.13 lakh cr in the next fiscal, lower than ~15.43 lakh crore in 2023-24 2.03 Ministry of Rural Development FISCAL DEFICIT for 202425 projected at 5.1%, lower than 5.8% this fiscal 1.27 NOMINAL GDP for 202425 projected at 10.5% GROSS TAX REVENUE target for 2024-25 hiked by 11.46% to ~38.31 lakh cr from ~34.37 lakh cr in the current financial year << Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Thursday. PTI DIRECT TAX collection target set at ~21.99 lakh cr and the indirect tax target at ~16.22 lakh cr INTEREST-FREE LOAN scheme of 50 years for states for capital expenditure to be continued next year with an outlay of ~1.3 lakh cr REALISING DREAM OF ‘VIKSIT BHARAT’ drawn income tax demands up to ~25,000 till 2009-10 ■ Demands up to ~10,000 from 2010-15 also withdrawn ■ Move to benefit 1 cr taxpayers as ~3,500 cr dues to be waived dream of developed India by 2047. This is a budget of creating India’s future. — Nirmala Sitharaman, FINANCE MINISTER MARKETS TURN CHOPPY; SENSEX DROPS 106.81 PTS years will be years of unprecedented ❝ Thenext5and golden moments to realise the development Focus on 3 key rail corridors — energy, mineral & cement; port connectivity; hightraffic density. 40K ‘normal’ coaches to be upgraded to Vande Bharat standards Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to get ~2.78 lakh crore in FY25, up 2.8% with the aim of boosting construction of highways and expressways tiplier impact on economic growth and employment creation, the outlay for the next year is being increased by 11.1% to Rs 11,11,111 crore. This would be 3.4% of the GDP Finance Minister Nir,” mala Sitharaman said in her tax benefit schemes get a 100 per cent tax rebate on the profit made for a period of three years in a total time frame of 10 years of operations provided the overall annual turnover does not exceed Rs 25 crore in any financial year. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also proposed a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore to boost private investment in sunrise technologies. “This will mark a golden era for our tech-savvy youth,” she said, adding it continued on page 16 1 CR TO BENEFIT AS TAX DEMANDS TO BE WAIVED ■ The government has with- STRIVING FOR BETTER CONNECTIVITY Eyeing young voters, Centre extends tax sopsto startups Tribune News Service Ministry of Defence Ministry of Home Affairs Growth kept in fast lane with rail, road, airport infra push ~11.11 lakh crore kept aside ALLOCATION FOR SPECIFIC MINISTRIES IN ~LAKH CRORE Budget speech in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. Key announcements made by Sitharaman include three major railway corridor programmes — energy, mineral and cement corridors; port continued on page 16 300 units free to 1 cr families via solar power plan NewDelhi, February1 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said PM Suryodaya Yojana would enable one crore families to get up to 300 units of free power a month and help them save up to Rs 18,000 annually. PM Modi had in January announced the Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana with the target of installing rooftop solar units. Sitharaman, in her speech, said through rooftop solarisation, one crore households would be enabled to obtain up to 300 units of free electricity each month. INSIDE MORE INSIDE>> WITH ~90K CR OUTLAY, FOCUS ON AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE NEW TECH, BORDER INFRA ON MIND, DEFENCE GETS 6.21L CR MEA FUNDING HIKED, AID TO DEVELOPING NATIONS DOWN FM’S NO-FRILLS PRE-POLL BUDGET STUMPS OPPN EDUCATION OUTLAY UP, BUT UGC GRANT CUT BY 60% PAGES 2,3,17,20
The Tribune, now published from Chandigarh, started publication on February 2, 1881, in Lahore (now in Pakistan). It was started by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising four eminent persons as trustees.
The Tribune, the largest selling daily in North India, publishes news and views without any bias or prejudice of any kind. Restraint and moderation, rather than agitational language and partisanship, are the hallmarks of the paper. It is an independent newspaper in the real sense of the term.
The English edition apart, the 133-year-old Tribune has two sister publications, Punjabi Tribune (in Punjabi) and Dainik Tribune (in Hindi).