Tag: spend

Cong targets Kejriwal after row over Rs 45 cr spend on ‘beautification’ of Delhi CM residence

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New Delhi: As reports of spending of Rs 45 crore on “beautification” of Delhi chief minister’s official residence here surfaced, Congress leader Ajay Maken on Tuesday raised questions on Kejriwal’s right to remain in his position as a public servant.
Maken said Kejriwal allegedly spent Rs 45 crore of public funds on his luxurious bungalow, including extravagant items like Dior polish, Vietnam marble, expensive curtains, and high-end carpets.
However, before his election, the AAP leader distributed printed copies of a sworn affidavit in his New Delhi Legislative Assembly constituency, dated June 7, 2013, in which he made seven promises.

Listing out the first promise made by Kejriwal, Maken said he claimed not to use a car with a red light, or request additional security beyond what is necessary for a common citizen and refuse a large bungalow and instead live in an ordinary house like a common man.
“Despite naming his party ‘Aam Aadmi Party’ (common man’s party) and making these pledges, Mr Kejriwal spent a fortune on his bungalow when the people of Delhi were desperately seeking oxygen cylinders during the COVID pandemic.
“Moreover, there are more than 6 lakh households living in slums in the city. This raises questions about his right to remain in his position as a public servant and whether he has upheld the other promises mentioned in the distributed sworn affidavit, especially considering the urgent needs of the citizens,” the Congress leader tweeted.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier claimed that about Rs 45 crore was spent on the “beautification” of the Delhi chief minister’s official residence in the city’s Civil Lines area and demanded his resignation on “moral” grounds.
While no official reaction was available from the Delhi government, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hit back at the BJP.

Senior AAP leader Raghav Chadha said while speaking to Times Now that Kejriwal’s residence was constructed 75-80 years ago in 1942. The Delhi government’s Public Works department (PWD), after an audit, had recommended its renovation, he said.
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#Cong #targets #Kejriwal #row #spend #beautification #Delhi #residence
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 26, 2023
SC advises techie couple seeking divorce to spend time with each other

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court has told a couple, who are software engineers seeking a divorce, why don’t they give a second chance to the marriage as both of them were not able to devote time to their union.
A bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna said, “Where is the time for marriage? Both of you are software engineers posted in Bengaluru. One goes to duty during the day and the other at night. You have no regret for divorce but have regret for marriage. Why don’t you give a second chance to the marriage.”
Justice Nagarathna said that Bengaluru is not a place where divorces take place so frequently and the couple may give a chance towards their union.

However, the counsels for both the husband and wife told the bench that during the pendency of this petition, the parties were referred to the Supreme Court Mediation Centre in order to explore the possibility of a settlement between them.
The bench was informed that both husband and wife have agreed upon a settlement agreement in which they have decided to dissolve their marriage by a decree of divorce by mutual consent under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 on certain terms and conditions.
The counsels informed the bench that one of the terms was that the husband would pay a total sum of Rs 12.51 lakh towards a full and final settlement of all monetary claims of the wife as a permanent alimony.
The bench noted in its order dated April 18, “When queried by this Court, the parties stated that they have indeed agreed to settle their disputes amicably by parting ways and seeking divorce by mutual consent. They also state that the terms of settlement would be adhered to by them and hence the marriage may be dissolved by a decree of divorce by mutual consent.”
The bench added that in the circumstances, “We have taken on record the settlement agreement as well as the application filed under Article 142 of the Constitution. We have perused the same. On perusal, we find that the terms of the settlement agreements are lawful and there is no legal impediment for accepting the terms of settlement”.

It also took on record that the husband paid a total sum of Rs 12,51,000 to the petitioner-wife who has acknowledged the receipt of the demand drafts.
“In the circumstances, we exercise our power under Article 142 of the Constitution and dissolve the marriage between the parties by a decree of divorce by mutual consent under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955,” the top court said.
It also quashed various other proceedings lodged by husband and wife in Rajasthan and Lucknow under the Dowry Prohibition Act, domestic violence Act and other connected cases.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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#advises #techie #couple #seeking #divorce #spend #time
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 23, 2023
George Santos’ campaign didn’t spend a dime and managed to lose money

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Rep George Santos had just $25,000 cash on hand at the end of the quarter. That figure came despite having made not a single reported campaign expense during the quarter. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
Rep. George Santos’s (R-N.Y.) congressional campaign officially lost money during the first quarter of 2023 after it reported having to issue refunds in excess of the contributions it received.
The New York Republican, who has been beleaguered from before he was sworn in after it was revealed he’d fabricated major portions of his biography, raised a scant $5,333.26 during the first three months of the year. But his campaign also refunded $8,352; meaning that he actually took in less than $3,000 than he paid out.
Only one person gave enough to Santos to require that their name be listed on his FEC form. That individual, Sacha Basin, gave $245.95. There was no clear online history for an individual with that name nor is there a record of them previously giving more than $200 to any candidate in the FEC database.
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#George #Santos #campaign #didnt #spend #dime #managed #lose #money
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 16, 2023
IRS releases plan to spend $80 billion windfall — with critical details missing

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But the vaguely worded report, which was delivered more than a month later than the deadline Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen set, answered few of the questions that lawmakers have been lobbing at Yellen and IRS officials for months about specific budget forecasts and department hiring.
The IRS, which counted around 78,700 employees in 2021, says in the report that it plans to bring on nearly 30,000 new employees by the end of fiscal year 2025. That would include 8,782 hires in enforcement and 13,883 in taxpayer services and surely offset some attrition in the agency’s ranks from retirements.
The agency intends to spend $2.8 billion of the funding in 2023 and $5.4 billion in 2024 and, over a 10-year period, allot a hefty sum of $41.7 billion alone to scrutinizing the most sophisticated, high-income taxpayers.
However, the IRS did not provide essential information sought by lawmakers on the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees, such as how many employees the agency would like to hire long term for enforcement; how exactly the IRS will comply with a pledge by Yellen not to increase audits on those making less than $400,000; and what the agency forecasts to spend on operations, enforcement and customer service from fiscal years 2025 through 2031.
Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo defended the limited budget forecast in a call with reporters Thursday, saying technology advancements such as digital scanning of paper returns and automated phone services will improve agency productivity. That creates uncertainty around how many employees the IRS will ultimately need to hire, Adeyemo said.
“I hope that we can get better at forecasting, but I just think it’s good management and leadership practice” to refrain from projecting beyond fiscal year 2024, Werfel added.
Still, those omissions could be no coincidence with Republicans primed to pounce on any details of the IRS’ bulked-up enforcement. When Treasury first asked for new money for the IRS, the department specified exactly how many workers the IRS would hire to crack down on tax cheats: 86,852.
Republicans have been using that figure ever since as grist for attack ads on Democrats.

Democrats have fired back that the agency has been starved of resources to fairly enforce the tax code — with audit rates for millionaires and corporations falling by 77 percent and 44 percent, respectively, from 2010 to 2017 — and that much of the new hiring is needed to replace the two-thirds of the IRS workforce that will be eligible to retire in the next six years.
Here’s a look at what the report says about key elements of the IRS strategy:
ENFORCEMENT
The agency says it wants to leverage data analytics and technology to audit complex tax returns and plans on hiring the first waves of specialists focused on big companies, partnerships and high-income individuals in fiscal year 2023. The IRS will increase enforcement activities on cryptocurrencies and in areas where audits have declined significantly over the years, such as in estate, gift and employment taxation.
That will involve increasing staff in the Office of Chief Counsel, the legal adviser to the IRS based at the Treasury Department, to help litigate cases and issue clear guidance on tax laws. The agency insists ramped-up enforcement will apply to only those making more than $400,000.
“People who get W-2s or Social Security payments or have a small business should not be worried about some new wave of IRS audits. We’re taking that off the table,” Werfel said.
In a nod to lawmakers’ concerns about a Stanford study published earlier this year finding that Black taxpayers are three to five times more likely to be audited by the IRS, the agency also said it will create a team in fiscal year 2024 to look at whether enforcement activities disproportionately burden certain groups and address any disparities in tax administration according to gender, race and age.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
The IRS wants to create online business accounts where taxpayers can let the agency know what communication methods they prefer — whether digital, phone or in-person — and hire more representatives to operate the phone lines and staff Taxpayer Assistance Centers.
Under the modernized system, the IRS said taxpayers will be able to access their entire account history, including notices and returns; make payments; and get status updates for their filings, all online. They would also receive personalized alerts from the IRS to better understand their tax obligations and eligibility for credits and deductions.
The IRS launched a new tool this filing season that allowed taxpayers to respond to the nine most common notices online, and the agency plans to add 72 more notices online by the end of fiscal year 2024.
“For many, letters from the IRS in the mail could be a thing of the past. For the first time, the IRS will help taxpayers identify potential mistakes before filing,” Werfel said.
The agency says it wants to make it easier for employees to review tax returns by implementing full digital scanning of paper forms — which National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins has called the “kryptonite” that jammed up the IRS during the pandemic — in the next five years and make that data easily accessible to employees in a centralized case management system.
TECHNOLOGY
The IRS is looking to replace old programming language in its aging computer systems and consolidate information on the cloud while improving cybersecurity to protect taxpayer privacy. Machine learning could be used to extract data and do advanced analytics on complex tax returns, the agency says.
PERSONNEL
The agency insists its hiring successes will not only depend on the prospects of higher pay for specialized employees, but also a cultural shift that gets workers excited about the IRS’s mission. It will prioritize recruiting from diverse and underrepresented talent pools and streamline the hiring process, which frequently gets bogged down in bureaucratic hurdles and discourages candidates from joining the IRS.
The agency will consider allowing employees to work from more locations around the U.S. to attract top-tier talent and employ gig workers on an as-needed basis. The IRS adds that it wants its employees to become far more data-savvy.
Brian Faler contributed to this report.
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#IRS #releases #plan #spend #billion #windfall #critical #details #missing
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 6, 2023
JK Govt To Spend Rs 560 Crore On Agriculture, Allied Sectors Under HADP

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SRINAGAR: The agriculture and allied sectors in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are poised for significant growth and boost with launch of a slew of technological advancements and extension programs, government said on Tuedsay.
These interventions, incentivized through various schemes and projects, have already led to improvements in quality and quantity of produce in the region, a government spokesperson said.
However, the challenge remains in integrating smallholder produce with market systems that are both effective and transparent. This will ensure that farmers receive a fair price for their goods while consumers get good value for their money. To tackle this issue, Jammu and Kashmir is implementing a project under Holistic Agriculture Development Program (HADP) that aims to strengthen the existing market infrastructure and create a robust market ecosystem that caters to the needs of all stakeholders, it said.
Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture Production Department, Atal Dulloo, emphasized that the proposed project will be segmented into several key areas. These included market reforms, infrastructure development, institutional and capacity building, branding, digital marketing, and market research information systems. The project aims to achieve its objectives through an investment of Rs 560 crore, which will be spread over a period of five years.
Dulloo expressed confidence that this project will bring about significant improvements in agriculture and allied sectors in Jammu & Kashmir, providing a boost to the region’s economy and benefiting farmers and consumers alike.
The project aims to improve the Terms of Trade (ToT) in favor of farmers, improve efficiency and effectiveness of the market ecosystem and minimize the value loss while maximizing societal welfare. The proposed activities or areas of intervention will strengthen the existing agricultural marketing system in Jammu & Kashmir, bringing long-term dividends across stakeholders, particularly farmer-producers.
The proposed project also envisages significant growth in agriculture and allied sectors through various activities. The market reforms included implementation of an open auction system, a single license for trading in all mandies, and institutionalization of post-harvest infrastructure with the eNAM network. Infrastructure development will involve converting mandies into value chain parks, creating new mandies and installing composting units. Besides, institutional building and capacity development will focus on the formation of Niche Product Marketing FPOs.
Branding activities will include creation of two Agriculture Branding Centers, mapping of existing branding practices, farmers/FPO brand building training and workshops, and integration of branded niche products with the tourism and hotel industry. Lastly, rural business and service hubs will be established in production areas.

The Directorate of Horticulture, Planning & Marketing will be responsible for on-ground implementation of the project and will serve as the nodal agency for providing unified licensing to potential traders.
The government of Jammu & Kashmir is set to implement this new project that aims to transform the agriculture sector through a multi-faceted approach. This approach includes market reforms, development of infrastructure, and promotion of institutional building and capacity development of Niche Product Marketing FPOs.
Market reforms will bring transparency and fairness in trading practices, genuine price for produce, increase the number of buyers, and fair competition. This will result in an increase in producers’ share in consumer rupee. Infrastructure development will create an efficient and effective market ecosystem, minimize value loss, overcome distress sale, improve logistics, adhere to quality standards, ease of doing business, target unattended geographies, waste to wealth, and minimize environmental pollution.
Private entrepreneurs will be responsible for development of infrastructure, including CA stores, grading lines, mini cold stores, reefer vans and pick-up vans. The Directorate of Horticulture, Planning & Marketing will establish composting units at potential mandies, and also create new mandies in collaboration with the respective District Administrations.
The promotion and support of institutional building and capacity development of Niche Product Marketing FPOs will be done in collaboration with allied departments and Agriculture Universities of the UT. The emphasis will be laid on branding of agriculture produce to promote marketing and competitive advantage of Niche crops. This will also result in scale economies in input and output marketing, operations, bargaining power, contract farming, better terms of trade (ToT), self-reliance, and confidence.
The project will also include the identification, capacity building, and promotion of Rural Business & Service Hubs (RBSHs) across all districts of J&K. This intervention will provide quality inputs/services, improve logistics in management operations, improve yield and quality produce, technology outreach, extension of improved varieties and machines, and market information
A dedicated Market Intelligence Cell will be established at SKUAST-K in collaboration with concerned Departments. The establishment of this Cell will result in creation of decision support system, improved marketing strategy by stakeholders, fairness in trading, more competition, and better policy outcomes. Digital marketing will play a pivotal role in doubling farmers income. It will increase the visibility online and enable potential customers to find agricultural business online. The digital marketing strategy will be more effective in case of niche products from UT of J&K to reach the potential customers across the country and globe.
In order to facilitate online marketing of niche based agri/horti/livestock/fishery/NTFPs, a dedicated web portal may be made operational for online marketing under PPP mode. The portal will be customized for J&K Niche Products for effective marketing strategy.
The proposed project will have both direct and indirect beneficiaries. Direct beneficiaries will include farmers, market functionaries, potential entrepreneurs, employable masses in infrastructure development, and employable masses in value creation. Indirect beneficiaries will include consumers/customers, importers/buyers, outsource sector/industry, and indirect employable masses.
Under the initiative, a 50% capital subsidy will be offered for the establishment of 11 Controlled Atmosphere (CA) stores, each with a capacity of 5000 MT, at a unit cost of Rs. 30.00 cr. In addition, a 50% subsidy will be provided for the establishment of 12 hi-tech grading lines, 275 portable grading lines, reefer vans, pick up vans, and mini cold stores. Four mechanized windrow composting units, 16 simple composting units, and four new mandies will also be established at a cost of Rs. 49.00 cr.
The Institutional Building and Capacity Development component of the project will see 55 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) established with an investment of Rs. 11.00 cr, and 35 capacity building training programs arranged for FPOs, costing Rs. 1.05 cr. Additionally, two Agriculture and Branding Centers will be established in each division at a cost of Rs. 5.20 cr.
A 50% subsidy will be provided for establishment of 400 Rural Business and Service Hubs, with a ceiling of Rs. 15.00 lakh on each hub. Finally, the infrastructure for digital marketing and market intelligence will be established at a cost of Rs. 11.30 cr.
The off-season availability of fruits and vegetables is also expected to improve. Value creation is anticipated to increase by 25% to 75%, and there will be an increase in income, value output, employment, reduced food wastage, and an efficient decision support system. As a result, this investment is expected to be highly beneficial.
The project will result in several key outputs, including the establishment of 11 CA stores with a capacity of 55,000 MT, 12 hi-tech grading lines, 25 mini cold stores, four new mandies in Samba, Reasi, Kishtwar, and Bandipora, 400 Rural Business & Service Hubs, two Agri Branding centers, and one Market Intelligence Cell. This project is also expected to create 6,000 jobs and 629 enterprises in the next five years.

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#Govt #Spend #Crore #Agriculture #Allied #Sectors #HADP
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

April 4, 2023
Congress appropriated $500M for workers. Democrats can’t agree on whether to spend it.

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According to two Appropriations Committee aides involved in the talks, $500 million in funding was included in the draft in hopes Democrats and Republicans could reach a deal to extend the TAA program, but they failed to do so. In the rush to pass the final bill, the appropriations provision was not altered, and aides felt it was not necessary to do so because the program was not authorized. The aides were granted anonymity to discuss confidential policy negotiations.
While stressing that the senator supports TAA in principle, Murray’s office believes the program remains expired and the money cannot be spent without authorizing language. After the bill was signed and Murray became chair of the Appropriations Committee, she called DOL to relay that information and request the agency not restart processing applications for TAA aid.
“The appropriations bill that passed at the end of the year said the program ended, that’s the way it was written,” Murray said in a brief Capitol Hill interview on Monday. She declined to comment on the language from her own committee allocating nearly $500 million to the program, reiterating that the bill “specifically said that the program was ended” and that “is all I’m going to say.”
Wyden, one of Murray’s senior Democratic colleagues whose committee oversees the TAA program, is challenging that interpretation.
Wyden and House Democrats tried for months to get an agreement with Republicans to authorize the program for another year. Republicans insisted throughout negotiations that the Biden administration would need to commit to new trade talks overseas to get the TAA payments restarted — a demand the White House dismissed. Though they never reached a deal on that language, Wyden says that having money appropriated for the program is enough for DOL to reopen TAA again.
“I believe the omnibus extended TAA for a year,” Wyden said in a Capitol Hill interview on Monday, adding he was not aware of Murray’s guidance to DOL. “The text of the law is clear,” he added later. “The Biden administration should use that authority to deliver workers the benefits they are owed.”
DOL declined to weigh in on the legal debate between the senators, but has so far complied with requests from Murray and her staff that the agency keep the program frozen. An agency spokesperson confirmed that the program “remains in termination status” and that DOL “may not conduct new investigations or issue certifications of eligibility for new groups of workers.” A separate fact sheet put out by the agency says more than 24,000 workers have pending applications that DOL cannot investigate.
If lawmakers and DOL do not attempt to use the $500 million, the TAA program will phase out after the remaining workers in the program — roughly 7,000, according to the DOL fact sheet — finish receiving their benefits. Congress could renew the program, potentially in the year-end spending bill, but Republicans have shown no desire to drop their demand for new free trade talks and Biden’s team hasn’t budged either.

The situation is angering labor unions, like the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, who wrote to DOL earlier this month, saying that “tens of thousands of workers are currently awaiting determinations of their petition for TAA support.” Other labor groups, including the United Steelworkers and AFL-CIO, also sent similar letters.
The issue, say congressional aides involved in the omnibus negotiations, goes back to the year-end crunch to finalize the spending package. As Wyden and trade lawmakers negotiated on TAA, appropriations lawmakers wrote in the $500 million in case lawmakers arrived at a deal to reauthorize it. That deal never materialized, but the $500 million provision was not altered in the rush to finish the package before the winter holidays. The mixup was an “artifact of the timing,” as one Appropriations Committee aide put it, stressing that it was Republican opposition — and not Murray — that ultimately killed the program.
Wyden’s office and the unions say that DOL should push forward regardless and spend the $500 million appropriated to the program, pointing out that executive agencies often spend appropriated funds on expired programs without explicit reauthorization. In particular, they point to a footnote in the Government Accountability Office’s guidance on appropriations law that says Congress “appropriates huge sums each year to fund programs with expired authorizations.”
But the Appropriations Committee staff says that argument doesn’t apply to TAA.
“There’s longstanding case law and precedent on this issue about when appropriation is sufficient to extend authorization of the program,” said one committee aide involved in the spending negotiations last year. “Everybody understood ahead of the omnibus that was not the case here.”
Additionally, the aide said the committee would not push DOL to reopen the program because it could poison upcoming spending negotiations with Republicans that need to be completed by the end of this year.
“While not our preferred policy outcome, we will stand by those negotiations,” the committee aide said, “because they are very delicate and we want to have a good process in [fiscal year 2024] as well.”
CORRECTION: This article was corrected to reflect the fact that Appropriations Committee aides said it was not an accident that the TAA funding was included in the omnibus spending bill.
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#Congress #appropriated #500M #workers #Democrats #agree #spend
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 30, 2023
Gerard Piqué’s ‘trap’ for Shakira to spend more time with his children

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The relationship of the Colombian singer Shakira with her former mother-in-law, Montserrat Bernabéu, the mother of Gerard Piqué, was very good while she was married to the former soccer player.
However, after the breakup of the couple, the tension has increased, something that was reflected in one of the songs in which Shakira has expressed her feelings.
“You left my mother-in-law as a neighbor, with the press at the door and the debt at the Treasury,” says the lyrics of ‘Sessions #53’, the song that Shakira recorded with the Argentine Bizarrap, and in which she also refers to the litigation that the Colombian has for an accusation of having defrauded the treasury between 2012 and 2014, in a debt that amounts to 14.5 million euros.
Piqué and his mother’s strategy
Now, Spanish media reveal that Piqué would be cheating Shakira to spend more time with her children, after another long and tortuous process in which justice handed over custody of the two children to the Barranquillera.
According to the Vanitatis show portal, Shakira and Piqué would have discussed the treatment they are giving to Milan and Sasha and each one would be setting up some traps to find out if the other is committing an oversight in which they can be caught.
Shakira wears the sweatshirt designed by her niece.
In one of those attitudes, Piqué would have involved his mother, with the intention of spending more time with his children. Shakira’s ex-mother-in-law is still in charge of taking the children to some extracurricular activities.
Piqué would be taking advantage of this factor to take advantage of it and see Milan and Sasha more time. According to the same source, the strategy is that Montserrat picks up the children at home, walks a few meters with them and then, in a place where Shakira can no longer see them, makes the exchange so that they go with her father. .

Today, the relationship between Shakira and Montserrat is far from the affection and cordiality they had in the 12 years that they lasted as Piqué’s partner. Gone were the demonstrations of affection from the Colombian, who on more than one occasion published photos in which they were together.
The one who seems to stay away from Shakira’s new messages in his songs is Piqué himself, beyond the mockery of putting on a Casio watch and riding in a Renault Twingo, the lyrics of ‘Sessions #53’ were hardly known.
Vanitatis assures that Piqué is not offended by his ex-partner’s songs and is concentrating on his new relationship with Clara Chía Martí, and that, in addition, he is clear that he will not return to the Colombian.
SPORTS
More sports news
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#Gerard #Piqués #trap #Shakira #spend #time #children
( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

February 27, 2023
Centre to spend Rs 44,950 crore in Bihar under Bharatmala road project: BJP leader

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Patna: Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said the Centre will spend Rs 44,950 crore in 2023-24 in Bihar under Bharatmala, a centrally funded project which aims to build a network of roads, highways and expressways across India.
Prasad, a former union minister, told a press conference that the Centre has also allocated huge funds for the development of roads and highways in Bihar, besides Bharatmala.
The Bharatmala project will connect over 550 districts headquarters of India through six-lane highways. In addition to the development of the highways and roads, a key objective of the project is to improve freight efficiency through highways.
“Besides, the National Highways Authority of India’s ambitious six-lane Greenfield Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata expressway will pass through Kaimur, Rohtash, Aurangabad and Gaya districts of Bihar. Of the 610-km-long Varanasi-Kolkata corridor, 162 km will be in Bihar,” Prasad said.
The central government has also decided to construct a Rs 1,000 crore 15-km-long elevated road from Anisabad to Gurudwara Mode on NH-30 in Patna, he said.
“Currently 13 bridges are being constructed in several districts in Bihar and the central government has allocated Rs 23,175 crore for these works. Besides, works for the development of the first multi-modal logistic park on 100 acres of land at Fatuha (in Patna) are already on. The Centre has also made provisions for Rs 1,000 crore for the project,” Prasad said.
The government has also sanctioned funds for several other sectors, including agriculture, tourism, fisheries, science and technology and rural development, the BJP leader said.
He described the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as all-inclusive and far-sighted.

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#Centre #spend #crore #Bihar #Bharatmala #road #project #BJP #leader
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 22, 2023
Women spend 7.2 hrs on unpaid domestic work compared to 2.8 hrs spent by men

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Ahmedabad: Women in the working age category of 15 to 60 years spend 7.2 hours on unpaid domestic work compared to 2.8 hours spent by men, indicating they have “time poverty”, as per a research conducted by a professor from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.
Even wage-earning women spend twice the amount of time on unpaid domestic work in comparison to wage-earning men in fulfilling basic needs of the household such as cleaning, preparing meals and caregiving, says the research which is based on the Time Use Survey (TUS) of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).
Though it is a known fact that women spend more time in unpaid household activities, the research paper “Time Use Data: A Tool for Gendered Policy Analysis”, claims that it for the first time quantifies the time that women in India spend on domestic work.
“The new thing about this survey is based on the first TUS by the NSSO, we can now point out the exact hours women in the working age category spend on unpaid domestic work. On an average, Indian women spend 7.2 hours of their daily time for such work while men spend 2.8 hours,” IIMA Prof Namrata Chindarkar told PTI.
Over the years, time use data has gained significance as a tool to examine gender inequality. Studies based on harmonised time use surveys conducted in Europe reveal that time use data have been instrumental in understanding the allocation of time between women and men across various activities, she said.
“These studies particularly find that, across countries, women spend more time on fulfilling basic needs of the household such as cleaning, preparing meals and caregiving,” Chindarkar said.
“The TUS conducted by the NSSO in 2019 is the first national time use survey for India (with the exception of Andaman and Nicobar Islands). It collects data using a 24-hour time diary (4 am to 4 am the next day) on a normal day of the week,” she added.
The paper has examined the TUS data to assess whether expectations from gender roles shape the allocation of time between men and women in India.

It further finds out that “even wage-earning women spend twice the amount of time on unpaid domestic work in comparison to wage-earning men”.
It also says that “men spend nearly 150 minutes more per day on paid employment relative to women.”
“By itself, the average time spent on activities does not provide a sense of severity of the time burden. To capture the severity, we examine time poverty,” Chindarkar said.
She said they measure time poverty in terms of overwork based on the OECD definition of working more than 50 hours per week.
“We find that women are 24 per cent more likely to have less leisure time in comparison to men. In contrast, we find that wage-earning men are 72 per cent more likely to be overworked compared to wage-earning women. This could plausibly be because of the differences in the nature of jobs and occupations held by men and women,” the research paper said.
The analyses highlight certain gendered patterns. A greater proportion of women’s time is devoted to fulfilling domestic responsibilities irrespective of their employment status. For women in employment, this often results in a “second shift”, it said.
It is now a stylised fact that effective public services, such as access to electricity and clean cooking energy, can alleviate women’s time burden. However, the research paper finds that the magnitude of this difference is small.
“The TUS data suggests that, on an average, women in households that use LPG or other clean cooking fuels spend less time on domestic unpaid activities, which includes meal preparation time, compared to those using traditional fuels. We observe that women in households that use LPG or other clean cooking fuels enjoy an additional leisure time of 41 to 80 minutes compared to those using traditional fuels,” the research said.
Looking again at the TUS data, individuals who reported that electricity is the primary source of lighting for the household, reported, on an average, less time spent on domestic unpaid activities. For women, the time spent on domestic activities was less by around 20 minutes, it said.
“In addition, the average time spent on leisure by women in households having electricity as primary source of lighting was about 35 minutes more compared to those not having electricity as their primary source of lighting,” it said. The research paper suggested that TUS can be used effectively to form government policies for women.
“As observed from our analysis, by pointing to how women and men allocate their time on various activities, time use data can enhance our understanding of the effects of social norms and gender roles. The time use data can therefore form an effective feedback loop to strengthen policy design,” it said.
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#Women #spend #hrs #unpaid #domestic #work #compared #hrs #spent #men
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 12, 2023
DeSantis on Trump’s attack: ‘I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans’

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When asked about Trump’s social media post Wednesday and whether any proposed defamation legislation would apply to Trump, DeSantis said he has a “thick skin” and brushed off the former president’s broadside. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images
OCALA, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday responded to former President Donald Trump’s latest attack, saying he won’t “smear” fellow Republicans.
Speaking at a press conference in Ocala, Fla., the GOP governor and likely 2024 presidential candidate was responding to questions on Trump’s latest broadside. On Tuesday, Trump, who already announced he’s running for president, reposted a message on social media sarcastically insinuating DeSantis is grooming teenage girls.
“I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden — That’s how I spend my time,” DeSantis said. “I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 9, 2023