Regional
Himachal assembly passes Rs.30,185-crore budget
Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh assembly on Tuesday passed the general budget for 2015-16 and the related appropriation bill, authorising the government to spend Rs.30,185.77 crore from the consolidated fund.
With Speaker B.B.L. Butail applying the guillotine before the house was adjourned for the day, the bill was moved by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who also holds the finance portfolio.
Cut motions moved by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party were defeated in the house. Not satisfied with the replies relating to health and education, the main opposition party twice staged a walkout from the assembly.
The chief minister had presented the populist but deficit budget with no new taxes on March 18.
In his 18th budget spread over his record six chief ministerial tenures in the state, Virbhadra Singh tried to woo industrial houses.
To ensure time-bound clearances of industrial projects, the chief minister announced grant of permission within 45 days.
For conserving electricity, he announced that the government will give away three LED bulbs at a subsidised rate of Rs.150 each to 21 lakh households in the state. The cost of a bulb would be recovered in 15 installments of Rs.10 per bulb per month.
He also proposed to reduce the value-added tax (VAT) on these bulbs from 13.75 percent to 5 percent.
To promote off-season vegetable production, which is annually generating a revenue of Rs.2,500 crore, the chief minister proposed to launch ‘Establishment of Centres of Excellence for Vegetable Nursery Production’ scheme.
In horticulture, 1,000 hectares of additional area will be brought under revamped apple rejuvenation project.
According to budget estimates, the total revenue receipts are estimated at Rs.23,535 crore and the total revenue expenditure is estimated to be Rs.23,488 crore with a revenue surplus of Rs.47 crore.
The expected receipts in the capital account of the government are Rs.3,904 crore apart from Rs.900 crore in public account and provident fund.
The capital expenditure, including loan repayments is estimated to be Rs.4,851 crore. Fiscal deficit for 2015-16 is likely to be Rs.3,285 crore.
Thus, as per the budget estimates, against an expenditure of every Rs.100, the state will have Rs.83.11 as the total receipts, including transfers from the central government, excluding loans.
The gap of Rs.16.89, he said, will be met by borrowings.
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What monkey fled with a bag containing evidence in it: Read full story
The court, generally, considers a person who commit a crime and the one who destroys the evidence, as criminals in the eyes of law. But what if an animal destroys the evidence of a crime committed by a human.
In a peculiar incident in Rajasthan, a monkey fled away with the evidence collected by the police in a murder case. The stolen evidence included the murder weapon (a blood-stained knife).
The incident came to light when the police appeared before the court and they had to provide the evidence in the hearing.
The hearing was about the crime which took place in September 2016, in which a person named Shashikant Sharma died at a primary health center under Chandwaji police station. After the body was found, the deceased’s relatives blocked the Jaipur-Delhi highway, demanding an inquiry into the matter.
Following the investigation, the police had arrested Rahul Kandera and Mohanlal Kandera, residents of Chandwaji in relation to the murder. But, when the time came to produce the evidence related to the case, it was found that the police had no evidence with them because a monkey had stolen it from them.
In the court, the police said that the knife, which was the primary evidence, was also taken by the monkey. The cops informed that the evidence of the case was kept in a bag, which was being taken to the court.
The evidence bag contained the knife and 15 other important evidences. However, due to the lack of space in the malkhana, a bag full of evidence was kept under a tree, which led to the incident.