-The Hindu No decision taken yet on which Banks will be privatised, Finance Minister says. Fresh from presenting a Budget that represents a clean break from past policies, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was in Chennai last weekend to hear feedback from industrialists and common citizens. “This is a Budget that was put through the wringer to ensure that every number was credible and achievable and did not reflect over-ambition,” she said,...

-Livemint.com/ PTI Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting Budget 2021-22 earlier this month had announced the privatisation of Public Sector Banks To facilitate the privatisation of public sector Banks, the government is likely to bring amendments to two legislations later this year. Amendments would be required in the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980 for privatisation, sources said. These Acts...

-The Hindu In separate incidents, two people were killed by tigers in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district of Telangana in a span of just 20 days in November last year. While the tiger population has increased, habitats have diminished leading to more man-animal conflicts, reports Swathi Vadlamudi Pedda Vagu, the sinuous stream which originates in the Kerameri Hills of the Kumram Bheem Asifabad district in north Telangana, was a silent spectator of a...

-Down to Earth Use of concrete instead of traditional wood and masonry in the Himalayas is creating a heat-island effect, warming the range, they added A major disaster struck the Himalayan state of Uttrakhand February 7, 2021. A glacier broke after an avalanche in the Joshimath area of the state’s Chamoli district. There are reports of missing people and damage to property. The Chamoli police said the Rishiganga Power Project had been damaged...

In order to understand why the Union Budget 2021-22 is being termed as ‘transparent’, it has to be read simultaneously with the 15th Finance Commission Main Report for 2021-26. But first, let us discuss 'fertilizer subsidy'. The budget documents for Union Budget 2021-22 show that the spending on ‘fertilizer subsidy’ was slashed from Rs. 1,33,947 crore in 2020-21 (revised estimate) to Rs. 79,530 crore in 2021-22 (budget estimate). However, the budgetary...