Mumbai, July 8 (IANS) Days after the presentation of the Rs 6,12,293 crore budget for 2024-25, the MahaYuti government in Maharashtra will present supplementary demands of Rs 94,000 crore plus during the ongoing Monsoon session, mainly to finance the implementation of a slew of freebies and sops in the run-up to the Assembly elections slated for September-October.

The state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, gave its approval after Finance Secretary Saurabh Vijay put up the Finance Department’s proposal in this regard.

The supplementary demands will be necessitated as the government will badly need money to allocate funds for populist schemes worth Rs 96,000 crore announced in the budget. These schemes will be financed after the state legislature passes the supplementary demands. Various schemes to be funded included Mukhamantri Ladki Bahin Yojana (Rs 46,000 crore), free higher education for girls (Rs 2,000 crore), Mukhyamantri Yuva Karyaprashikshan Yojana (Rs 10,000 crore), free electricity to farmers for agricultural pumps up to 7.5 horsepower capacity (Rs 14,761 crore) and few small and big schemes for various sections (Rs 20,000-25,000 crore).

The government’s move to table supplementary demands comes when Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar has projected a revenue deficit of Rs 20,051 crore and a fiscal deficit of Rs 1.10 lakh crore in the budget for 2024-25. He has also estimated the state’s public debt stock to increase to Rs 7.82 lakh crore in 2024-25 against Rs 7.11 lakh crore.

The revenue deficit is expected to be 0.47 per cent of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) while the fiscal deficit will be 2.59 per cent of the GSDP in 2024-25. Both are way below the 3 per cent limit of the GSDP as mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM).

A senior minister said: “The government is making all efforts to adhere to the Finance Commission’s recommendations and provisions of the FRBM Act. However, in the wake of supplementary demands of Rs 94,000 crore plus for the implementation of several schemes, the state’s fiscal deficit is expected to cross the 3 per cent limit of the GSDP and it may surge to a record 4.87 per cent, which will be for the first time in the state. However, the government is capable of tackling the situation as it is bullish about its rapidly rising tax revenue.”

However, another minister admitted that if the fiscal deficit crosses 3 per cent of the GSDP, then it may seriously impact the government’s cash flow which will bring many constraints in borrowing money from the market. “The government will have to focus on fiscal management in such a situation to avoid fiscal distress ahead of the coming Assembly election. This will certainly be a major challenge,” he asserted.

(Sanjay Jog can be contacted at sanjay.j@ians.in)

Mumbai, July 8 (IANS) Maharashtra government will table a Model Prisons and Correctional Services Bill, 2024 on the line of the Centre’s Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023 during the ongoing monsoon session of the state legislature.

The state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde gave its approval at its meeting held on Monday.

The proposed bill will cover various aspects of prison management including security, safety, scientific and technological interventions, segregation of prisoners, special provision for women inmates, taking appropriate action against criminal activities of prisoners in the prison, grant of parole and furlough to prisoners, their education, vocational training and skill development.

It will also have provisions with regard to the reformation, rehabilitation and integration of prisoners into society.

A senior state government functionary said that the prison being a state subject, the Centre had asked to enact suitable legislation along the lines of the Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023.

“The bill’s objective is to carry out administrative and technological reforms in prisons and also implement welfare programmes for prisoners and aftercare and rehabilitation services,” he said.

He added that the Union Home Affairs Ministry is providing necessary support and guidance to the state for efficient management of prisons in their jurisdictions.

According to the state government’s data, there are about 41,075 inmates in 60 jails against the combined capacity of 24,722 inmates in Maharashtra as of January 31, 2023.

Of the 41,075 inmates, 39,504 were men, 1,556 women, and 15 trans-genders. Of them, 7,949 were convicts, 32,917 undertrials, and 209 detainees. There were also a total of 606 foreign inmates in the jails

The jail occupancy in the state was 136.19 per cent in 2017, 148.93 per cent in 2018, 152.72 per cent in 2019, 128.70 per cent in 2020 and 148.80 in 2021.

In 2021, Maharashtra stood seventh in the country in terms of occupancy rate.

(Sanjay Jog can be contacted at sanjay.j@ians.in)

–IANS

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Gurugram, July 8 (IANS) A 28-year-old man was arrested on Monday for allegedly beating to death a 7-year-old boy and injuring a 9-year-old boy police said.

The victim was identified as Preet and his injured brother was identified as Maanu.

Police said that the victim’s grandgrandfather claimed his son had expired in 2023. After his son’s death his daughter-in-law along with his two sons and a man identified as Vineet Chaudhary was residing in the Rajendra Park area.

On Sunday, his daughter-in-law informed the complainant that Vineet brutally had beaten his children in her absence in which Preet was killed while Maanu is still admitted to a hospital.

During investigations, police appended the accused and filed a murder case against him at the Rajendra Park police station.

During interrogation, the accused said that he used to beat children in the absence of their mother. On Saturday, he had beaten the victims brutally and due to the injuries Preet died while Mannu sustained injures.

–IANS

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Bhopal, July 8 (IANS) After witnessing defeats in the four Assembly elections in the last over 20 years and failing to win even a single Lok Sabha seat in 2024, Madhya Pradesh Congress is now planning to adopt a cadre-based system in the party like in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The start of new system will begin with the formation of a new committee of the state unit Congress, which is all set for overall transportation in the next couple of weeks.

The Congress, so far in Madhya Pradesh, relied more on leader-based systems, as different senior leaders had command over their respective regions.

“Leader-based systems give room for factionalism, due to which the party has suffered for the last over 20 years. Therefore, the party wants to do away with the old system and to adopt a cadre-based system like in the BJP,” a Congress leader told IANS, the idea has been pushed during the meeting with observers appointed by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) visited the state recently.

Notably, a three-member committee led by senior Maharashtra Congress leader, Prithviraj Chavan had visited Madhya Pradesh for introspection of the party’s humiliating loss in the Lok Sabha elections recently.

During the visit, the committee held a one-to-one discussion with candidates, district heads and senior leaders and they were told that the lack of unity within the party was one of the key reasons the party witnessed humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha election.

After that, in charge of the Madhya Pradesh Congress, Bhanwar Jitendra Singh visited the state and chaired a series of meetings with several leaders. During the meeting, it was decided that the party needs to bring some changes in its system, otherwise it won’t be able to stop the BJP, which has a strong cadre up to booth level, sources said.

–IANS

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Kolkata, July 8 (IANS) West Bengal Governor on Monday said that it has sought a report from the office of the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on actions taken by the state government against the Commissioner of Kolkata Police Vineet Kumar Goyal and the Deputy Commissioner (central division) of city police Indira Mukherjee on the basis of a report sent from his office.

The development surfaced when a slugfest has already erupted in West Bengal over the Governor’s recommendation to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs recommending disciplinary actions against Goyal and Mukherjee for pursuing a police complaint filed against the Governor by a woman temporary staffer of Raj Bhavan in Kolkata a couple of months back.

The Governor’s office said that upon the authority vested on the Governor under Article 167 of the Indian Constitution, the Chief Minister has been called upon to submit a report on the matter of “action taken against the Commissioner of Police and the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, on report sent by Hon’ble Governor to the Government of India and the Hon’ble Chief Minister.”

It also said that the office of the Governor has sought from the office of the Chief Minister a report on “CBI enquiry into the violent incidences of beating of a woman in public, public flogging of a couple and operations of ‘kangaroo courts’ with no effective action by police.

BJP leaders have welcomed the complaint by the Governor on the grounds that the duty of the officers is to follow the provisions of the Constitution and not go by the directions of the ruling party.

Leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress have pointed out that the city police has already clarified that the police investigation in the matter is not against anyone but on the merits of the complaint by the Raj Bhavan staff.

–IANS

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