PDP picks holes in Budget 2012-13

Terming the budget presented by Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather on Monday as incoherent, contradictory and misleading, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLA and former Deputy Chief Minister, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, today said that achievements and priorities listed by the government were jugglery of figures.

In his 105-minute speech loaded with satire and phrases in Legislative Assembly, Baig exposed the ‘shortcomings’ in the budget documents and economic survey report saying that if state government failed to take certain corrective measures to resurrect the economy, Jammu and Kashmir would end up having nothing in its plan outlay to spend on developmental projects in coming years.

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Rather presents Budget 2011-12

Doubles VAT On Cigarettes, Cigars

In its annual budget 2011-12, presented in both the Houses of state legislature, J&K government Monday nearly doubled value added tax on cigarettes and cigars, raised toll tax on tobacco, livestock and edible oils but exempted pesticides, insecticides and weedicides from tax purview. The budget proposed a partial decrease in the passenger tax.

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Oil passes $107 on violence in Libya, Bahrain

SINGAPORE: Brent prices broke past $107 in Asian trade Tuesday as violence in Libya and Bahrain threatened to destabilise the key oil-producing Middle East and North African region, analysts said.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April gained $1.53 to $107.27 per barrel in the afternoon, surpassing two-year highs reached on Monday.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for March delivery, surged $7.20 to $93.40 per barrel on its last trading day.
"Rising violence in Libya and Bahrain are providing support to oil prices, with geopolitics a key focus of the market currently," said Barclays Capital in a report.
There are worries that spreading unrest in the Middle East and North Africa would threaten global crude supplies as it is home to major oil-producing nations including Libya.
OPEC member Libya is Africa's fourth largest crude producer after Nigeria, Algeria and Angola, boasting production of 1.8 million barrels per day and estimated reserves of 42 billion barrels.
Libya exports most of its oil to European countries, including Italy, Germany, Spain and France.
Gunfire rattled the Libyan capital Tripoli Monday as protesters attacked police stations as well as offices of the state broadcaster and set government buildings ablaze. There were also claims of a "massacre" by government gunmen "firing indiscriminately" in Tajura district.
Human Rights Watch said on Monday that at least 233 people had been killed since Thursday in protests inspired by the uprisings in Libya's neighbours Egypt and Tunisia.
Protesters also overran several cities in the embattled nation as leader Moamer Kadhafi denied Monday he had fled the country he has ruled for four decades.

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SWITCH NETWORK WITHOUT LOSING YOUR NUMBER, MNP likely in JK by Jan 20

Millions of mobile subscribers across J&K, like their counterparts elsewhere, may now have a
choice to switch over to telecom service provider of their choice, without losing their number.
The Department of Telecommunication is
rolling out Mobile Number Portability (MNP) scheme throughout India on January 20.
Official sources told Greater Kashmir the telecom companies in J&K have made the required arrangements for starting MNP in the state. “The Department of Telecommunication, DoT, is likely to include J&K in the list of the states where the MNP will be rolled out from January 20,” they said. “We have made all necessary arrangements to roll out the MNP in J&K. We have been waiting the formal announcement from the DoT,” a senior BSNL official said.
To recall, the Telecom Ministry had launched the MNP from Haryana on November 25, 2010 while deciding to roll out the services in rest of India from January 20.
The MNP was introduced after postponing it three times because telecom operators were not ready with the necessary infrastructure.
Number portability allows mobile subscribers to retain their phone numbers even if they change service providers. India had over 670 million mobile subscribers at the end of August, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
Talking to the Greater Kashmir, DDG, DoT J&K, Aahuja said, “We are still awaiting for formal directions from the Telecom ministry. However, we are hopeful it would be rolled out as per the scheduled date but the things would be clear only in next couple of days.” Sources said six telecom operators including BSNL, Airtel, Aircel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone and Tata Indicom in J&K have been preparing for offering the service in the state.
Under guidelines proposed last year by TRAI, mobile users would be allowed to use the same mobile number even if providers avail different mobile technologies like CDMA (code division multiple access) or GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications).
The maximum time for porting would be seven working days except in J&K, Assam
and North East service areas, where it would be 15 working days.
The customers will have to pay a maximum of Rs 19 to the new operator for porting his number.
However the minimum stay period for a customer to retain the new operator will be three months.
They will have to send an SMS from their phone to 1900. Based on this, they will get a unique porting code from the existing provider. The customer has to fill an application mentioning the code to the selected new service provider for transferring the number.

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