
Pradhan proposes panel formation to resolve RSP expansion
on Wednesday proposed the formation of a high-level committee for resolving issues related to the expansion of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) in Sundargarh district. The proposal was accepted by Union steel minister
during a high-level meeting held in New Delhi.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
Pradhan thanked Kumaraswamy for agreeing to his suggestion. He said the expansion of RSP is crucial for India's steel sector and the industrial, social and economic development of Odisha and the rest of eastern India.
"Expansion will boost our steel production capacity, strengthen India's position in the global steel market, reduce imports, cater to the needs of key industrial sectors, catalyse Odisha's economy, drive growth and create large-scale jobs in steel and allied sectors in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Purvodaya vision," said Pradhan.
Union tribal affairs minister and Sundargarh MP Jual Oram also attended the meeting.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Hindu
8 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Union Home Minister Amit Shah to address BJP's booth committee conference in Tirunelveli on August 22: L. Murugan
Union Home Minister is set to make yet another political visit to Tamil Nadu on August 22 when he would address the BJP's booth committee conference in Tirunelveli. Disclosing this to journalists on Sunday in Chennai, party leader and Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan said: 'BJP state president Nainar Nagendran will preside over the meeting. Booth agents from five parliamentary constituencies including Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Tenkasi and Virudhunagar will participate in the first such conference. We are planning to hold more conferences as we progress.' In response to a query on Chief Minister M K Stalin's criticism of the alliance, Mr. Murugan said the AIADMK-BJP alliance is going strong. To another question about a few well known personalities quitting AIADMK and joining DMK recently, he said it is quite a common occurrence and claimed DMK leaders are in touch with the BJP. However, Mr. Murugan refused to share further details and said they would be known in coming months. On the recent searches by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) at the premises of State Rural Development Minister I Periyasamy, he contended the agency functions independently based on available inputs. Mr. Murugan criticised VCK founder and MP Thol. Thirumavalavan on the recent protest by a section of conservancy workers in Chennai and alleged he 'was not raising issues relating to Dalits during the DMK regime'. He also backed Governor R N Ravi's remark on school education in the State and said the state government should focus on addressing the infrastructure gaps in government schools. Mr. Murugan said from August 18 onwards 38 trains operating across Tamil Nadu will stop at additional railway stations. The Minister said he continuously received petitions from the public demanding that express trains, superfast trains and passenger trains should stop at additional railway stations and he took it to the attention of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw who accepted the demands of railway passengers and issued necessary orders for extra stoppage. Mr. Murugan said the Tamil Nadu government has been given about ₹10 lakh crore in the last 10 years to implement social welfare schemes including modernization and expansion of national highways, airports and ports. The Union government has given ₹6626 crore for the state's railway projects in 2025-26, while during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime between 2009-2014, this allocation was ₹879 crore, he said. Mr. Murugan added under the Amrit Bharat Railway Stations Scheme, work is being carried out at a fast pace to upgrade 77 railway stations in Tamil Nadu at an estimated cost of ₹2,948 crore. The Minister said work of laying new tracks for a distance of 2,587 km is under way at an estimated cost of ₹33,467 crore, and 10 new railway lines, 3 broad gauge railway lines and 9 double-track lines are being constructed.

Mint
36 minutes ago
- Mint
Centre working on framework to help panchayats become financially-autonomous
New Delhi: The government is working on a framework to help village councils (panchayats) generate their own revenue and become financially autonomous, carrying out development works without relying on funds from the Centre or states. The Union Panchayati Raj ministry has set up a panel, consisting of senior officials from various state governments, which is tasked with formulating a blueprint that can act as a guide for states and Union territories (UTs) in creating and amending their model OSR (Own Source of Revenue) rules. "We have constituted a committee comprising senior officials from various state governments, to prepare a model OSR framework of panchayats, which can serve as a benchmark for the states in formulating and amending their OSR rules," Vivek Bharadwaj, secretary, ministry of panchayati raj, said. The template, to be shared with states and UTs, aims to plug the gaps in existing regulations and guide local bodies in mobilising revenue, which mainly comes from taxes, fees and other charges. The development assumes significance, as nearly a dozen states and UTs don't have OSR rules. The 22 states and UTs that have already formulated the rules need to update them, said Bharadwaj. Own Source Revenue (OSR) refers to the revenues that panchayats generate on their own, from sources such as property tax, water charges, market fees, trade licence fees and building permit fees. OSR rules help regulate, standardize, and empower panchayats to collect and manage the revenues efficiently. The OSR rules are crucial to panchayat as they empower them to function independently and also reduce over-dependence on central and state grants. Additionally, they support local development projects with locally-generated funds. According to Bharadwaj, there are 11 states and UTs that have not yet framed OSR rules. These include Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Ladakh and Lakshadweep. Twenty two states and UTs have already developed and implemented OSR-based regulations, allowing panchayats to levy and collect taxes, fees, tolls, or other local sources of revenue. Among these states are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. Some States have detailed guidelines on fixing OSR rates. In many instances across the states, it has been observed that much more efforts need to be made towards fulfilment of these requirements. "Financial rules related to OSR generation were prepared long ago in states, and hence have been suffering from various deficiencies like use of incomprehensible legal jargons and lack of updating," Bharadwaj added. Panchayats, which act as grassroots-level bodies to implement government programmes and for achieving the sustainable development goals, get grants from the Centre, state governments, as well as raise their own revenue in a limited way through internal sources like local-tax revenues and user charges. "Self-sufficiency is an ideal state for gram panchayats as they can have more funds to carry out developmental works. However revenue collection is conditional as it depends on economic activities in a particular area," said Sri Hari Nayudu, economist, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), New Delhi. "Most of the time we are dependent on state government grants for developmental works, since most of us doen't know how to increase revenue. The proposed rules can guide us in that direction," said Gurcharan Singh, Panch-Charik Patti Sarkar, a rural local body in Moga district of Punjab. In 2021-22, the average per capita OSR collected by panchayats at all-India level was ₹ 100. Also, the average OSR for gram panchayat was ₹ 230,000 per year, with 42% of gram panchayats having less than ₹ 100,000 revenue per year. "The key reasons behind low revenue collection are over-dependence on grants, underutilization of tax powers, weak administrative systems and trust deficit with citizens which limit the revenue," said an economist who requested not to identified.


The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
BJP leaders to be questioned regarding Suresh Gopi's suspected leopard tooth pendant
At least two BJP leaders, who were seen accompanying Union Minister Suresh Gopi at Thrissur on the day he wore a chain with a pendant made of a suspected leopard tooth, will be summoned for interrogation. The Pattikkad Range Forest Officer is likely to issue notices to the party leaders to record their statements this week on a complaint filed by a Congress worker A.A. Mohamed Hashim. Mr. Hashim had complained that the act of wearing a leopard tooth, a wildlife trophy, was an offence punishable under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The Forest department had recorded the statements of Mr. Hashim in this regard last month. Mr. Hashim, who shared the news video clips of Mr. Gopi walking along the Swaraj Round wearing the suspected wildlife trophy, had identified one of the accompanying persons as K.K. Aneeshkumar, the Thrissur district president of BJP. Though unable to name the other one, the complainant had said he was an identifiable person. In Kannur too He had indicated that the Minister was seen wearing the ornament made out of suspected leopard tooth at a public function in Kannur too. Mr. Hashim, while giving his statement to the department, wanted the suspected ornament to be seized and its period of manufacture ascertained. Information will be sought from the persons who were seen walking along with Mr. Gopi, on whether they had any idea that he was wearing the ornament made of a wildlife trophy. The possible existence of videos or pictures that would give clues on the material constituting the ornament will be explored, since the videos shared by the complainant are insufficient to prove the allegations, sources said. The investigating officer will decide on questioning Mr. Gopi after looking into the statements of the witnesses and the evidence, they said. Meanwhile, the Pattikkad Range Forest officer recently booked a wildlife crime against a person arrested by the Thrissur police for allegedly possessing suspected narcotic substances the other day. A suspected leopard tooth, ivory and a few strands of elephant tail hair were also recovered from the accused. The suspected wildlife trophies would be sent for analysis to ascertain their genuineness. If confirmed, the accused would be prosecuted under the Wildlife Protection Act, sources said.