Highlights of railway budget 2010-11

* Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee appeals to business houses to join hands for building partnership with Railways. Presenting Railway Budget for 2010-11, Banerjee says a special task force will be set up for early clearance of projects.

* No fare hike for passengers.

* Railways not to be privatised; It will remain with the government, says Banerjee. While not privatising, Railways have to develop business models for improving earnings, says Banerjee.

* Railways 2020 vision document will contain short, medium and long-term goals. Commitments fulfilled to the maximum. Out of 120 trains announced in last budget, only three remain to be flagged off because of lack of broad-gauge lines, says Banerjee.

* Plans to launch a pilot project for fire detection.The government also plans to construct more underpasses for safety, the minister said while presenting the Railway Budget.
* Railways to start six water bottling plants in places like Ambala, Thiruvananthapuram, Farakka, Amethi and Nasik to provide clean and cheap drinking water to passengers.
* Indian Railways aims to add 25,000 route kilometers by 2020. The railways currently has 64,015 route kilometers, she said.
* India's railways has set up a special task force to clear investment proposals in 100 days
* Indian Railways plans to keep rail freight rates unchanged, Bloomberg-UTV news channel reported, without saying where it got the information.
* Railways to set up mobile e-ticketing centres at hospitals, universities, courts, IITs, IIMs, district headquarters and village panchayats. All 13,000 unmanned level crossings to be manned in the next five years.
* Railway Protection Force to be strengthened through amendments in RPF Act; women's wing to be formed in RPF to ensure security of women. Ex-servicemen to be inducted in RPF. Railways will be the lead partner in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
* Railways to set up Rabindra Museum in Howrah and Geetanjali Museum in Bolpur -- both in West Bengal -- tocommemorate Rabindranath Tagore's 125th birth anniversary.
* Railways will provide houses to all its employees in the the next 10 years in collaboration with the Urban Development ministry.
* Railways to enhance contribution to central staff benefit fund. Centre for Railway Research to be set up at IIT-Kharagpur. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works capacity to be augmented from 200 to 275 engines a year.
* Work on Rae Bareli Coach Factory in Uttar Pradesh to start within a year. Wagon Repair Shop to be set up in Badnera near Amravati in Maharashtra.
* Integral Coach Factory in Chennai to be modernised and a new unit to be set up there. If land is available, Railways willing to set up a Diesel Multiple Unit factory in West Bengal.
* No forcible acquisition of land for freight corridor project. One member of each family of land losers to be given employment in the freight corridor as also in the new projects.
* High-speed dedicated passenger corridors to be constructed; National High Speed Rail Authority to be set up.
* Revenue from non-core business of Railways to go up from Rs 150 crore to Rs 1,000 crore. Indian Railways has set a target to transport 944 million tons of goods in the year beginning April 1.
* Railways expects to increase earnings from non core activities. The government aims to increase non core earnings to Rs10 billion rupees from Rs1.5 billion.
* Railways expects to increase earnings from non core activities. The government aims to increase non core earnings to Rs10 billion rupees from Rs1.5 billion.
* Despite slowdown, Railways to exceed freight loading target by eight million tonnes during 2009-10. Freight loading target for 2010-11 fixed at 944 million tonnes, 54 million tonnes more than the current year's revised target. Gross traffic receipt for 2010-11 pegged at Rs94,765 crore.
* Allocation for construction of new lines increased from Rs2848 crore to Rs 4411 crore.
* Rs1,302 crore provided for passenger amenities in the 2010-11 railway budget against Rs 923 crore last year.
* Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC)will borrow 91.2 billion rupees ($1.97 billion) from the market in 2010-11.
* Railways to have master plan for North Eastern region. Special train between India and Bangladesh to be started to commemorate 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.
* 101 additional services to start on Mumbai suburban railways. Survey will be conducted to connect Sealdah and Howrah stations in West Bengal. To commemorate Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary, 'Bharat Teertha' trains to connect several pilgrimage centres across the country.
* Indian Railway Finance Corporation will borrow Rs91.2 billion ($1.97 billion) from the market in 2010-11.

Highlights of 2010-11 budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament on 26th February' 2010

Despite fuel price hike, Pranab Mukherjee managed to make both the salaried class as well as the entrepreneurs happy.

Highlights of 2010-11 budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament Friday:

-- Clean energy cess of Rs.50 per tonne on coal produced in India
-- Concessional duty of 4 percent for solar power rickshaw developed by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

-- Concessional customs duty of 5 percent for cable TV operators for importing equipment
-- Toys fully exempt from central excise duty
-- Service sector tax retained at 10 percent to aid the introduction of GST; more services to be taxed
-- Accredited news agencies exempt from service tax
-- Net revenue gain Rs.22,500 crore
-- Taxes on large cars and SUVs increased 2 percent to 22 percent
-- Basic duty of 5 percent on crude oil restored
-- Tax on cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco increased
-- Rs. 26,000 crore revenue loss due to reduction of direct taxes
-- Partial roll back of reduction in central excise duty
-- Income up to Rs.1.6 lakh per year exempt from income tax; up to Rs.5 lakh to be taxed at 10 percent; income of Rs.5-8 lakh to be taxed at 20 percent and income above Rs.8 lakh to be taxed at 30 percent
-- IT returns forms for individual tax payers to be further simplified
-- Expenditure in 2010-11 estimated at 11,l8,749 crore
-- Fiscal deficit estimated at 5.5 percent in 2010-11; an improvement of 1 percent over 2009-10
-- Two more centralised tax processing centres to be set up in addition to the one at Bangalore
-- National Social Security Fund created for workers in unorganised sector with allocation of Rs.1,000 crore
-- Government to give Rs.1,000 for each National Pension Scheme account opened by workers in the unorganised sector
-- Exclusive skill development programme for the textile sector
-- Fifty percent hike in allocation for schemes for women and child development
-- Rs.4,500 crore allocated for ministry of social justice and empowerment, a hike of 80 percent
-- Rs.2,600 crore allocated for ministry of minorities affairs
-- Rs.1,900 crore for Unique Identification Authority of India
-- Rs.147,344 crore allocated for defence
-- 2,000 youth to be recruited in central paramilitary forces
-- Draft Food Security Bill prepared and will be put in the public domain
-- Allocation on primary education raised from Rs.26,800 crore to Rs.31,300 crore
-- Banking facilities to be provided to all habitations with a population of 2,000 and more
-- Rs.66,100 crore allocated for rural development in 2010-11; Rs.40,100 crore for National Rural Employment Scheme; RS.48,000 crore for Bharat Nirman
-- Rs.1,270 crore allocated for Rajiv Awas Yojana for slum dwellers, up from Rs.150 crore, an increase of 700 percent with the aim of creating a slum free India.
-- Forty-six percent of plan allocations in 2010-11 will be for infrastructure development
-- Coal Regulatory Authority to be set up to benchmark standards of performance
-- Allocation for new and renewable energy sector increased 61 percent from Rs.620 crore to Rs.1,000 crore in 2010-11
-- National Clean Energy Fund to be established
-- Rs.200 crore allocated as special package for Goa to prevent erosion and increase green cover
-- Government committed to growth of SEZs
-- Four-pronged strategy for growth of agricultural sector
-- Rs.200 crore to be provided in 2010-11 for climate-resilient agricultural initiative
-- Involvement of private sector in grain storage to continue for another two years
-- In view of drought and floods, debt repayment period extended to June 2010
-- Five more mega food processing projects in addition to 10 existing ones
-- FDI flows in April-December 2009 $20.9 billion
-- FDI policy to be made more user-friendly with one comprehensive document
-- Apex level financial stability council to be set up for banking sector
-- Indian Banking Association to give additional licences to private players
-- Provision for further capital for regional rural banks
-- Roadmap for reducing public debt in six months
-- Implementation of direct tax code from April 2011
-- Government actively engaged in finalising structure of general sales tax regime; hopes to implement it from April 2011
-- New fertiliser policy from April 2010; will lead to improved productively and more income for farmers
-- Economy stabilised in first quarter of 2009-10; strong rebound in second quarter; overall growth at 7.2 and could be higher when Q3 and Q4 are taken into account
-- Export figures for January encouraging
-- Hope to breach 10 percent growth mark in not too distant future
-- Government set in motion steps to bring down food inflation
-- Need to review stimulus package; need to make growth more broad-based
-- India has weathered global economic crisis well; Indian economy in far better position than it was a year ago. In 2009 Indian economy faced grave uncertainty; delay in southwest monsoon had undermined agricultural production
-- First challenge now is to quickly revert to 9 percent growth and then aim for double digit growth; need to make recovery more broadbased
-- Second challenge is to make growth more inclusive; have to strengthen food security
-- Third challenge is to overcome weakness in government's public delivery mechanism; a long way to go in this