This week, Delhi is streamlining the process for getting a wide variety of official government documents; Maharashtra’s cabinet is expanding; Andhra calls for austerity as fiscal concerns grow; Maharashtra looks to create real estate regulator; Mamata Banerjee wooing election strategist Prashant Kishor for next year’s election in Bengal.
Center-State Relations
The Union Ministry of Railways is speeding up construction of a rail coach factory at Kanchrapara in West Bengal at an estimated cost of $130 million. Bidding on the project will open in January.
Source: The Economic Times
The central government is working to ensure that states don’t simply raise electricity prices without also improving power transmission. The Center’s financial turnaround initiative for state-owned power distribution companies (discoms), known as the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna, is designed to help free power utilities from their heavy debt burden, but states are responsible for reducing transmission losses that absorb 30 to 40 percent of production. Source: Business Standard
The Center approved assistance from the National Disaster Relief Fund to Karnataka and Gujarat to deal with the losses caused by drought and flood in the two states. Karnataka, which declared parts of 27 of its 30 districts as drought-hit in August, was given $237 million and Gujarat, which was hit by a massive flood in the same month, received $86 million. Source: The Hindu
The Andhra Pradesh government has created a special unit, the Financial and Economic Analysis Division (FEAD), dedicated to providing economic analysis and strategic support to the Finance Department. FEAD will be responsible, in part, for helping to attract investment from abroad to build key infrastructure in the state. Source: The Hindu
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has confirmed the state government’s decision to allow Bauxite mining in the Visakhapatnam Agency area, despite growing protests. Source: The New Indian Express
Several Chinese pharmaceutical companies have expressed interest in opening manufacturing units in the proposed ‘Pharma City’ in the Rangareddy area. The proposed new facilities will cover 6,000 acres of the development. Source: The New Indian Express
The state government issued guidelines for implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Food Processing Policy 2015-2020, which offers various incentives to set up food processing enterprises in the state. Source: The Hindu
With the state’s revenue deficit reaching $2 billion by the end of the second quarter of the current financial year, the Andhra Pradesh government has directed government departments to observe fiscal discipline and not demand additional funds for development and welfare programs. Source: The New Indian Express
A six-year long grassroots protest against a planned thermal power plant in northern Andhra Pradesh finally ended after the government scrapped plans for the plant and promised to allow only eco-friendly projects in the area. Source: The Hindu
The winter session of the Delhi Assembly will take place from November 18 to November 28. The 70-member House will likely vote on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) bill that will allow citizens to penalize the government for failure to promptly deliver services. Source: Business Standard, The Hindu
Beginning in December, the Delhi government will remove the third-party attestation requirement on many government documents, replacing it with a self-attestation by the citizen seeking the document- such as marriage licenses, death certificates, and scheduled caste/scheduled tribe certificates. Source: The Hindu
The Gujarat government will soon begin the implementation of the ‘Smart City’ project in six cities: Vadodara, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Dahod. Source: The Economic Times
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel launched the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign for over 300 local self-government institutions. Polling will take place on two days: November 22 and 29. Source: The Hindu
The Karnataka legislative assembly session began November 16 and will last until November 27.
The BJP is seeking the removal of Karnataka’s Anti-corruption Ombudsman, Justice Y Bhaskar Rao, following allegations that Justice Rao’s son was running an extortion racket. Source: The Times of India
Karnataka saw widespread rioting in response to the government’s celebration of the birth anniversary of 18th-century warrior Tipu Sultan. Two people were killed in clashes between police, protestors, and those celebrating the event. Source: The Indian Express
Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has asked all government departments to submit detailed social impact assessments for all proposed programs. Failure to submit the report will result in rejection of the proposals. Source: The Economic Times
The Maharashtra government is pushing for legislation setting up a regulatory authority to curb mismanagement in the real estate sector and penalise negligent builders, especially since the federal government has so far failed to create a housing regulator. Source: DNA India
Maharashtra’s cabinet expansion will take place at the end of November. Twelve ministers will join the government, six of them from the Bharatiya Janata Party and six others from allied parties. Shiv Sena, which has been publicly critical of both the state and the central government, will get two ministries. Source: The Economic Times
Union Minister for Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises Kalraj Mishra will preside at the conclave on medium and small enterprises at Resurgent Rajasthan Partnership Summit (RRPS) from November 19 to November 20 and unveil the state’s policy framework for the sector. Source: Business Standard
The Rajasthan government has inked 14 agreements in the housing and infrastructure sectors ahead of the upcoming RRPS. The government has planned a session focusing exclusively on smart cities and highways. Source: Business Standard
The Tamil Nadu government has submitted an irrigation and drought relief plan for 2015-16 to the Ministry of Urban Development. Projected expenditure under the plan is $500 million. Source: Business Standard
The Telangana government is introducing single-window clearance for industries eligible to receive incentives and will also create a Geographical Information System database of available industrial land in the state that includes information about local infrastructure. Source: The New Indian Express
Telangana is exploring possibilities for taxing e-commerce in the state, including by amending provisions of its Value-Added Tax (VAT) Act. Under current law, only the state in which an item was manufactured collects taxes from e-commerce sales. Source: The Hindu
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said that a “Grand Alliance” against the Bharatiya Janata Party, similar to the one that recently won the Bihar legislative assembly elections, was possible in Uttar Pradesh. Assembly elections will take place in early 2017. Source: The Economic Times
In the run-up to next year’s assembly elections, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is using the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) to send a message that she is serious about industrial development in the state. Last year’s event brought in investment worth more than $37 billion. The 2016 BGBS will take place on January 8 and 9. Source: The Economic Times
Banerjee’s All India Trinamool Congress Party may be looking to hire political strategist Prashant Kishor, who is widely credited for both the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) huge win in the 2014 general assembly elections and the Grand Alliance victory over the BJP in the recent Bihar polls. Kishor met with Banerjee, among other political leaders, and has not yet announced his next campaign. Source: India Today
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