Delhi

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Invoking a verse from the epic Mahabharata, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced steps to further simplify the tax system and promote voluntary compliance.

Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge also invoked the Mahabharata to hit out at Sitharaman and claimed that the budget was not meant for 'Eklavya', the prince of Nishadha, a confederation of jungle tribes.

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) As India prepares for its maiden human spaceflight, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday allocated Rs 13,700 crore to the Department of Space in the Union Budget.

The allocation was an increase of Rs 1,058 crore over the revised estimate of Rs 12,642 crore in the previous budget.

A giant share of the allocation - Rs 10,534 crore - has been made under the head of space technology that covers most of the centres of ISRO.

ISRO plans to launch India first unmanned space mission under Gaganyaan later this year.

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The defence budget was on Tuesday increased to Rs 5.25 lakh crore for 2022-23 from last year's allocation of Rs 4.78 lakh crore with a major push on ensuring self-reliance in manufacturing of military platforms.

In the Union Budget presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a total of Rs 1,52,369 crore has been set aside for capital expenditure that includes purchasing new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware.

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Skier Arif Khan, the only athlete representing India at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, left for the Games in the Chinese capital along with Chef De Mission Harjinder Singh and support staff.

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batra wished the contingent luck before its departure for the Games on Monday.

Arif, who will participate in two events, is aiming a modest top-30 finish in the showpiece which begins on Friday.

The Indian team will return on February 19, Batra said.

Mumbai, Jan 31 (PTI) A court here on Monday remanded Neeraj Bishnoi, the prime accused in the Bulli Bai app case wherein photos of some Muslim women were posted online for 'auction', to judicial custody for two weeks.

Bishnoi, the alleged creator of the mobile application, was arrested earlier this month by the Delhi Police in a similar case. Mumbai Police later took his custody for investigating the Bulli Bai app case.

A Metropolitan Magistrate's court in Mumbai on Monday remanded Bishnoi to judicial custody.

New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) Indian economy contracted by 6.6 per cent in 2020-21 as against the earlier estimate of 7.3 per cent decline, showing that the COVID-19 pandemic hit economy did not perform as badly as was initially worked out.

As per the provisional estimates released in May 2021, the GDP had contracted by 7.3 per cent during 2020-21 on account of the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent nationwide lockdown to contain the pandemic.

New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) India and Russia on Monday agreed to deepen cooperation at the UN Security Council after the two sides held wide-ranging talks on issues before the global body.

Russia is set to assume the presidency of the UN Security Council in February.

The two sides held bilateral consultations on UN-related issues at a meeting in Delhi, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday approved the Budget 2022-23, sources said.

The Budget will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a short while from now in the Lok Sabha.

The Budget documents usually include the finance minister's speech in Parliament, highlights, annual financial statement, finance bill containing tax proposals, memorandum explaining the provisions in the financial bill, and macroeconomic framework statement.

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The government is committed to reduce imports and promote self-reliance in the defence sector, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

She said that 68 per cent of capital for the defence sector would be earmarked for the local industry.

Sitharaman also said that 5 per cent of Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund would be provided for R&D and technology upgradation.

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The Congress on Tuesday accused Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Prime Minister Minister Narendra Modi of betraying the country's salaried and middle classes by not announcing any relief measures for them in the Union Budget.

Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the salaried and the middle classes have been affected due to pay cuts and high inflation.