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Indian
Independence Day Celebrations
The 58th anniversary of Indian Independence Day was celebrated
at the High Commission of India in Canberra and Consulate
General of India in Sydney on 15 August 2005 with flag
hoisting ceremony followed by reading of President’s
message and rendition of patriotic songs by members of
the local Indian Community. A large number of Indian and
Australians of Indian origin attended the ceremonies.
The India Australia Association of Canberra (IAAC) organized
a function on 14 August at the High Commission premises
to celebrate the occasion. A Friendship Fair was also
organized in Canberra by the Mandir Society of Australia
and Diwali Mela Inc. of Canberra on 27 August. The Fair
was inaugurated by Mr. Vijay Kumar, Secretary (Coordination),
Ministry of External Affairs. In Sydney, the Second Annual
Independence Day Address of the Australia India Business
Council was delivered by Mr. Bruce Billson, Parliamentary
Secretary for Foreign and Multicultural Affairs. The Independence
Day was also celebrated by Indian Associations in different
parts of Australia. |
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‘Outcome
Budget’ Highlights |
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The
Finance Minister of India Mr. P. Chidambaram tabled in
parliament India's first ‘Outcome Budget’ that
measures the country's development programmes in terms
of actual outcomes, as opposed to mere fiscal outlays.
The 725-page document is the culmination of Mr. Chidambaram's
promise in the budget speech Feb 28 to evolve a mechanism
with the Planning Commission to assess development outcomes
of all major schemes.
The Outcome Budget would
be a pre-expenditure instrument to help realise the ministries'
vision through clearly defined outcomes as a supplement
to current systems built around post-expenditure scrutiny,'
he told the Lok Sabha. |
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'It will further
strengthen a citizen's right to information by putting
critical data and information on expected outcomes in
the public domain, public scrutiny, which will help ensure
value for money,' he said.
The Finance Minister said he would make the outcome budget
an annual exercise, adding that it would also include
non-plan expenditure in the next fiscal, as against covering
just plan expenditure in the current year.
Speaking to reporters after tabling the document, Mr.
Chidambaram said the government would also table a performance
budget at the end of the fiscal to indicate the extent
of physical targets achieved.
The general budget, outcome budget and the performance
budget should together give a much better picture of what
has been physically achieved based on the fiscal outlays
made every year, he said, and hoped the exercise would
become broad-based. 'I sincerely hope some states begin
the outcome budget this year and the rest would follow
next year.'
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Benchmarking
standards:
Some of the important steps outlined in the outcome budget
to convert fiscal outlays into physical outcomes include
specific definition of programmes into measurable terms
and benchmarking the standards and quality of the schemes.
It would also help ensure the right flow of money at the
right time and prevent the practice in the system to park
funds. Besides, crucial decisions can be taken more effectively
to target limited funds into proper schemes.
Education
The outcome budget points out that the 'Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan' programme to enroll all children of between six
and 14 years of age in elementary schools, faces the problem
of proper updating of village education registers.Difficulties
are also being faced in enrolling teachers, while those
on the rolls resort to absenteeism. This, the budget says,
not only hinders improved access,
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but also the
retention of children under the programme. This apart,
the outcome budget says, the popular mid-day meal scheme
to primary school children - that seeks to improve nourishment
and provide an incentive to get educated - suffers from
the lack of supervision and management.
Infrastructure
Other projects where it has expressed caution include
the accelerated irrigation programme, renovation of water
bodies and cost overruns, and the poor allocation of resources
for the infrastructure needed to host the 2010 Commonwealth
Games. The industry welcomed the tabling of the first
outcome budget saying it provides an indication of the
projects, which would be implemented during the current
fiscal. 'Now the Outcome Budget has clearly said the north-south
and east-west Highways will be completed by the end of
2006-07 and golden quadrilateral highway during 2005-06
itself,' he added. |
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Visit
of CII Delegation |
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A delegation
from the Confederation of Indian Industry
(CII), led by its President Mr. Y. C. Deveshwar
visited Australia from 14-18 August, 2005.
at the invitation of the Australian Industry
Group (AIG). The delegation included Dr. Jamshed
J. Irani, Chairman of India Australia Council
and Director of Tata Sons; Mr. K. M. Mammen,
CMD, MRF tyres; Mr. Arun Kumar Jagatramka,
Chairman Gujarat NRE Australia Pty. Ltd.,
among others.
The CII delegation
participated in the Australian Industry Group
Annual National Forum 2005 in Canberra. Mr.
Deveshwar addressed the Forum on ‘Rethinking
world industry – India, a good fit’.
The delegation had useful interaction with
Australian political, business and industry
leaders. The delegation called on Minister
for Foreign Affairs of Australia, and Deputy
Premiers of New South Wales and Victoria.
In Sydney, AIG and CII participated in a seminar
with the Australia India Business Council
(AIBC). A joint meeting of the India Australia
Council and Australia India Council was also
held. In Melbourne, the delegation also had
a useful meeting with the Asia Society.
The visit of the CII delegation followed an
earlier visit of CII sports infrastructure
delegation in July, and was a manifestation
of the growing links between Indian and Australian
business and industry. |
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