With no new tax proposals, Haryana finance minister Capt Abhimanyu Monday presented Rs 1.32 lakh-crore Budget for 2019-20, with an increase of 14.73 per cent over the previous year’s estimates of Rs 1.15 lakh crore.

This is the fifth Budget of the Manohar Lal Khattar government. Coming barely a few months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections as also the state Assembly elections due later this year, the Haryana government has earmarked Rs 1,500 crore for a special pension it announced for the farmers and workers in unorganised sector.

The Budget outlay comprises Rs 37,924.09 crore or 28.7 per cent as capital expenditure, and 71.3 per cent or Rs 94,241.90 crore as revenue expenditure.

“I propose new schemes to provide financial and social security cover to families of cultivating farmers in possession of land upto five acres and for the families of workers in unorganized sector with the family income of less than Rs 15,000 per month. In case of the farmers, this will be in addition to the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme announced by Government of India. I have provided an outlay of Rs 1,500 crore for these schemes,” Abhimanyu said while commencing his Speech in the House.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the country's National War Memorial (NWM) adjoining the iconic India Gate complex in the heart of the capital, nearly 60 years after it was mooted to honour the fallen soldiers after Independence.

Spread over an area of approximately 40 acres, the memorial comprises four concentric circles, namely-- the 'Amar Chakra, the Veerta Chakra, the 'Tyag Chakra' and the 'Rakshak Chakra' with names of 25,942 soldiers inscribed in golden letters on granite tablets.

It also includes a central obelisk, an eternal flame and six bronze murals depicting famous battles fought by Indian Army, Air Force and Navy in a covered gallery (Veerta Chakra). 

The PM dedicated the memorial, built at a cost of Rs 176 crore, by lighting the flame positioned at the bottom of the stone-made obelisk. Rose petals were showered by IAF helicopters and a fly-past in 'Missing Man' formation was also part of the event. 

In Chess, Indian Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta lifted the Cannes International Open trophy yesterday. He took an easy draw with Pier Luigi Basso of Italy in the ninth and final round. Abhijeet won the tournament with 7.5 points. He started well in the tournament winning the first four rounds. Then two more wins and three draws happened on the way to his first solo International tournament victory.

On to Boxing, three more Indians have assured themselves of medals at the Makran Cup underway at Chabahar in Iran. Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Manish Kaushik in 60 kgs, former national champion Duryodhan Singh Negi in 69 kgs and Rohit Tokas in 64 kgs made their way into the semi-finals. The number of Indians in medals round now stands at eight.

And in women's cricket, the Indian team defeated England by seven wickets in the second ODI at Mumbai yesterday to take an unassailable 2-nil lead. The Indians bundled out England for just 161 runs in 43.3 overs.

The country's goods and services exports during the current financial year would cross USD 500 billion despite challenges being faced on the global trade front, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said Monday.

Prabhu said that exports are recording healthy growth so far and this financial year, "we will record the highest-ever growth rate".

The country's exports for goods and services will "cross USD 500 billion" this fiscal, he said here at Rising India Summit 2019. He said the ministry is working on identifying new products and new markets to further push the shipments.

During the April-January period of the current financial year, exports grew 9.52 per cent to USD 271.8 billion. India export services worth about USD 130-150 billion per year. Talking about proposed new industrial policy, Prabhu said everything is ready including the implementation part of the policy and "only Cabinet's approval is required".

Union Minister Piyush Goyal Monday launched Rail Drishti Dashboard, an online portal containing information related to passenger and freight trains and links to live feeds of IRCTC kitchens.

At the launch event, Goyal said, “Ours is an accountable government. We hold ourselves accountable to people’s aspirations.”

Goyal also said the NDA government has always given its report card on each of the last five years and now it is time to see people’s mandate.

He said the need for RTI applications has come down drastically due to the increased transparency in the government procedures.

About Rail Drishti, Goyal said the URL of the portal has been made so simple so that it becomes user-friendly. “Those in remote villages can access this and find out everything about Railways,” he said.

The 91st Academy Awards or Oscars ceremony begins in Los Angeles, California. Alfonso Cuaron's 'Roma' creates history by becoming first Mexican movie to win Foreign Language Film Oscar. Cuaron also created history by becoming the first person to win a Cinematography Oscar for "Roma" film that he also directed.

Film 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has won best Animated Feature Oscar. Produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, it has been widely praised both for its fresh story and visual style.

Indian producer Guneet Monga 's film 'Period. End of Sentence' wins Best Documentary Short Subject. 'Period. End of Sentence', an India set film on the taboos around menstruation and featuring the real 'Pad Man',  and emerged the winner.

American Ruth E Carter also made Oscar history by becoming the first woman of colour in history to win in the costume design category for film Black Panther.

American actor Mahershala Ali continued his winning spree as he took home the Oscar for the Best Supporting Actor for his work in Peter Farrelly's biographical comedy-drama 'Green Book', This is his career's second Oscar in the category. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the keynote address at the Rising India Summit 2019 in New Delhi today. 

Mr Modi is likely to define national priorities at the two-day event beginning today. 

BJP President Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Ministers - Nitin Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Piyush Goyal are among those who will speak at the summit. 

Theme for this year's event is "Beyond Politics: Defining National Priorities". 

President Ramnath Kovind will reach Kanpur this morning and participate in various programmes. 

Mr Kovind arrived in Lucknow on Sunday on a two-day visit to Uttar Pradesh. He inaugurated a Multi Speciality Hospital in Lucknow Sunday evening. 

AIR correspondent reports, President Ramnath Kovind  during his stay of more than 7 hours at his native town Kanpur will  participate in several programs at different places. 

After landing  the town  in morning Mr Kovind will first visit to Siddh Shree Balaji Mandir, at Dauri Ghat, in Rooma area and perform Puja there.

After that he will Inaugurate  the newly constructed Block of Dhamma Kalyana International Vipassana Meditation Centre .

The president will than go to DAV college ground and   inaugurate the centenary celebrations of the College where from the attained his higher education. 

This is the same famous college where from  former Prime Minister late  Atal Vihari Bajpayee got his education.

The President  will also grace the alumni association conference and annual day function of the BNSD Inter College and Shiksha Niketan in the city in afternoon.

Afghanistan has begun exports to India through Iran’s Chabahar port, as the landlocked country turns to overseas markets to improve its economy. 

At the inauguration of the new export route on Sunday in Zaranj city in western Nimroz province,  President Ashraf Ghani said Chabahar port is the result of healthy cooperation between India, Iran and Afghanistan. 

He said, with the opening of the Chabahar route, Afghanistan’s exports will increase to two billion dollar from the current one billion dollar in the next year.

Speaking at the ceremony, Indian ambassador Vinay Kumar said Afghanistan’s exports to India have increased by 40 percent after the launch of air corridor between Kabul and New Delhi.

Officials said 23 trucks carrying 57 tonnes of dried fruits, textiles, carpets and mineral products were dispatched from Zaranj to Chabahar port to be shipped to Mumbai.

The Iranian port provides easy access to the sea to Afghanistan and India has helped developed this route to allow both countries to engage in trade bypassing Pakistan.

Various trade bodies have lauded the GST Council decision on Goods and Services Tax rate cut on real estate. 

Director General of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Chandrajit Banerjee said the GST Council's decision will address the needs of home buyers and boost offtake of housing. 

National Real Estate Development Council President Niranjan Hiranandani lauding the decision, said this will give big relief to the home buyers. 
Terming the decision as revolutionary, CREDAI President Jaxay Shah said, this move is a significant triumph for home buyers and will play a huge hand in boosting their sentiments.

In a big relief to home buyers, the GST Council has slashed tax rates on under-construction housing properties to 5 per cent without input tax credit, from the existing 12 per cent. 

Briefing reporters after GST council meeting in New Delhi on Sunday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, the Council also cut GST rates on affordable housing to one per cent from the current 8 per cent.