31 OCTOBER 2014: Run 4 Unity @ Centre Split with Sena in MH

Ø  The Finance Ministry ordered a mandatory 10 per cent cut in the Centre’s non-Plan expenditure for 2014-15. The cut does not cover interest payment, repayment of debt, defence capital, salaries, pension or Finance Commission grants to States, says a circular. Subsidies will face the brunt of the cuts.

Ø  A day before taking oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. Despite the suspense over the Shiv Sena sharing power, Mr. Fadnavis discussed government formation with the party leadership.

Ø  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cautioned that the U.S. Fed’s taper will trigger some pullback of dollar-denoted capital from India to back home. As a result, New Delhi will have to find domestic sources for funding infrastructure for which the Modi government must align the policies that are holding up the project pipeline, especially in the energy sector.

Ø  President Pranab Mukherjee — as in the previous years and as his predecessors used to do — will start Friday morning by visiting Shakti Sthal, the memorial of Indira Gandhi here, to attend a function organised by the Congress on her 30th death anniversary. At 8.15 am, Mr. Mukherjee will flag off a “Run for Unity” for the residents of the President’s Estate from the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan to mark Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary, which falls on the same day. This is a departure from previous years, when both occasions were marked by quiet homage: leaders visited Shakti Sthal in the morning and then went to the Central Hall of Parliament to pay their tribute to Sardar Patel. This year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has no plans to go to Shakti Sthal.