Morning Current Affairs: 14 September 2017

PM Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to lay foundation stone for bullet train today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will jointly lay the foundation stone for the high-speed bullet train project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai on 14 September 2017.

The train will cover a distance of over 500 km in around two hours. The project is expected to be completed by 2022. Japan has extended a soft loan for the ambitious project conceptualised by Modi.

Earlier on Wednesday, Modi held an 8-km road show with his Japanese counterpart Abe and his wife in Ahmedabad. The road show, which began from Ahmedabad airport ended at the Sabarmati Ashram. The road show, designed to showcase India's cultural diversity, saw artistes from several states performing on 28 stages erected by the roadside.

Hindi day being celebrated across the country today

Hindi day is being celebrated across the country on 14 September 2017. It was on this day in 1949 that the Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi written in Devanagari script as the official language of the country.

On this occasion, President Ram Nath Kovind will give away Rajbhasha awards for the Year 2016-17 at a function in New Delhi.
The Rajbhasha awards were instituted by the Department of Official Language of Home Ministry to recognize the excellent contribution of Ministries, Departments and Nationalized Banks in the field of Hindi.

Finance Ministry releases timelines for submission of budget proposals

The Finance Ministry on 13 September 2017 released timelines for submission of proposals by different ministries and departments towards preparation of the first post-GST Budget, scheduled to be presented in February 2018.

As per the circular for the Budget 2018-19, the pre-budget meetings of ministries and departments will start from October 9. The circular said that all data, as per the prescribed formats, will need to be submitted on the Union Budget Information System platform.

The basis of the final budgetary allocations will be the ceilings indicated in the Medium-term Expenditure Framework statement.