Sir the major claim of this Government is that they have accepted the 14th Finance Commission's

Recommendation and the devolution to the States is 42 per cent This is being repeated and

repeated and now there is no other thing for this Government to claim We have given more

money to the States We believe in federalism we believe in inclusive-federalism and that is why

we have given 42 per cent Sir I would not like to go into the details It is very clear that there is

absolutely no increase in the actual devaluation to the State Governments They have given Rs 15

crores by way of additional resources because of the recommendation of the 14th Finance

Commission So there is negligible increase in the resources available to the States On the other

hand they have increased the resources by reducing the Corporate Tax from 30 per cent to 25 per

cent They are putting nearly an additional Rs 80000 crores with the corporates What was the need

for this? I cannot understand the rationale for reducing the Corporate Tax Sir Corporate Tax is

given on the profits of the corporates The Finance Minister was saying that this will attract

investment and in the South-East Asian countries the tax rate is 25 per cent So I do not think that

any corporate will come because the tax is less here It is a new idea which is being said that to

help the corporate if you reduce the Corporate Tax investment will come here Nobody demanded

the reduction in the Corporate Tax Sir there was a long-standing demand that interest-free bonds
should be floated Nearly 20 crore people of this country believe that interest is prohibited in that

Whether one accepts it or not That is their religion they believe in it It is a concept which has been

accepted world over The actual mutual fund is a concept which is Shariah based You accept

mutual fund but if the word Shariah is added to it you are against it Now the State Bank of India

as a business product floated an SBI Shariah Equity Fund It was to be launched on 1st December

Advertisements were published It was a business plan No Government put any kind of pressure

on them It was on their own

Honourable Deputy Chairman Sir it is with great pleasure that I rise to make a statement to the

House on the Prime Minister's recent visit to Seychelles Mauritius and Sri Lanka The importance

of these visits can be gauged from the fact that an Indian Prime Minister has paid a bilateral visit

to Seychelles after 34 years Mauritius after ten years and Sri Lanka after 28 years Sir these three

nations are amongst our nearest ocean neighbours We have a long history with each one of them

in which people-to-people ties economic cooperation and maritime security have all featured

prominently On this occasion each one of these facets was taken to a highest level The visit to

Seychelles was on remarkable The Prime Minister was accorded the fullest honours and beyond

being received and seen off by President James Michel personally They had a bilateral meeting
where issues of economic infrastructure and maritime cooperation were discussed The Prime

Minister inaugurated the Coastal Surveillance Radar System set up with India's collaboration Sir

he met with senior leaders of the Government and addressed the Indian community Among the

important outcomes of the visit were our decision to gift a second Dornier aircraft to provide

gratis visa for a period of three months and to include Seychelles in the Electronic Travel

Authorisation Scheme Four agreements were signed for development of infrastructure facilities

at Assumption Island renewal energy cooperation cooperation in hydrography and sale of

navigational charts The two countries also decided to set up a Joint Working Group on

Cooperation in Blue Economy Sir overall Prime Minister's visit though brief made a strong and

abiding impact on India-Seychelles relations It created positive sentiments in a country that sits

astride key sea lines of communication Sir the visit to Mauritius was in keeping with the traditional

warmth that exists between India and Mauritius The Prime Minister was accorded the highest

protocol and spontaneous welcome by all sections of Mauritian society He was received and seen

off by Prime Minister himself and held meetings with President and Prime Minister of Mauritius

A delegation of the Labour Party called on the Prime Minister who was the Chief Guest for the
National Day of Mauritius Sir overall Prime Minister's visit served to enhance bilateral cooperation

with Mauritius