Category: India

Today GST Council expected to give relief to SME’s and Exporters

Editor

The Centre will use Friday’s GST Council to push through relief measures and calm jittery businesses complaining about the new tax regime. The panel of state and Union finance ministers is expected to ease exporters’ pain by allowing electronic payment of taxes through “virtual currency”, while announcing a series of steps for small and medium enterprises as it seeks to smoothen the implementation of GST. Expectations of a raft of measures were triggered after PM Narendra Modi’s strong defence of the health of the economy on Wednesday, which he backed…

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Honeypreet remanded in six day police custody

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A Panchkula court in Haryana on Wednesday remanded Honeypreet Insan in six-day police custody in connection with the deadly violence which followed the Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s conviction on August 25. Honeypreet Insan, the “adopted daughter” of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, was arrested+ on Tuesday. The prosecution had demanded 14-day remand, calling her “the closest aide” of the Dera chief. It said that Honeypreet was aware of the activities of the sect and the violence unleashed by its followers…

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Petrol price down Rs 2.50, diesel by Rs 2.25 a litre post reduction in excise duty

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Petrol price was on Wednesday cut by Rs 2.50 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.25 following the reduction in excise duty on auto fuels. Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 68.38 a litre, down from Rs 70.88. A litre of diesel now comes for Rs 56.89 as against Rs 59.14 previously, according to Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation’s largest fuel retailer. The government had on Tuesday cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre each to moderate the relentless rise in fuel prices over…

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Cow, Kashmir & Rohingya: What Mohan Bhagwat Said in Vijayadashami Speech

Editor

RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat in his Vijayadashami Speech asked the cow protectors to not worry over “well-intentioned statements by highly placed persons in the government or remarks made by the Supreme Court”. Kashmir, Rohingya, cow protection, economy, Kerala, Bengal and nationalism — the annual Vijayadashami speech of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat touched on most topics dominating political discourse today. The speech — marking the Right-wing organisation’s foundation day — is considered an ideological statement, which various Sangh Parivar affiliates follow in forming their action plan. Cow Gau rakshaks…

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22 Killed in stampede at Elphinstone railway station Mumbai

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At least 22 people were killed and several injured in a rush hour stampede on a foot over bridge linking Elphinstone Road and Parel suburban railway stations in Mumbai this morning, police said. Railway minister Piyush Goyal, who happens to be in the city, is expected to visit the site of the tragedy, said railway officials. Meanwhile, the blame game has already begun with the Shiv Sena targeting the Railways and the NDA government at the Centre, and asking for Goyal’s resignation. A combination of heavy rain, a loud sound…

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‘Job applicant at 80’ – Arun Jaitley’s response to Yashwant Sinha’s attack

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The political slugfest over the economic slowdown escalated on Thursday, with finance minister Arun Jaitley hitting back at BJP dissident Yashwant Sinha as a “job applicant at 80”. A day after Sinha accused him of making a mess of the economy, Jaitley defended his track record and repeatedly suggested that NDA was taking decisive steps, in contrast to UPA’s “policy paralysis”. He also pointed out Sinha was the FM when India was staring at default in loan repayment with foreign exchange reserves of less than $4 billion in 1991. Similarly,…

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On demonetisation and GST, Manmohan Singh has the last laugh and not Modi

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The former PM and renowned economist’s predictions were as true as his current diagnosis on the impact of the twin diktats. On November 24, 2016, two weeks after the notorious note bandi decision announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to render invalid the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, former PM Manmohan Singh had described the diktat in the following words: “monumental mismanagement, legalised plunder and organised loot”. The forever soft-spoken Singh, so derided for his perceived gentleness, was never before so crisp and harsh at once as he was…

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Advise you to not comment on India’s internal affairs: India tells OIC

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At the UN yesterday, India firmly and unequivocally told the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that it would be better off not commenting on India’s internal affairs, reported ANI. India was replying to comments on Kashmir made by Pakistan, which was using the OIC to comment on the troubled state, as is its wont. Pakistan made its comments on behalf of the OIC, of which it is a member. India said this was out of line. “Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has no locus standi on India’s internal affairs, we strongly…

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‘Hinduism’ isn’t about what one wears or eats: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

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Hinduism is not about what one should wear or eat but accepting others as they are, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Tuesday, in comments that are significant in the context of the current political and ideological debate over intolerance and moral policing. Interacting with diplomats, Bhagwat also spoke out against trolls, calling them aggressive, adding that their extreme expressions on the internet amounted to hitting below the belt. He also asserted that neither RSS nor BJP ran each other and despite interactions, the two organisations took separate decisions. In…

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Eat beef in your country and then come to India: Tourism Minister

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Newly sworn-in Union tourism minister K J Alphons has an advice for foreigners visiting the country: Eat beef in your own countries and then come to India. Asked whether cow vigilantism and restrictions on beef consumption in several states had affected India’s hospitality sector, the minister said on Thursday: “They [foreigner tourists] can eat beef in their country and come to India.” He was speaking on the sidelines of the 33rd annual convention of the Indian Association of Tour Operators in Odisha’s capital city. Alphons’s comment comes just days after…

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