The GST Council's agenda includes trimming the number of items in the 28 per cent slab by 75 per cent, easier compliance for assessees and small taxpayers, and a presentation on bringing real estate under GST.
With one year left for assembly elections in Karnataka, the last big bastion of the Congress, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has found an emotive issue to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party as the latter prepares the ground for a fight to grab power. Raghu Krishnan and Nikita Puri report.
'If Narendra Modi and Amit Shah will campaign here, the BJP's defeat will be bigger.'
'I want to make the government realise that they are not empowering Dalits by giving them free goats or hens; what they need is good education.'
'The Supreme Court should not have come out with this kind of order and in my opinion, the court should correct it.'
'The government says it will file a review petition against the Supreme Court, but there is no conviction here.' 'It is doing this purely because it is worried.' 'It comes from the same sentiment as asking BJP MPs to spend two nights in a Dalit village,' says Aakar Patel.
'It could have moved from the use of small arms to artillery fire.' 'Anything could have happened like what happens on the LoC.'
Attacked by detractors within the party of praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday accused Modi of maintaining "silence" on his ministers' comments on controversial issues and conversion campaign by groups like Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
The Union Information and Broadcasting minister also said the well-being of the country and society should be kept in mind before broadcasting or publishing any news, and stressed that news and views should not be mixed.
After a gap of nearly two years, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday returned to blogosphere to announce the steps taken by the state government to encourage girl's education in the state.
The euphoria of Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkar will fade quickly if the Modi government does not raise its game, and focus significant monetary resources and managerial skills on making India's infrastructure truly world-class, says Ram Kelkar.
'Defence does not new 'planning commissions'; it needs an implementation commission.'
The BJP's charge was that the matter was being politicised as Prime Minister Narendra Modi came from a poor family
In an ambitious initiative aimed at empowering women, the government has proposed to set up an exclusive bank for women having branches across the country which may see merging of the Bharatiya Mahila Bank launched last year by the UPA government.
Over two dozen Muslims have been elected to the Lok Sabha. This shows that all is not lost for India's Muslims, suggests Mohammad Sajjad.
Modi also rolled out the first of the 500 metro coaches manufactured by Bharat Earth Movers in flat 75 days at it Bengaluru facility.
First, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, much-lauded as a game changer, needs serious reform. Second, some vital policy choices would need to be made as far as competition law is concerned., says Somasekhar Sundaresan.
'No one institution can cleanse it: Not the courts, government or activists.' 'And least of all the Indian Police Service,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
'He has attacked our enemies in their own backyard.'
Here's what the Canadian PM said at IIM-Ahmedabad...
Modi has the ideas for a new, hopeful India, and an idiom in which to sell optimism to voters. But he doesn't yet have the team for it, and soon enough, questions will begin to be asked by an impatient, non-ideological, I-don't-owe-anybody-anything generation of Indian voters, says Shekar Gupta.
'RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was on the Hindu extremists' hit-list. In June 2008, this information was made public. Prior to that, you should hear Bhagwat's speeches and listen to his 'liberal' statements.' 'After he was informed that he was on their hit-list, he became a hardliner. He was not like that before.'
The move is part of a larger initiative by the government to speed up work in the highway sector.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs ordered the inspection of the books of accounts of NSEL and Financial Technologies India Ltd to ascertain if any rules under the Companies Act were violated, a senior official said.
Mukund Rajan, who worked closely with Ratan Tata, recalls the unique experience of working with the corporate titan.
'While the GST is structured to be an all-encompassing tax and to create a vastly expanded digital network of recorded transactions, no one knows how traders long used to avoiding taxes will apply their ingenuity,' says T N Ninan.
Make The World Wonderful, an NGO founded by Meghana Dabbara in 2015, is on a mission to set up 2,500 child adoption programme centres by 2023.
Marriage laws will now become more women friendly with the government on Wednesday approving a slew of measures including providing for sufficient compensation for the wife and children from husband's immovable property in case of a divorce.
Dhirendra Mulkalwar, one of the protestors who raised a protest banner at Essar's Mumbai headquarters, on why he joined Greenpeace's Junglistan group that is working to save India's forests.
Last week, a Rajya Sabha committee had allocated five hours for discussion on GST.
'I want to assure the country that no country, no government can tolerate anybody taking the law into their hands, whether it is an individual or a group.'
The country's franchise industry is estimated at $24 billion with a year-on-year growth of 30 per cent.
The 71-year-old filed his nomination in front of NDA ministers and CMs.
Target is to train about five lakh Indian women in next 18 months
'China is likely to help Pakistan in keeping the fire burning in J&K to bleed India for its own interests.' A fascinating excerpt from Lieutenant General K Himalay Singh's Making of a General: A Himalayan Echo.
Why did the Chinese military take over the lab in Wuhan in end January? Did something go wrong? Claude Arpi glances at the mystery surrounding the origin of the coronavirus.
A bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra agreed to hear on Tuesday the interim applications of both the states.
'The Budget has maintained fiscal prudence while announcing a number of steps to boost growth, particularly in infrastructure and rural sectors.'
'If you look at the entire protest on April 2, you will find it was not only about the Atrocities Act dilution, but the accumulated anger of the Dalit community against the BJP over the last four years.'
Companies are worried that any staggered roll-out of GST could result in cash flow issues with businesses not able claim tax credit due to breakage in the chain
