Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said his ministry can address the water woes faced in parts of the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday slammed the opposition alliance INDIA as a collection of arrogant dynasties who will take India back by two centuries as he exuded confidence that people will bless the "garib ka beta" with a record-breaking mandate in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Forced religious conversion may pose a danger to national security and impinge on the religious freedom of citizens, the top court had said recently and asked the Centre to step in and make sincere efforts to tackle the "very serious" issue.
Six years after the rollout of the biggest indirect tax reform in India, Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue of Rs 1.5 lakh crore every month has become a new normal and tax officers are focusing on dealing with fraudsters who are adopting newer modus operandi to game the system, causing loss to the exchequer. To apprehend black sheep, who operate as syndicates and create fake entities on the basis of forged documents to claim input tax credit (ITC), tax officers have started using data analytics, artifical intelligence and machine learning aiming to curb evasion, which was over Rs 3 lakh crore since inception of GST. It was over Rs 1 lakh crore in 2022-23. Thinktank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said the most critical pending GST reform is upgradation of GST Network to prevent fake supplies and fraudulent claims of Input Tax Credit (ITC).
Terming forced religious conversion a "very serious" issue, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to step in and make sincere efforts to check the practice.
The challenge is to enhance opportunities for people to generate livelihoods through entrepreneurship, both big and small, argues R Jagannathan.
Apple is hoping to assemble in India 25 per cent of all iPhones produced globally to reduce its heavy dependence on China.
The Supreme Court on Monday said that it will hear on March 17 pleas dealing with two separate issues of alleged 'fraudulent conversions' and challenge to various state laws on religious conversions due to interfaith marriages respectively.
'Hatred increases with every killing.' 'It sets one family against another.' 'The sooner it is stopped, the better.'
The top court had in 2020 directed installation of CCTV cameras and recording equipment at the offices of investigating agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Enforcement Directorate and National Investigation Agency, which conduct interrogations and have the power of arrest.
'The Centre and state need to take a unified approach and take concerted action before this matter assumes menacing proportions because unemployment, the drug trade and the levels of frustration among the youth make them vulnerable to any maverick who promises something better.'
The government plans to borrow a record Rs 15.4 lakh crore from dated securities in FY24 to meet its expenditure requirement to prop up the economy.
The seats held by the non-BJP parties in the state are Bijnor, Amroha, Moradabad, Sambhal, Raebareli, Ghosi, Lalganj, Jaunpur, Ambedkarnagar, Ghazipur, Shravasti, Mainpuri, Saharanpur and Nagina. Of these, Raebareli is held by Sonia Gandhi of the Congress.
It may plan a significant hike in budgetary support aimed at completing the balance 8.4 million dwellings by March 2024.
The winning momentum is important for the BJP as the crucial state of Karnataka is next headed for assembly polls, expected in May, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram later this year.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday allowed inbound travellers from G20 nations arriving at select airports to use the popular UPI for making payments in the country. Later, the RBI also proposes to extend the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) facility to travellers from all countries. UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application, merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.
The central government is likely to further consolidate its fiscal deficit by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.9 per cent in FY24 from 6.4 per cent in FY23, according to a recent report released by Goldman Sachs on Tuesday. In the current fiscal year, there is going to be an upside of 0.5 per cent on the receipts side due to higher nominal GDP growth, and higher tax buoyancy because of the formalisation, the report said. The upside to expenditure is mainly going to come from incremental subsidies (0.8 per cent of GDP), in both food and fertilizer, it said. The upcoming pre-election Budget will carry forward the trend of the increased capital expenditure seen in recent years.
The bench said the prayer in the plea is very vague and no specific instances have been mentioned.
The Canadian government announced that this new requirement will come into effect on January 5, at which point travellers aged two and older will need to provide proof of a negative test before leaving for Canada.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday hiked key benchmark policy rate by 25 basis points to 6.5 per cent, citing sticky core inflation. This is the sixth time interest rate has been hiked by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) since May last year, taking the total quantum of hike to 250 basis points. Announcing the bi-monthly monetary policy, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) by a majority decided to raise the policy repo rate by 25 basis points and keep a 'strong vigil' on inflation outlook.
In the coming few weeks, agriculture markets in North and Central India will be full of wheat, mustard, and chana - the three main rabi crops grown in these parts. Not only will the price trajectory of these determine the course of food inflation in the months to come, but it could also have a wider impact on the rural economy in the main growing states for these crops. Wheat and chana are largely grown in Madhya Pradesh (MP).
In a four-cornered fight, the real battle is between Union minister Pratima Bhoumik and CPM's Kaushik Chanda.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha took note of the plea of social activist Jaya Thakur, a Madhya Pradesh-based doctor, and issued notices to the central government and all the states and UTs.
The government on Thursday took a series of measures in view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in several parts of the world, including China.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday hailed the Union Budget as an "all-inclusive" document while the Opposition dismissed it as "anti-people" and mere rhetoric lacking the vision for creating jobs and taming inflation.
'It has been an ongoing process, talking to the relevant ministries about eliminating leakages and curbing non-core expenditure in various schemes.'
Driven by a rise in sales during the current year, German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz said on Thursday that the company is expecting a growth in sales of around 8-10 per cent in the next few years. This comes at a time when the company is ready to surpass the previous highest sales of 15,538 vehicles (2018) in 2022. During the first half, the company sold 7,600 units. It already has an order bank of around 7,000 vehicles. In 2021, the company sold 11,242 vehicles.
During a virtual meeting with health ministers and senior officials of states in view of the recent surge in coronavirus cases in some parts of the world, he said, "The Centre and states need to work in tandem and in a collaborative spirit as was done during the previous surges for Covid prevention and management."
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the inclusion of the Chief Justice of India in the consultative process for the appointment of chief election commissioner would ensure independence of the poll panel.
The Gujarat high court had through its orders dated August 19 and August 26, 2021 had stayed the operation of section 5 of the state government's Freedom of Religion Act of 2003.
The Centre and states are likely to budget for higher market borrowings to the tune of Rs 2.3 lakh crore next fiscal even though the Union budget may peg a lower-than-expected fiscal deficit for the Centre at 5.8 per cent of GDP, says a report. Icra Ratings anticipates higher redemptions will lead to gross market borrowings of the Centre to rise to Rs 14.8 lakh crore and of the states to jump by Rs 1.6 lakh crore to Rs 9.6 lakh crore, taking the combined borrowings (of the Centre and the states) to Rs 24.4 lakh crore in FY2024, up by 2.3 lakh crore from FY23 combined. In FY23, the Centre's gross borrowings are budgeted at Rs 14.1 lakh crore and of the states at Rs 8 lakh crore, or a combined borrowing of Rs 22.1 lakh crore, according to the agency.
The GST Council has set up a Group of Ministers, chaired by Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, to suggest required changes in the law for setting up the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT). The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state ministers, had last week decided to constitute a Group of Ministers (GoM) to address various concerns raised by states in relation to constitution of the GSTAT. As per the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the GoM, the panel would recommend required amendments in the GST law to ensure that the legal provisions maintain the right federal balance and are in line with the overall objective of uniform taxation within the country.
Perhaps the finance ministry or NITI Aayog could take a detailed look at what governments actually deliver and at what cost; how their services can be improved and expanded where necessary; how much money can be saved through doing things differently; and how many things the government does which it can safely leave to the private sector, argues T N Ninan.
'...Market-linked debentures, high-value insurance, exemptions from capital gains by investment in real estate, etc.' 'So, there are a number of measures directed at collecting a fair share from higher income individuals.'
On an average, 45 to 50 violent attacks take place against Christian institutions and priests every month throughout the country, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves said.
The Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday that religious freedom does not include a fundamental right to convert other people to a particular religion and that it certainly does not embrace the right to convert an individual through fraud, deception, coercion or allurement.
The Centre and state governments have shied away from highlighting the ISI's attempts to displace Hindus and create corridors of sympathetic demography to further their designs especially along the communication arteries from Jammu to the Kashmir Valley.
The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has released a draft to amend the Indian Ports Act, 1908, which aims to bring in sweeping reforms in the sector by bringing non-major ports into the national fold, creating a new mechanism for resolution of disputes, and empowering maritime state development council (MSDC). The draft bill will see comments from stakeholders before being tabled in Parliament. "The Indian Ports Act, 1908 is more than 110 years old. It has become imperative that the Act is revamped to reflect the present-day frameworks, incorporate India's international obligations, address emerging environmental concerns, and aid the consultative development of the ports sector in the national interest," the shipping ministry said.
Holding that the Constitution of India envisages a secular nation, the Supreme Court Friday directed the Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments to come down hard on hate speeches, promptly registering criminal cases against the culprits without waiting for a complaint to be filed.
'Our competitiveness with China is very important.' 'If the exchange rate depreciates, it is good for us because it helps in our competitiveness.'
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