Lower rates effectively increase disposable income, strengthen purchasing capacity, and support broader consumption growth.
The Congress party has criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handling of GST reforms, calling them inadequate and demanding an apology for the tax imposed on essential items. They argue that the reforms are merely a 'band-aid' solution and that the government should address the states' demand for extended compensation.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray criticizes Devendra Fadnavis, accusing him of being a 'helpless' chief minister unable to tackle corruption. He also attacks the BJP for divisive politics and failing to address key issues.
A group of 101 farmers will march to Delhi on Friday from the Shambhu border protest site, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher has said. The march will begin at 1 p.m. and the group will face heavy police and security presence. The farmers are demanding a legal guarantee for minimum support price of crops, a farm debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence. The farmers have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.
Dallewal has been on a fast-unto-death at the Khanauri border since November 26 to press the Centre to accept demands including a legal guarantee to the MSP on crops.
In a bizarre incident in Jharkhand's Latehar district, police had to persuade relatives of a lightning strike victim to hand over the body for post-mortem after they kept it in a mound of cow dung, hoping he would come back to life.
A group of 101 farmers resumed their foot march to Delhi on Sunday to press the Centre for various demands, including a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP). However, they were stopped at the barricading by Haryana Police who cited a prohibitory order clamped by the Ambala administration. The farmers have been pressing for various demands, including a legal guarantee for MSP, a farm debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases (against farmers), and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence. Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of farmers who died during the previous agitation in 2020-21 are also part of their demands.
Punjab farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said no 'jatha' (group) of farmers will resume their foot march to Delhi on Tuesday. The farmers suspended their march after some were injured in teargas shelling by Haryana security personnel. Pandher accused the Centre of being confused on how the protesters should proceed to the national capital, citing contradictory statements from different ministers. He also criticized the government's lack of response to the hunger strike of farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, which has entered its 14th day.
'Only then will we withdraw the agitation.'
'Legally clean farmland is difficult to find. It requires time, money, and legal effort to verify the title.'
Amid the impending rejig in the goods and services tax (GST) rates, an association representing the country's beverages industry has appealed to the Centre to not classify aerated beverages as sin/demerit good and bring it under the 18 per cent slab while citing their "mass consumption" as a reason.
New lower GST rates kicked in from Monday, resulting in a slashing of prices of as many as 375 items ranging from toothpaste and shampoo to cars and television sets, a move seen as an attempt to boost consumption to cushion an economy facing tariff headwinds. Tax rates of 5, 12, 18, and 28 per cent have been clubbed into two rates of 5 per cent and 18 per cent, resulting in a reduced price of 99 per cent of daily use items.
'Punjab floods are a calamity.' 'Right from Firozpur to Amritsar nearly 1 lakh homes have been completely damaged due to floods.'concern about the state of affairs.
Prime Minister Modi urged the people of the country to take pride in selling and buying indigenous goods.
The proposed 'Next Gen GST' with sweeping reforms, lower tax rates, and just two slabs, aims to boost the economy amid tariff threats and set the stage for a single tax rate regime by the time India becomes a developed nation, government sources said.
Farmers should decide how much compensation is enough for them, say Parikshit Ghosh and Maitreesh Ghatak.
The farmers also marched along the ambulance and demanded action against those who are responsible for his death.
Police on Friday used tear gas to disperse Haryana farmers heading towards Khanauri on Punjab's border with the state where farmers, mostly from Punjab, have been camping since last week after their 'Delhi Chalo' march was halted by security forces.
A 62-year-old farmer, who was part of the 'Delhi Chalo' agitation, died of heart attack in Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border, a farmer leader said on Friday.
Lightning claims more lives in India annually than any other extreme weather event. Between April and July this year alone, 1,621 people died due to lightning strikes.
Thousands of farmers from around 100 villages of Noida and Greater Noida on Thursday took to the streets seeking hiked compensation, bringing traffic to a standstill in several parts of Delhi-NCR as they made an unsuccessful bid to march towards Parliament.
Farmer leaders participating in the 'Delhi Chalo' agitation on Friday said the cremation of Shubhkaran Singh, who died amid clashes between Haryana Police and Punjab farmers, will not take place till the Punjab government registers a case against those responsible it.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday replied in the negative when asked in the Lok Sabha if the government proposes to give compensation to the families of farmers who have died during the ongoing agitation against new farm laws.
Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher on Thursday demanded registration of a murder case against those responsible for the death of a protesting farmer at the Khanauri border point of Punjab-Haryana.
The Union ministers and farmer leaders had met earlier on February 8, 12 and 15 but the talks remained inconclusive.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer organisations that spearheaded a protest at Delhi's borders in 2020-21 against three agriculture laws that have since been repealed, has said a resolution will be passed at the 'Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat' to 'intensify the fight' against the Centre's policies.
Referring to an action against farmers by the security personnel deployed by the Haryana authorities at the Punjab-Haryana border, Pandher slammed paramilitary personnel for using "force" against farmers, leaving many injured.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also joined the meeting at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Sector 26 in Chandigarh.
A 15-member SKM delegation met with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar at Krishi Bhawan in the afternoon and submitted a demand charter, farmer leader Darshan Pal said.
At least 25 people were killed in lightning strikes and hailstorms in several districts of Bihar, India, on Thursday. The India Meteorological Department has issued an 'orange alert' for a number of districts, forecasting heavy rainfall on Friday and Saturday. The state capital, Patna, recorded an average of 42.6 mm rainfall till 5.30 pm.
Pickets and barricadings were installed on the border areas connecting Delhi-Haryana and Delhi-Uttar Pradesh, he added.
Faced with protests by farmers demanding higher compensation for land acquired for a township along the Taj Expressway, the Mayawati government on Tuesday decided to hike the price offered to them by 20 per cent at Rs 570 per square metre. A team of top state officials led by state cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh and some senior ministers of the Mayawati government held parleys with farmer leader Ram Babu Kateria at the Aligarh airstrip in the early hours of Tuesday.
Farmers protesting to press the Centre for their various demands will stay put at the two protest sites on the Punjab-Haryana border till February 29 when the next course of action will be decided, their leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said on Friday.
He requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make an announcement that the farm loans would be waived, while a mechanism for the same could be worked out later.
The bench said the petitioner must know that the high court has already passed certain directions on the issue.
The Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) will on Saturday hold dharnas outside the residences of three senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Punjab on the fifth day of the farmers' protest over their various demands, including a legal guarantee for a minimum support price (MSP).
Karnataka Minister for Sugar and Agriculture Marketing Shivanand Patil's statement that farmers wish for repeated droughts in the state so that their loans get waived has caused a stir, with the opposition on Monday terming it as an 'affront' to the farming community and seeking his removal from the Ministry.
'Trump is likely being purposefully vague, hoping that this lack of clarity will pressure India, fearing the worst, to agree to scale back its imports of Russian oil.'
The Maharashtra government on Thursday got a nod from the Election Commission of India to announce the relief package for the hailstorm-hit farmers.
Farmers in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, were a distressed lot when compensation cheques issued to them for crop damage by state government bounced.
