(LiveMint) Prime Minister Narendra Modi told parliamentarians of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that the ongoing budget session would continue till 3 April and the session would not be curtailed because of the threat posed by the coronavirus outbreak. Addressing the BJP parliamentary party meeting in Parliament, Modi said members of Parliament (MPs) were representatives of 1.3 billion people and expressed his disappointment over letters by some MPs seeking to curtail the budget session. “In the meeting today, PM appreciated the efforts of doctors, nurses and those working at seaports and airports. He also appreciated electronic and print media…
Author: Aruna Sharma
(PTI) State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has begun gas production from its most promising block in the Krishna Godavari basin in the Bay of Bengal and is planning a ramp up production in coming weeks, officials said. ONGC’s KG-DWN-98/2 or KG-D5 block, which sits next to Reliance Industries’ flagging KG-D6 area, holds key to the company’s output profile that is constrained by aging fields. Officials said the company began production from the first well on the KG-D5 block and is currently producing around 0.25 million standard cubic meters per day. It is doing a build-up mapping and the production is likely…
(Tribune) A day after their meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a delegation of newly formed Jammu Kashmir Apni Party led by its president Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.As per a handout issued by the party, the Home Minister assured the delegation that all possible steps would be taken by the Centre to empower people of Jammu and Kashmir, both economically and politically. The party delegation included Ghulam Hassan Mir, Mohammad Dilawar Mir, Aijaz Ahmad Khan,
(LiveMint) South Asian nations agreed to evolve a common strategy to meet the challenge posed by the Covid-19 pandemic with India proposing the creation of an emergency fund with an initial contribution of $10 million to halt the onslaught of the disease that has so far claimed nearly 6,000 lives globally. However, a skittish Pakistan sought to use the occasion that brought together the members of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) grouping for the first time in almost six years to raise the Kashmir issue, calling for the lifting of embargos on communication in Kashmir to better tackle…
(MP) Some major projects of state-run RINL are facing “huge” delays, a Parliamentary panel has flagged while directing the steel maker to take corrective measures and complete the work within the revised timelines. The Parliament’s Standing Committee on Coal and Steel has also asked Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) to “seriously” review the progress of the projects and identify the factors responsible for delays. “Some of the major projects of RINL are facing huge delays in completion. RINL should take immediate corrective measures and complete the projects within the revised timelines, ” the committee said in a report tabled in…
(LiveMint) The new measures to be rolled out by the GST Council to improve tax compliance include Aadhaar authentication of existing tax payers, transitioning to new tax return forms and linking electronic invoices with tax returns on the sales made. Experts have sought stability in Goods and Services Tax (GST) rules and more time for businesses to comply with tighter procedural changes, which authorities are keen to implement, amid widespread economic uncertainty. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council plans to fix the anomalies in the tax structure and discuss revenue position of central and state governments at its meeting in…
(LiveMint) Five laboratories have been set up in the state with the help of Central government for the testing of coronavirus, said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. “With assistance from the central government, we have set up five laboratories to provide the facility of sample checking of coronavirus cases in the state. King George’s Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI), Lucknow, Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College, Gorakhpur, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi and one in Aligarh,” said Adityanath.”A total of 11 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the State. Out of these, seven are from Agra,…
(ET) The centre announced grant of ex gratia relief to the families of those who died due to novel coronavirus, as India confirmed second death related to the virus.The Home ministry announced Rs 4 lakh ex gratia for the families of deceased person and those involved in the relief operations in the containment of Covid-19, as it decided to treat Covid-19 as a notified disaster so that states can be provided aid under the ‘State Disaster Response Fund’ (SDRF). “The Central government, keeping in view the spread of COVID-19 virus in India and the declaration of COVID 19 as pandemic by…
(PTI) The government on Saturday hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by a steep Rs 3 per litre each to garner about Rs 39,000 crore additional revenue as it repeated its 2014-15 act of not passing on gains arising from slump in international oil prices. Retail prices of petrol and diesel will not be impacted by the tax changes as state-owned oil firms adjusted them against the recent fall in oil prices and the likely trend in the near future, industry officials said.According to a notification issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, special excise duty…
(PTI) Himachal Pradesh witnessed fresh snowfall in some places, including state capital Shimla, and several other high reaches, officials said on Saturday. Snowfall also occurred in Kufri, Narkanda, Khirki, Kharapathar, while several other parts of the state also witnessed light to moderate rains, they said. Cold wave further intensified in the state after overnight snowfall and rains.Kufri, Kharapathar, Narkanda and Khirki in Shimla district have been closed for traffic after overnight snowfall, Shimla Superintendent of Police (SP) Omapati Jamwal said.