(PTI) Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday hit out at British telco Vodafone for “dictating” terms to India when it threatened of withdrawing from the Indian market following a Supreme Court ruling. He also said Mahanagar Telecom Nagar Ltd and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd are strategic assets that should remain in the fray and ensure better competition. After the Supreme Court’s ruling on the adjusted gross revenues (AGR) that created a liability of ₹1.4 lakh crore for telecom firms, Vodafone’s global leadership had cast doubts over the future of the company in India.”I don’t appreciate this kind of statement, firmly and…
Author: Aruna Sharma
(PTI) The finance ministry is unlikely to extend the last date for ‘Sabka Vishwas Scheme’, a dispute resolution-cum-amnesty scheme for settling pending disputes of service tax and central excise, which is ending on December 31. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had unveiled the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019, with the objective of settling pending disputes of Service Tax and Central Excise in the Budget. Live since September 1, the Sabka Vishwas Scheme provides a one-time window to eligible persons to declare their tax dues and pay the same in accordance with the provisions. If anyone is interested to utilise…
(PTI) Reliance Industries and British energy giant BP plc on Monday signed a partnership agreement to jointly grow the Indian firm’s network of petrol pumps to 5,500 from current 1,400, the companies said. “BP and RIL signed a definitive agreement relating to the formation of their new Indian fuels and mobility joint venture. This follows the initial heads of agreement signed in August this year,” a statement said. The venture is expected to be formed during the first half of 2020, subject to regulatory and other customary approvals.RIL currently has about 1,400 operating petrol pumps and some 30-odd aviation fuel…
(FE) Chief Justice Sharad A Bobde on Monday said time is ripe for laying down guidelines on use of the Right to Information Act (RTI) as misuse of the transparency law has created a sense of “paralysis and fear” in the government and officials are afraid of taking decisions. While directing the Centre and state governments to appoint information commissioners within three months in the Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions, a bench led by the CJI said that there was a need to curb misuse of the law and put in place guidelines to check the locus standi…
(FE) Fifteenth Finance Commission chairman NK Singh on Monday said the newly-created Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) won’t have a share in devolution of Central taxes as states do, but will receive only grants like other UTs, starting FY21. The Commission, whose award period will be six years till March 31, 2026 after a recent one-year extension, recently submitted a report for FY21 to the government and this is expected to be a factor in the upcoming Union Budget for the year. “Constitutionally, there will be an infirmity if non-states get share of net proceeds of taxes which are…
(LiveMint) The NHAI on Monday said that it has kept up to 25 per cent hybrid lanes at 523 toll plazas for cash as well as digital transactions. The National Highway Authority of India commenced electronic toll collection through FASTag at 523 toll plazas across the country from Sunday morning, but the move to keep hybrid lanes was necessitated as “the number of vehicles without FASTag still hover at a high number”. “… Since the number of vehicles without FASTag still hover at a high number, 75 per cent lanes were kept as FASTag lanes and up to 25 per cent…
(FE) India’s year-on-year sugar production in 2019-20 till November 30 has almost halved, showing a dip of nearly 54% and experts are of the view that by the end of the 2019-20 sugar season, the likely production will show a dip of almost 20%, as compared to last season. However, despite the fall, there is no cause for worry, as the country is still expected to end the season with almost 96 lakh tonne stock in hand, thanks mainly to Uttar Pradesh, the country’s largest sugar producing state. While Maharashtra and Karnataka, the two main sugarcane growing states, have been…
(ET) After selling 205 megawatt (MW) of its operational solar energy portfolio to the Adani Group, the Essel Group has reached an agreement to sell the remaining 480 MW — currently under construction — to Adani Green Energy, two people with direct knowledge of the development said. The Adani Group has agreed in principle to buy out the remaining portfolio, one of the people said. “Adani Green is big on renewable power and has over 5.5 GW of portfolio with almost half of it already operational. After acquiring Essel Group’s solar assets in Punjab, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, they have agreed to buy the remaining assets too, once Essel Group…
(AU) नागरिकता संशोधन अधिनियम का विरोध रविवार को राजधानी की जामिया यूनिवर्सिटी में हिंसक हो गया। पुलिस ने इन्हें हटाने का प्रयास किया तो प्रदर्शनकारियों ने पथराव कर दिया और भीड़ ने करीब आधा दर्जन बसों में आग लगा दी। आठ से अधिक बसों में तोड़फोड़ के अलावा कई कारों व दुपहिया वाहनों को भी आग के हवाले कर दिया। आग पर काबू पाने पहुंची दमकल की एक गाड़ी को भीड़ ने तोड़ डाला। हमले में एक दमकलकर्मी के अलावा छह पुलिसकर्मी और 42 प्रदर्शनकारियों के घायल होने की खबर है। इनमें दो गंभीर हैं। कुछ प्रदर्शनकारियों को हिरासत में लिया…
(PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday night made an appeal to the residents to maintain peace and harmony and not pay attention to rumours, after protests were held in parts of the state, including at Aligarh Muslim University, against the amended citizenship law. In a statement, Adityanath said, “People should not pay any attention to the rumours about Citizenship Amendment Act being spread by some vested interests.” He also said the state government is committed to provide security to every citizen of the state. “For this, it is necessary that everyone follows the law. Nobody will be…