New Delhi: Most middle income tax-payers have welcomed the Union Budget proposals announced February 1, though opposition parties bicker over the fine print. The big news is that donations to political parties will become more transparent. In a pre-poll Budget aimed at softening the demonetisation blow, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley halved the basic income tax […]
More than 50 orphaned children (after their farmer parents committed suicide due to the agrarian distress) have been touring the length and breadth of Maharashtra, appealing to people not to take the ‘drastic step’. The children are inmates of `Adhartirth Ashram’, set up by Trimbakrao Gaikwad at Tupadevi in Trimbakeshwar tehsil of Nashik district. The […]
The harvest festivals are on, and of course, every harvest festival is part of the celebration of the eco-system: Pongal, Sankranti, Bihu … all celebrated around 14-15 January. In Patna, at the Taru Mitra Bio reserve, students from Don Bosco, St. Joseph’s, May Flower, A.N College and St. Xavier’s College congregated under the sprawling Kamroop […]
Petrol pump owners late on Jan 8 night deferred till January 13 their decision to not accept credit and debit card payments for fuel sales after banks put off the move to levy the transaction (MDR) charge. To promote cash-less transactions, the government had waived the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on fuel purchase post demonetisation […]
India isn’t the only country that faces protests over China’s activities in the geopolitical arena. This week there were reports of Several people injured in southern Sri Lanka during a protest against allowing China to build a port and industrial zone.(5 Jan) The locals were protesting their eviction to accommodate an industrial zone for Chinese […]
Melbourne: The Government of Australia has advised its citizens travelling to India to not to bank heavily on cash, even 100 dollar notes! It advised Aussie tourists to use electronic payments. It said that some visitors are facing difficulties in exchanging 100 dollar notes in India after demonetisation. In the latest advisory issued yesterday, Department […]
Hazaribagh, Jharkhand: Prem Kumar, a quack, posing as a surgeon is finally arrested. He evaded arrest for a month, after his pregnant patient bled to death on December 5, 2016. He was arrested at night near his so-called nursing home and packed off to Hazaribagh central jail (Jan 4). Kumar had a thriving practice at […]
Godda (Jharkhand): Ten miners were killed and an unspecified number feared trapped when a massive mound of earth came crashing down on them at Lalmatia open cast coal mine of Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) (Dec 29), the worst such disaster in over a decade. Heavy machinery was deployed as rescuers, including those from the NDRF, […]
Bombay (Mumbai), Dec 28 (PTI) First, it was outspoken Raghuram Rajan and then old Rs 500/1,000 notes, including those bearing his signature — 2016 saw them exit the Mint Street riding such big waves of controversies that their ripple effect is bound to be felt in the new year. Rajan was replaced by a low-profile Urjit […]
Good news for those who are applying for passports. The Government of India has simplified some of the rules and procedures. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has made several changes to the existing passport rules in order to “streamline, liberalise and ease the process of issue of passport.” The biggest of these is the […]
New Delhi: Bollywood stars and other celebs may be thrown into jail for five years if they endorse ‘politically incorrect ‘foods, or else they may have to cough up a whopping 50 lakhs in fine. It’s all in the name of ‘consumer protection’. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has recommended a complete ban […]
Seven NGOs, including one run by activist Shabnam Hashmi, and two by Teesta Setalvad have been barred by the government from receiving foreign funds after their FCRA licences were cancelled following alleged adverse intelligence reports against them, says a PTI report. The renewed licences of another 13,000 NGOs across the country are similarly ‘being reviewed’. Registration under […]
