Southwest monsoon’s current rainfall deficit is 38%, says IMD
With the southwest monsoon running late, the country faces a 38% current rainfall deficit, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The IMD said the country, as a whole, received 70.9 mm rainfall so far this monsoon season, whereas the long period average is 114.2 mm. This leaves a shortfall of 38%.
Leadership crisis hurts Congress poll preparations
The Congress leadership ‘crisis’ will complete a month next Tuesday, but there is still no clarity on how long it will take for the party to resolve it.
The uncertainty seems to be hurting the party in States such as Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand where Assembly elections are scheduled later this year. Going by the previous schedule, the elections in Haryana and Maharashtra are expected by October and in Jharkhand, by late November-December.
Project to beautify Taj Mahal stalled
A proposal by the Uttar Pradesh government to construct a barrage across the Yamuna, a kilometre and a half away from the Taj Mahal, is stuck between two expert committees of the Union Environment Ministry.
Each committee, consisting of eminent experts, thinks that it’s the other panel that should be taking a call on the future of the project, a perusal of the public records of meetings and discussions in the Ministry shows.
GST’s performance versus promise
As the Budget draws nearer, the GST revenue picture has assumed great importance. The fiscal projections and the ability to fund welfare schemes hinge on this. Therefore, we have to ask a fundamental question on how GST revenue has done? Has performance lived up to its promise? From the evidence available, the answer would be a qualified ‘Yes’.
The widespread perception that the GST revenue growth has not done well is unfair as the GST revenue performance should not be measured against the ambitious targets set, but against the growth of the nominal GDP.
India rejects Pakistan’s charge of politicising FATF
India on Sunday rejected Pakistan’s allegation that it had sought to “politicise” deliberations at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which concluded its plenary last week with more strictures against Pakistan.
According to sources, the government has taken a strong view of Pakistan’s accusation that India had launched a “malicious campaign” to use the FATF’s process for its own “narrow, partisan objectives” against Pakistan. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry was, in turn, responding to India’s statement that time was running out for Islamabad to show action “Against Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terror (AML/CFT)” by groups that pose a transnational risk.
RSS to filter BJP’s recruitment in West Bengal
After a controversial Trinamool MLA in the Birbhum district joined it, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has revised its recruitment policy in West Bengal on advice from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a senior party leader told The Hindu . Now any induction — other than that of very senior leaders — will be conducted only after a screening at the BJP Mandal level. Ten to 15 wards form a Mandal, and the RSS monitors these hyper-local units of its organisational structure closely. Besides BJP workers, the Mandals usually have RSS activists as well.
With onset of rain, AES cases die down in Bihar
With the onset of rains, no fresh AES case has been reported in Muzaffarpur district on Sunday even as the health department cracked its whip on a doctor who was asked to report for duty in the brain fever-affected district, but failed to comply.
Meanwhile, Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital (SKMCH) superintendent, Sunil Kumar Shahi said “AES is known to strike when the summer heat is at its peak and the incidences plummet no sooner than rainfalls lash the area. The same is happening this time and no child has been admitted during the day so far with the complaint even though AES patients, who have been nursed back to recovery, are being discharged continuously.”
I & B ministry yet to provide censor exemption to Anand Patwardhan’s documentary for screening in Kerala fest
The clouds of censorship have hit the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) yet again with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting not yet providing censor exemption to Anand Patwardhan’s documentary Vivek (Reason), which highlights the murders of rationalist scholars by Hindutva extremists. The Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, the organisers of the festival, have postponed the screening of the documentary to the last day, on the hope of procuring clearance before that.
According to sources in the Academy, the Ministry has not yet denied exemption for the film, but asked for a ‘more detailed synopsis’ of it.
Editorial | Lacklustre meet: on GST Council meet
The GST Council's first meeting under the new government did not deliver any big surprises. Apart from some minor changes to the existing structure and procedures under the GST, the council’s meeting on Friday, under Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, was largely a lacklustre event. There was some expectation that the council would consider a significant cut in tax rates across the board in order to help spur consumer demand that has been sagging in recent quarters. But none of that happened. The meeting ended with some changes in procedure that are expected to tackle tax evasion and make GST filing easier.
Reimagining the NITI Aayog
India’s Constitution-makers thought of India as a union of States with a centripetal bias, done, advisedly, to preserve the unity and integrity of a newly fledged nation. Since then, the Indian economy, polity, demography and society have undergone many changes. The new aspirational India is now firmly on a growth turnpike. It is in this context that we revisit India’s fiscal federalism and propose redesigning it around its four pillars.
