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PTI  | Posted by Sadia Akhtar, July 30, 2017  Russia and India are holding talks with a view to sign a contract for 48 (Mi-17V-5) helicopters Russia and India are holding negotiations for the supply of 48 Russian Mi-17 military transport helicopters with Moscow hoping to seal the deal by the year end, a top Russian official has said. Russian arms supplier Rosoboronexport's CEO Alexander Mikheev said India has more than 300 helicopters belonging to the Mi-8 and Mi-17 family, which are deployed in troop and arms transport, fire support, convoy escort, patrol, and search-and-rescue (SAR) missions. He said India knows their specifications well. TECHNO-COMMERCIAL NEGOTIATIONS TO COMMENCE Mikheev said Russia and India are holding talks with a view to sign a contract for 48 (Mi-17V-5) helicopters and the techno-commercial negotiations are set to commence. "We hope that we will reach an agreement before the end of this year," he told a select gr...

Vijata Singh, The Hindu, July 30, 2017 Haj pilgrimage, LoC trade, and financial links between separatists and professional stone-throwers under probe  The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is focussing on a hawala racket relating to the annual Haj pilgrimage and trade fraud along the Line of Control (LoC) as two funding channels being used by separatists and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. As part of its probe, which recently led to the arrest of seven Kashmiri separatists, the NIA is examining what it regards as a ‘deep conspiracy’ to ‘keep the Valley burning’, and not just individual acts of terror.  According to the NIA, some travel agents who send Indians on the Haj pilgrimage are hand in glove with associates of separatists based in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. A part of the money collected from pilgrims is diverted for terror and separatist activities, while the cost of accommodation and food are borne by these associates. Said an NIA official: “S...

Written by  Avinash Nair  | New Delhi | Updated: July 30, 2017 9:30 pm The Indian Coast Guard ship Samudra Pavak intercepted and apprehended a Merchant Vessel carrying approximately 1,500 kilos of heroin valued at about Rs 3,500 Crore off the coast of Gujarat, official sources said on Sunday. This is the largest single haul of narcotics seized till date. Based on intelligence inputs, the vessel was intercepted at around 12.00 hrs on July 29, 2017. “The Indian Coast Guard ship ‘Samudra Pavak’ intercepted and apprehended a merchant vessel carrying approximately 1,500 kg of heroin valued at about Rs 3,500 crore off the coast of Gujarat,” a statement by defence PRO Abhishek Matiman said. “Based on intelligence inputs, the vessel was intercepted at around 1200 hrs yesterday. This is the largest single haul of narcotics seized till date,” the statement said. Joint investigation of the vessel by the ICG, IB, Police, Customs, Navy and other agencies is currently unde...

By:  PTI  | New Delhi | Published:July 30, 2017 Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has suggested legalising marijuana, a psychoactive drug, in India for medical purposes on the lines of the practice adopted by some developed countries like the US to curb drug abuse. The suggestion was made by Gandhi at a meeting of a group of ministers (GOM), which examined the draft cabinet note National Drug Demand Reduction Policy, according to the minutes of the second meeting, a copy of which is with news agency PTI. The GoM approved the draft national policy with minor modifications suggested in the meeting. Gandhi informed that in “some of the developed countries like the US, marijuana has been legalised which ultimately results in less drug abuse”. She said that “the possibility of the same maybe explored in India”, as per the document. When asked to elaborate, Gandhi told PTI that “marijuana should be legalised for medical purposes, especially as it serves a...

Surojit Gupta, TNN, July 30, 2017 NEW DELHI: New registrations under the goods & services tax (GST) crossed the 10 lakh mark on Saturday, a milestone that brings cheer to policymakers who have been hoping for an increase in the tax base after the rollout of the new tax measure.  "The figure of new registrations approved in GST crosses 10 lakhs today. About two lakh applications pending in process," revenue secretary  Hasmukh Adhia tweeted on Saturday. Increase in the tax base was one of key GST promises.  "Out of this 10-12 lakh, even if 8-9 lakh file returns there will be a substantial increase in revenues. It will also have benefits on the direct tax side and help check evasion," said N R Bhanumurthy, professor at the National Institute of Public  Finance  and Policy.  Finance minister  Arun Jaitley  had said recently that if tax base expands, the government could consider lowering tax rates.  The goods and serv...

 TOI, July 30, 2017 Sources said the US wanted India to help to look for North Korean activity in the Indian sub-continent. Responding to UN resolutions, the Indian govt banned all trade (except food and medicines) with N Korea. Officials say they are being put on the defensive as India is the third largest trading partner for N Korea. While the US and China negotiate a new resolution on North Korea as   Pyongyang   flouts sanctions with impunity, countries like India are coming under American attention to "do more" to contain the reclusive nation.   A US delegation from the State Department visited New Delhi this week to discuss how India could plug all exposure to North Korea. Among the "suggestions" to India are to limit and scale back its diplomatic engagement with Pyongyang.  North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday that it claimed has the range to hit major US cities, prompting a fresh round of condemnation from the US ...

Dipak K Dash |  TNN  |  Jul 30, 2017, 04:52 AM IST NEW DELHI: The Centre is considering to pull out of the  procurement of pulses   at   minimum support price   ( MSP ), and instead ask states to procure the key farm produce, government sources said.   As per the proposal, the Centre would bear about 30% of the amount spent for procurement on account of loss that agencies of state governments would incur during storage and release of pulses.  TOI has learnt that this is being worked out after Centre failed to procure enough pulses at MSP post the bumper harvest, which has resulted in distress sale by farmers.  Secondly, the Centre is also struggling to dispose off the old stock of about 1.8 million tonnes of pulses since states are not picking them up from the central pool.  According to sources, the central outgo for compensating the states for their loss is estimated about Rs 1,800-Rs 2,000 crore. The...

Financial Express, PTI Islamabad, July 30, 2017 Pakistan's ruling PML-N party on Saturday named former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the interim prime minister until ousted premier Nawaz Sharif's younger brother Shehbaz is elected as a member of parliament to succeed him as his eventual successor. Pakistan’s ruling PML-N party on  Saturday named former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the interim prime minister until ousted premier Nawaz Sharif’s younger brother Shehbaz is elected as a member of parliament to succeed him as his eventual successor. The decision was taken here in a meeting headed by Sharif and attended by the top party leaders who rallied behind the Sharifs, the country’s most powerful political family. The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office. Abbas...

Indian Express, Written by  Harish Damodaran  | Updated: July 28, 2017 In just over a month, retail prices of tomato have gone from about Rs 20 per kg to Rs 70 per kg (all-India modal average as per Department of Consumer Affairs data), after staying at Rs 10-12/kg through May and early June. Why has this happened? Is the current price spiral in tomatoes unusual, even for this time of the year? Tomatoes do tend to get dearer at this time. The all-India average retail rate at this time last year was Rs 40/kg, and it was Rs 30 the year before. One reason is tapering supplies from the last summer crop; farmers would be planting the next autumn/kharif crop at this time. But even after discounting for the normally low market arrivals now, there is no doubt that ruling rates — in many places, they are in the Rs 90-100 range — are far too high. So, what’s driving this? For that, first a little background. There are two main crops of tomatoes grown in the c...

LiveMint, July 29, 2017 A Delhi court to pronounce its order on Monday on a plea seeking prosecution of app-based cab service providers, including Ola and Uber, for allegedly violating the fare rules. New Delhi:  A Delhi court on Saturday said it would pronounce on Monday its order on a plea seeking prosecution of app-based cab service providers, including Ola and Uber, for allegedly violating the fare rules. The matter would come up on 31 July as metropolitan magistrate Abhilash Malhotra, who was scheduled to pass the order on Saturday, was on leave. The court had earlier recorded pre-summoning evidence advanced by complainant NGO, Nyayabhoomi, through its secretary Rakesh Agarwal, in support of the complaint which also sought summoning of the three firms as accused.  The court, however, had treated as “dismissed as withdrawn” an application filed by the same NGO seeking lodging of FIR against three app-based cab service providers, Ola, Uber and ‘Taxi for...

PTI LiveMint, July 29, 2017 Mumbai:   Insurance regulator Irdai on Friday asked leading private sector life insurer ICICI Prudential Life Insurance (IPRU) to take over the business of beleaguered Sahara India Life Insurance (Sahara India Life), with effect from 31 July.   ICICI Prudential shall ensure that systems are integrated within a period of one year from the appointed date, Irdai order said. Embattled Sahara group chairman Subrata Roy had met Irdai chairman to seek more time to resolve the crisis at his life insurance arm on 24 July. ICICI Prudential had submitted a valuation report to the regulator to take over the company on the same day. It was last month that Irdai had appointed an administrator to run the crippled Lucknow-based Sahara Life due to governance-related issues at the company. Based on the facts reported by the administrator in his report dated 22 June, Irdai came to the conclusion that continuation of Sahara India Life to transact li...

Live Mint,  Shakti Patra , July 29, 2017 L&T’s domestic orders grew 12% in the June quarter, while international orders fell 40%, reflecting slower infrastructure spending in the Middle East owing to low crude oil prices. Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T), the conglomerate that often mirrors the performance of the broader economy, on Friday posted a 46% increase in consolidated net profit for the June quarter as lower tax expenses and reduced losses at subsidiaries helped counter a decline in margins and order inflows. L&T, which has businesses in engineering and construction, power, finance, information technology (IT) and realty, reported a group net profit of Rs893 crore for the quarter, up from Rs610 crore a year earlier. Gross revenue rose 10% year-on-year to Rs23,990 crore. L&T still missed analysts’ earnings estimates. A  Bloomberg  poll of nine analysts had estimated L&T’s consolidated net profit at Rs928.40 crore; a poll of 10 br...