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FIRSTPOST February 20, 2020 The Indian government is in the process of auctioning out approximately 200 blocks in Jhelum river and its tributaries for mining of sand and other minerals. This is despite a recent study warning against large-scale mining operation in the Jhelum, and the advice of an environmental committee against haphazard mining in water bodies. In 2018, the department of Irrigation and Flood Control (IFC) had asked the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS) to do a detailed technical report covering a  host of issues . This was also cited by a World Bank supported study for the  Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project . “The dredging de-silting/sand mining of the main channel of Jhelum from upstream to Asham is not advisable and may cause difficulties for the flood management. Re-sectioning by increasing the waterway width may possibly be taken up at few places only as recommended in the tour report of CWPRS officers,” the technical report conc

FIRSTPOST. February 18, 2020 India's sugar export may cross 5 million tonne in the marketing year ending September on higher demand from overseas amid global deficit of 8-9 million tonne, industry body ISMA said on Tuesday. For the current year, the government has allowed export of 6 million tonne of sugar under Maximum Admissible Export Quota (MAEQ) to help deal with the surplus sugar. India had exported 3.8 million tonne during 2018-19 marketing year (October-September) against the mandatory quota of 5 million tonne. The country's sugar production has reached 16.98 million tonne till February 15 of the current marketing year, which is much lower than 21.96 million tonne output till the same period a year ago, it said. According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), global sugar prices for raw and white sugar are 20-25 percent higher than the prices which prevailed three months ago when India started its exports against 6 million tonne under MAEQ.

FIRSTPOST. February 18, 2020                Insurance watchdog  IRDAI   is yet to get any proposal from life insurance behemoth, LIC on an initial public offering but feels a listing is better from a governance perspective, chairman S C Khuntia said on Tuesday. He also said that there is nothing for the life insurance industry to worry for the time being with regard to the government's move on certain income tax exemptions as the alternative to invest still exists. Khuntia also asked insurance companies to "weed out" loss-making products and concentrate only on the better-paying ones. On the IPO of Life Insurance Corporation of India announced in the Budget, he said, "LIC proposal has not yet come". "Any company which goes public, there will be better corporate governance and better disclosure,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event of actuaries here. On being asked if LIC's business will need any restructuring before IPO,

THE INDIAN EXPRESS February 20, 2020          In a reversal, depositors over the last six months have preferred to park their money with private banks rather than state-owned banks, according to financial statements of banks over the last four quarters analysed by The Indian Express. While depositors have been moving towards private sector banks over the last three years, the first half of the calendar year 2019 saw state-owned banks getting back in the game with a sharp increase in incremental deposits. But during July-December 2019, state-owned banks slipped again. Deposits of top eight private banks including HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank increased by Rs 2.68 lakh crore, higher than the Rs 2.58 lakh crore increase in deposits in the top eight state-owned banks. Compare this with the previous six months: During January-June 2019, these eight state-owned banks including SBI and Punjab National Bank accumulated Rs 5.25 lakh crore, more than double of what the eight private

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE February 19, 2020        Amnesty International has strongly criticized the Indian government’s move of using a repressive counter terrorism law to prevent access to social media in Indian Occupied  Jammu and Kashmir  (IOJ&K). Indian police in the disputed Himalayan region are cracking down on virtual private network (VPN) apps used to circumvent a months-long ban on social media, as part of a broader effort to quell unrest over the withdrawal of the region’s autonomy. Social networks such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram are still blocked, even after the government restored limited mobile data service and the internet in the occupied valley, so residents use VPNs or proxy servers to bypass the restrictions. “While the government has a duty and responsibility to maintain law and order in the territory, filing cases under the repressive counter-terrorism law over vague and generic allegations and blocking social media sites is

DAILYHUNT February 20, 2020         Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Union Budget 2020 introduced a new tax regime that allows individuals to avail lower tax rates if they were to opt-out of tax exemptions and deductions for the given financial year. Taxpayers will also be given the option to switch between the old and new tax regime. However, according to the Finance Bill 2020, those with business income will not be able to change their tax regimes as often. It means that individuals with only salaried income and pensioners will be able to switch back and forth between the old and new tax regimes every year. It will also affect salaried individuals who make earnings from freelancing activities as this income is treated as business income for tax purposes. "If individuals having business income have opted for new income tax regime, then they will continue to pay their income tax liability as per the new regime in the future financial years as well,&quo

THE PRINT February 19, 2020 Enhance the fees for   water and sewerage facilities to recover the operational costs of big-ticket infrastructure projects in the two areas. This is a suggestion offered by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), which comes under the Union Finance Ministry, at a meeting on 30 January, The Print has learnt.  According to sources privy to discussions at the meeting, the idea behind increased tariffs is to make India’s big infrastructure push under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) more financially viable.  The January meeting, held by the DEA secretary, was aimed at discussing measures to garner funds for the Modi government’s NIP and put it on a solid footing for the long run. The NIP is a key pillar of the government’s aim to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2024,   which will entail an estimated expenditure of Rs 100 lakh crore  on infrastructure. The NIP is meant to oversee and facilitate the efficient execution of projec