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The Indian Express   Aanchal Magazine April 04, 2020 Amid the ongoing economic slowdown, the government’s net direct tax collections have missed the downward revised target for 2019-20 by Rs 1.42 lakh crore at Rs 10.27 lakh crore, a decline of over 8 per cent from previous year’s receipts. The contraction in direct tax collections in the financial year, coming just ahead of the COVID-19 spread in India and resultant lockdown impacting business operations across the country, has been witnessed after a gap of 20 years. The Centre’s direct tax receipts had last seen a year-on-year decline in 1998-99, when collections recorded a contraction of 3.5 per cent in that financial year. All the major centres recorded a dip, with Mumbai seeing a fall of 12 per cent in its collections, while Bengaluru and Delhi recorded a slide of 10.1 per cent and 9 per cent in collections, respectively. Kanpur and Bhubaneswar posted the steepest fall of over 17 per cent each among the 18 tax zones across t

Firstpost Sreemoy Talukdar April 04,2020 As global coronavirus cases cross one million and deaths near 60,000, at what point do we point a finger at the institution that was set up precisely to forestall such pandemics and limit their impact? While pondering the question, bear in mind that the figure quoted above is a conservative number because global toll due to the coronavirus is likely being massively under-reported.  There’s enough evidence now to conclusively argue that instead of anticipating and preempting the worst pandemic in a century, World Health Organization’s capitulation to China and series of bewildering policy failures have misled and delayed international response, thereby exacerbating fatally the pathogen’s impact. The WHO and its director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus are accountable and answerable for this failure. In this piece, I shall focus on three areas where WHO’s failures have been stark. WHO, set up under the aegis of United Nations, draws

The Hindu BusinesLine April 03, 2020 Smartphone industry in India could take a $2 billion hit on account of the coronavirus pandemic as shipments declined significantly in the months of March and April compared to the previous year, according to Counterpoint Research. Noting that the effect of the pandemic on India was relatively mild until mid-March, Counterpoint Research said the outbreak is spreading pan-India and the country has been put under a lockdown. This is expected to result in a decline of 3 per cent in smartphone shipment in 2020 to 153 million units compared to 158 million units last year, it said. “We are estimating a year-on-year decline of 27 per cent in March shipments, and almost 60 per cent for April assuming lockdown will be until April 14. This translates into a revenue loss of about $2 billion for the industry till the lockdown period,” Counterpoint Research Associate Director Tarun Pathak said. Pathak further said that if the lockdown extends, t

The Hindu Business Line April 03,2020 Google is releasing new data about how the coronavirus pandemic has cut down on foot traffic to transit centers, retail stores and public parks in more than 130 countries. The mobility reports will be posted publicly online. They come in response to requests from public health officials who want more data on how people are moving around cities to better combat the spread of Covid-19, the Alphabet Inc unit said in a blog post. Each report will show how traffic to certain categories of places, such as parks and transportation hubs, has declined in the last month. The information wont show individual places or people. Google arguably has the most accurate and granular data about peoples location of any organization, public or private. More than a billion people worldwide use the companys Maps app to navigate places they live and travel to, giving Google real-time insight into how people move around their environments. With Covid-19 infecting

The Hindu Business line G Naga Sridhar April 03,2020 ‘Extension of lockdown will prove costly for sector’ The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown have adversely impacted pharmaceutical exports to the tune of $1.5- $2 billion. “Pharmaceutical exports stood at $18.75 billion at the end of February with 10.7 per cent year-on-year growth,” R Uday Bhaskar, Director-General, Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), told   BusinessLine   on Friday. But due to restrictions on export of some categories of drugs and the lockdown that has restricted the movement of goods, pharma exports have almost stopped from March 3. The government banned exports of about 26 APIs and formulations in the beginning of March. “As a result, exports will not reach $22 billion as expected and the full-year figure will only be in the range of what has been achieved in the previous financial year,”' the DG said. During FY 19, total pharma exports stood at $19.14 billion. The los

The Indian Express Pranav Mukul  ,  Aanchal Magazine April 04,2020 IN WHAT clearly indicates supply-side disruptions after states enforced lockdown to stymie the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, wholesale prices of essential commodities, especially vegetables, have shown a sharp increase during the last fortnight of March. The average countrywide prices of vegetables such as onions and tomatoes, which were softening in the first fortnight of March, recorded a perceptible spurt in the second half of the month after March 15 when lockdowns became effective, according to data compiled by the Department of Consumer Affairs. In the normal scenario, if there are disruptions in supply chains, retail prices increase and wholesale prices drop. But, now, since there is possibly a glut of stocks at one place and goods are not moving, wholesale prices are also showing an increase, economists and agri experts said. The experts attributed the rise in prices of the essential commoditi

The Indian Express Jay Mazoomdaar April 04,2020 TO EXPEDITE clearances to manufacturers of bulk drugs and intermediates meant for treating COVID-19, the Environment Ministry has exempted such projects from Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) till September 30 as an interim measure. “All proposals for projects or activities in respect of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), received up to the 30th September 2020, shall be appraised as Category ‘B2’ projects, provided that any subsequent amendment or expansion or change in product mix, after the 30th September 2020, shall be considered as per the provisions in force at that time,” the Ministry said in a notification dated March 27. Rules notified under the Environment Protection Act (1986) classify projects into three categories. Projects under Category A are appraised by the Ministry, and those under category B by states. Projects exempted from EIA and public hearings are classified under Category B2. Underlining that th

Hindustan Times April 04,2020 India’s businesses are expecting the government to roll out a fiscal relief and stimulus package of the same magnitude as the one unveiled by the US -- equivalent to around 10% of GDP -- but are also hoping the Centre and states, various administrative departments, state-owned companies and utilities will accelerate payments owed to them as they battle an economic crisis of never-seen-before proportions. A consolidated amount of what the government owes companies, large and small, isn’t readily available, but HT learns that it could run into a few lakh crore with the big-ticket ones being the money owed by the Centre to fertiliser companies towards subsidies and that owed by state power distribution companies to power producers. For instance, by last month, the amount owed by the Centre to fertiliser companies had touched Rs 60,000 crore, according to KS Raju, the chairman of industry body Fertiliser Association of India. This, after payment of

Hindustan Times April 04,2020 The Union home ministry on Friday evening  amended the new domicile rule   for Jammu and Kashmir issued this week that had triggered howls of protest in the Kashmir valley. In its final form, only domiciled residents of J&K will be eligible to apply for recruitment in the union territory. In the earlier version notified on Tuesday evening, the home ministry had reserved only subordinate posts for the domiciled residents. For other jobs under the union territory, people from any part of the country could apply. The new order issued a little before midnight makes jobs in the UT administration out of bounds for non-residents. There has, however, not been any change to the rule that will treat people from outside the union territory, who have been residents of the UT for 15 years, as domicile residents. The notification also extended domicile rights to central government employees who shall have served in the state for 10 years and their c

Hindustan Times Ritesh Mishra April 06,2020 The lockdown imposed to check the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has forced the Chhattisgrah police to recalibrate and scale down their anti-Maoist operations, top police officers said on Sunday. The officers said the approach is to have fewer “dedicated offensives” against the Left-wing extremists based on specific intelligence inputs. Chhattisgarh police chief D M Awasthi said only four anti-Maoist operations have been conducted since the lockdown came into force on March 25. “Earlier, we used to have 15 to 20 such operations in 10 days.” He added there are many reasons for planning fewer operations. Awasthi said bigger operations need backups like helicopters and medical teams, which may be difficult to arrange due to the lockdown. “I have given instructions to officials that operations will only be planned when there is pinpoint intelligence of Maoist movements and that big movement of security forces should b

The Guardian Laura Spinney April 06,2020 Even at their most effective – and draconian – containment strategies have only slowed the spread of the respiratory disease Covid-19. With the World Health Organization finally declaring a pandemic, all eyes have turned to the prospect of a vaccine, because only a vaccine can prevent people from getting sick. About 35 companies and academic institutions are racing to create such a vaccine, at least four of which already have candidates they have been testing in animals. The first of these – produced by Boston-based biotech firm Moderna – will enter human trials imminently. This unprecedented speed is thanks in large part to early Chinese efforts to sequence the genetic material of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. China shared that sequence in early January, allowing research groups around the world to grow the live virus and study how it invades human cells and makes people sick. But there is another reason for the h