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Hindustan Times Dated: May 03, 2020 The second economic stimulus package can be expected “very soon”, Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy V Subramanian said in an interview on Saturday, although he declined to put a time-frame or a magnitude to it. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with home minister Amit Shah and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday in the context of a  stimulus packag e and an official familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that in a series of meetings on this theme the Prime Minister has, over the past few days reviewed trade, commerce, coal and mining, defence, aviation, power, agriculture, and the education sectors. The PM chaired a meet on strengthening the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). “Chaired a meeting on strengthening our MSME sector, which plays a pivotal role in economic development,” he tweeted. He discussed interventions in the financial sector and structural reforms needed to spur growth. At the meeti...

Business standard Dated:03, 2020 Direct  tax collection  surged 36.5 per cent to Rs 34,784 crore in the first month of fiscal year 2020-21, despite a nationwide lockdown, thanks to a 63 per cent year-on-year (YoY) fall in  tax refunds  in April. Without accounting for refunds, the collection contracted 5.4 per cent, indicating muted economic activity as the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent curbs paralysed most sectors. Gross  direct tax collection  stood at Rs 41,556 crore in April, as against Rs 43,950 crore in the corresponding period last year. Refunds of Rs 6,772 crore were about a third of the amount disbursed in the same month last year, at Rs 18,474 crore, which boosted net collection. Incidentally, the government last month announced expediting refunds up to Rs 5 lakh to improve cash flows for individuals and small and medium enterprises amid coronavirus-related disruptions in the economy. “A sharp fall in refund disburse...

The Hindu Dated: May 04, 2020 D espite a massive 50% drop in oil revenues and a downturn in the economy, Saudi Arabia’s investments in India will not be affected, the Kingdom’s Ambassador to India  Saud bin Mohammed Al Sati   said in a written interview. At a time when a UN body has predicted a cut in about 1.7 million jobs in the Gulf region due to GDP losses the envoy says that worries of retrenchments are premature, but added that the Saudi government is working with India on the repatriation of those who need to return. What measures has Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) adopted to counter the virus? Has KSA, like Kuwait and UAE requested Indian medical teams to help manage the situation, and also treat Indians who may be affected? There are a large number of expatriates living in Saudi Arabia, which includes around three million Indians. As per King Salman’s Royal decree, the Kingdom is providing coronavirus related medical care free of charge to all residents in...

The Hindu Dated: May 04, 2020 The authorities in the UAE over the weekend booked three more Indians for spreading hate online. Diplomatic sources said this is part of the Gulf country’s campaign to monitor community activities by expat Indians as intense social media exchanges between Indian and Gulf commentators continue. The latest to be booked are Rohit Rawat, a chef employed with a high-end Italian restaurant, Sachin Kinnigoli, a storekeeper and an employee with the Transguard group who posted offensive messages in a Facebook page in the name of Vishal Thakur. All three individuals have been terminated from respective positions and the administration of Dubai is acting against them as per the its Cybercrime Law No 5 of 2012. Sources from the UAE said the country is unlikely to tolerate online hate and is monitoring both online and offline activities by expats, especially comments that inflame religious sentiments. An offender will get jail terms an...

Hindu Dated: May 03,2020 Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, speaking on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, said his government “will expose” the surveys that portray a “bad picture about  ‘Freedom of Press’ in India ”. The Minister’s comments come in the backdrop of the latest survey of the global body, Reporters Without Borders, that shows India dropping two places on the global press freedom index ranking to 142nd place in the list of 180 countries. India’s neighbours — Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka — are ranked higher in the list. “Media has the power to inform and enlighten people. Media in India enjoy absolute freedom. We will expose, sooner than later, those surveys that tend to portray bad picture about ‘Freedom of Press’ in India,” Mr. Javadekar tweeted. The report on “'The World Press Freedom Index 2020”, which was released on April 22, said that with no murders of journalists in India in 2019, as against six in 201...

Business Line Dated: may 04, 2020 T he shadow of gloom has not left 40-year-old Rushali Gaikwad’s back since 2017. Gaikwad, a former employee at a renowned motor company in Mumbai, suffered a brain haemorrhage in the year 2017, that left her paralysed waist down. Consequently, she had to quit her job and in the next year, transferred all her savings to her account in Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank. Just then the bank was put under RBI restrictions in September of 2019. To add to her ordeal, she was then faced with a double whammy with no access to her savings on one hand and on the other loan recovery agents knocking on her door for the repayment of her home loan. “Life had already taken away so much, whatever little was left, was taken away by PMC Bank”, said a harried Rushali. “I was an independent woman supporting myself and my mother with my own hard-earned money and look where I am now. DHFL agents are harassing me every other day even after the government’...

Business Line dated: May 04, 2020 The Centre must ignore warnings from global rating agencies and launch a fiscal stimulus Even before the Centre made its decision to extend its 40-day lockdown by a further two weeks, economists had been stressing the need for an urgent fiscal stimulus package. The voices calling for stimulus ranged from former Chief Economic Adviser Subramanian, who argued for a pre-emptive stimulus to lift the economy from a likely contraction, to former RBI Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan, who underlined that India today has the ability to sustain high fiscal deficits for short periods, and must use this to provide relief to workers and small businessmen hit by this enforced standstill. Both have suggested a stimulus amounting to about 5 per cent of the GDP. The Centre though, seems to be far more inclined to listen to warnings from global rating agencies, who have been making their usual threatening noises about the dangers of India overshooting its debt and ...

The Hindu dated: May 04, 2020 The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, outlined the fund-raising plan for the scientific fight-back against COVID-19 European leaders are backing an initiative from Brussels to raise 7.5 billion euros (£6.6 billion, $8.3 billion) to find a vaccine to curb the global COVID-19 pandemic. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, outlined the fund-raising plan for the scientific fight-back against COVID-19 on Friday. An online pledging conference will take place on Monday to plug gaps in financing of research. Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel gave their support in an open letter published in weekend newspapers. The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, and Norway’s Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, also signed and all gave their backing to the World Health Organization in the face of US criticism about its han...

The Indian Express Dated: May 04, 2020 Ramping up its attack against Beijing, the  United States  has said that there is a “significant amount of evidence” that the novel  coronavirus , which has infected millions worldwide, emerged from a Chinese laboratory.  China , however, accused the Donald Trump-led administration of “bluffing” and sought proof to justify its statement. Speaking to ABC news on Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “There is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan.” Pompeo, however, briefly contradicted the US intelligence agencies’s conclusion that the  virus was neither man-made nor genetically modified . “The best experts so far seem to think it was man-made. I have no reason to disbelieve that at this point,” he said. When the interviewer pointed out that was not the conclusion of the intelligence agencies, he backtracked, saying: “I’ve seen what the...

Indian Express Dated: May 04, 2020 In 1920, John Maynard Keynes, perhaps the most influential economist of the first half of the 20th century, wrote a famous passage, which could well have been written for our times. Worth citing at length, Keynes was speaking of how the First World War ended what we now call Globalisation 1.0 that lasted nearly a century till then. “What an extraordinary episode in the economic progress of mankind, which came to an end in August 1914?… The inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole earth, in such quantity as he might see fit, and reasonably expect their early delivery upon his doorstep; he could at the same moment and by the same means adventure his wealth in the natural resources and new enterprises of any quarter of the world, and share, without exertion or even trouble, in their prospective fruits and advantages; …He could secure forthwith, if he wished it, cheap and ...

The Express Tribune Dated: May 04, 2020 The World Bank (WB) has said that it has prepared a $247.5 million programme to support Pakistan’s frontline healthcare staff and those whose lives have been affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has aggravated the human and economic sufferings across the globe. According to an article published by the bank, “The WB’s Pakistan team stepped up to handle the challenge by preparing the $200 million Pandemic Response Effectiveness in Pakistan (PREP) project, supported by an additional $47.5 million from our existing projects.” The WB further stated in the article that PREP was a uniquely nimble project that progressed from inception to implementation in just 10 days. “Processes that usually take 10 months or more, such as opening designated accounts, were greatly accelerated. As of April 23, the project has disbursed $69.8 million to enable an early response to the emergency. This was made possible because of the clos...