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 Financial Express August 14, 2020 Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: Union Minister for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises and Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari said that the need of the hour is to address the ground level issues sector-wise and industry-wise. Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs:  As India slips into the marsh on its economic front, Union Minister for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises and Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari said that the need of the hour is to address the ground level issues sector-wise and industry-wise. Nitin Gadkari added that all the sectors like plastic, garment, leather, pharmaceuticals, etc, and industries associated with them have unique problems and thus it is important to resolve such issues in order to formulate the new policies, according to the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises. He further urged the MSME member bodies and sectoral associations of FICCI to study the ground level problems of important se

The Financial Express August 14, 2020 The recent agriculture reforms are amongst the most significant since the economic liberalization of 1991.  They signal a shift away from the ‘license raj’ that continued to grip agriculture, long after the rest of the economy was opened up. “The first step to getting anywhere is deciding you are no longer willing to stay where you are”, so when our Late Prime Minister Shri Vajpayee, mooted the idea of “One Nation One Tax” i.e GST in 2000, little did one realise that it would take 16 years with numerous Committees and deliberations cutting across political lines to finally get the legislation enacted in 2016. So here we are finally, with our own desi version of GST, to meander through the complexities of India, which is by far the most diverse economy to have ever implemented this levy. Introduced soon after the demonetisation, GST has had all the symptoms of a pre-term law with an under-prepared tech-infrastructure to deferments on dates to an amb

The Kashmir Walla August 14, 2020   Before quitting politics, Shah Faesal had contacted top officials in the union government and spoke with National Security Advisor (NSA), Ajit Doval, before he announced his decision of leaving the party he founded, Jammu and Kashmir People’sMovement (JKPM),  reported  Hindustan Times . The 37-year-old bureaucrat-turned-politician, Mr. Faesal had taken a tough stand on the New Delhi’s decision of abrogating J-K’s limited autonomy in August 2019. Soon after, he was slapped with the Public Safety Act and detained. Mr. Faesal acknowledged that he has been in touch with officials in New Delhi, although he declined to specify details, the report added. “There has been a lot of speculation about the conversations I’m having with people in the government. I have been a member of IAS, and it’s nothing strange if I’m meeting people in the government,” he told the newspaper. “I have to live and work here and this is perfectly normal.” Mr. Faesal had become the

 Financial Express August 14, 2020 SC AGR hearing HIGHLIGHTS: The Supreme Court on Friday sought to make it clear that the telecom companies using spectrum must pay for it. The bench ordered Reliance Jio and Reliance Communications to share the details of the spectrum sharing agreement. SC AGR hearing HIGHLIGHTS:  The Supreme Court came down heavily on telecom companies on Friday, seeking to know who was using the spectrum. Justice Arun Mishra told Reliance Jio counsel that spectrum is government property, not private property and anybody using it is liable to pay. Justice Mishra told Jio’s counsel, KV Vishwanathan, that it will recover everything from him. “We will catch hold of you and recover the entire amount,” Justice Mishra said. Vishwanathan informed that he is sharing and not using it, also spectrum usage charges have been paid. The SC asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to clarify if a nod was given to Reliance Jio to use the spectrum. “It’s government property, s

 The Print August 14, 2020 Mumbai:  When former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan had begun a clean-up of the Indian banking sector with the asset quality review (AQR) in 2015, officials in commercial banks who faced the maximum heat were those at general manager positions in departments like credit and recovery. Five years down the line, some of them are now at the helm of different public sector banks (PSBs) — as chief executives or executive directors. What was their one learning from the AQR episode? Don’t kick the can down the road. Because after retirement — usually PSB CEOs have two-three year tenures or less — the successor will do ‘kitchen sinking’, which would lead to investigative agencies littering their premises. The 2015 AQR had sought to uncover bad loans, which banks had hidden under the carpet. Typically, these PSBs used to see a jump in bad loans at the time of change in leadership. The new CEO would announce higher non-performing assets (NPAs) while

 The Indian Express August 14, 2020 In a landmark agreement, US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the  United Arab Emirates and Israel have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties  as part of a deal to halt the annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state, reported AP. With this announcement, the UAE became the first Gulf Arab state to do so and only the third Arab nation to have active diplomatic ties with Israel. Under the deal, Israel would suspend its plans to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank. The UAE’s official news agency Wam on Thursday shared a joint statement from the  United States , Israel and the UAE, reported AP. While the announcement gives Donald Trump a rare diplomatic victory ahead of the November election, neither has his efforts to bring the war in Afghanistan to an end materialised, nor has his efforts to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians made any headway. It remains unclear what prompted Israel

 The Indian Express August 14, 2020 Onions have become a cause of concern in the  United States  and Canada. Over the past week, health agencies in both countries have put out alerts asking its citizens to discard onions supplied by California-based Thomson International Inc, linking a salmonella bacteria infection with the bulb. What is this infection, and how does it transmit through onions? We explain: What is Salmonellosis? The salmonella bacteria resides in animals. When it enters a human body it causes salmonellosis, an infection that attacks the intestine, and can cause diarrhoea, abdominal pain, fever, vomiting, bleeding in stool and nausea. The symptoms of the infection last anywhere between 2 and 7 days. However, bowel function could sometimes takes months before returning to normalcy. In some cases, it spreads the infection from the intestine to the blood stream. The infection hits children, below the age of five, and senior citizens the worst. The good news is less than 1 p

 The Hindu August 12, 2020 Includes foods sold for special medical purposes and for special dietary use Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Tuesday directed food safety commissioners across all states and UTs to ensure strict compliance of labelling regulations for foods products that are sold for special medical purposes and foods for special dietary use, among others. These products are consumed by consumers that suffer from hypo-allergenic conditions such as lactose-intolerance or suffer from IEM disorders (Inborn Errors of Metabolism). Companies making food products for special dietary purposes or for special medical purpose need to ensure the labelling enables the consumers to distinguish such food products from food products meant for normal consumption. This is the second time this year that the FSSAI has directed food safety commissioners to ensure compliance of norms for food products that are regulated under the FSS ( Health Supplements, nutraceuticals, fo

 The Hindu August 13, 2020 Seeks comments from WTO members India has notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) its intention to make it mandatory for telecom products sold, imported or used in the country, including feedback device, transmission terminal equipment and broadband equipment, to be tested and certified by the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) under the Department of Telecommunications. “While the mandatory tests and certification of imported telecom equipment are primarily targeted at Chinese companies because of security concerns, they will apply to all imports. That’s why as per WTO rules India has to inform members prior to its implementation and seek comments,” an official told  BusinessLine . In three separate submissions made to the WTO Committee on Technical Barrier to Trade on the three identified items this week, India sought comments from WTO members on the mandatory certification regime within 30 days. Phased manner “The Mandatory Testing and Certification of T

Dawn  August 14, 2020 US President Donald Trump, in a surprise announcement, said on Thursday that Israel and the United Arab Emirates had reached a peace agreement. The normalisation of relations between the UAE and Israel is a “HUGE breakthrough” Trump tweeted, calling it a “Historic Peace Agreement between our two GREAT friends.” Speaking to reporters later, Trump suggested that more diplomatic breakthroughs between Israel and its Muslim neighbours in the region were expected. “Things are happening that I can't talk about,” he said. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described it as “a historic day and a significant step forward for peace in the Middle East.” “The United States hopes that this brave step will be the first in a series of agreements that ends 72 years of hostilities in the region,” Pompeo said. The UAE's ambassador to Washington said the landmark US-brokered peace deal with Israel was a “win for diplomacy” and a “significant advance in Arab-Israeli relations”.

 Moneycontrol August 13, 2020 China is extending an anti-dumping tariff on a fibre optic product made in India, the Ministry of Commerce said on August 13. The punitive tariff on single-mode optical fibre takes effect from August 14 and lasts for five years, with tariffs ranging between 7.4 percent and 30.6 percent depending on the specific Indian manufacturers, the ministry said. China previously slapped an anti-dumping tariff on the same Indian product for five years until mid-August of 2019 and then had a review of the case. Ref. https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world/china-extends-anti-dumping-tariff-on-indian-fibre-optic-product-5693691.html

 Moneycontrol August 13, 2020 India's retail inflation for the month of July stood at 6.93 percent as against 6.23 percent in the month-ago period, National Statistical Office (NSO) data released on August 13 showed. The consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation rate for June has been revised from 6.09 percent to 6.23 percent. The combined food price inflation (CFPI) for July stood at 9.62 percent, against 8.72 percent a month ago. Inflation in vegetables basket was 11.29 percent in July, against 1.86 percent in June. In the fuel and light segment, inflation for the same month was 2.80 percent against 2.69 percent in June. In cereals and related products, inflation stood at 6.96 percent in July, against 6.49 percent in June. In meat and fish, it stood at 18.81 percent against 16.22 percent a month ago. For pulses and products, it stood at 15.92 percent in July against 16.68 percent in June. The consumer price index (CPI) data for the months of April and May were not released by th