by V Rajarathinam | Jun 30, 2022 | General
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at the government over the rise in taxes on pre-packed food items and hotel stays, alleging that the prime minister’s “Gabbar Singh Tax” is now taking the shape of “Grihasti Sarvnaash Tax” (household destruction tax).
“Declining income and employment, topped with a rising blow of inflation.
The Prime Minister’s ‘Gabbar Singh Tax‘ has now taken a formidable shape of ‘Grihasthi Sarvnaash Tax‘ (household destruction tax),” Gandhi said on Twitter.
He cited a news report that taxes on food items, studies and hotel stays would become expensive.
The former Congress chief had dubbed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as “Gabbar Singh Tax” earlier.
Pre-packed and labelled food items like meat, fish, curd, ‘paneer’ and honey will now attract GST, a tax that will also be levied on the fee that banks charge for the issue of cheques.
This after the GST Council – the highest decision-making body on the levy of goods and services tax – accepted most of the recommendations of a group of ministers from states on withdrawing exemptions with a view to rationalising the levy, officials said.
The panel headed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising representatives of all states and UTs, on the first day of the two-day meeting accepted the GoM’s recommendation for reviewing the exemption from GST that packed and labelled food items currently get.
So pre-packed and labelled meat (except frozen), fish, curd, paneer, honey, dried leguminous vegetables, dried makhana, wheat and other cereals, wheat flour, jaggery, puffed rice (muri), all goods and organic manure and coir pith compost will not be exempted from GST and will now attract a five per cent tax.
Similarly, an 18 per cent GST will be levied on fees charged by banks for the issue of cheques (loose or in book form). Maps and charts, including atlases, will attract a 12 per cent levy. Goods that are unpacked, unlabelled and unbranded will continue to remain exempt from GST.
Besides, a 12 per cent tax on hotel rooms below Rs 1,000 per day will be levied, as against a tax exemption currently.
by V Rajarathinam | Jul 3, 2021 | General
NEW DELHI: India will strongly retaliate at a time and place of its choosing if Pakistan attempts to use drones or indulges in `hybrid warfare’ of any kind to target Indian civilian or military assets, chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat warned on Friday.
Investigative agencies are probing whether the small explosive-laden drones used in the terror attack on the Jammu air force station on June 27 were launched from Pakistan or from within the region, and whether the intent was to deliver a message of a new capability or actually cause damage on the ground, said Gen Rawat.
NEW DELHI: India needs a distinct military command structure and a complete paradigm shift to confront the emerging security threats like grey zone warfare, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat said on Friday, justifying the ambitious theaterisation process in the Indian armed forces. Referring to
“We do not yet know the ultimate intention. But let them (Pakistan) attempt to do something to damage our assets, and the reaction from our armed forces will be very different. The political will is there. Our armed forces are ready,” he said, speaking at a webinar here.
“A strong message has to be sent that anything of this nature, grey-zone tactics or hybrid warfare, if it damages our assets and affects our national security, we reserve the right to respond at a time and place of our choosing and the manner in which we wish to respond,” he added.
A drone was spotted over the Indian High Commission complex in Pakistan last week, triggering a huge security scare in the mission, people familiar with the development said on Friday. The Indian mission has already taken up the issue strongly with the Pakistani authorities.
Referring to the border truce with Pakistan since February, the CDS said the mere stopping of cross-border firing on the Line of Control was not enough. “If you (Pakistan) are going to use indirect systems to disrupt harmony and cause damage, it amounts to a violation of the ceasefire,” he said.
Two days after the first-ever terror drone strike in the country at Jammu, PM Modi chaired a top-level meeting on Tuesday to discuss a policy on the use of civil drones, `futuristic challenges’ in the defence sector and the need to suitably equip the military with modern equipment to tackle threats.
Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria, on his part, said IAF did have a limited number of “soft kill” jammers to disrupt the command-and-control links of small drones and “hard kill” counter-drone systems but they had not been deployed at the Jammu air station because it did not have “critical assets” like fighter jets.
“What happened at Jammu was essentially a terrorist act which attempted to target our assets (Mi-17 V5 helicopters) there. The attempt failed. Two explosives, one HE (high explosive) in nature and the other fragmentation, were used,” said the IAF chief.
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Jammu Air Force Station attack: Army chief says fight against drones will be a see-saw battle
NEW DELHI: Indian armed forces are developing capabilities to deal with the ever-increasing threat from drones, with some counter-measures already being put in place, even as they also acquire “offensive capabilities” in the field, General M M Naravane said on Thursday. “Drones will increasingly be
IAF is closely working with DRDO on its anti-drone systems, which have directed energy weapons like lasers and will soon finish their trials. “It’s a new kind of threat. Many of the projects have already been undertaken and some of the systems were already fielded,” he said.
Gen Rawat said the armed forces will have to dynamically keep on adapting to new threats because the next attack could well be through rockets, as was seen in the recent Israel-Hamas conflict, and not drones. “Grey-zone warfare can involve anything and we have to be prepared for it,” he said.
by V Rajarathinam | Jul 3, 2021 | General
Top COVID-19 vaccination official responded to query on mismatch with Health Ministry’s number of 135 crore doses.
A May 13 estimate, by one of India’s top officials overseeing the pandemic response, that India would have 216 crore doses of vaccines from August-December was based on an “optimistic, aspirational assessment” and based on what vaccine manufacturers had conveyed to the government.
V.K. Paul, Chairman, National Empowered Group on Vaccine at a press briefing on Friday was responding to a query on why there was a mismatch between his May projection of 216 crore vaccine doses and a Health Ministry affidavit to the Supreme Court on June 26 that said 135 crore doses would be available from August-December
The discrepancy is significant as the Centre has said that it plans to vaccinate all adults, estimated to be 93-94 crore, by the end of 2021, thus requiring 186-188 crore doses. So far, 33 crore doses have been administered, and 51 crore doses, including those already given, are expected to be administered by the end of July. After a burst of vaccination post June 21, that saw 90 lakh doses administered in a day and over 50 lakh doses, on average, subsequently for the rest of the week, the last week of June has been relatively lacklustre, with a daily average of about 35 lakh vaccine doses administered.
So far, about 35% of adult Indians have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and only 4% of the population has been fully vaccinated.
“When we had said over 200 crore doses will be available, we had said that this was based on information provided by manufacturers of how much they were optimistically, and I had said ‘aspirational’, likely to deliver,” said Dr. Paul. “It was important to share this with people because [at] that time there was a doubt whether vaccines would be available. However, we had also said that planning by the Health Ministry was based on 90 crore doses being made available by our two leading companies [Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotec
India can expect around 1.3 billion doses of vaccines, says epidemiologist Chandrakant Lahariya
The 216 crore doses, according to Dr. Paul’s presentation on May 13, was premised on 75 crore doses of Covishield and 55 crore of Covaxin, which adds up to 130 crore doses, whereas in the Health Ministry’s affidavit, it comes up as 90 crore. The rest is based on expectations of 45 crore vaccines from Biological E, Zydus Cadilla and Sputnik V.
“We are presenting a dynamic situation and that’s the context in which these numbers are presented. We have developments on Zydus Cadilla [applying for emergency use and reporting an interim efficacy of 66%], and several others are also on track,” Dr. Paul added
by V Rajarathinam | Sep 5, 2020 | General
Tension has been going on for a long time between India and China over the border dispute. Meanwhile, there are reports of five Indians allegedly kidnapped by Chinese soldiers from Arunachal Pradesh. Congress MLA from Arunachal Pradesh Ninong Ering claimed that the People’s Liberation Army of China has allegedly abducted five Indians from the border area of Arunachal Pradesh. Explain that there is an ongoing dispute between the Chinese Army and the Indian Army in the eastern Ladakh region.
In his tweet, tagged Congress MLA Ninong Ering PMO from Arunachal Pradesh, claimed that five people of Arunachal Pradesh’s Subansiri district have been allegedly abducted through the People’s Liberation Army of China. He also wrote that a similar incident took place a few months ago.
The Congress legislator has demanded action from the Indian government and the Chinese military to respond. Explain that there was a violent clash between the soldiers of China and India on June 15, in which 20 soldiers including a colonel of India were killed. A large number of Chinese soldiers were also killed, although China never officially announced it. After this, the Chinese army tried to infiltrate again on the night of 29-30 August, which was thwarted by Indian soldiers.
by V Rajarathinam | Sep 4, 2020 | General
A major agreement has been approved between India and Russia on AK-208 rifle amid tension on the border. During the visit of Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to Moscow, India and Russia have given final approval to the agreement to make state-of-the-art AK-203 rifle in India. Official Russian media gave this information on Thursday.
The AK-203 rifle is the latest and most advanced format of the AK-47 rifle. It will replace the Indian Small Orms System (INSAS) 5.56x45mm rifle. According to Russian government news agency Sputnik, the Indian Army needs about 770000 AK-203 rifles, of which one lakh will be imported and the rest will be manufactured in India.
These rifles will be made in India under the joint venture Indo-Russian Rifle Private Limited (IRRPL), according to news from the Russian news agency. It is established between the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and the Kalashnikov Concern and Rosoborenexport.
OFB will have a 50.5 percent stake in IRRL, while Kalashnikov will have a 42 percent stake. Russia’s state export agency Rosoborenxport will hold the remaining 7.5 percent. According to the news, this 7.62 x 39 mm Russian weapon will be produced at Korva Ordnance Factory in Uttar Pradesh, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.
The news is expected to cost around $ 1,100 per rifle, including technology transfer costs and the establishment of a manufacturing unit. According to Sputnik, INSAS rifles have been used since 1996. There are problems like jamming in it, problems in the magazine at the higher places on the Himalayan mountains.
by V Rajarathinam | Sep 4, 2020 | General
Bollywood industry veteran actor Dilip Kumar lost both his brothers. His brother Ehsan Khan died on Wednesday. Earlier on August 21, brother Aslam Khan said goodbye to the world. Both were admitted to Lilavati Hospital after being found infected with Corona, but could not be saved. The news of the demise of both brothers has not yet been reported to Dilip Kumar.
Talking to Saira Banu said, “Dilip sahib has not been told that Aslam Bhai and Ehsaan Bhai are no more. We keep them from all kinds of disturbing news. Even when Amitabh Bachchan was admitted to Nanavati Hospital after getting infected with COVID-19, we did not inform him about it. He likes Amitabh very much. ”
Apart from this, Saira Bano spoke about the current condition of Dilip Kumar. He said, “He is fine.” Keeping them in quarantine is our first priority, but recently there were some changes in their blood pressure due to dehydration. He is undergoing treatment.
Significantly, after Aslam’s death, Saira Banu had prayed for Ehsan Khan’s well being. He said, “It is very unfortunate that Aslam Bhai died of Corona virus. We really do not know how to face this sorrow. May Allah comfort their soul. Ehsan Khan’s condition is also critical. Pray for the favor brother. He is struggling in the ICU. I hope he recovers and returns home. ”
