Author: Mike Harrison

The Council meeting is expected to be a closed-door discussion in order to allow for a “frank discussion” The UN Security Council on Tuesday will discuss the situation in Myanmar, where the military staged a coup after detaining top political figures, including de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and look at a “range of measures” with an idea of respecting the people’s will expressed in the November general election. Myanmar’s military on Monday staged a coup and detained Suu Kyi and other top members of her governing party. The announcement on military-controlled Myawaddy TV came after an earlier declaration…

On February 1, the rupee had settled at 73.02 against the American currency. The rupee opened on a flat note and edged higher by a marginal 1 paisa at 73.01 against the U.S. dollar in opening trade on February 2, as forex market participants cautiously await the RBI policy outcome after the Union Budget.Analysts said that traders remained cautious ahead of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy outcome to be announced on Friday.At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.02 against the U.S. dollar and inched higher to 73.01 against the greenback, registering a rise of…

HDFC Bank on Tuesday said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed an external IT firm for carrying out a special audit of its IT infrastructure in the aftermath of repeated service outages at the country’s largest private sector lender over the past two years. “RBI has appointed an external professional IT firm for carrying out a special audit of the entire IT infrastructure of the bank under Section 30 (1-B) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949…, at the cost of the Bank under Section 30 (1-C) of the Act. The bank shall accordingly extend its cooperation to the…

From February 1, frontline workers of government departments other than health, such as police, local administration and revenue, as well as mediapersons, have been receiving the COVID-19 vaccines in the country.The Health Ministry had said all States and Union Territories would initiate simultaneous vaccination of frontline and healthcare workers against COVID-19.You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.Here are the latest updates: India reports 8,635 new cases, lowest in eight monthsIndia registered 8,635 new coronavirus infections in a day, the lowest in eight…

The goal is for approval of COVID relief by March, when extra unemployment assistance and other pandemic aid expires. U.S. President Joe Biden met late on Monday with a group of Republican senators who have proposed a slimmed down $618 billion coronavirus aid package — a fraction of the $1.9 trillion he is seeking — as congressional Democrats vowed to push ahead with or without GOP support.Mr. Biden greeted the lawmakers in the Oval Office, joking that he felt like he was “back in the Senate” as they started the private session. He and Vice President Kamala Harris were hearing…

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday said the Union Budget, which was focused on five election-bound States, did not contain any concrete measures to address the issue of unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “The budget is anti-poor, anti-farmer and disappointing. It lacks direction,” he said.“The entire focus of the budget is on the States of West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, which are going to polls. It seems to be more a five electoral States’ budget rather than the Union Budget,” Mr. Gehlot said.He said middle class taxpayers had hoped that the Narendra Modi government would…

The government has accepted the Fifteenth Finance Commission’s recommendation to maintain the States’ share in the divisible pool of taxes to 41% for the five-year period starting 2021-22, and given an ‘in-principle’ nod to create a separate non-lapsable fund for defence and internal security modernisation. States have been granted additional borrowing room of upto 4% of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for 2021-22, with an additional 0.5% limit for those undertaking critical power sector reforms. Terming the government’s acceptance of the 41% vertical share for States recommended by the Commission as a sign of its commitment to fiscal federalism, Finance…

This mission would be implemented over five years with an expenditure of ₹2.87 lakh crore. The government would launch a mission to provide universal water supply to areas under all the 4,378 urban local bodies and the next phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission focusing on management of sludge, waste water and construction and demolition waste in cities, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her Budget speech.“The World Health Organisation has repeatedly stressed the importance of clean water, sanitation, and clean environment, as a prerequisite to achieving universal health. The Jal Jeevan Mission [Urban], will be launched. It aims at…

A BCI release said, the CJI said the judges themselves were willing to resume physical hearing of cases Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde on Monday told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, office-bearers of the Bar Council of India (BCI) and various lawyers’ bodies that physical hearings in the Supreme Court might start by the first week of March.In a meeting, a BCI release said, the CJI said the judges themselves were willing to resume physical hearing of cases, but there were medical and technical issues involved.An agitation was staged by senior advocate Vikas Singh and other lawyers for complete…

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the Union Budget a levy of 10% customs duty on cotton and an increase in the customs duty on raw silk and silk yarn from 10% to 15% to benefit farmers.Also, in a move to rationalise duties on raw material inputs for man-made textiles, the Budget proposed to bring nylon chain on a par with polyester and other man-made fibres by reducing the basic customs duty on caprolactam, nylon chips, nylon fibre and yarn to 5%.The Minister further announced that in addition to the Production Linked Incentive Scheme, Mega Investment Textile Parks would be…