QBullet: PM Gambles Big With GST; Jaitley Hits Back at China
Here is the top news of the day making headlines in dailies across the country.
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1. GST: PM Gambles Big, at Stake is India’s Growth Trajectory, BJP’s Poll Hopes
Noting that he had carried demonetisation "on his shoulders", PM Narendra Modi asked the government's senior-most bureaucrats at a recent interaction to do all they can to make the goods and services tax (GST) a success by minutely examining its impact on their departments.
The reference to his singular role in making demonetisation a success in terms of ensuring the government did not face a popular backlash could have reflected a touch of conceit had it not been for the near unanimity in BJP and among senior ministers that "notebandi" rode on Modi's credibility.
Source: The Times of India
Also Read: Goodbye VAT and Friends, GST is Here!
2. KK Venugopal Will Replace Mukul Rohatgi as New Attorney General
Senior advocate KK Venugopal’s name has been cleared for appointment as the Attorney General for India, following the decision of Mukul Rohatgi to step down as the top law officer, as reported by news agency PTI. The decision to appoint 86-year-old Venugopal as the successor of Rohatgi was discussed before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, Portugal and Netherlands.
Quoting sources, PTI said that “Venugopal had a meeting with the Prime Minister before his departure for the three-nation tour”.
Source: The Indian Express
3. Sikkim Standoff: Arun Jaitley Hits Back at China, Says India of 2017 Different From 1962
Amid the ongoing fracas between India and China in the Sikkim sector, Union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley hit back at Beijing for asking the Indian Army to learn from “historical lessons” and asserted that the India of 2017 is different from what it used to be 55 years ago.
“If they are trying to remind us, the situation in 1962 was different and India of 2017 is different,” Jaitley said when asked about China’s warning.
In an oblique reference to the war the two countries had fought in 1962, China had on Thursday warned its neighbour that it should learn from “historical lessons” and asked India to withdraw its troops from the Donglong (called Doko La by India and Doklam by Bhutan) area as a prerequisite for “meaningful dialogue” to resolve the boundary issue.
Source: The Indian Express
4. Court Allows Police to Obtain Mulayam Singh’s Voice Samples, After IPS Officer Claims SP Supremo Threatened Him
A local court has granted permission to the Lucknow Police to obtain the voice sample of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav to conduct its forensic examination in connection with the investigation of a case of criminal intimidation registered against him by IPS officer Amitabh Thakur.
Hazratganj Circle Officer Avanish Kumar Mishra, who is investigating the case, said police had filed an application in the court of Lucknow chief judicial magistrate seeking permission for obtaining a voice sample. He said he had received the court order on Thursday.
Source: The Indian Express
5. Close Shave For Home Secy on BSF Plane
Home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and passengers of an IndiGo flight had a narrow escape on Friday when the BSF aircraft the bureaucrat was flying in from Srinagar to Delhi and the commercial flight operating on Delhi-Srinagar sector came dangerously close. The two planes had to take last-minute evasive action to avert mid-air collision. The close call happened between Banihal and Pathankot around noon.
While sources said the 180-seater IndiGo aircraft was almost full, the airline did not give the number of passengers on board.
Source: The Times of India
6. I Will Return to Gorakhpur After Serving People of UP: Yogi Adityanath
Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday he was not a full-time politician and would return to Gorakhpur after serving people.
Adityanath was speaking at a programme organised by a private news channel.
He said he was happy serving people of the country’s largest state. On a question from where he would contest the assembly election, Adityanath said, Gorakhpur was his land of ‘work and worship’ but he would contest from anywhere the party wanted him to do so.
Source: Hindustan Times
7. Jharkhand Lynching Probe Looks at Gau Rakshaks, Bajrang Dal
On a day when Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das condemned the two attacks in the state this week over the issue of cow protection, family members of the 45-year-old man who died after one of those assaults in Ramgarh Thursday alleged that some of the attackers were linked to a Gau Raksha Samiti and the Bajrang Dal.
On Friday, police arrested one man in connection with the lynching of Alimuddin Ansari, but did not reveal his identity. However, the victim’s family members have named 12 persons in their police complaint, and claimed that some were linked to the local cow protection group and the Hindutva outfit.
Source: The Indian Express
8. Jammu and Kashmir to Switch to GST by 6 July: State Finance Minister
Jammu and Kashmir will introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) by the first week of July, the state finance minister Haseeb A Drabu said in Parliament on the sidelines of the event to launch India’s biggest indirect taxes reform.
The state assembly will meet on 4 July and take it up after which the cabinet is expected to approve it on 5 July. “We are hoping to send it for President’s approval the next day,” Drabu told Hindustan Times.
Source: Hindustan Times
9. Central Railway Train Services Cancelled
Fifteen train services were cancelled and 25 partially cancelled on the Central Railway (CR) after a wheel of the engine of train no 12618, Nizamuddin-Ernakulam Mangala Express, derailed while entering Kalyan station at 2:18 pm on Friday.
No casualty or injury was reported.
Source: The Indian Express
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