LIVE: Students want NEET, JEE exams to be held, says Education Minister

'We have received mails from students and parents who are in favour of holding exams', said the minister. Stay tuned news LIVE updates

3:03 AM

GST Council meet: States accuse Centre of 'arm-twisting' them to borrow

Following a five-hour-long GST Council meeting on Thursday, states accused the Centre of ‘arm-twisting’ them to borrow, terming it a ‘betrayal of federalism’.

 

Despite being given seven days to examine the two options offered by the Centre, they turned those down minutes after the meeting concluded. Most states pressed for borrowing by the Centre to compensate them for the shortfall in collections. Read more

3:01 AM

PM Narendra Modi urges industry to play a larger role in defence

In an unscheduled appearance at a Ministry of Defence (MoD) webinar that even caught Defence Minister Rajnath Singh by surprise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered an 18-minute speech on Thursday, talking up the government’s “self reliant India” policy in defence and urging private industry to play a larger role.

 

“For many years, India has been the world’s biggest importer of defence equipment,” said Modi, blaming it on the failure of earlier governments. This, he said, was changing, repeatedly invoking the confidence of a “New India”. Read more

12:57 AM

Tata Sons makes provision of Rs 16,439 cr for telecom biz: Annual report

Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, has made provisions of Rs 16,439 crore for its now closed telecom business, according to the annual report of the company for the fiscal ending March 2020. Read more

12:56 AM

Govt's portal with data on land banks launched, but experts wary

The Union government’s land portal for attracting investors comes at a time when states have adopted land pooling, readjustment and myriad compensation models to acquire the increasingly scarce resource. The latest exercise by the Delhi government, which wants e-commerce, retailers and smaller manufacturing units to invest in the city, is one such example. Read more

12:53 AM

Walmart may join Microsoft in bid for video app TikTok

Walmart said Thursday it may join Microsoft to buy the US business of TikTok, the popular Chinese-owned video app that has come under fire from the Trump administration.
 

Microsoft and TikTok declined to comment.
 

TikTok, through its fun, goofy videos, has gained hundreds of millions of users globally. But the White House is pushing TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance to sell its US business if it wants to keep operating in the country, citing security risks.
 

Walmart said in a statement that a deal with Microsoft and TikTok could help it expand its advertising business and reach more shoppers.
 

The Trump administration is forcing a sale of TikTok's US operations because of its Chinese ownership and has threatened to ban the app, which TikTok says has 100 million US users.

11:23 PM

Cong appoints Gaurav Gogoi as deputy leader, Ravneet Bittu as whip in Lok Sabha

Congress president Sonia Gandhi appointed Gaurav Gogoi as the party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha and Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu as its whip in the Lower House of Parliament on Thursday.
 

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of the opposition party in the Lok Sabha, and K Suresh, its chief whip in the Lower House, confirmed the development.
 

The appointments came ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which is likely to commence from September 14. It is seen as a move by the Congress to strengthen its team of floor leaders in the Lower House, party leaders said.
 

The opposition party did not have a deputy leader in the Lok Sabha till now.
 

11:22 PM

Mumbai: QR code reader installed at CSMT local terminus, 14 stations

The Central Railway (CR) on Thursday introduced a QR code reader at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and 14 suburban railway stations here.

It also increased two suburban services on its Harbour line which connects the city with Navi Mumbai.
 

Shalabh Goel, divisional railway manager of CR's Mumbai division, said scanners have been installed at CSMT and other stations to check QR code based e-passes issued to essential and emergency services staff, who are allowed to travel by train during lockdown.
 

So far 180,000 out of 340,000 essential and emergency services staff have been issued QR code-based cards and the remaining staff will be issued the cards soon, he said.
 

The CR has planned to install QR code based automatic gates at CSMT's long distance terminus within 2-3 months, on "pilot basis", he said.
 

"By scanning the QR code printed on tickets or code received on mobiles, the passengers can enter through the flap gates at the station," he said.
 

To reduce overcrowding on suburban locals during peak hours, the CR has introduced two suburban services -- one each in up and down directions -- on harbour line from Thursday, he said.
 

11:12 PM

Entire basket of fruits can't be given to mighty in guise of forming homogeneous class: SC

“The entire basket of fruits cannot be given to mighty at the cost of others under the guise of forming a homogeneous class,” the Supreme Court on Thursday observed while favouring re-look of its 2004 verdict that had held that states do not have power to further classify Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to grant quota in jobs and admissions.
 

“In case benefit which is meant for the emancipation of all the castes, included in the list of Scheduled Castes, is permitted to be usurped by few castes those who are adequately represented, have advanced and belonged to the creamy layer, then it would tantamount to creating inequality whereas in case of hunger every person is required to be fed and provided bread.  "The entire basket of fruits cannot be given to mighty at the cost of others under the guise of forming a homogeneous class,” a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said.
 

It said that right to quality under the constitution would be defeated if the persons, who have come up among SCs and STs after enjoying the fruits of the quota, are not excluded and the poorest among them are not promoted.
 

11:11 PM

Messi's departure jeopardizes Barcelona's restructuring plan

Lionel Messi's surprise decision to leave Barcelona has dealt a blow to the club's restructuring project even before it began.
 

Shortly after the humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Barcelona said it wanted to make “profound changes to the first team.” Barcelona was basing its revamp on Messi, hoping he would help the team rebuild with new players and a new coach. But the type of changes the team began implementing may have actually turned him away.
 

Messi hasn't been happy with club directors all season, and he apparently also didn't like when incoming coach Ronald Koeman began telling some key players they were not in his plans.
 

What might have upset him the most was the decision to get rid of Luis Suárez, Messi's longtime teammate and friend. Messi's and Suárez's families are close and often spend vacation time together. This year, they were seen on a boat off the coast of Ibiza enjoying the Balearic Islands.
 

Other players reportedly not wanted by Koeman include Arturo Vidal, Ivan Rakitic and Samuel Umtiti. Spanish media said the coach intended to keep Gerard Piqué and Sergio Busquets, but there were still doubts about the future of other players who had been with Messi for a long time.

Lionel Messi. Photo: Barcelona twitter handle

11:09 PM

Ghulam Nabi Azad on what Congress should have done in the past, what they should do now

11:08 PM

Earthquake measuring 3.4 strikes Tezpur, Assam

11:06 PM

Police records statement of woman who accused Uttarakhand BJP MLA of sexual harassment

11:04 PM

Congress forms a group of 10 MPs in Parliament

10:57 PM

Farmer outfit stages protest over milk procurement prices

A farmer organisation led by former Lok Sabha MP Raju Shetti staged a protest near here on Thursday in support of its various demands, including a hike in milk procurement prices.
 

Members of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana staged the protest in Baramati, the home turf of NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
 

Shetti said his organisation has, among other things, has demanded that the Maharashtra government withdraw its decision to purchase 10 lakh litres of milk every day from dairy farmers.
 

"We are of the opinion that there is no use the state procuring 1 million litres of milk everyday. Instead, the government can use the same money to credit Rs 5 per litre into the bank accounts of milk producers," he said.
 

He said to protest against the government's decision, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana members will pour milk on ministers.
 

Alleging government funds are not reaching real milk producers, Shetti appealed to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to "come out of his bungalow" and see the situation for himself.
 

9:53 PM

SBI chief hopes for lesser number of debt recast requests from corporates

State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar on Thursday said he hopes for lessser number of requests for one-time restructuring of loans from corporates.
 

Earlier this month, RBI allowed one-time restructuring of both corporate and retail loans that are being affected by the Covid-19 related stress.
 

"Currently, for corporates, I can say that because of a lot of deleveraging and resolution, clean up has already happened and a lot of accounts got dealt with under the existing June 7 framework of RBI. As of now, there are not many requests (restructuring) and I hope that there are not many requests coming forward," Kumar said.
 

Speaking at the 'Unlock BFSI 2.0' event organised by Business Standard newspaper, he said there will be some requests for restructuring from the personal loan segment and "we are readying ourselves for dealing with the volumes as far as the P-segment (personal loan segment) is concerned".
 

Restructuring benefit can be availed by those whose account was standard on March 1 and defaults should not be over 30 days.
 

A committee headed by K V Kamath has been set up to give recommendations on various parameters to be factored into each resolution plan for corporate loans. The five-member panel's recommendations will be out by September 6.

Read more stories from the 'Unlock BFSI 2.0' here

Read what SBI's Rajnish Kumar and HDFC's Aditya Puri said on their careers

 

9:46 PM

Students wants JEE, NEET to be conducted; over 1.7 million have downloaded admit cards: Pokhriyal

Over 1.7 million candidates have already downloaded their admit cards for JEE and NEET, and this shows that the students want the exams to be conducted at any cost, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal "Nishank" said on Thursday.
 

His comments came amid a growing chorus for postponement of the medical and engineering entrance exams in view of a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country.
 

"National Testing Agency (NTA) officials told me that over seven lakh candidates have downloaded the JEE-Main admit cards while over 1 million aspirants have downloaded the NEET admit cards. This shows that the students want the exams be held at any cost," Pokhriyal said.
 

"We have received mails from students and parents who are in favour of holding the exams, as they have been preparing for the exams for at least two to three years. The Supreme Court too opined that a full academic year cannot be wasted. After two deferments, the exam dates have been finalised," he added.
 

While the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is scheduled to be held on September 13, engineering entrance exam JEE-Main has been planned from September 1-6. Around 858,000 candidates have registered for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)-Main and 15.97 lakh have registered for the NEET.
 

9:44 PM

IDFC reports net loss of Rs 26.5 cr in Q1

IDFC Ltd on Thursday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 26.46 crore for the quarter ended June 2020.
 

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 5.18 crore during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
 

However sequentially, the loss narrowed compared to Rs 242.92 crore net loss reported in the preceding quarter ended March 2020.
 

Total income (consolidated) fell to Rs 103.99 crore during April-June period, as against Rs 133.04 crore in the same quarter of 2019-20, it said in a regulatory filing.
 

IDFC First Bank Limited in June 2020 raised equity capital by way of issue of shares on preferential basis amounting to Rs 2,000 crore to augment its capital base.
 

9:43 PM

Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar asks for white paper on Bengal govt's expenditure on various events

9:01 PM

Punjab to collectively move apex court for NEET, JEE exams deferment

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has asked his Advocate General Atul Nanda to coordinate with his counterparts in opposition-ruled states for filing a collective review petition in the Supreme Court, seeking a deferment of the NEET and JEE exams being conducted amid the Covid-19 pandemic. A directive on this was issued on Wednesday by Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi in a meeting with Chief Ministers of seven opposition-ruled states.

 

There was no time to take up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the issue of deferment of exams, said Amarinder Singh in response to a suggestion to this effect. "Let us all get together to move the Supreme Court for postponement of the exams, which are threatening the lives of lakhs of students," he said.

With exams being held online around the world, the Chief Minister suggested that the JEE and NEET and other professional exams like medical and law could also be held online and there was no need to put the students at risk. READ MORE...

8:52 PM

Conducting JEE Main, NEET crucial for admission to premier institutes: IIT Kharagpur director

Amid concerns over holding JEE and NEET exams in September despite the pandemic situation, IIT Kharagpur Director Virendra Kumar Tewari has said conducting these exams is crucial since admissions to premier institutes like IITs and top medical colleges will not be possible otherwise.

 

Urging students to put their faith in the organising bodies who have been working tirelessly to offer a safe environment to hold the exams in the current situation, Tewari said in a Facebook post on Wednesday, "Necessary facilities have been arranged for the students to ensure social distancing, hygiene protocols and even facilitation for probable asymptomatic cases."

 

Mentioning that he was aware of the apprehensions of aspiring students, he said, "I urge the aspirants to take it up as a challenge and show their mettle and sincerity to the world....to take it as an opportunity to adapt to the new normal and strive for a brighter future."

8:41 PM

Gujarat govt seeks Rs 12,000-crore GST compensation from Centre

The Gujarat government on Thursday said the state is supposed to get a compensation of Rs 12,000 crore from the Centre under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act. Though the state is in dire need of "financial assistance" in the form of GST compensation, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said the Centre's hands are also tied due to its dwindling cess revenue, news agency PTI reported.

 

Patel, who holds the finance portfolio, took part in the crucial GST Council meet via video conference on Thursday.

 

"The main agenda of this meeting, attended by finance ministers of all states, was to find out a way to compensate states for the revenue shortfall due to coronavirus. "Gujarat is supposed to get Rs 12,000 crore towards GST compensation," Patel said in a statement.

8:35 PM

We are not happy with outcome: Congress after GST Council meeting

The Congress Thursday said it was "dissatisfied" with the outcome of the GST Council meeting and accused the Centre of adopting a majoritarian approach and thrusting "solutions" on states, according to a PTI report. The finance ministers of Congress-ruled states are not happy with the outcome of GST Council meeting as decisions were thrust upon them by the Centre, Punjab's FM Manpreet Badal said at a virtual press conference after the GST Council meeting.

 

"We are not happy at the outcome. But, we have no choice," he said.

 

Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, who represented the Union Territory at the meeting as he also holds the finance portfolio, said it is unfortunate the Centre was not helping the revenue-starved states by honouring its commitment to pay them GST compensation at 14 per cent.

8:26 PM

IPL Sponsors: RR ropes in TV9 Network, RCB gets Max Insurance on board

Rajasthan Royals has roped in TV9 Bharatvarsh as their principal partner for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League, to be held in UAE from September 19, according to a PTI report. The channel replaces EXPO 2020 Dubai as Rajasthan Royals' front of jersey brand after the much awaited mega-event was postponed to 2021 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Meanwhile, the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore will have Max Life Insurance as their official life insurance partner and also apparel partners for upcoming edition.

8:13 PM

Don't privatise Nagarnar steel plant, Baghel writes to PM Narendra Modi

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has urged the Centre not to privatize a steel plant which the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) is seting up in Bastar district.

 

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Baghel said that as per media reports, the Centre is planning to hand over the Nagarnar steel plant, being constructed at a cost of over Rs 20,000 crore, to private firms.

 

"The state was very enthusiastic that the commissioning of the steel plant in Bastar will not only ensure utilization of minerals but also provide thousands of direct and indirect employment opportunities in the area," he said in the letter.

8:06 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: 14,718 new Covid-19 positive cases in Maharashtra today

7:59 PM

With collaborative, cooperative efforts we will achieve 'Make for World' in defence sector: Rajnath Singh

With collaborative and cooperation efforts India will achieve not just 'Make in India' but also 'Make for World' in the defence sector, said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday.

 

Singh along with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and others took part in the Defence Industry Outreach Webinar organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Defence Ministry, cnews agency ANI reported.

 

"I am confident that through our collaborative and cooperative efforts, we will not only achieve 'Make in India' but also 'Make for World'... We want to become self-reliant to contribute to the world in a better way. In this direction, some bold policy reforms have been taken like the ban on import of 101 defence items," Singh said.

7:42 PM

States lost 60-70% tax revenue in GST regime: Telangana Finance Minister

States have lost 60-70 per cent of their tax revenues after joining the GST regime while the Centres loss was pegged at 31 per cent only, Telangana Finance Minister Harish Rao who participated in the GST Council meeting said on Thursday.

 

According to an official release, Telangana demanded that the Group of Ministers headed by the Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on the Integrated GST to finalise the modalities and release Telanganas due share of Rs 2700 crore towards IGST.

 

"All the states have joined the GST as the Centre had assured them that joining the GST will not cause any loss to the revenue of the states. The responsibility for paying GST compensation lies entirely with the Central government, news agency PTI reported.

7:37 PM

LIVE: Students want NEET, JEE exams to be held, says Education Minister

Over 1.7 million candidates have already downloaded their admit cards for JEE and NEET, and this shows that the students want the exams to be conducted at any cost, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' said on Thursday. The minister's comments come against the backdrop of a growing chorus for postponement of the medical and engineering entrance exams in view of spike in COVID-19 cases, according to a PTI report.

 

"National Testing Agency (NTA) officials told me that over 7 lakh candidates have downloaded JEE-Main admit cards while over 10 lakh aspirants have downloaded NEET admit cards. This shows that students want the exams be held at any cost," Pokhriyal said.

 

"We have received mails from students and parents who are in favour of holding exams as they have been preparing for the exams from at least two three years," he added.

7:28 PM

FM Nirmala Sitharaman hits out at opposition for politicising GST compensation issue

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday hit back at the opposition for "unnecessarily trying to politicise" the GST compensation issue when their previous government was to be blamed for "building an environment of mistrust" between the Centre and states.

 

Reacting to charges that several states, particularly those ruled by the opposition, were blaming the Centre on going back on its commitment to pay GST compensation to states, she contended that it was the former government, which did not keep its promise on Central Sales Tax (CST) compensation issue that created an atmosphere of mistrust. This mistrust, she said, initially even affected GST implementation.

 

"But I am grateful to states that there was no attempt to politicise the compensation issue at the Council's meeting today. There were just worries about the current situation and an anxiety to find a solution to the compensation problem," Sitharaman said, after coming out from five-hour-long meeting of the GST Council on the sole issue of GST compensation, according to an IANS report.

7:26 PM

Complete disengagement needs troops redeployment by India, China: MEA