LIVE: 8 union ministers to hold virtual rallies about farm laws in Punjab

1:40 AM

BPCL considers raising engine oil market share to 13-14% by March

1:31 AM

Singapore Air’s A380 Restaurant Tickets Sold in 30 Minutes

Singapore Airlines Ltd. said all seats on its Airbus SE A380 jetliner pop-up restaurants were reserved within 30 minutes of bookings opening Monday.

 

With flights largely grounded by the coronavirus pandemic, Singapore Airlines is trying novel ways to raise money, including using two of the superjumbos parked at Changi Airport as temporary eateries.

 

A meal in a suite costs S$642 ($474), while seats in business class are going for S$321, dropping to S$96.30 for premium economy and S$53.50 for economy. Customers can also pay with frequent-flyer miles.

11:11 PM

Indian Navy scraps tender to procure four Landing Platform Docks at Rs 20,000 crore

10:39 PM

GST Council meet ends without reaching consensus on compensating states

The stalemate over compensating states for the shortfall in GST collections continued on Monday with a meeting of the GST Council ending without reaching any consensus.

 

The panel, which is the highest decision-making body on indirect taxes, for the second time in a week failed to reach a consensus on the Centre's proposal of states borrowing against future GST collections to make up for the shortfall.

 

This was the third meeting in a row that discussed compensation shortfall without a decision.

10:39 PM

BJP delegation thanks Hardeep Singh Puri for approving allotment of land for Ravidas temple

9:02 PM

Jio becomes first telco to cross 400 million subscribers mark: Trai

Reliance Jio has become the first mobile service provider to cross 400 million customers mark in India with net addition of over 3.5 million subscribers in July, according to data released by telecom regulator Trai on Monday.

The overall telecom subscriber base increased marginally to 116.4 crore in July from 116 crore in June.

Mobile phone connections in the country increased to 114.4 crore in July from 114 crore in June, with urban and rural connections standing at 61.9 crore and 52.1 crore respectively, according to the monthly subscribers report of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

Fixed-line connections after several years increased marginally to 1,98,20,419, with private telecom operators led by Jio taking the lead.

8:35 PM

Farm laws: Eight Union ministers to hold virtual rallies in Punjab

Eight Union ministers will hold virtual rallies over eight days in Punjab from Tuesday to "address apprehensions of farmers amid widespread protests against the Centre's farm laws.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri; Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shekhawat; and Minister for Textiles Smriti Irani will be among the BJP leaders holding the rallies.

Others are Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary; Minister of state for Finance Anurag Thakur; Minister of State for Animal Husbandry Sanjeev Balyan; Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash; and Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh.

To address apprehensions of farmers, eight Union ministers will hold virtual rallies, said Subhash Sharma, Punjab BJP unit organising secretary in a statement.

8:17 PM

Instead of turban issue in WB, BJP should at farm law affected-Sikhs: Cong

Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday said when lakhs of Sikhs in Punjab are facing an uncertain future because of farm laws passed by the BJP-led central government, while the saffron party is crying foul over an alleged incident of pulling off of the turban of a Sikh by the police during a protest rally here.

Chowdhury said that the Congress has a lot of complaints against the police in West Bengal, but he does not believe that the force indulges in communalism or dividing people on the basis of caste and creed.

The BJP has alleged that the police have shown disrespect to the Sikh community by allegedly pulling off the turban of Balwinder Singh, a private security officer of a party leader, while arresting him for carrying a firearm during a protest march to the state secretariat on October 8.

The state government has said that his turban came off during a scuffle with the police.

7:49 PM

Govt buys nearly 4.3 million tonne kharif paddy at MSP in last 16 days

About 4.3 million tonne of kharif paddy worth Rs 8,033 crore was purchased at the minimum support price (MSP) from 357,000 farmers in the last 16 days, the food ministry said on Monday.

Paddy procurement commenced in Punjab and Haryana from September 26 due to early arrival of the crop, while in other states it began from October 1.

More than 80 per cent of the country's paddy crop is grown in the kharif season. The government through the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies undertakes procurement of paddy at MSP.

"Paddy procurement in the 2020-21 kharif marketing season is going on smoothly in the procuring states with purchase of about 42.55 lakh tonne of paddy up to October 11 from over 357,000 farmers with MSP value of Rs 8,032.62 crore," the ministry said in a statement.

7:10 PM

Industrial production contracts 8% in August; manufacturing, mining weigh

Industrial production declined by 8 per cent in August, mainly due to lower output of manufacturing, mining and power generation sectors, official data showed on Monday.

According to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data, manufacturing sector production registered a decline of 8.6 per cent, while the output of mining and power segments fell 9.8 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively.

The IIP had contracted by 1.4 per cent in August 2019.

" It may not be appropriate to compare the IIP in the post pandemic months with the IIP for months preceding the COVID 19 pandemic," the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said in a statement.

"With the gradual relaxation of restrictions, there has been a relative improvement in the economic activities by varying degrees as well as in data reporting," it added.