The Weekly Recap: 7 Major News Stories

Image : NARI Web Portal

5-year Revival Window to Air India

With an impending debt of over 48,800 Crores (as of March 2017), Air India gets a 5-year window to revive. A parliamentary panel has recommended this move, in addition to writing off the debt. It also observes that AI has “risen to the occasion” during calamities, social, or political unrest in India or abroad. NITI Aayog had highlighted that it is ‘unviable’ to provide financial support to Air India, a non-priority company with loans worth INR 51,890 crores.

Launch of Online Cancer-Detection Course & NARI Web Portal

The course has been designed by Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. It features 14 hours of e-learning, starting in April 2018. The Union Health Ministry launched the course aimed at non-cancer specialists, especially in villages and smaller cities.

On 2nd January, Women and Child Development Minister (Maneka Gandhi) launched the NARI Web Portal It provides information on all central and state government schemes for women. Over 350 schemes are divided into 7 different categories like education, employment, violence, etc.

Transparency in Political Funding through Electoral Bonds

Government is further open to suggestions for further cleansing political funding by way of electoral bonds mechanism. Presently, conventional means of funding are through anonymous sources, by taking donations or expenditures in cash.

Available in multiples of INR 1,000/10,000/1,00,000/1,00,00,000, these bearer instruments would not carry the donor’s name. The electoral bonds can be bought from specified branches of the State Bank of India.

‘True Ownership’ of 64 firms under scanner

A probe has been ordered into true ownership of 68 companies which deposited and withdrew large sums of money during demonetization. In a previous move, more than two lakh companies were de-registered for not filing returns.

Get Paid to use Electricity in Germany

Overproduction load on power grids and minimal storage has led to electricity bills going below zero. Now consumers in Germany are being paid to consume electricity! Forecasts for colder weather caused prices to rise sharply, but prices for nearby delivery fell. This occurs frequently for renewable energy produced by sun and wind, that depend on weather.

Digital Transactions Cross the 1 Billion Mark

Provisional data released by the RBI shows a monthly rise of 6.05% in digital transactions, reaching 1.06 billion in December 2017. Value amounted to INR 125 trillion, with the highest being in March 2017 – almost 150 trillion. Over 9 million transactions took place on the BHIM app, which has been downloaded more than 22 million times (Android = 21.6 m and iOS = 1.03 m).

Tackling Tax Evasion under GST Regime through E-way Bill

E-way bill is an electronic way bill for movement of goods which can be generated on the GSTN (common portal). From 1 February, an e-way bill will have to be generated for all movement of goods —within or outside a state—amounting to more than INR 50,000 by prior online registration of the consignment.

While all states will implement the e-way bill system for inter-state movement of goods from 1 February, taxpayers have to file the GSTR-1 form relating to supplies for the initial few months by 10 January.