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Vice President’s Secretariat

The Vice President of India Shri M Venkaiah Naidu has said that
untouchability is the real enemy of humanity and helping the
poor is real patriotism.
He addressed the All India Telugu Association event in Chennai
today commemorating 258th birth anniversary of Veerapandiya
Kattabomman & 250th Jayanti of Sadhguru Thyāgarāja.
The Vice President said that Veerapandiya Kattabomman, one
of the earliest freedom fighters, had courageously fought against
the British in the 18th century.
His saga of valiant resistance and indomitable courage continues to
inspire all of us even today.
Kattabomman exemplifies the qualities of courage and conviction, he said.
India’s great saint-composer, Thyāgarāja, a pioneer of Carnatic music,
has provided inspiration to thousands of musicians over the last century.
He embodies the ennobling and enthralling range of Indian music.
Music, literature and poetry give solace, he said.
The Vice President said that India has always celebrated diversity and
plurality.
It has welcomed co-existence of diverse languages and religions.
It has fostered unity in diversity.
It has facilitated individual identity but has promoted a culture of
mutual respect.
We have been particularly sensitive to the linguistic and cultural needs
of minority groups, he said.
Major impediments like poverty, illiteracy, gender divide and
discrimination, urban-rural divide, corruption, casteism and
communalism have to be addressed, he said.

Ministry of Defence

Agni-5
Long Range Surface-to-Surface Ballistic Missile
The three-stage solid propellant Agni-5 missile has a strike range of over
5,000 kilometres and can carry a nuclear warhead of more than one tonne.
It was successfully flight tested for its full range today at 0953 hrs from Dr
Abdul Kalam Island.
All the five missions have been successful.
This successful test of Agni-5 reaffirms the country’s indigenous missile
capabilities and further strengthens our credible deterrence.
Hats off to DRDO and industries who contributed to the manufacture of
indigenous technologies that went into the making of the missile.

Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry

Smriti Irani has said that in the world of celluloid, some create movies
out of love for creativity, while others resort to disruption as a marketing
stunt.
She said this during her interaction in the “Thinkedu” Conclave in
Chennai.
The Conclave was organized by a English daily on the topic “Does our
education system encourage creativity”.
Ms Irani said it is not essential that creativity should be at loggerheads with
the society.
She also stressed that creative world has to respect counter-views

Election Commission of India

The Election Commission today announced the schedule for the Assembly
elections in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner AK
Joti said, in Tripura, the polling will take place on the 18th of next month,
while Meghalaya and Nagaland will go to polls on 27th February. The counting
of votes for all the three states will be held on 3rd March.
Gazette notification for the poll in Tripura will be issued on the 24th of this
month. For polls in Meghalaya and Nagaland, the notification will be issued on
31st January.
Mr Joti said, EVMs with VVPATs will be used during the polling in the three
states.

India-Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today met top business
leaders and addressed the India-Israel Business Summit in Mumbai.
Israeli Prime Minister said, the future belongs to those who innovate and
therefore it is crucial that business leaders of both countries meet.
Mr Netanyahu laid wreath at the memorial of the 26/11 terror attack
victims at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace Hotel this afternoon.
He termed India-Israel’s partnership as the one made in heaven and
one which rests on shared values of love for humanity, democracy
and freedom.
Fin Min
Goods and Services Tax Council has reduced the tax rate on 29 goods
and 53 categories of services by bringing them in lower category.
The new rates will be effective from 25th of this month.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, it was also discussed to simplify the
return filing process by merging all three types of GST returns into a
single return.
Mr. Nandan Nilekani gave a detailed presentation on simplification of
return filing process.
He said, the Council veered around to the idea of registered entities
continuing to file the return in GSTR 3B Form while moving to a system
where supplier invoice captures details of the transaction.
The Finance Minister said, the new process will be finalised in the next
meeting of the GST Council after a written formulation is circulated to
the states.
Mr Jaitley said, the Council also reaffirmed the implementation of e-way
bill system from 1st of next month.
On a question about inclusion of petroleum products in the GST, the
Minister said the matter will be taken up in the next meeting of the
council.

Fact

Oil import bill has ballooned by over a third to $10.34 billion in
December alone, and we do need proper price signals to proactively
deter oil consumption and dampen runaway demand.
India is now the world’s third-largest oil consumer.
Consumers who feel the pinch of dearer oil should use public transport
more often.
Attempting to bring down oil prices by fiat makes no sense.
Retail prices of petroleum products have risen sharply of late, given the
recent flare-up in global oil prices.
The government must not, in tandem, tamely slash taxes on petrol and
diesel.
Neither subsidies are necessary to win political points.
In parallel, we need to better allocate resources for public transport,
and aim to traverse to the electric mode sooner rather than later.
Clamping down on rampant power theft would vastly improve the
financial health of power utilities, stabilize power supply and curtail
diesel consumption for power generators.
The way forward is to tap the potential for efficiency increase to lower
consumer prices, by opening up the retail market for oil.
The retail oil market needs to be properly integrated with the domestic
retail industry.
It is par for the course in the mature markets.
Abroad, independent oil retailers account for about half the retail
off take and a similar market design in India would bring prices down, via
greater competition, and lower margins and markups.