Road out of troubled waters The Finance Commission has proposed a targeted push to accelerate and make India’s urban growth more orderly, focusing on strengthening mid-sized cities and bringing rapidly urbanising fringes of cities into municipal corporations.In its recommendations on urban local body (ULB) grants, the 16th Finance Commission has outlined two key priorities: integrating…
Govt on Sunday unveiled a series of announcements to boost inland waterways and increase the share of cargo transport by coastal shipping, aiming to reduce logistics costs, improve connectivity and support sustainable transport solutions. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said govt will operationalise 20 inland waterways, including National Waterway-5 (Mahanadi), that will connect mineral-rich Talcher and…
Khasi tribal farmers clean harvested paddy in a field along the Assam Meghalaya border, on the outskirts of Guwahati As part of a broad roadmap to achieve one of its duties (kartavya), govt on Sunday emphasised “targeted efforts” to increase farmers’ income through “productivity enhancement and entrepreneurship”, using cutting-edge technology, including multilingual AI tools, and…
Amid controversy over the Father of the Nation’s name being dropped from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the FM on Sunday announced the launch of Mahatma Gandhi Gram Swaraj scheme to strengthen khadi, handloom and handicrafts.“This will help in global market linkage and branding. It will streamline and support training, skilling, quality of process…
Employability In Focus, More Pulp For Orange Eco Signalling a shift in employment strategy, the Budget, instead of announcing how many jobs will be created, focuses on building conditions for sustainable work, with skilling, services and sector-led ecosystems emerging as core pillars. A high-powered education-employment-enterprise standing committee will map skill gaps, identify high-employment service sub-sectors…
Of 30 Index Stocks, 26 Close In Red At a time when global markets are witnessing high volatility due to geopolitical uncertainties, the hike in securities transaction tax (STT) on derivatives trades hit investor sentiment on Dalal Street on the Budget day. This in turn led to a sharp sell-off that pulled the sensex down…
After the new excise duty regime kicked in, cigarette prices have gone up, with a pack of 10 sticks now costing at least Rs 22–25 more than before.This follows the government’s decision to raise taxes on cigarettes for the first time in nearly seven years, bringing India’s tobacco taxation closer to global public health norms….
Gold, silver prices crash (AI image) Gold, silver prices continue to decline! Gold and silver prices have been crashing in the last two trading sessions, plunging drastically from record highs, raising questions about whether the bull run is over and if the volatility is here to stay.Silver prices have dropped by 26,273 per kg, or…
The government has raised the duty-free allowance for passengers bringing imported goods into India to Rs 75,000 from the earlier Rs 50,000 under the newly notified Baggage Rules, 2026, PTI reported.Under the new rules notified on Sunday, a resident or a tourist of Indian origin arriving in India other than by land will be allowed…
Buying property from an NRI? Worried about obtaining TAN? Not anymore. To relax the compliance burden, the Budget has proposed that resident individuals and HUFs need not have a Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number (TAN) if they are purchasing a property from a non-resident Indian (NRI). The amendment will take effect from Oct 1,…