Morning Brief: Law To Regulate NGOs In A Month; Retail Inflation At Record Low; China Cutting Troop Strength

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.

New Law To Regulate NGOs In Four Weeks: The Supreme Court on Wednesday was informed about the Union government’s plan to bring in a legislation to give more powers to authorities for regulating more than 32 lakh non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country. Additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta informed a bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar that a final decision will be taken in four weeks. Centre has already framed guidelines to tighten the noose around NGOs. Under the new guidelines, NITI Aayog has been appointed as the nodal agency for the purpose of registration and accreditation of NGOs seeking funding from the Centre.

Retail Inflation At Record Low: Official data showed on Wednesday that India's annual retail inflation eased to a record low of 1.54 per cent during June, while the country's factory output growth also slowed to 1.7 per cent in May. The June retail inflation rate fell when compared with May, when it prevailed at a higher rate of 2.18 per cent. According to data released by the Central Statistics Office on Consumer Price Index, retail inflation was dragged lower by a sharp fall in prices of food items like pulses, vegetables and other perishables. The current inflation rate is the lowest since the series began in 2012.

Five-Year Deadline For Pending Projects: For completing all pending projects, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a five-year deadline. On Wednesday, he told secretaries at the Centre and chief secretaries in states that the ‘yesteryears' speed of implementation won't be acceptable. He was speaking while chairing the Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI), a monthly web-based interaction with bureaucrats. “The PM urged all chief secretaries to work expeditiously towards ensuring that all traders register under the GST regime, and this task is completed before 15 August," the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Demonetised Currency Still Being Counted, Says Urjit Patel: The Reserve Bank of India is still not in a position to provide the exact amount of demonetised currency returned to the central bank, Governor Urjit Patel told a parliamentary standing committee on Wednesday. Counting "is still on" and the information will be provided "at the earliest," Patel said. He added that the total money in circulation now is Rs 15.4 lakh crore against Rs 17.7 lakh crore in November last year when Prime Minister Narendra banned high value notes in an attempt to battle black money and corruption.

More Powers To Army Vice-Chief To Procure Arms: The Union government has given the Vice-Chief of Army Staff full financial powers for emergency procurement of critical spares and ammunition in specified areas to address critical shortages in defence preparedness. Emergency financial power would accelerate the procurement process and it was likely to be extended to the Navy and Air Force very soon. The move is significant as it comes at a time when the Army is on a high operational alert all along the line of actual control with China, while the line of control with Pakistan also remains volatile with daily cross-border firing exchanges and casualties on both sides.

Two Indian Army Jawans Martyred: Two Indian Army jawans were killed after Pakistan military resorted to unprovoked firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir's Kupwara district on Wednesday. The martyred soldiers, Lance Naik Ranjit Singh and Rifleman Satish Bhagat, hailed from Jammu. The incident comes a day after security forces cornered three Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists in central Kashmir's Budgam district. All three terrorists were killed on Wednesday in a long drawn out gunfight with security personnel.

High-Speed Rail Training Centre On Way: Gandhinagar in Gujarat will host India’s first high-speed rail training centre. It will be built over railway land measuring 4,400 metres at an estimated cost of Rs 600 crore. “The centre will provide for advanced training modules on cutting edge technologies. The construction will begin shortly after the foundation-laying ceremony is held in September,” said National High Speed Rail Corporation managing director Achal Khare. While India’s first bullet train is proposed to hit the track in 2023, the training centre is supposed to start operating by 2020.

China Cutting Troop Strength: China, which as the world’s biggest army, is going to downsize its military strength and bring it under a million. China will reduce at least three lakh troopers from its strength. According to reports, China's army will undergo a restructuring process and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) will increase the numbers of other services, such as navy and missile forces. PLA will undergo fundamental changes, the PLA Daily said, and added that "the old military structure, where the army accounts for the vast majority, will be replaced after the reform".

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We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!

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