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Morning Brief: Cash Crunch To Ease Soon; Digital Payment Rewards; Trade Deficit Widens
A bank staff member hands Rs 500 notes to a customer. (INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/GettyImages)
Good Morning, Swarajya Readers! Here's What You Need To Know Today.
Cash Crunch To Ease In Three Weeks: The Finance Ministry on Thursday said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was now focusing on printing Rs 500 notes which would ease the liquidity situation over the next two to three weeks.
Cash Rewards For Digital Payments: Announcing the ‘Lucky Grahak Yojana’ and ‘Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana’, NITI Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant said the government will give away daily, weekly and mega cash rewards totalling Rs 340 crore to consumers as well as merchants to promote digital payments. Beginning 25 December, both the schemes will cover small transactions between Rs 50 and Rs 3,000 to encourage digital payments.
New Push To Cut Digital Transaction Cost: The government and the Reserve Bank of India are taking measures to bring down the digital transaction cost with an aim to move towards a less-cash economy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday. He said digital transactions are a parallel mechanism, not a substitute, to cash transactions while chairing the fifth meeting of his ministry’s consultative committee.
Rs 2,900 Crore Seized In 586 I-T Raids: After the announcement of demonetisation on 8 November, the Income Tax Department has carried out a record 586 searches across India, yielding more than Rs 300 crore in cash seizures, Rs 79 crore in new currency notes of Rs 2,000, and unaccounted income of Rs 2,600 crore.
Evidence Against Modi ‘Bulletproof’, Says Rahul Gandhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi told party colleagues that the evidence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal corruption was "bulletproof". Meanwhile, BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy said the Congress leader is bound by law to report such "explosive" information to either police or court. With the winter session ending today, all eyes are now on Parliament and Rahul Gandhi.
Muslims Can’t Grow Beard After Joining IAF, Rules Top Court: A Muslim cannot grow a beard after joining the Indian Air Force (IAF) as discipline, uniformity and cohesiveness in the armed forces could not be sacrificed for religious beliefs, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. Dismissing pleas filed by two Muslim personnel of the IAF, a bench upheld the sacking of an IAF man for keeping a long beard.
States Likely To Fix Fares For Ola-Uber: In a relief to traditional taxi operators struggling to compete with new players like Ola and Uber, the government will push states to set a minimum fare for app-based cabs to check predatory pricing by cash rich taxi aggregators. States may fix minimum as well as maximum fares charged by the aggregators to avoid exploitation of common public.
Trade Deficit Widens: India's trade deficit widened to $13 billion in November from a provisional $10.16 billion last month, government data showed on Thursday. It is the highest since $13.08 billion in July 2015, and sharply wider than the $10.41 billion gap in October – as imports, including purchases of gold, outpaced exports of goods.
Karunanidhi In Hospital With Lung Infection: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader M Karunanidhi was admitted to Kauvery Hospital in Chennai on Thursday night after he complained of difficulties in breathing. A medical bulletin said the 92-year-old leader was suffering from a throat and lung infection, and his condition is stable.
MUST READ OP-EDS
State-Championed Or Private Low-End Disruption! Who Will Win This Horse Race In Steady State? In a horse race between state-championed and private low-end disruption who will win in the steady state? This year is about to leave us with more questions than answers.
The Long-Term Solution: We have to pause and reflect why the air gets worse every year. Just an increase in the number of vehicles can’t be trotted out as an excuse.
General’s First Gambit: Pakistan army chief’s choice of officers reflects dynamics within the army – and with civilian administration.
The Demons Of Demonetisation: With a population of more than 1.2 billion, the country has only about 24.51 million credit card holders and 661.8 million debit card holders; and not all of them use their cards actively.
SWARAJYA SPECIAL
One Month Into Demonetisation, These Are The Issues That Are Now Being Discussed: What is clear is that if the law of unintended consequences combined with bad planning damages the central story of currency swap, political consequences would follow.
New Central Rules For Taxi Aggregators Like Ola And Uber Are Surprisingly Liberal. Cheers! The government must create a level-playing field before the final guidelines are issued. But the approach is liberal and in the right direction.
#Goa2017: BJP Looking To Hold On, AAP Is Wild Card, Congress In Crisis Of Survival: In the small state that goes to polls next year, the Congress appears parched of both ideas and funds.
We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!
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