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

Modi Seeks Role Of Youth In Policy Making: Young entrepreneurs will now have a say in shaping the future of India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with start-up founders and chief executive officers (CEOs), later this month to get their views on policy-making. They have been selected from all over the country and across many sectors. The idea is to incorporate fresh and innovating thinking into policy making. “For further accelerating the growth process as well as realising the vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas, it is imperative that the dynamism, resources and innovative spirit of the leaders in private sector is focused towards the emerging opportunities and challenges in the Indian economy,” NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said

National Skills Training Body On Way: In a bid to strengthen the skilling framework, India will soon have a national-level standards body for skills training similar to the Central Board of Secondary Education. “Education had some bias towards skills, as a result of which skills never became part of the Human Resource and Development (HRD) Ministry,” Union Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said. “However, HRD and skills ministry are now on the same page and we will soon have a central certification system that will allow our youth to move from skilling to education and vice-versa,” he said and added that as part of its all-round approach, the skills development ministry will soon rate Industrial Training Institutes on the basis of their voluntary self-assessment validated by a third party. The star ratings will then be used to determine government funding.

NCERT Launches Portal For Home Delivery Of Books: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) launched an online portal on Wednesday for schools to place orders for their books. Very soon, individual buyers will also be able to place their orders by logging onto the portal and books will be delivered at their doorstep. “The move will help parents save money spent on sourcing expensive books from private publishers, often due to non-availability of NCERT books. We are not making NCERT books compulsory, but we will ensure they are available to students,” said Human Resource Development Ministry School Education Secretary Anil Swarup. Schools can order these books by entering their Board's affiliation number and other details till 8 September for the session 2018-19.

New Dates To File GST Returns: Following the recommendations of Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, the government has notified dates for filing of first GST returns, for the months of July and August. Under the GST, three forms – GSTR 1, GSTR 2 and GSTR 3 – need to be filed every month. For July, the three forms will have to be filed between 1 and 5 September, 6 and 10 September and 11 and 15 September respectively, said the notification. The date of filing returns was extended earlier by the Council by a month to give more time to the taxpayers to come into the system. More than 71.30 lakh excise, service tax and VAT payers have migrated to the GST Network portal and over 15 lakh new assessees have registered on the platform. GST, which has subsumed over 17 different levies, has kicked in from 1 July.

Modi’s Call To Create New India: Marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Quit India Movement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked the people to take a pledge to free the country of communalism, casteism and corruption and create a 'new India' by 2022. “In 1942, the clarion call was Karenge ya marenge (Do or die) – today it is Karenge aur kar ke rahenge (We will do and we'll make sure we do it). The next five years should also be about sankalp se siddhi, a resolve which will lead us to accomplishment,” he said. “The menace of corruption has adversely impacted our development journey. Poverty, lack of education and malnutrition – these are big challenges our nation faces. We need to bring a positive change in this regard,” he added.

Fadnavis Announces Sops For Marathas: Following a massive show of strength in Mumbai by the protesting Maratha community, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday agreed to their main demands. They were demanding quotas in government jobs and education, as well as justice in the brutal gang rape of a 14-year-old Maratha girl. The chief minister has extended all the educational concessions that Other Backward Communities (OBC) receive to the Marathas as well. There are 605 streams in which OBCs currently get concession, and this will be given to the Maratha community as well. The government has also offered land and announced a grant of Rs 5 crore to build hostels for students from the Maratha community in every district

Forbes List: HUL, Asian Paints and Airtel Among 100 Most Innovative Firms: Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), Asian Paints and Bharti Airtel are among Forbes’ list of the world’s 100 most innovative companies. HUL and Asian Paints have moved up in their ranks to seventh and eighth respectively. Bharti Airtel has entered the ranking at seventy-eighth position. According to the magazine, HUL recorded an innovation premium of 68.59 per cent; Asian Paints (68.28 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (41.4 per cent). Tata Consultancy Services, Sun Pharma and Larsen & Toubro were also on the 2016 list but they failed to make the cut this year, bringing down the total number of Indian firms from five to three. Salesforce.com has replaced Tesla Motors on the top position.

Visa-Free Entry: Qatar Woos Tourists From 80 Countries: Qatar will allow visa-free entry to citizens from 80 countries to encourage air transport and tourism. Nationals from dozens of countries in Europe and elsewhere including India, Lebanon, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States will now receive tourist visas on arrival to the gas-rich country, which hosts the soccer World Cup in 2022. "The visa exemption scheme will make Qatar the most open country in the region," chief tourism development officer Hassan Al Ibrahim said. Oil giant Saudi Arabia along with Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE imposed a clamp on Qatar on 5 June and cut off all transport links with the country after accusing it of supporting terrorism and of close ties to Iran.

MUST READ OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

Human Rights, Dialogue And The Sardar Sarovar Project: NBA has also consistently argued at the Supreme Court and various forums that the height of the dam should not be increased without those already displaced being adequately recompensed, relocated and rehabilitated. There are several layers to the issue, besides that of economic and political considerations being bereft of human rights considerations.

Bargaining For Better Content: Content creators and owners must demand their right to price content as per market forces and through the extant copyright framework. The current regulatory framework limits creative potential, pre-empts consumer choice, and is an existential threat to the business of creativity.

The Nub Of Marketing For Millennials: Millennials is not just an age group, it’s a state of mind that affects consumer behaviour across generations. Marketing for millennials requires an understanding of their characteristics. That they are different from the generation before and the one after makes it a challenge.

Doklam May Bring Bhutan Closer To India: A Sino-Bhutanese border resolution would be mutually beneficial, as would a Sino-Indian boundary agreement. However, forcing the issue by aggression is no way to go about it. If India remains firm in its commitment to Bhutan, the standoff will only serve to deepen the India-Bhutan alliance even further.

Debt Ceiling Worries Are Overblown: Donald Trump understands that a strong economy is in his interest. He has tried to lay claim to market rallies and jobs growth and refrained from taking steps that could lead to a downturn. Republicans have long demonised raising the debt limit. So debt limit increases are usually seen as tough votes.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Shia Board Offers New Opening On Ram Mandir, But Will Left And Hardliners Sabotage It? If the BJP and the Sangh know what is good for the country, they should open negotiations in good faith with the Shia Board, and invite the others to take part. It should also accept C J I Khehar’s offer to lead the mediation. If it succeeds, Hindu-Muslim relations will be better than ever. If it is sabotaged, either by Left or Right, more strife lies ahead.

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

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