Tax boost for EVs, GST slashed to 5% from 12%

New Delhi, Mar 9: Petrol and diesel prices registered a drop across the country on Monday as global oil prices plummeted around 30 per cent after Saudi Arabia slashed prices and set plans for a dramatic increase in crude production in April.

In New Delhi, petrol price fell by 24 paise intra-day and stood at Rs 70.59 per litre. Diesel in the national capital was retailed at Rs 63.26 per litre on Monday as against Rs 63.51 on Sunday.

The retail price of petrol in Kolkata saw a drop of 23 paise to Rs 73.28 per litre. The diesel price fell by 25 paise in the eastern metropolitan city to retail at Rs 65.59 per litre.

In Mumbai, petrol price was Rs 76.29 per litre as against Rs 76.53 a day earlier. Diesel was retailed at Rs 66.24 per litre, 26 paise lower than on Sunday.

In Chennai, petrol was retailed at Rs 73.33 per litre, 25 paise lower than a day earlier. Diesel price saw a fall of 26 paise to retail at Rs 66.75 per litre in the southern metropolitan.

Global crude oil prices fell by as much as a third following Saudi Arabia's move to start a price war with Russia amid worries over the spread of coronavirus.

Brent crude futures were down 13.29 dollars or 29 per cent at 31.98 dollars a barrel by 04:33 hrs GMT after earlier dropping to 31.02 dollars, their lowest since February 12, 2016.

Brent futures were on track for their biggest daily decline since January 17, 1991 at the start of the first Gulf War.

Kathmandu, June 18: Nepal's National Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed the Constitution Amendment Bill to update the country's political and administrative map incorporating three Indian territories. 

The new map also includes land controlled by India. It requires President Bidhya Devi Bhandari's approval.

India, which controls the region - a slice of land including Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani areas in the northwest - has rejected the map, saying it is not based on historical facts or evidence.

India has termed as untenable the "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims by Nepal after its lower house of parliament on Saturday unanimously approved the new political map of the country featuring areas which India maintains belong to it.

The National Assembly, or the upper house of the Nepalese parliament, unanimously passed the constitution amendment bill providing for inclusion of the country's new political map in its national emblem.

The bill was passed with all the 57 members present voting in its favour.

The dispute

The latest border dispute between the countries began last month after India inaugurated Himalayan link road built in a disputed region that lies at a strategic three-way junction with Tibet and China.

The 80km (50-mile) road, inaugurated by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, cuts through the Lipulekh Himalayan pass, considered one of the shortest and most feasible trade routes between India and China.

The road cuts the travel time and distance from India to Tibet's Mansarovar lake, considered holy by the Hindus.

But Nepal says about 19km of the road passes through its area and fiercely contested the inauguration of the road, viewing the alleged incursion as a stark example of bullying by its much larger neighbour.

Nepal, which was never under colonial rule, has long claimed the areas of Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulekh under the 1816 Sugauli treaty with the British East India Company, although these areas have remained under the control of Indian troops since India fought a war with China in 1962.

New Delhi, Jan 18: Asha Devi, the mother of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape victim, on Saturday slammed senior lawyer Indira Jaising for her suggestion that she should forgive her daughter's rapists.

"Who is Indira Jaising to give me such a suggestion? The whole country wants the convicts to be executed. Just because of people like her, justice is not done with rape victims," Asha Devi said here.

"Cannot believe how Indira Jaising even dared to suggest this. I met her many times over the years in Supreme Court, not even once has she asked for my well being and today she is speaking for the convicts. Such people earn their livelihoods by supporting rapists, hence rape incidents do not stop," she added.

Asha Devi further accused Jaising of using "the garb of human rights" to make a living.

'People like her keep earning money under the garb of human rights. I do not need her suggestions... Just because of people who think like her incidents like rape keep happening, she is a disgrace to women," she said.

Earlier yesterday, Indira Jaising, through a tweet, had urged Asha Devi to forgive the perpetrators and had used the example of Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, who had forgiven Nalini, one of the convicts who was given the death penalty by the courts.

"While I fully identify with the pain of Asha Devi I urge her to follow the example of Sonia Gandhi who forgave Nalini and said she did not want the death penalty for her. We are with you but against the death penalty," Jaising's tweet read.