Corporate tax cut would not bring growth: Abhijit

Agencies
October 22, 2019

New Delhi, Oct 22: Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee on Monday said the government's stringent commitment to low inflation has resulted in farm distress by adversely impacting support price for agricultural produce.

Striking a note of caution, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has more faith in corporates than he did.

"I think Mr. Modi has more faith in the corporate sector than I do. The recent tax cuts show that someone in the administration believes that you have to give the corporate sector lots of money to get growth. I do not believe that," Banerjee, who has been awarded this year's Nobel Prize for Economics along with two others, said here.

Banerjee added that the corporate tax cut would not bring growth but probably moderation in direct tax could push the growth northward.

The government last month slashed the corporate tax rate to 22 per cent for domestic companies to push the sagging economy.

"The commitment to low inflation dove it to clamp down on support price...agricultural income went down relative to the rest of the country. This was agricultural distress. Farmers are unhappy," he said.

As a result, he said the government was forced to put money for PM-KISAN.

On the stress in the banking sector, he said part of the problem is that decision-making is absolutely frozen.

The economy hit a six-year low of 5 per cent for the first quarter of the current financial year.

The tax rate was brought down further lower at 15 per cent for new manufacturing companies.

Speaking on the government's drive to divest its stake in public sector enterprises, the economist said that selling government stake in PSUs was not a long-term solution to bridge the fiscal deficit target.

"In short term, selling PSU is a good idea but it is not a long term solution," he said.

The government aims to raise Rs 1.05 lakh through disinvestment in the current fiscal.

He also said disinvestment is not a long-term solution for bridging fiscal deficit.

Monetary Policy Committee headed by RBI Governor is entrusted with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4 per cent within a band of (plus, minus) 2 per cent, while supporting growth.

The headline inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (Combined), rose to a 14-month high of 3.99 per cent in September from 3.28 per cent the previous month.

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Agencies
June 14,2020

Kashmir, Jun 14: An Army personnel was killed and two others were injured as Pakistani troops opened fire and shelled areas along the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Sunday.

This is the third fatality in the Pakistani firing and shelling on forward posts and villages in the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri this month.

The officials said the latest firing and shelling from across the border took place in Shahpur-Kerni sector on Saturday night, drawing strong retaliation by the Indian Army.

Three Indian Army personnel were injured in the Pakistani firing and were immediately evacuated to hospital, where one of them succumbed to injuries, the officials said.

They said the casualties suffered by the Pakistani Army in the retaliatory action were not known immediately.

On June 4, havaldar P Mathiazhagan fell to Pakistani firing in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district, while on June 10, Naik Gurcharan Singh lost his life in a similar incident in Rajouri sector.

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News Network
January 17,2020

Mumbai, Jan 17: A 68-year-old convict of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, Jalees Ansari, went missing on Thursday morning while being on parole, officials said.

Ansari, a resident of Mominpura in Agripada here who is serving a life term, is suspected to be involved in many bomb blast cases across the country, an official said.

He was on parole for 21 days from the Ajmer Central Prison, Rajasthan, and was expected to surrender before prison authorities on Friday, he said.

During the parole period, he was ordered to visit the Agripada Police Station everyday between 10.30 am and 12 pm to mark his attendance, he said.

However, Ansari did not visit the police station on Thursday during the designated time, the official said.

In the afternoon, his 35-year-old son Jaid Ansari approached the police station with a complaint about his “missing” father, he said.

According to the complaint, Jalees Ansari woke up in the early hoursand told family members he is going to offer namaz, but did not return home.

On his complaint, the Agripada Police registered a missing case, he said.

The Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra ATS have launched a massive manhunt to trace him, he said.

Jalees, who is known as Doctor Bomb, was allegedly connected with terror outfits like SIMI and Indian Mujahidin and taught terror groups how to make bombs, he said.

He was also questioned by the NIA in 2011 in connection with the 2008 bomb blast in Mumbai, he said.

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News Network
May 30,2020

New Delhi, May 30: An Air India flight from Delhi to Moscow on Saturday had to return midway after the airline's ground team found out that one of the pilots had tested positive for novel coronavirus, officials said.

"When the A320 plane, which did not have any passengers as it was heading to Moscow to bring back stranded Indians under Vande Bharat Mission, had reached Uzbekistan's airspace, our team on ground realised that one of the pilots had tested COVID-positive," senior Air India officials said.

"The flight was immediately asked to return. It came back to Delhi at around 12.30 pm on Saturday," the officials said. The crew has been quarantined. Another plane would be sent to Moscow to bring back the stranded Indians, according to the officials.

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