Pulwama terror attack: India hikes customs duty to 200% on all goods imported from Pakistan

Agencies
February 17, 2019

New Delhi, Feb 17: Taking strong economic action against Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack, India Saturday raised the customs duty to 200 per cent on all goods imported from the neighbouring country, including fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products and mineral ore.

The decision would significantly hit Pakistan's exports to India, which stood at USD 488.5 million (around Rs 3,482.3 crore) in 2017-18 as it would drastically increase the prices of its goods here.

" India has withdrawn MFN (most favoured nation) status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200 per cent with immediate effect," finance minister Arun Jaitley said in a tweet.

The two main items imported from Pakistan are fruits and cement, on which the current customs duty is 30-50 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively.

Slapping an import duty of 200 per cent effectively means almost banning the imports from Pakistan, official sources said.

India on Friday revoked the MFN status to Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. The country invoked a security exception clause of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to withdraw this status. Both the countries are member of this organisation.

India can also restrict trade of certain goods and impose port-related restrictions on Pakistani goods.

Items which Pakistan exports to India include fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products, bulk minerals and ores, finished leather, processed minerals, inorganic chemicals, cotton raw, spices, wool, rubber product, alcoholic beverages, medical instruments, marine goods, plastic, dyes and sport goods.

India granted the MFN status to Pakistan way back in 1996, but the neighbouring country had not reciprocated.

Under the MFN pact, a WTO member country is obliged to treat the other trading nation in a non-discriminatory manner, especially with regard to customs duty and other levies.

In 2012, Pakistan had committed to giving the MFN status to India but retracted later due to domestic opposition. Instead of MFN, Pakistan said it was working on granting Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) status to India but that also was not announced.

Total India-Pakistan trade has increased marginally to $ 2.41 billion in 2017-18 as against $ 2.27 billion in 2016-17. India imported goods worth $ 488.5 million in 2017-18 and exported goods worth $ 1.92 billion.

During April-October 2018-19, India's exports to Pakistan stood at $ 1.18 billion, while imports were $ 338.66 billion.

India mainly exports raw cotton, cotton yarn, chemicals, plastics, man-made yarn and dyes to Pakistan.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

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News Network
March 31,2020

Hyderabad, Mar 31: Six people from Telangana who attended a religious congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin died due to the novel coronavirus, the state government said on Monday.

"Coronavirus has spread among some of those who attended a religious prayer meeting from March 13 to 15 at Markaz in Nizamuddin area in Delhi," according to an official release. "Among those who attended were some persons from Telangana."

Two of the six died at the Gandhi Hospital, one each in two private hospitals, and one each in Nizamabad and Gadwal towns, the statement said, without mentioning the time of their deaths.

The special teams under the collectors have identified the persons who came in contact with the deceased and they are shifted to the hospitals, it said.

Police and paramilitary personnel cordoned off a major area in Nizamuddin West in south Delhi on Monday and over 200 people have been kept in isolation in hospitals after several people who took part in a religious congregation there showed symptoms of coronavirus.

The Telagana government asked those who participated in the prayers to inform the authorities. It will conduct tests and offer treatment to them free of cost, according to the release.

The government also requested the people to alert if they come to know about those who participated in the prayers.

Earlier a separate government release said a person died of COVID-19 in Telangana, taking the toll to two and the total number touched 77 after six fresh cases were reported on Monday.

As many as 13 patients who underwent treatment for the virus were discharged on Monday, a media bulletin on COVID-19 issued by the state government said.

A techie, the first COVID-19 case in Telangana, has been discharged recently. The state now has 61 active cases, the bulletin said.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had on Sunday said barring a 76-year-old person, who had other ailments, the other patients were doing well.

Rao had said 25,937 people were under surveillance and being watched by 5,746 teams and they would be out of watch after completing their mandated 14-day quarantine period. He had said all those who are under observation would be out of vigil by April 7 if there are no fresh suspected cases.

"From March 30, their time is nearing completion. After that, they do not need to be under any surveillance. By April 7, we will have a situation of zero... We pray God that we should not get new cases,"

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News Network
May 20,2020

New Delhi, May 20: With 5,611 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 tally reached 1,06,750 on Wednesday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

As many as 140 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of deaths to 3,303.

Out of the total cases, 61,149 are actives cases and 42,298 patients have been cured/discharged/migrated.

Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state with 37,136 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu (12,448 cases), Gujarat (12,140 cases), and Delhi (10,554 cases).

The nationwide lockdown imposed as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of coronavirus has been extended till May 31.

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News Network
June 22,2020

Geneva, Jun 22: The global count of coronavirus cases has surpassed 8.7 million, with 183,020 new cases recorded on Sunday, the World Health Organisation said in its daily situation report.

Over the last 24 hours, 4,743 people died from COVID-19 worldwide, taking the death toll to 461,715 fatalities, according to the report.

The cumulative global toll of confirmed cases has now reached 8,708,008, as stated in the report.

The WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, shared that Europe accounts for 31 per cent of COVID-19 cases and 43 per cent of COVID-19 deaths globally.

Dr Kluge highlighted that several countries continue to face increasing disease incidence and that "preparing for the autumn is a priority now at the WHO Regional Office for Europe"

The United States continues to be worst affected by the contagion with the highest count of cases and fatalities -- 2.2 million and 118,895, respectively.

The novel coronavirus was declared a pandemic by WHO on March 11.

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