Union Budget 2025: Tax break will give a fillip to slowing economy, says Centre
The Centre’s decision to significantly slash the income tax payer’s burden was aimed at addressing some “angst” that the government had noticed in recent months as well as to give a fillip to the economy’s weakening growth impulses with a broad-based boost to demand, savings, and investments, Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey told The Hindu on Sunday (February 2, 2025).
Amidst Trump’s tariff war, India slashes peak tariffs from 150% to 70%, to ‘correct bad optics’
The latest round of import tariff revisions announced in the Budget have done away with the peak rates of 150%, 125%, and 100% which applied to just five items, but had created “bad optics” about India’s tariff structure, top officials told The Hindu. Such high tariffs have led to criticism of the sort levelled by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has often clubbed India with China as a “tariff abuser”.
Ind vs Eng 5th T20I: Abhishek blitzkrieg blows away England in series finale
Riding on Abhishek Sharma’s 135 (54b, 7×4, 13×6), India’s highest individual score in T20Is, the Men in Blue piled on 247 for nine in 20 overs after Engaldn sent them in to bat in the fifth and final T20I of the series. As it happens most often while chasing gargantuan targets, England wilted under pressure to be bowled out for a paltry 97 in the 11th over to hand India a 150-run win. The victory meant Suryakumar Yadav laid his hands on the trophy, with the series ending 4-1 in the host’s favour.
Over 260 from Myanmar seek shelter in Manipur
As civil war rages in Myanmar, security agencies are verifying the reports of death of a Manipuri youth in the neighbouring country and keeping a close watch on its impact on ethnic-strife hit Manipur. From January 27, 2025, around 260 Myanmar refugees have taken shelter in India along the Moreh border in Manipur, a defence source said on Sunday (February 2, 2025).
Senior Tamil Nadu IPS officer alleges plot to eliminate her for flagging irregularities
An Additional Director General of Police in Tamil Nadu has alleged that an attempt was made on her life after she exposed serious irregularities in police recruitment. In a complaint addressed to Tamil Nadu Director General of Police and Head of Police Force Shankar Jiwal, Kalpana Nayak, a senior IPS officer, called for an “unbiased” investigation into a fire that gutted her chamber in Chennai on July 29, 2024. The incident, she said, occurred days after she flagged discrepancies by the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB) in implementing communal reservation in the recruitment of Sub-Inspectors, constables, prison warders, and firemen.
ISRO’s orbit raising operations for NVS-02 satellite disrupted by valve malfunction
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has been unable to perform the intended orbit raising operations for the NVS-02 satellite due to a valve malfunction. The NVS-02, the second satellite in the NVS series, was launched by the ISRO on January 29 as part of its landmark 100th launch from Sriharikota. The space agency on Sunday said that the orbit raising operations towards positioning the satellite to the designated orbital slot could not be carried out as the valves for admitting the oxidiser to fire the thrusters for orbit raising did not open.
Average workdays per household is down to just 44 days under MGNREGS
Falling short of the 100 days of work guaranteed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, average workdays per household under the scheme had come down to just 44.62 days in 2024-25 from 52.08 days in 2023-24, a consortium of non-profit organisations said on Sunday (February 2, 2025). A fall in person days from 312.37 crore in financial year 2023-24 to 239.67 crore in 2024-25 was also recorded. The term “person days” refers to the total number of workdays by a person registered under MGNREGA in a financial year.
R.G. Kar College’s MBBS student found dead at Kamarhati
A second-year MBBS student from R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital has been found dead in her room at the Kamarhati ESI Hospital. The incident was reported on Friday (January 31, 2025) and the Barrackpore Police Commiserate has registered a case of unnatural death.
Union Minister George Kurian’s remark that Kerala should declare itself ‘backward’ for federal aid stokes anger in State
Union Minister of State for Fisheries George Kurian’s remark that Kerala should declare itself a socially and economically backward State if it were to receive a part of the Union Budget allocation for less developed States has sparked a political row.
CJI, SC judges reach out to State, district judiciary to hear out challenges
Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna has met and interacted with judges and officials of High Courts and judicial officers and staffers from district courts across the country to discuss the challenges facing the judiciary, especially pendency of cases. Supreme Court judges and senior officials from the Ministries of Home Affairs and Law and Justice participated in the national conference held on Saturday to address the issues faced by the judiciary in States.
Hezbollah chief says slain predecessor Nasrallah to be buried February 23
The head of Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah said on Sunday (February 2, 2025) that his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, would be laid to rest on February 23, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli air attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs. Nasrallah, who had served as Hezbollah’s secretary general for more than 30 years, was killed on September 27 as Israel ramped up its air attacks on Hezbollah targets and just days before Israeli troops began ground incursions into southern Lebanon.
Published – February 03, 2025 06:24 am IST