OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD
CORONA
25°C - 32°C
ALERT JAIPUR l FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00
WORLD
COVID-19 UPDATE
8,32,541 2,44,85,143 DEATHS
MAHARASHTRA 23,444 DEATHS 7,33,568 CASES
CONFIRMED CASES
TAMIL NADU 6,948 DEATHS 4,03,242 CASES
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RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 82
INDIA
RAJASTHAN
61,675 33,82,152 1,005 DEATHS
KARNATAKA 5,232 DEATHS 3,09,792 CASES
CONFIRMED CASES
DEATHS
DELHI 4,369 DEATHS 1,67,604 CASES
76,015
CONFIRMED CASES
GUJARAT 2,962 DEATHS 91,329 CASES
FLOATING ON HOPE!
Floating vegetable markets, on the scenic Dal Lake of Kashmir, came into existence as a means of sustenance after Coronavirus pandemic hit the tourism sector the most. Many boatmen can be seen ferrying vegetables that are produced in the interiors of the lake, instead of tourists these days! —PHOTO BY PTI
‘ACT OF GOD’ MAY CONTRACT Atmanirbhar Bharat is for ECONOMY THIS FISCAL: SITA stable global order: PM My govt has been making efforts to end red tapism to help defence sector become self-reliant, says Modi
New Delhi: Claiming that an “Act of God” may result in contraction of economy this fiscal, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who chaired the 41st GST Council meeting, said the GST shortfall in FY21 was around Rs 2.35 lakh crore. Following a marathon five-hour meeting, Sitharaman said two options of compensating states were discussed while asserting that there was no proposal to raise tax rates to make up for the shortfall. The Centre on Thursday gave two options for compensating states on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to bridge revenue shortfall as the economy faces a prospect of contraction in
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that his government’s resolve for ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ is not inwardlooking, but aimed at boosting India’s capabilities and global peace, and also for helping the world economy become more stable. Speaking at a defence industry outreach seminar, Modi said India’s self-reliance on defence capabilities will boost its standing of being a net security provider in the Indian Ocean, make it a defence supplier for many friendly countries and deepen strategic ties. Wooing private players, he asserted that the import embargo on a number of defence
—PHOTO ANI
States stare at Rs 2.35 lakh crore GST revenue shortfall; Centre gives 2 options to borrow via RBI
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chairing 41st GST Council meeting via VC where MoS Finance Anurag Thakur, Finance Ministers of States and UTs and senior officers were also present.
current fiscal year due to COVID-19 crisis. The first option provides a special window to states in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to provide Rs 97,000 crore at a reasonable rate of interest. This money can
then be repaid after five years from the collection of cess. The second option is that the entire GST compensation gap of Rs 2.35 lakh of this year can be met by states in consultation with the RBI. The Finance Minis-
ter chaired the meeting which was also attended by Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, finance ministers of various states and union territories and senior officers from the Centre and states. Turn to P6
—PHOTO ANI
PM Modi addresses during Atmanirbhar Bharat Defence Industry Outreach Webinar via video conferencing on Thursday.
equipment is not only aimed at curbing imports but also giving a boost to the domestic industry. He said more items will be added to this import embargo list later. He noted that India has long been one of the
biggest defence importers in the world and rued that enough attention was not paid to augmenting domestic production in the past despite the country having inherited a capable ecosystem at the time of Independence. Turn to P6
SC refuses permission for Muharram processions New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to pass orders to allow mourning processions across the country during Muharram while observing that it will lead to chaos and the targeting of a particular community for spreading COVID-19. A Bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said it will not pass orders that could risk the health of many people. “You (petitiner’s advocate) are asking for vague directions for the whole community in the country. Jagannath Puri case was one specific place where Rath was to go from point A to B. If it was one specific place we can assess the danger and pass orders,” the bench told the advocate appearing for the petitioner. Turn to P6
Corona scare at CMO and CMR as 10 officials found positive Gehlot calls off cabinet meet, appeals to people not to visit CMR or CMO Sensitive CM approves motivation amount for healtcare workers Naresh Sharma Jaipur: In what could be termed as a shocking development ten personnel of the chief minister’s office (CMO) and residence (CMR) have been tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, raising concerns for officials. Consider-
ing the gravity of the situation, sensitive Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, keeping imind the security of people, ordered an immediate cancellation of all his meetings with guests so as to keep them safe from the virus. One of the most crucial meeting, Turn to P6
MAKEN’S VISIT COULD BE POSTPONED
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
ASHOK GEHLOT @ASHOKGEHLOT51 The present times require Govt adopts a sympathetic approach & takes steps to provide relief to the common people. As #RahulGandhi ji points out, NDA govt’s policies are only to support the rich & to put burden on the common people, which is not the right approach.
Aditi Nagar After 3 MLAs and 10 CMO and CMR staff testing positing for Corona, there is fresh speculation that the proposed Sunday visit of Rajasthan AICC incharge Ajay Maken may be postponed, for the time being. MLAs come in contact with CMO and CMR staff and there is a speculation that they may have also got infected for which it is believed that they will undergo testing. Moreover, since Maken also had to meet legislators, considering the current development, his meet may stand postponed. Notably, Chittorgarh MLA Chandrabhan Singh Akya also tested positive for the virus and since he had taken part in the opposition’s protest in the state assembly, now all the legislators will have to be tested. In fact Congress MLAs had also come in touch with Akya who later met CM also.