The SCO summit at Tianjin in China, followed by a spectacular military display in Beijing, signal a resolve to contest the vagaries of the Trump Administration and tweak the global and regional orders.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation came into existence as an Independent Ministry on 15 October 1999, following the merger of the Department of Statistics and the Department of Programme Implementation. The Ministry has two wings, one relating to Statistics and the other to Programme Implementation. The Statistics Wing, also known as the National Statistical Office (NSO), comprises the Central Statistical Office, the Data Informatics & Innovation Division, and the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). The Programme Implementation Wing has three divisions: the Twenty-Point Programme, Infrastructure Monitoring, and Project Monitoring, as well as the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme.
Health insurance for individuals has been made exempt from Goods and Services Tax. GST has been removed from life insurance premium payments for individuals, as well. Both used to be charged GST at 18%. So, this represents major relief for individuals, this lowering of the cost of buying insurance by nearly a fifth, right? That magnitude of reduction in the cost of either life or health insurance is merely an illusion. The cost of insurance might come down somewhat, but definitely not by 18%.
Education has never been a critical step towards ending the chain of inherited social inequality in India. For SCs, formal education has long been precluded by discrimination as well as financial struggles.
According to GoI’s response to a question in Parliament, there have been 42,673 instances of input tax credit fraud, worth ₹1,66,241 cr, cumulatively over FY21 and FY25 (up to January for the last fiscal).
India’s online gaming industry has witnessed remarkable growth over the past decade. Emerging as one of the fastest-expanding sectors within the digital economy, the market is projected to surpass a billion by 2027, engaging a player base of over 450 million.
As two influential regional powers, India and Iran have had a historical and civilizational relationship that has withstood the challenges of geopolitical transformations and political upheavals. Yet, the relationship has been subjected to constant push and pulls with both nations managing to navigate the troubled waters through diplomatic deft and guided by the virtues of mutual interests. While numerous irritants like the Pakistan-China binary, the American-Israeli entanglement in West Asia, and Iran’s nuclear programme will continue to test this relationship, vectors of mutual interests – energy security, strategic connectivity, and regional balance – will pragmatically drive their future convergence.