Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday inaugurated electric vehicle charging station at North Block in New Delhi and hands over the electric vehicle to Finance Ministry officials. 

Department of Economic Affairs, has signed an agreement with Energy Efficiency Services Limited for deployment of 15 Electric Vehicles for their officers. 

With the induction of these electric vehicles, Department of Economic Affairs is expected to save over 36,000 litres of fuel every year and will also lead to a reduction of over 440 tonnes of carbon dioxide. 

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Jaitley, said, electric mobility, is an attractive, sustainable and profitable solution to mitigate the climate change. He said, these vehicles have the potential to support India’s growth by enhancing manufacturing, job creation, and technical capabilities.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday constituted a high-level committee headed by former chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Nandan Nilekani to set up a robust digital payments ecosystem in the country.

The committee has been asked to review the existing status of digitization of payments, identify gaps in the ecosystem and suggest ways to plug them.

According to its terms of reference, the panel has to suggest a medium-term strategy for deepening digital payments, and measures to strengthen safety and security.

“The committee shall submit its report within a period of 90 days from the date of its first meeting,” the RBI said.

The second edition of Khelo India Youth Games was officialy inaugurated yesterday evening by union sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore at Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune. The first day of 12-day sporting extravaganza was action-packed with many records being broken by the young athletes. Delhi dominated the first day with five gold medals followed by Maharashtra and Haryana with three and two gold medals, respectively. Manipur, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal won one gold medal each. 

In weightlifting the athletes surpassed their own records. Maharashtra's Shubham Kolekar, who won the National Youth championship a fortnight ago, improved his record by lifting 139 kgs in the under-17 55 kg category. Similarly, Bhaktaram Desti from Odisha, competing in under-17 49 kg category improved his record by lifting 105 kgs. 

A slew of young Youth Olympic champions, World Cadet Wrestling gold medallists, Olympian athletes and medal-winning shooters will be among the stars in action from today in Khelo India Youth Games at Pune. The athletes will compete in 18 different disciplines, of which six are team sports. The agenda includes Kabaddi and Kho-Kho. The young sportspersons will get a chance make their dreams come alive on a national platform. 

They are not only representing the urban and rural India but also span a wide range of 10-21 years. Maharashtra, who finished second in the inaugural Khelo India School Games 2018, are aiming to grab the top spot from Haryana.Maharashtra has close to 900 athletes and officials and coaches, which makes it by far the biggest contingent at the Games. On first day Maharashtra grabed 4 Gold, 5 Silver and 5 Bronze Medals. 

The GST Council will meet in New Delhi today. This will be the 32nd meeting of the Goods and Services Tax Council. The meeting is likely to discuss the recommendations of the two ministerial panels among other issues. The ministerial panel under minister of state for finance Shiv Pratap Shukla has deliberated on the exemption threshold for MSME sector. 

Currently, businesses with turnover of up to 20 lakh rupees are exempt from the GST. Another ministerial panel under Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi has approved levy of 1 percent 'calamity cess' by Kerala for a period of two years to fund rehabilitation work in the state hit by floods. The goods and services, which will attract the 1 percent cess, will be decided by Kerala.

The GST Council is also likely to discuss lowering GST on under-construction flats and houses to 5 per cent. Currently, GST is levied at 12 per cent on payments made for under-construction property or ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate has not been issued at the time of sale. It is also likely to consider a composition scheme for small suppliers as well as GST rates on lottery. In its previous meeting in December, it had rationalised the 28 per cent tax slab and reduced rates on 23 goods and services. The GST Council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitey, is the highest decision making body of the new indirect tax system that came into effect from the first of July, 2017. 

A five-judge Constitution bench of Supreme Court will begin hearing the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land title dispute case today. The bench will comprise Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices SA Bobde, NV Ramana, UU Lalit and DY Chandrachud. As many as 14 appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgement. The High Court had ordered that the 2.77 acre land be partitioned equally among the three parties - the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

Various Hindutva organisations have been demanding an ordinance on early construction of Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had suggested that any decision on an ordinance on Ram temple in Ayodhya can happen only after the completion of the judicial process.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of insulting Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Without naming Mr Gandhi, Mr Modi described the Congress leader's remarks as an insult to all women in the country. Addressing a rally at Agra in Uttar Pradesh, Prime minister said, the country has seen how opposition leaders tried to insult Ms Sitharaman in Lok Sabha when she was speaking during a debate on Rafale deal. Mr Modi said, it is a matter of pride that a woman has become Defence Minister for the first time in the country. 

Mr Modi said, opposition parties like SP and BSP are coming together because they are scared of his clean-up mission to uproot corruption. Prime Minister called himself a 'chowkidar' who can pick up a wrongdoer even in darkness in his fight against corruption. Quoting media reports, Mr Modi claimed that middleman Christian Michel, arrested in AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case, was also lobbying for other aircraft deal during the previous UPA government. Prime Minister said Congress should answer which leader of their party has a connection with Michel. 

Mr Modi launched various development projects worth 3,907 crore rupees in Agra yesterday.

Parliament has passed the Constitution 124th (Amendment) Bill, 2019 with the Rajya Sabha approving it last night. The Lok Sabha has already passed it. The legislation provides for ten per cent reservation in government jobs and admission in educational institutions to economically backward people among upper castes. During division on the bill in the Rajya Sabha, 165 members voted in favour of it while seven members voted against. The motion moved by AIADMK, left parties and others  to refer the bill to the Select Committee was also negated.
 
Replying to a ten hour long debate on the bill in the House, Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot said it is a historic steps towards providing 10 per cent reservation to the economically weaker sections of upper castes. He said, the bill has been brought with good intention and it aims at economic and educational empowerment of the targeted  beneficiaries. He rejected the allegation that the bill has been brought in a hurry, saying it was a long pending demand and government wants to deliver justice. Mr Gehlot also clarified that this reservation will be given without tampering with the existing quotas for SC, ST and OBCs. He said, the Law will not be struck down by the Supreme Court if challenged as it has been brought by making required provisions in the Constitution.
 
 Participating in the discussion, Congress leader Anand Sharma said his party supports the bill, but questioned its timing. He alleged that the government brought the bill with an eye on upcoming general elections. He also accused the NDA government of joblessness during its rule. Mr Sharma said that the government could create only 95 thousand jobs in the last three-and-a-half years. Mr. Sharma asked as to how the bill could benefit the people it intends to cover in absence of jobs. Supporting the bill, Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party demanded that OBCs should now be given 54 per cent reservation and SCs and STs quota increased to 25 per cent. He also sought reservation for Muslims, saying their condition is worse than the Dalits.

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2018 which would regulate the use of DNA technology to establish the identity of persons, including offenders, victims, suspects and undertrials, in connection with criminal and civil matters such as parentage disputes, emigration or immigration, and transplantation of human organs.

The Bill provides for establishment of a national DNA data bank and regional DNA data banks. Every data bank will maintain indices such as crime scene index, suspects’ or undertrials’ index and offenders’ index.

The Bill also provides for seeking the consent of individuals when DNA profiling is used in criminal investigations and for identifying missing persons.

India and Norway on January 8 agreed to closely collaborate on ocean economy and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, while vowing to step up bilateral trade, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his Norwegian counterpart Erna Solberg.

Modi and Solberg held delegation-level talks and discussed ways to give "new energy and direction" to bilateral ties.

The two countries also signed an MoU for holding an India-Norway Ocean Dialogue.

India born Gita Gopinath has joined International Monetary Fund as its chief economist.

She has first woman to occupy the top IMF post. Gopinath succeeds Maurice (Maury) Obstfeld as Economic Counsellor and Director of the IMF's Research Department. Obstfeld retired on December the 31st.

The 11th chief economist of the IMF, Gopinath in a recent interview to The Harvard Gazette described her appointment at the IMF as a “tremendous honour”.