The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the re-issuance of an ordinance making the practice of instant triple talaq a criminal offence, sources said.

The earlier ordinance, issued in September last year, was to expire on January 22.

A bill to convert the ordinance into law is pending in Rajya Sabha where the opposition has been resisting its passage.

An ordinance has a life of six months. But from the day a session begins, it has to be replaced by a bill which should be passed by Parliament within 42 days (six weeks), else it lapses.

The government is at liberty to repromulgate the ordinance if the bill fails to get through Parliament.

A fresh bill to make the practice of triple talaq among Muslims a penal offence was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 17 last year to replace the ordinance issued in September.

The GST Council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, at its meeting in New Delhi yesterday doubled the GST exemption limit to give relief to small businesses. 

It raised the exemption limit to 20 lakh rupees for northeastern states and 40 lakh rupees for the rest of the country. 

The Council also decided that the GST Composition Scheme, under which small traders and businesses pay one per cent tax based on turnover, can be availed by businesses with a turnover of 1 crore 50 lakh, against the earlier 1 crore rupees, with effect from 1st April.

In a tweet, Mr Modi lauded the decisions taken by the GST Council and said that the government is committed to a simple and people-friendly GST.

Air passengers can now avail free-of-cost travel insurance of Rs 50 lakh if they book their tickets through the IRCTC, the catering and tourism arm of the railways, an official statement said.

This facility will be available for passengers irrespective of the class of tickets and for both domestic and international flights. The insurance will provide them financial protection against accidental death and total or permanent disability, the IRCTC statement said.

The insurance partners of the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will be Bharti AXA General Insurance, it said.

The premium for insurance will be borne by the IRCTC to secure its passengers from any untoward incident during the journey. The insurance cover will be for both one-way and round trip, it added.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

India could soon see seaplanes being used to fly passengers with the government giving approval to 13 water aerodromes under UDAN-3. The very first seaplane could run within Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Moneycontrol has learnt that approximately four different islands from Andaman and one island from Nicobar have been selected to fly seaplanes. These are Havelock, Long Island, Neil Island and Hutbay Island in Andaman and Car Nicobar in Nicobar.

“The Andaman government has said that they would give additional incentives to allow operation of seaplanes otherwise people would not visit the places,” an official aware of the development said.

India has allowed an Iranian bank to open a branch in Mumbai, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday, announcing a move seen aimed at circumventing US trade and investment sanctions as India builds a strategic port in the West Asian country.

The bank will open its branch in the next three months, shipping, roads and highways minister Gadkari said after a meeting with Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Iran’s Pasargad Bank has received the necessary clearances to open its branch in Mumbai, said a person familiar with the development on condition of anonymity.

“The government of India has given permission to the Iranian bank to open its branch in India in Mumbai within three months,” Gadkari said.

Alongside, India’s UCO Bank will open a branch in Iran, said a Press Trust of India report quoting the Iranian minister.

“We are very happy that both UCO Bank from India and Pasargad Bank from Iran are getting started with the business,” Zarif was quoted as saying.

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.