In a huge relief to a number of students who fail to qualify to enter into prestigious institutions like IITs due to negative marking, Madras High Court ruled against negative marking in competitive examinations saying they are bad in law. 

Accepting the petitioner's argument that negative marking is not prevailing anywhere else in the world, the  Judge said it acts only as "a bolt in the brain development" of students and prevents them from making intelligent guesses. 

Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said that the current government has focussed to take development to all the sections of the society. In an exclusive interview with All India Radio yesterday, Goyal said this government respects the middle class and and has ensured that their family budgets are in control. He further said that with demonetisation and anti-black money drive, the government tax collection has gone up.
    
Talking about the railways, Goyal said that more than 50 million tonnes of extra loading on the freight corridor has been done this year which is a big achievement for the Indian Railways.

Prime Minister  Narendra Modi will visit Durgapur in West Bengal  today. According to an official release,   Mr Modi  will dedicate to the nation, the Railway electrification of 294 kilometre long Andal- Sainthia-Pakur-Malda  and Khana- Sainthia Sections. 

Electrification of this section will enable ease of transportation of coal, stone chips and ballast to North and North East India in a seamless manner. During the visit, He will also dedicate the twenty kilometre long Hijli- Narayangarh third line to the nation  

In Tennis, India will take on Italy in the Davis Cup World Group qualifiers beginning in Kolkata from today.

India will rely heavily on in-form Prajnesh Gunneswaran and favourable home conditions to upset former champions Italy in their bid to qualify for the inaugural Davis Cup Group Finals.

Prajnesh will clash with Italian Matteo Berrettini while Andreas Seppi, who will be leading the Italian challenge, will face Ramkumar Ramanathan today in the singles.

In the doubles match to be played tomorrow at the Centre court, Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan will lead India against Italy's duo Marco Cecchinato and Simone Bolleli.

In the reverse singles, Prajnesh will take on Andre Seppi of Italy and Ramkumar will vie against Matteo Berrettini in the last match.
The rejigged Davis Cup enters a new era with 12 qualifiers across the globe on the road to Madrid Finals in November.

Top trade officials from the US and China have begun talks in Washington for defusing the escalating tariff war. The Chinese delegation is headed by Chinese Vice Premier Lie, while the American side is led by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. 

The talks began last evening following a brief session open to the media. The White House said, US welcomes the Chinese delegation and US President Donald Trump will meet them at the end of the two-days talks.

US and China have just a month remaining in a 90-day truce declared in December. Should the talks fail, US import duties on 200 billion dollars  in Chinese imports are due to more than double on 2nd March.

Domestic cooking gas LPG price was cut by 1 rupee 46 paise per cylinder from midnight.

It is the third straight reduction in a month's time due to tax impact on reduced market rate of the fuel. In a statement, Indian Oil Corporation Limited said, a 14.2-kg subsidized LPG cylinder will now cost 493 rupees 53 paise in the national capital as against 494 rupees 99 paise.

It said, the price in Kolkata will be 496 rupees 57 paise, in Mumbai 491 rupees 19 paise and in Chennai, it will be 481 rupees 34 paise.
It said, non-subsidized or market priced LPG rates have been cut by 30 rupees per cylinder due to fall in price of LPG in international market and strengthening of US dollar-rupee exchange rate.

It will now cost 659 rupees per 14.2-kg cylinder in Delhi, 683 rupees in Kolkata, 630 rupees in Mumbai and 673 rupees in Chennai. 

Germany, France and the UK have set up a payment channel with Iran called INSTEX, to help continue trade and circumvent US sanctions.

Brussels hopes the long-awaited special payment system will help save the Iran nuclear deal by allowing Tehran to keep trading with EU companies despite Washington reimposing sanctions after US President Donald Trump abruptly quit the accord last year.
The three countries have launched the device at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Bucharest.

While, the new institution, called INSTEX is a project of the three governments, it will receive the formal endorsement of all 28 EU members.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif welcomed the move. Deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi also welcomed the step as a first step by the EU in fulfilling its commitments toward Iran.

The Defence Acquisitions Council, DAC chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman approved indigenous construction of six submarines worth 40 thousand crore rupees.

It is the second project under the Ministry's ambitious strategic partnership model aiming to boost the government's Make in India' program.

The first project to get the government's nod for implementation under the new model was the acquisition of 111 utility helicopters for the Navy at a cost of over 21 thousand crore rupees in August last year.

The construction of six advanced submarines under project 75(India) will provide a major boost to submarine design and manufacturing ecosystem in India through the transfer of design, equipment technology and skill sets.

Defence Acquisitions Council has also approved the acquisition of about five thousand MILAN Anti Tank Guided Missiles for the Army.
The French-origin anti-tank guided missiles are meant for the Indian infantry to destroy Main battle tanks which are fitted with Explosive Reactive Armour.

The Goods and services tax (GST) collection in January (for December) came in at over Rs 1 lakh crore, the Finance Ministry said in a tweet on Thursday, amid reports that the revenue shortfalls, primarily in GST, were impinging on its plan to contain the budget deficits. The GST collections exceeded the Rs 1 lakh crore mark only twice in past — in April and in October.

The collection in February would likely be impacted by rate cuts on 17 goods and six services which were announced by the GST Council on December 22 and came into effect from January 1.

“This increase has been achieved despite various tax relief measures implemented by the GST Council to lower the tax burden on the consumers,” the Ministry’s tweet said.

“Robust Economy: Gross GST Revenue in Jan 2019 crossed Rs 1 lakh crore … This has been achieved despite huge reduction in tax rates for various items benefitting poor, farmers & middle class,” Finance Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted. GST collection stood at Rs 1.03 lakh crore in April, Rs 94,016 crore in May, Rs 95,610 crore in June, Rs 96,483 crore in July, Rs 93,960 crore in August, Rs 94,442 crore in September, Rs 1,00,710 crore in October, Rs 97,637 crore in November and Rs 94,725 crore in December 2018.

Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal will present the Budget in Parliament today. Our correspondent reports that the government is likely to announce several welfare measures for various sections of society.

Industries bodies expect that the credit flow to industries will increase and corporate tax will reduce. Chairman of Economic Affairs Council of CII, Vinayak Chatterjee said, he expects more announcement for addressing farm distress and budgetary provisions for social sector.