Top stories on 12 February in a capsule

Pakistan will have to pay!: Defense Minister Sitharaman

In the wake of the ceaseless terror attack Jammu and Kashmir has been receiving since Saturday, Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed a press conference and said “Pakistan will have to pay for the misadventures.” “The Ministry of defense will stand by the Indian Army. We have to work together with the J&K government.” The minister further said that intelligence inputs have shown that the attacks were handled by operators across the border. Sitharaman’s harsh comment comes a day after militants created havoc in the Valley, killing 5 jawans and a civilian in Sunjwana on Sunday, and a CRPF jawan was martyred in Srinagar today.

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Petrol, Diesel rates fall straight in five days

Petrol rates and diesel rates were on Monday cut by 21-22 paise across Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. Diesel rates came down by 28-30 paise per litre. With that, petrol rates and diesel rates were brought down for a fifth day in a row. Petrol rates were at Rs. 73.01 per litre in Delhi, Rs. 75.7 per litre in Kolkata, Rs.80.87 per litre in Mumbai and Rs. 75.73 per litre in Chennai. Diesel rates were at Rs.63.62 per litre in Delhi, Rs. 66.29 per litre in Kolkata, Rs.67.75 per litre in Mumbai and Rs. 67.09 per litre in Chennai.

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Cancellation fee reduced, airlines to pay overbooked flights, rules DGCA

In a big relief of flight passengers, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday said that airlines must compensate passengers, if a flight is overbooked. “A passenger can seek compensation over and above the slab-wise refund already available,” the DGCA said. The decision has come after it was announced that airlines cannot the cancellation charge more than the base fare and the fuel surcharge combined. “We have taken the decision after it was seen that in some cases the cancellation fee was more than the price of the flight ticket,” Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha said.
 

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LPG traders to hold strike against state-wise hiring of lorries

The Southern Regional Bulk LPG Transport Owners Association on Monday announced a protest against the newly revised tender rules for hiring LPG lorries. The association demanded a region-wise hiring of tankers to continue as against the State-wise hiring, promoted by the Central government. For example, Tamil Nadu registered LPG lorries would now be able to participate in tenders only floated within the state and nowhere else. As per the old norm since three decades, an LPG lorry from Tamil Nadu would tender in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh or West Bengal. "This is causing a major financial loss for us. 4,500 trucks would remain off the road", Association President M Poonambalam said.

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GST officers to answer queries on Twitter

Eight officers, nominated by the finance ministry will be handling all your Goods and Services Tax (GST) related queries on Twitter, according to an official report. The officers, who are assistant commissioners were chosen from the neighboring commissionerate. The concerned officers are Raj Karan Agarwal, Rajni Sharma, Raunaq Jamil Ansari, Shantanu, Bullo Mamu, Heera Lal, Manish Chaudhary and Anshika Agarwal, “The decision to appoint the officers has been decided after a lot of queries were raised on social media,” a senior finance ministry official said.


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Government to extend pension benefits to divorced daughters

The government of India has now decided to extend the cover of family pension for divorced daughters even when divorces are not finalised and would take effect immediately. Earlier a divorced daughter could claim family pension only when her divorce had formalised during the parent’s life. But now even if the divorce has not been formalised and the parent expires, then the daughter will be able to claim a share along with others like mother, brothers (if any)," said Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.

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IKEA opens store in Pune, will invest 750 crores in Maharashtra

Swedish-home furnishing major IKEA has opened a Rs. 100 crore distribution center in Pune and is looking to invest up to 750 crores. It aims to build more facilities and acquire more land in the state. The distribution center has been set up to service its first store scheduled to be opened in Hyderabad by the middle of the year, followed by the second store in Mumbai in 2019. The company has also purchased land in Bengaluru and Gurgaon to open more outlets. Ikea India plans to set up 25 stores by 2025, investing Rs 10,500 crore. The company has so far hired 100 people for its distribution operations in Pune and is looking to employ at least 200 more there.

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Sensex, Nifty gain after a 2-week drop

Benchmark indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty closed higher on Monday, recovering from their biggest weekly drop since August. Sensex closed 294 points up at 34,300, while Nifty ended 84 points higher at 10,539. Also, Indian exchanges on Friday announced they would stop sharing data with foreign exchanges, but Singapore Exchange reassured international traders on Sunday that trading on products based on Indian securities would continue until August 2018. Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank and PowerGrid were top gainers, whereas SBI, Infosys, M&M, and ITC were among the major losers.

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