# GST on covid relief goods     The GST council on saturday decided to wave the tax levied on two critical drugs against covid-19 and mucormycosis. Non-BJP ruled states registered a strong dissent, terming the continued imposition of GST on critical covid-19 supplies and drugs as “insensitive” and totally anti-people. The 5 […]

    # Islamic state     There are four Indian women lodged in an Afghanistan prison, who went to Afghanistan to fight as Islamic state terrorist. Indian government is unlikely to allow these women terrorists to return to India. These women, all from Kerela, travelled to Nangorhar in Afghanistan between 2016 and 2018. Their […]

    # Bihar covid deaths     Bihar government has revised the death toll due to covid, which led to 72.84% increase in total deaths in a single day. Opposition in Bihar has criticised the government for fudging the death figures. About 3900 new deaths were added, which happened at home or remain unaccounted. […]

    # Hike in MSP     The central government has hiked the Minimum Support price for common paddy to 1940 a quintal for the coming kharif season. The decision was taken by Cabinet committee on economic affairs on wednesday. In a bid to encourage crop diversification, there were slightly higher increases in the […]

    # Vaccine procurement     The centre has placed fresh orders for 44 crore vaccine doses of covishield and covaxin, which will be available from August-December. It has also placed an order for 30 crore doses from Hyderabad based Biological E for its in development protein subunit vaccine. All together 74 crore doses […]

    # Vaccination centralisation     Prime minister Narendra Modi on monday announced that India would revert to a system of centralised procurement of vaccines against covid-19. He also announced that free vaccines will be provided for the 18-44 age groups as well. Private sector will be allowed to procure 25% of vaccines and […]

    # RBI’s monetary policy     The reserve bank of India on friday left benchmark interest rates unchanged. RBI reiterated that it would retain its accomodative stance for “as long as necessary to revive and sustain growth on durable basis”. RBI also cut the GDP growth forecast for the fiscal year by 100 […]

    # NITI Index     NITI aayog has published a Index named “NITI aayog’s 2020 sustainable development goals index”. According to this index, India saw a significant improvement in the SDGs related to clean energy, urban development and health in 2020. However, there has been a major decline in the areas of industry, […]

    # Vaccination policy     The supreme court has questioned the centre’s logic that manufacturers are selling it covid-19 vaccines for a hefty discount because it places bulk orders. Supreme court asked the government why it cannot buy 100% of the vaccines at a discount instead of leaving the states to fend for […]

    # CBSE, CISCE exam cancelled     The class xii examinations of the central board of secondary education have been cancelled, following a review meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday. This decision has been taken in view of the uncertain conditions due to covid-19 and the feedback obtained from various stakeholders. […]