The News Journal

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced a major reduction in customs duty on cancer medicines and mobile phones, which will significantly bring down their prices in the retail market. Imported gold, silver, leather goods and seafood will also get cheaper. Budget 2024 "The government will exempt 3 more cancer treatment drugs from Customs duty. I will also reduce basic customs duty on mobile phones, chargers and other mobile parts," Ms Sitharaman said while presenting Budget 2024 in the parliament. Ms Sitharaman slashes import duties on gold and silver to 6%, a move that industry officials say could boost retail demand and help in curtailing smuggling in the world's second-biggest bullion consumer. Higher demand for gold from India could support global prices, which hit a record high earlier this year, although that could increase India's trade deficit and weigh on the ailing rupee. On the other hand, the government will raise customs duty on ammonium nitrat

Standard deduction in the new tax regime will be increased from ₹ 50,000 to ₹ 75,000, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Tuesday as she announced the 2024 Union Budget.  Finance Minister Ms Sitharaman also announced revisions to tax slabs in the new regime. As a result, the Finance Minister told Parliament, salaried employees can save as much as ₹ 17,500 in the new regime. It will also, she said, provide salaried individuals with higher tax savings and more disposable income. Existing new tax regime slabs (effective for FY 2023-24) were as follows: Income up to ₹ 3 lakh - Nil  Rs 3 lakh to ₹ 6 lakh - 5 per cent Rs 6 lakh to ₹ 9 lakh - 10 per cent Rs 9 lakh to ₹ 12 lakh - 15 per cent Rs 12 lakh to ₹ 15 lakh - 20 per cent Above ₹ 15 lakh - 30 per cent The increase in standard deduction was one of the most anticipated ahead of the budget speech. Industry experts speculated this could double to ₹ 1,00,000, but Ms Sitharaman fell slightly short. In addition, deduction on family pensio

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud today blasted a lawyer after he tried to interrupt the Supreme Court hearing in the case surrounding alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). NEET is an all-India exam for admission to medical courses.  DY Chandrachud Advocate Mathews Nedumpara, appearing for one of the petitioners, was interrupting when Narender Hooda, also representing a petitioner, was addressing the bench. Responding to a question from the bench, Mr Nedumpara said he is the seniormost of all lawyers before the court. "I can answer. I am the amicus." The Chief Justice retorted, "I have not appointed any amicus." The advocate did not stop there. "If you don't respect me, I will leave." This drew a sharp response from the Chief Justice. "Mr Nedumpara I am warning you. You will not speak to the gallery. I am in charge of the court. Please call security, have him removed from court," he said. To this, th

A taxi driver died as the roof of Delhi airport's terminal-1 collapsed after heavy rains on Saturday night. Ramesh Kumar was rescued from a car on which an iron beam had fallen but was declared dead when he was taken to the Medanta Hospital near the terminal. Family Struggles After Taxi Driver's Death The 45-year-old's death has left his family in shock and grief. Ramesh, a resident of Vijay Vihar in Rohini, Delhi, was the sole breadwinner of his family, which includes two sons and two daughters. His son, Ravindra, expressed concern about how the family will manage without their father's support. "We received a call at 8.30am in the morning. They told us that our father fainted at the airport and has been taken to the hospital. But they did not tell us that such a tragedy has occured," Ravindra says. "When we went to the airport and asked the cops what was happening, they took us to a police station and kept us there till 4pm. Then they took us to the hos

Five soldiers of the Indian Army were killed after their tank met with an accident during a river-crossing exercise near the Line of Actual Control in Leh's Daulat Beg Oldi area in the early hours of Saturday, officials said. The soldiers were on a training mission in Ladakh A Junior Commissioned Officer, or JCO, is among the five killed in the accident that happened. The soldiers were on a routine exercise around 3 am today. While crossing the Bodhi River near Mandir Morh, 148 kilometres from Leh, on their T-72 tank, the water levels suddenly began to rise, official sources said. Soon the tank and the soldiers were submerged in the swelling river, they added. A rescue operation was immediately launched and all five bodies were retrieved. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh led the nation in mourning the deaths. "Deeply saddened at the loss of lives of five of our brave Indian Army soldiers in an unfortunate accident while getting the tank across a river in Ladakh. We will never fo

Projected to last only days, the first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft with two astronauts onboard faces uncertainty with no exact return to Earth announced. Boeing Starliner with Sunita Williams NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager, Steve Stich has said that the US space agency is considering extending the duration of Starliner's mission from 45 days to 90 days, CNN reported. Officials have repeatedly hinted that the Starliner, which faced issues with helium leaks and thruster outages heading to the International Space Station in early June, will be safe to bring astronauts including indian-origin Sunita 'Suni' Williams and Butch Wilmore home. On Friday, Stich said that NASA is considering extending the maximum length of Starliner's mission from 45 days to 90 days and there is no firm return date on the horizon, according to CNN report. Addressing a briefing on Friday, the NASA official said, "We're just looking at the timeline to