The Daily Brief – 6th December 2019

The Lok Sabha passed the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 with the main aim being providing an option for the domestic companies to pay taxes at the rate of 22%. The President of India had promulgated an ordinance in September 2019 to reduce corporate taxes and this bill will replace it. The new tax rate for domestic companies can only be availed if the said company is not claiming deductions under the Income Tax Act, 1961. Concessions are being provided to those companies that commenced after 30^th September, 2019 and will begin their manufacturing processes before 1^st April, 2023.

Prithvirajsingh Roopun has been unanimously elected by the National Assembly of the Republic of Mauritius as the new President. He is a former Arts and Culture Minister and will be holding a post that is largely ceremonial, with the Prime Minister being the actual head of the government. Marie Cyril Eddy Boissezon will be made the Vice President of the island nation and her election motion was presented by Prime Minister Pravin Kumar Jugnauth.

In the Lok Sabha, the Ministry of Human Resource Development informed that the “Indian Ranking Society” had been approved by it in August 2019 during the 127^th meeting of the AICTE Executive Council. The IRS will develop methodologies and systems to rank higher educational institutions in the country. At present, the educational institutes in the country are ranked according to the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) on five parameters – teaching, learning & resources, graduation outcomes, perception, outreach & inclusivity and professional practice. However, the Indian Ranking 2019 by the IRS will rank the institutes based on the categories – Medicine, Law, Engineering, Management, Pharmacy and Architecture.

Another successful night trial was conducted of Prithvi-2 missile, India’s indigenously developed nuclear capable missile, from a mobile launcher at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Odisha coast. Prithvi-2 is a tactical surface-to-surface short range ballistic missile (SRBM) with a strike range of 350 km and is capable of carrying warheads weighing 500 to 1000 kg.

The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Test facility in the CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad was cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) after an inspection was conducted between 21^st August and 22^nd August, 2019. The test facility, which is the largest facility of NMR laboratory in the country, was certified “No Action Initiated”. The facility is equipped with nine NMR spectrometers. The clearance from USFDA is required for the pharma and food products to be exported to the US.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was cleared by the Union Cabinet for it to be tabled in the Lok Sabha and this comes in the wake of widespread protests in the north eastern states of India. The aim of the bill is to provide Indian citizenship to five minority communities – Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains – from the countries of Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan. At present, the citizenship of India is granted to a person given that he has resided in the country for 11 years. The Bill that is being tabled has excluded the Muslim community and this violates Article 14 of the Constitution of India that legalizes “equality before law”.

The Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) between India and Germany regarding strategic cooperation on railway projects was notified to the Union Cabinet, which is chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The JDI will provide a platform to the Indian Railways to interact and share latest knowledge and developments in the field.

The Pacific Air Chiefs Symposium 2019 (PACS 2019) is being held at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, USA. Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar, Chief of the Indian Air Force, is set to participate in this symposium. The theme for this year’s symposium is ‘A Collaborative Approach to Regional Security’. The PACS 2019 has the objective to further strengthen the existing cooperation between the Air Forces of the participating countries.