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European Free Trade Association (EFTA), comprising Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, aiming to boost trade and investments between the two regions. This agreement is expected to bring several benefits to Indian consumers and the economy. Key Benefits for Indian Consumers One of the major benefits of this trade pact is the phased-out custom duties on imported goods, which will enable domestic consumers to access high-quality Swiss products such as watches, chocolates, biscuits, and clocks at lower prices. The agreement includes tariff concessions on a range of products imported from Switzerland, including seafood, mediterranean fruits, coffee, oils, sweets, processed foods, and wine, among others. This will lead to a drop in prices of these products in Indian markets, making them more affordable and accessible to Indian consumers.

Startups in the country are “lost in the maze of existing regulations and controls that are applied to them sometimes even retrospectively”, Anand Mahindra, chairman Mahindra Group, said and called for increased ease of doing business for new enterprises. Delivering the 4th Annual Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture on ‘The role of industry in building a resilient and resurgent India’, Mahindra highlighted the importance of the government and industry working in a collaborative manner to achieve scale, innovation, and global reach.

Congress leaders including former ministers Rajendra Yadav and Lal Chand Kataria joined the BJP Sunday, days before the expected announcement of the Lok Sabha elections. Former Congress MLAs Ricchpal Mirdha, his son Vijaypal Mirdha and Khiladi Bairwa; former independent MLA Alok Beniwal, former state chief of Congress Seva Dal Suresh Chaudhary, Rampal Sharma and Riju Jhunjhunwala among other leaders also joined the state's ruling party. Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot hit out these leaders, saying «people are saying they have pressure from central agencies therefore they are leaving the Congress and joining the BJP». It is a second major jolt to the Congress within a few days as former minister Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya recently joined the BJP which fielded him from Basnwara in the LS elections.

The 1960s were a turbulent time. Assassinations, riots, civil rights protests, and angry opposition to the war in Vietnam. This unrest wasn’t confined to North America, either. It seemed that the whole world was about to come apart at the seams.

₹40-45 lakh. So far, NexCAR 19 has been administered to 98 patients (including 76 during clinical trials) across 45 hospitals. The response rate is 60-70%, according to data provided to Mint by ImmunoACT, a startup founded by Purwar and incubated at Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) at IIT Bombay to commercialize the therapy.

BJP has decided to seek an explanation from its Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha member Ananthkumar Hegde for his public comments on changing the Constitution of India if the party was reelected with 400 seats in the Lok Sabha. Hegde had reportedly made these comments at a party workers meeting at Siddapur in his constituency, saying the earlier Congress regimes made changes in the Constitution which hurt the interests of the Hindu community. The BJP Karnataka unit issued a clarification saying Hegde's remarks were his personal views and do not reflect the party's stand. "@BJP4India reaffirms our unwavering commitment to uphold the nation's Constitution," the party posted on X.

tax administration, a brainstorming is underway to figure out ways to deal with the ‘retrospective’ character of the Black Money law — a disputed feature of the stern statute that was passed nearly a decade ago to overcome the limitations of the Income Tax Act and target wealth stashed abroad. In the past few years, hundreds of writ petitions have been filed in multiple high courts of the country, challenging the sweeping power of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act (BMA) that empowers the taxman to go after foreign bank accounts and assets which were opened or acquired years ago but discovered only recently by the I-T department. The petitions before the court have questioned whether a law — that could put the offender behind bars for 7 years — can be used to punish someone for an offence that was committed when the specific law did not exist. Such a safeguard allowed under the Constitution has put the powerful BMA in a limbo, with some of the courts granting stay, the tax office unable to recover money in many cases, and several assessments coming to a halt.

Bharat Shakti', a synergised demonstration of indigenous defence capabilities in the form of a tri-services live fire and manoeuvre exercise, in Rajasthan's Pokhran on March 12. Modi will also visit Gujarat on Tuesday to launch multiple development projects, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement on Sunday. The 'Bharat Shakti' will have on display an array of indigenous weapon systems and platforms as a demonstration of the prowess of the country, premised on the nation's self-reliance initiative, the statement said. The exercise will simulate realistic, synergised, multi-domain operations displaying integrated operational capabilities of the Indian armed forces to counter threats across land, air, sea, cyber, and space domains, it added.

Viksit Bharat, Viksit Northeast' programme at Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. During the programme, the Prime Minister virtually inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for multiple development projects worth Rs 55,600 crore in 6 North Eastern States, including the inauguration and laying of the foundation stone for multiple development projects worth over Rs 8500 crore for Tripura and Northeast. On this occasion, the Prime Minister said that he considers the dreams of the people of the country to be his own. The objective of this government is to ensure a pucca house for every family in the country, free rations, pure drinking water, health care service and internet service. The central government is working on the concept of Ashtalaxmi to boost development in the Northeast.

rail roko’ at 62 places in Punjab, ratcheting up a widening stir for better procurement prices among other demands. The call for the ‘rail roko’ protest, held between 12 pm and 4pm was given by the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Samyukt Kisan Morcha (non-political) and came after farmers resumed their ‘Delhi chalo’ march on 6 March. In Haryana, several farmers were allegedly detained by the police in Dabwali and Ellenabad as they headed to the protest sites.

Mint. These next-generation reforms will go alongside India's aspirational goal of establishing the rupee as a stable currency over the next decade, helping internalize its usage, besides enhancing its global acceptance as a payment mode. Additionally, the bureaucracy must keep pace and meet the demands of the 21st century, Sanyal said, adding that the other major area for reforms would be the legal processes.

Saudi Press Agency reports, quoted by Hindustan Times, the Supreme Court has asked that anyone in the Kingdom, who sees the Ramadan crescent moon with their naked eyes or through binoculars, should notify the court nearest to their location and record their testimony there. ALSO READ: Ramadan 2024 moon sighting: When crescent moon is expected to be sighted in India, Saudi Arabia The report added that various observatories across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will search for the crescent moon for the month of Ramadan 1445 AH on Sunday.

₹2,000 crore for the wholly-owned unit, the people said on condition of anonymity. Antara has two lines of businesses–Assisted Care services, including Care Homes, Care at Home, MedCare Products and AGEasy; and independent residences for seniors. The company is in the process of setting up multiple communities and care facilities across different regions of India.

Ramadan 2024 moon sighting: The sighting of the crescent moon marks the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. The exact timing of the moon sighting can vary depending on geographical location and local moon sighting traditions. The beginning of Ramadan 2024 is determined by the Islamic calendar which is based on the lunar cycle and is 29-30 days long.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders, including two former MPs, and a Congress leader from Telangana joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday as the ruling party looks to boost its Lok Sabha tally in the southern state. Those who joined the party are Godam Nagesh and Sitaram Nayak, both former MPs, former BRS MLAs Saidy Reddy and Jalagam Venkat Rao, and Srinivas Gomase, who was in the Congress. The leaders praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership. BJP leader and party parliamentary board member K Laxman welcomed them and said while the leaders of other parties are working for the future for their sons and daughters, Modi is working for the country.

Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday took oath as Pakistan's 14th President, a day after the veteran politician staged a remarkable comeback when he was overwhelmingly elected as the only civilian president of the coup-prone country for a second time. Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa administered the oath to the 68-year-old Zardari in a small yet formal ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the Presidential Palace. Zardari replaces Dr Arif Alvi, who stayed in office for five months after completing his five-year term in September 2023.

free trade pact between India and the four-nation bloc European Free Trade Association (EFTA), Swiss State Secretary for Economic Affairs, Helene Budliger Artieda, affirmed that India will be world's premier manufacturing and service hub. She also said that the quality goods from India will get a very open market in Switzerland, adding that the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) will also open job opportunities for the Indian youth. Speaking to ANI, the Swiss Secretary said, «It's a massive moment of joy for us. We've been negotiating this agreement for more than 16 years...I'm completely delighted that we managed to push it through during the past eight months.»

Russia-Ukraine conflict raged in 2022, the United States started «preparing rigorously» for a potential nuclear strike by Moscow against Kyiv, in what would have been the first nuclear attack since the US dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki nearly eighty years before, CNN reported citing two senior administration officials. The report stated that outreach from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other countries also played an important role in averting the crisis. The Biden administration was specifically concerned Russia might use a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon, the officials said.

Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam on Sunday hit out at Rahul Gandhi and called him a «mad person,» claiming as long as he is in the party, Congress cannot be saved. «A mad person can say anything. A boy who has gone mad can say anything. No one should take seriously what a mad person or a child says,» Krishnam told reporters. Krishnam was ousted from the Congress for indiscipline in February. «In view of the complaints of indiscipline and repeated statements against the party, the Congress President has approved the proposal of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee to expel Pramod Krishnam from the party for six years with immediate effect,» the party had then said in a statement.

lakhpati didi" and asserted that women's welfare is their priority. The PM was speaking after virtually inaugurating the 'Mahtari Vandan' scheme in Chhattisgarh to provide monetary assistance to women. «It is fortunate that today I got an opportunity to dedicate the Mahtari Vandan scheme aimed at empowering 'nari shakti'. Under the scheme, we had promised to give Rs 1,000 per month to more than 70 lakh women and today, the BJP government has fulfilled it,» Modi said addressing the function via video conference. The first installment of Rs 655 crore was deposited into the bank accounts of beneficiaries (married women) under the scheme on Sunday, he said.

U.S. military said on Sunday it has carried out an operation in Haiti to airlift non-essential embassy personnel from the country and added U.S. forces bolster embassy security, as Caribbean nation reels under a state of emergency. The operation was the latest sign of Haiti's troubles as gang violence threatens to bring down the government and has led thousands to flee their homes. «This airlift of personnel into and out of the embassy is consistent with our standard practice for embassy security augmentation worldwide, and no Haitians were on board the military aircraft,» the U.S. military's Southern Command said in a statement.