GS-III

Direct tax mop-up grew 14.1% to Rs. 8.74 lakh crore during April-December 2018, the Finance Ministry said on Monday. Refunds amounting to Rs. 1.3 lakh crore have been issued from April to December, 2018, which is 17% higher than refunds issued in the year-earlier period. Advance tax As much as …

Aimed at contributing to India’s cruise tourism, Zen Cruises, a company promoted by Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra’s family office, has announced plans to start cruise services on India’s coastline starting April 17. Karnika, the first ship under the Jalesh brand, with a capacity to take 1,900-2,000 people on board, …

With the number of exchanges offering commodity derivatives on the rise and national-level equity bourses also entering the fray, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is making all attempts to bring uniformity among the bourses in a segment which came under its regulatory purview only three years ago. …

The Reserve Bank of India has not yet taken a decision regarding the quantum of the interim dividend it will transfer to the government, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Monday. The central bank would not delay in announcing the decision once made, he said. Mr. Das was responding to …

It is time to stand by those who are being jailed for activism or persons like Naseeruddin Shah who are raising questions about growing intolerance in the country, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said here on Monday. “There is growing intolerance compared with the past. Many activists are now jailed as …

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission to respond to a plea that the counts from electronic voting machines and voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units should be cross-verified in at least 30% randomly chosen polling stations in each Assembly and Lok Sabha constituency, especially in light …

The government has projected GDP growth for the full year 2018-19 to come in at 7.2%, which implies that growth in the second half of the year would slow significantly to 6.8% from the 7.6% clocked in the first half of the year, according to the first advance estimates of …

A 14-year-old boy in the U.S. who was allegedly driving an SUV that caused a fatal car accident has been arrested on a murder charge.The Texas Harris County Sheriff’s Office says the SUV was filled with teens who were throwing eggs at other cars on Tuesday afternoon when another driver …

Inspired by the magic carpet featured in the folk tale of ‘Aladdin’, researchers have designed a two-dimensional, shape-changing sheet that moves autonomously in a reactant-filled fluid. The ‘magic carpet’ in tales from One Thousand and One Nights captures the imagination not only because it can fly, but because it can …

Ultima Thule, an icy celestial body, is aptly shaped like a giant snowman, NASA scientists have announced.The first detailed images beamed back from the U.S. agency’s New Horizons mission allowed scientists to confidently determine the body was formed when two spheres, or “lobes,” slowly gravitated towards each other until they …