Daily Briefing: PM Modi's longest-ever Independence Day speech and Oppn's fury
Actor-filmmaker Aamir Khan's latest release Sitaare Zameen Par is available for rent on the Google-owned video-sharing platform YouTube, effectively adding another distribution channel for films. In an interview with Matthew Beloni on the podcast The Town, Khan said, 'We need a 'pay-per-view' (PPV) window between theatrical and OTT, and that's what I am pushing to create.' In the PPV model, viewers essentially pay only for what they want to watch, not for a subscription. With only 30% of all films released on OTTs in 2024 (including digital-first and theatre-first), YouTube, having the highest penetration in India, would work as the platform of choice for filmmakers. My colleague Sonal Gupta breaks down the business logic of Khan's decision.
With that, let's move on to the top 5 stories from today's edition:
🚨 Big Story
Setting a new record for the longest Independence Day address since 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday highlighted the 'threat' of infiltration or illegal immigration and announced a mission to check 'demographic change', flagged self-reliance as the path to development and prosperity while urging the youth to come forward with innovative ideas to power the change. In his 103-minute speech, he also praised the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), as well as signalled his intent to stand up like 'a wall' to protect the interests of farmers and fishermen amid the stuttering trade talks with the United States. Here are the excerpts.
'Demographic Mission': PM Modi's announcement of his government setting up a 'demographic mission' to study population changes has brought into sharp focus the long-held concerns of the BJP and its ideological parent, the RSS, over demographic shifts in the country. Deeptiman Tiwary explains how the Mission aligns with their narratives: 'For years, the BJP and RSS have linked the issue to infiltration from neighbouring countries, religious conversion, and differential fertility rates among communities — framing it as a challenge with national security, political, and socio-cultural dimensions.'
Reacting to the announcement, the Opposition came down heavily on the PM for politicising his speech, in order to appease the RSS. Terming it as 'stale, hypocritical, insipid, and troubling', with the 'same recycled slogans', Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, 'This politicisation of Independence Day for personal and organisational gain is deeply corrosive to our democratic ethos.' Here's how the Opposition reacted.
In defence: PM announced the launch of Mission Sudarshan Chakra, an advanced, multi-tiered air defence system, aimed at creating a nationwide security shield to thwart enemy attacks across domains and strengthen the country's deterrent and offensive capabilities. He also hailed Operation Sindoor, saying that strategic autonomy and indigenous capabilities are essential to decisively tackling threats, making self-reliance the bedrock of national strength, dignity and the journey to a developed India by 2047.
On the economic front, Modi announced reforms to boost consumption, with lower GST rates on goods, presenting it as a 'Diwali gift' to the common man, small entrepreneurs and MSMEs. Likely to come into effect by October, the next-gen GST reforms would mark a significant change in its design eight years after its rollout.
⚡ Only in Express
'It's almost as if my orchard never existed. The orchard was my family's only source of income. I don't even have photos of the 300 trees I had…'
Birodh Singh's words echo what many in Dharali have experienced over the past two weeks as tides of mud and debris swallowed humans, mules, houses and hotels, and, with these, the very memory of the village. Nearly ten days after Dharali was struck by flash floods, rescuers of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) continue to look for remains of the people and places that made up the village. From apple orchard owners, local families, tourists, childhood friends, to migrant workers, the village now holds stories of loss, pain, suffering, and little hope.
💡 Express Explained
At least 65 people have been killed after torrential rains triggered a flash flood at Chasoti, the last motorable village, in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district. Even as experts hesitate to attribute a single extreme weather event solely to climate change, they point out that flash floods and wildfires are becoming more frequent and intense due to the global rise in temperatures and changes in weather patterns. Here are the several factors that explain the occurrence of extreme weather events in J&K.
✍️ Express Opinion
In our Opinion section today, Alok Prasanna Kumar draws parallels between the Supreme Court verdicts in the case of Bihar SIR now, and that of Lal Babu Hussain in 1995, suggesting that the 'relationship between the ECI and the SC has been one of institutional bonhomie.' Kumar writes, 'The SC judges hearing the case, through their oral observations, do not seem convinced that the ECI is acting either unlawfully or in bad faith. Rather, they have tried to nudge the ECI along, pointing to its own commitment to transparency and fairness in the process.'
🍿 Movie Review
Wondering what to watch this weekend? We've got you covered! John Abraham-starrer Tehran, a compelling spy drama will leave you with a sense of what the business entails. Shubhra Gupta, in her review, writes: 'It tells us that the Middle East has been on the boil for a long time: at this moment, an end doesn't seem to be in sight, but after this incident, the warring nations have taken their dirty business off Indian soil. That's what 'Tehran' leaves us with.'
That's all for today. Have a lovely weekend!
Until next time,
Ariba
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Indian Express
8 minutes ago
- Indian Express
GoM meeting on GST reforms next week, tight timeline for Council's nod
The Group of Ministers (GoM) on Rate Rationalisation is set to meet in the coming week to discuss the proposal on next-generation GST reforms Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday. The GoM has ministers from six states: Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar and Karnataka. While the proposal was shared with the ministers from the six states a day before the PM's Independence Day address, the Department of Revenue in the Union Ministry of Finance will make a presentation to the GoM when it meets, sources said. Sources in the Union Finance Ministry said they were confident the GoM and later the GST Council would find merit in the proposal. Internal calculations by the Department of Revenue in the Finance Ministry suggest that gross GST revenues under the proposed two-pillar rate structure of 5 per cent and 18 per cent will not be lower than what it is now. Giving a broad idea of the proposal, sources said most of the products and services would be placed in either of the two rates — 5 per cent or 18 per cent. Goods and services used by the common man, or as inputs by farmers, small entrepreneurs and MSMEs, will attract the lower 5 per cent duty. This will reduce the tax burden and is expected to drive consumption. Most other goods and services will attract the 18 per cent rate, they said. Sources said that in categorising goods and services as sin and demerit goods and bracketing them under the special rate of 40 per cent, the Department of Revenue has kept in mind the country's 'social ethos'. At present, there are multiple rate slabs — 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent — and a compensation cess ranging from 1 per cent to 290 per cent that is levied on sin and luxury goods such as cars, refrigerators, air conditioners, pan masala, tobacco and cigarettes. 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Indications are that a rollout is being targeted well ahead of Diwali, since the industry needs time to reconcile to the new rate structure and any disruption ahead of the festive season would need to be avoided. 'In the eight years of GST, there has so far been patchy tinkering of tax rates and slabs. That piecemeal addressing of problems with the tax regime has only complicated the structure further and has ended up with a system that is even more complicated and layered than what was originally envisaged. What we are doing now is a holistic revamp of the tax system with two main rates that will be the two pillars of the tax regime,' said the source 'This structural reform to the tax regime would be accompanied by process reforms that include sorting out registration issues and problems with refunds, and changes in how automated notices are generated to make the interface smoother,' said the source. As per the proposal, the government is looking to implement pre-filled returns to reduce manual intervention, eliminate mismatches and compliance burden due to multiple notices. Changes will also be made on the refunds front, with the proposal aiming to provide a major portion of refunds within a fixed number of days and enable automated processing of refunds for exporters and those with inverted duty structure. 'In Income Tax, the tax department keeps your TDS (tax deducted at source) amount for one year and pays you the refund after your return filing. But since they pay fast, the taxpayer feels happy about it. In GST, there are refunds that are given three times or four times a year. But people still complain. Now, the crucial difference here is that in the case of GST, the timing is crucial, since it (the refund) is working capital for the enterprise. So, there is a need to make the processes faster. All these will be part of the process reforms,' the source said. The Centre is learnt to have factored in at least three meetings of the Group of Ministers (GoM) before a final proposal is put before the GST Council. Indications are that a rollout is being targeted well ahead of Diwali, since the industry needs time to reconcile to the new rate structure and any disruption ahead of the festive season would need to be avoided. The multiplicity of rates in the current GST regime, officials said, had triggered problems of implementation, confusion of interpretation, and disputes. 'So, we wanted to make it simple. Ideally, one tax rate would have been the best solution, but it is not practical. Currently, we have five rates, alongside the exempt items and special rates for items such as jewellery or diamonds. Now we would have two rates (5 per cent and 18 per cent). The third rate (40 per cent) is exceptional. You need to justify why something should go there. Currently, 28 per cent is part of the structure. 40 per cent in the new regime is not. That is the difference,' the source said. The PM's announcement has to be seen in the context of it being a proposal for states to consider, the source said. 'A reform like this should have everybody on board for it to work best. The GoM on rate rationalisation has been working on this issue for the last four years… The Centre has now taken a leadership position on this, and put this proposal for consideration of the panel,' a source said. The Centre, sources said, is convinced of the buoyancy from the rate rationalisation taking care of the worries stemming from revenue loss, unlike an earlier attempt in 2018 when rate cuts did not result in revenue gains. 'There were problems then (2018), since it (the cut) led to inversions in duty rates in multiple sectors and that led to some amount of gaming of the system by players to avail of input tax credits. Evasion grew… This move to revamp the rate structure (now) is to avoid inversions and inversions-related problems,' an official said. 'Technically, the states should be convinced. Politically, one has to see how they respond,' the official said.
The Hindu
8 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Congress releases list of 71 district presidents in M.P.; OBC leaders given maximum representation
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Time of India
18 minutes ago
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Kerala CM slams PM Modi for praising RSS in I-Day speech
T'puram: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi for praising RSS in his Independence Day speech. He stated that giving credit to RSS and V D Savarkar for Indian independence was a denial of history. Vijayan said it was a dishonour to the independence struggle that the Prime Minister chose Independence Day itself to eulogize those who worshipped the British. RSS was banned in connection with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, and Savarkar faced conspiracy charges related to the murder, the chief minister said. Any amount of ridiculous efforts to whitewash an organization like RSS would not work. The conspiracy behind such an exercise was clearer in the Union petroleum ministry's Independence Day poster, featuring Savarkar above Gandhiji, he added. "It shows the panic of those who fear the history of the freedom struggle," Vijayan said in a statement. "Indians joined the national independence movement beyond caste, religion, dress and language differences. RSS played the role of bystanders then. They openly opposed the fundamental ideological concepts of the freedom movement. Instead of the unity in diversity that Indian nationalism upholds, they promoted a Hindutva nationalism based on majority communalism. On Nov 26, 1949, when the Constituent Assembly gave final approval to India's Constitution, the RSS mouthpiece, Organizer, editorialized that Manusmriti should be upheld instead of the Constitution," the chief minister said. Vijayan said Savarkar boycotted the Independence Day celebrations on Aug 15, 1947. It was this same Savarkar whom the Sangh Parivar is now projecting as a leader of the freedom struggle. RSS, which stood aloof throughout the phases of the freedom struggle, is now engaged in creating false narratives to claim a role in the national movement. "What respect do those who called for observing Aug 14 as a day of Partition horror have for Independence Day?" he asked. The nation must stand united against any attempt to bury the history of humanity and mutual respect and replace it with hatred, he added. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
