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Congress seeks GST official discussion paper on the proposed restructure

Congress seeks GST official discussion paper on the proposed restructure

Time of Indiaa day ago
New Delhi: The
Congress party
on Saturday asked the government to come out with an official discussion paper on the proposed restructure of the
goods and services tax
(GST).
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Recalling the Congress election manifesto in 2024, proposing a "GST2", the party demanded the proposed changes should make the GST better and cheaper, and address the concerns of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
"The
Indian National Congress
demands an official discussion paper on
GST 2.0
very soon so that there can be an informed and wider debate on this vital and pressing national issue. GST 2.0 should be truly a 'good and simple tax' (GST) in letter, spirit, and compliance - not like the 'growth suppressing tax' (GST) it has become," party spokesperson
Jairam Ramesh
said.
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"There must be a drastic reduction in the number of GST rates. Simplification of the rate structure is essential, but must be done in a manner that minimises revenue uncertainty to states and also eliminates the classification disputes that have become so common," he added.
Bihar Yatra
Live Events
Another Congress spokesperson,
Pawan Khera
said the scheduled march of the Bihar opposition leaders, including
Rahul Gandhi
and Tejaswi Yadav, on Sunday is to defeat the conspiracy to manipulate elections through "
vote theft
" and special intensive revision (SIR) of the
electoral roll
.
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NATO-like protection in focus for Trump meeting with Ukraine, Europe
NATO-like protection in focus for Trump meeting with Ukraine, Europe

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NATO-like protection in focus for Trump meeting with Ukraine, Europe

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Putin agrees to US-Europe plan for NATO-style security guarantees for Ukraine, says Trump envoy
Putin agrees to US-Europe plan for NATO-style security guarantees for Ukraine, says Trump envoy

First Post

time10 minutes ago

  • First Post

Putin agrees to US-Europe plan for NATO-style security guarantees for Ukraine, says Trump envoy

Russia's Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with President Donald Trump to allow the United States and its European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO's collective defence mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3 1/2year war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed in principle to allow the United States and its European partners to extend Ukraine a form of collective security guarantee modelled on NATO's Article 5, according to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. Speaking on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, Witkoff described the concession as 'game-changing,' noting that this was the first time Moscow had accepted the possibility of such protections. 'We were able to win the following concession: that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons Ukraine wants to be in NATO,' he said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Read Also: A non-NATO pact for Ukraine? US floats Western alliance-style security guarantees for Kyiv Article 5 of NATO stipulates that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. While details remain scarce, the offer could provide a pathway around Putin's longstanding opposition to Ukraine joining the Western military alliance. Witkoff, who attended Friday's talks in Alaska alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also said Russia agreed to legislate against infringing the sovereignty of other European nations. 'There was plenty more,' he added, without giving specifics. Outlining some of the details about the private discussions, Witkoff also said Russia had agreed to enact a law that it would not 'go after any other European countries and violate their sovereignty. And there was plenty more.' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, applauded the move. 'We welcome President Trump's willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine and the 'Coalition of the willing' — including the European Union — is ready to do its share,' she said. Zelenskyy thanked the United States for recent signals that Washington was willing to support such guarantees, but that much was unclear. 'It is important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine,' he said, 'But there are no details how it will work, and what America's role will be, Europe's role will be and what the EU can do, and this is our main task, we need security to work in practice like Article 5 of NATO, and we consider EU accession to be part of the security guarantees,' he said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Witkoff defended Trump's decision to abandon his push that Russian agree to an immediate ceasefire, which Trump had set as a benchmark going into the meeting. Witkoff said the Republican president had pivoted toward a peace deal because so much progress was made. 'We covered almost all the other issues necessary for a peace deal,' Witkoff said, without elaborating. 'We began to see some moderation in the way they're thinking about getting to a final peace deal.' Rubio, who appeared on three Sunday news shows, said there was not going to be any kind of truce reached because Ukraine was not at the summit. 'Now, ultimately, if there isn't a peace agreement, if there isn't an end of this war, the president's been clear, there are going to be consequences,' Rubio said on ABC's 'This Week.' 'But we're trying to avoid that.' Rubio, who is also Trump's national security adviser, said he did not believe imposing new U.S. sanctions on Russia would force Putin to accept a ceasefire. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'The minute you issue new sanctions, your ability to get them to the table, our ability to get them to table will be severely diminished,' Rubio told NBC's 'Meet the Press.' He also said 'we're not at the precipice of a peace agreement' and that getting there would not be easy and would take a lot of work. 'We made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement, but there remains some big areas of disagreement. So we're still a long ways off,' Rubio said. Zelenskyy and Europeans leaders, who heard from Trump after the summit, are scheduled to meet with him at the White House on Monday. 'I think everybody agreed that we had made progress. Maybe not enough for a peace deal, but we are on the path for the first time,' Witkoff said. He added: 'The fundamental issue, which is some sort of land swap, which is obviously ultimately in the control of the Ukrainians — that could not have been discussed at this meeting' with Putin. 'We intend to discuss it on Monday. Hopefully we have some clarity on it and hopefully that ends up in a peace deal very, very soon." STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from agencies

Disturbing that PM did not mention Nehru in I-Day speech: Sharad Pawar
Disturbing that PM did not mention Nehru in I-Day speech: Sharad Pawar

The Hindu

time10 minutes ago

  • The Hindu

Disturbing that PM did not mention Nehru in I-Day speech: Sharad Pawar

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