Where Ganga meets the Bay of Pollution

An exponential increase in the number of pilgrims coming to the Ganga Sagar Mela, which takes place at the Sagar Island every year during Makar Sankranti, has been responsible for the worsening water pollution, prompting scientists to raise serious concerns about the likely outbreak of several diseases.

Direct tax base widens

According to the official data released, the direct tax base has significantly widened in the last few years.

Tax-GDP Ratio

Given the sharp rise in the number of Income-Tax returns filed and an increase in the number of taxpayers, the direct tax-GDP ratio touch a decadal high of almost 6 per cent.

UN model on cross-border insolvency

A government-appointed Insolvency Law Committee (ILC) has recommended adoption of a United Nations model law for dealing with cross-border insolvency cases under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty

U.S. President confirmed that the U.S. would pull out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia, a crucial Cold War-era treaty banning the development, testing and possession of short and medium range ground-launched nuclear missiles with a range of 500-5,000 km.

Stubble burning

In May this year, the government announced a National Policy on Biofuels, which laid out the path towards increasing the country’s ethanol and biodiesel production.

Growth in Bank credit

The overall credit outstanding of scheduled commercial banks on a year-on-year (YoY) basis jumped to over 4-year high of 12.2% in August 2018.