Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has promised a rational tax rate for individuals and bringing down of corporate tax to 25 per cent flat in four years beginning next fiscal along with removal of exemptions except those that encourage individual savings.Addressing students and faculty at the Columbia University here last night, he said along with a rational rate of taxation, more banking transactions and making PAN card compulsory for payments over a threshold limit will go a long way in tackling the problem of domestic black money. He also said that once the corporate taxes go down, the exemptions, over there is a bulk of litigations and discretions, will have to be phased out.

Ratings for NGOs receiving Environment Ministry grants
Government today said an in-house rating of NGOs receiving grants from the Environment Ministry will be done to rank them on the basis of their performnce.

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, while releasing the 10th edition of 'Directory of Environment NGOs' said a system will be created to assess the performance of such NGOs. "We will create a system where the performance of NGOs receiving Environment Ministry's grant will be assessed to see whether the money has been spent on the purpose it was mentioned for and second, whether the message for which the amount is given has reached the people and the purpose is achieved," he said. He said this will be an incentive for the NGOs to perform better.

Enter Pakistan and eliminate terrorism from its roots, says Shiv Sena
Hitting out at Pakistan after four jawans were killed in Kashmir, Shiv Sena on Tuesday said it has accorded "independent soldiers" status to terrorists for which India is paying a heavy price and rued there's a dearth of political will to carry out Myanmar-like strikes in PoK. "Instead of saying that Pakistan is sponsoring terrorists, it would be better to say that these terrorists have been accorded the status of 'independent soldiers' by Pakistan," an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said.

37 consulting firms to prepare Smart City plans for 88 cities
CRISIL, KPMG, McKinsey and Mott MacDonald are among the 37 consulting firms which have been assigned for preparing action plans for the 88 cities proposed to be developed as Smart Cities. The remaining 10 cities in north-eastern states and Union Territories will do so by this week end. Urban Development Ministry has announced the names of 98 cities which would be developed into smart cities having core infrastructure needed to enhance urban living. Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir are still to nominate a city each under the smart city development programme.

Ethnic protesting group meets Nepal government negotiators
The main group of protesters opposing Nepal’s new constitution said it would continue its protests after negotiations with the government on Tuesday failed to resolve the matter. Both sides said they would meet again in Kathmandu on Wednesday. Laxman Lal Karna from the United Democratic Madhesi Front said the government negotiators failed to present a solid proposal to end the protests. The activity in southern Nepal bordering India has stalled normal life in the area for several weeks and stopped the flow of fuel and supplies to the country’s north, including the capital.

India takes 17% more Iran oil in September than in August
India imported 17.3% more crude oil from Iran last month than it did in August as its top refiner made its first buy from Tehran for a new plant. n the first half of India’s fiscal year, running over the six months April-September, its oil imports from Iran jumped 16.7% as refiners stepped up purchases following the July deal that may mean the removal of sanctions sometime next year.Three Indian refiners, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, Essar Oil and IOC together imported 260,600 bpd in the first six months of this fiscal year compared with 223,400 bpd a year ago, the data showed.

Three TDP leaders held captive by Naxals
Three local Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders have been held captive allegedly by Naxals in Visakhapatnam district, police said today. Naxals through their network had asked the three TDP leaders to meet them at Dharkonda in the district yesterday afternoon and accordingly they went, Visakhapatnam district Superintendent of Police K Praveen told over phone.

Facebook tops networking, WhatsApp in messaging apps in India
Facebook remains the most popular social networking site in India with 51 per cent of users logging on daily, while WhatsApp tops the list of instant messaging (IM) apps, according to report by global research consultancy firm TNS. As per the findings of 'Connected Life', a global study of the digital attitudes and behaviours of 60,500 internet users across 50 countries, 55 per cent are on instant messaging every day. In India, Facebook continues its dominance for social networking platforms with 51 per cent of the users while WhatsApp is the most popular for instant messaging app with 56 per cent of users, TNS said in a statemen

BJP urges EC to probe age discrepancy in the case of Lalu Prasad's sons
The age discrepancy in the affidavits of two sons of RJD President Lalu Prasad in which the younger one has been mentioned as one year older than his elder brother, is snowballing into a controversy with the BJP urging the Election Commission to probe the papers of the younger brother, Tejaswi Prasad Yadav. The RJD supremo, however, appeared unperturbed about it and said what was mentioned in the voter card was final. BJP state President Mangal Pandey urged the Election Commission to take cognisance of the matter and probe the nomination papers submitted by Tejaswi Prasad Yadav. As Tejaswi is the younger brother, he should be younger than 25 years if his elder brother is 25 year old, he said.