Lok Sabha was repeatedly disrupted over Lalit Modi controversy on Wednesday with opposition members storming the Well with placards, ignoring Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's warning of action. Members of Congress and Left protested vociferously demanding ouster of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje in connection with the row involving Lalit Modi.Congress members carried placards and were also sporting black badges on their arms to register their protests and continued wearing them and carrying placards despite Speaker's warning against doing so. Mahajan disapproved of their action observing that she was deeply concerned over the "unruly behaviour". Quoting various rules, the Speaker told the agitating members that they must give proper notice in advance if they want to raise any issue on the floor of the House. "In the event of disorderly behaviour, I would be constrained to take disciplinary action," she said amidst protests by opposition members.
 
BJP alleges 'liquor scam' in Uttarakhand, releases sting operation video
As a counter-attack on niggling Congress, the Bhartiya Janata Party on Wednesday released a video of a purported sting operation against Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat's personal secretary Mohammed Shahid, in which he is seen as negotiating with middlemen to change the excise policy in the state. Releasing the video at the party headquarters, Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “The excise policy of Uttarakhand under Vijay Bhauguna was to have the wholesale distribution of foreign liquor (FL-2) through Garwhal Mandal Vikas Nigam and Agriculture Marketing Council. These two then distribute to the smaller retailers and the third layer was the retail outlet.” After the Congress replaced Bhauguna with Harish Rawat, among the first thing the new CM did was to change the liquor policy of the state in favour of private agencies at the convenience and through the pick and chose policy of the chief minister and Mohammed Shahid.

AIADMK joins Cong in dissent note on GST
The Congress demanded cap on GST rate and the AIADMK termed it as a legislation that jeopardises the autonomy of the states in their dissent notes on the report of Rajya Sabha Select Committee on the Constitution Amendment Bill for rolling out GST in its current form. The Bill is "pitted with compromises, exclusions and exceptions that make it impossible for us to extend our support to the Bill in the absence of the amendments we have proposed being incorporated in the Bill...", said the Congress dissent note. The party demands that the GST rate should be capped at 18 per cent so as "unfair burden" is not imposed on consumers, particularly the poor.

AIADMK's note said that GST Council as a constitutional body "impinges" on the legislative sovereignty of both Parliament and the States legislatures."It also completely jeopardises the autonomy of the states in fiscal matters," the note said, adding "we strongly object to the provision for the GST Council". The report of the 21-member Committee was today tabled in Rajya Sabha.

AAP releases video after Dilip Pandey claims Delhi Police bus tried to 'run over him'
A day after Aam Aadmi Party leader Dilip Pande claimed that a Delhi Police bus tried to 'run him over', the party released a video of the alleged incident to back its claim. The Aam Aadmi Party posted a video in a tweet on the official Twitter handle, “Here is the evidence video of how Delhi Police tried to run over.” The nearly two-minute-long video clip shows Pandey interacting with mediapersons on Tuesday night when there is a sudden commotion and a Delhi Police bus is seen passing by and coming to a halt.The people then tried to pull the driver out of the vehicle but were prevented by the police personnel.

Humble post office makes good income for govt, revenue jumps by 25%
Revenue receipts of the Department of Posts has increased income by about 25 per cent and it stood at Rs 11,733.13 crore in 2014-15. Speed post, which is the flagship express mail product of the department has shown increase in revenue from Rs 1,261.50 crore to Rs 1,473.39 crore in the same period. "Parcel revenue has increased 37 per cent from 2013-14 to 2014-15, owing to the infrastructure improvement for parcel handling and delivery as well as focus on quality of service delivery," said communications and information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday.


Digital India focus: 67% of small and medium businesses have no digital access
Despite the Narendra Modi-led government's emphasis on digital empowerment, nearly two-third or 67 per cent of India's 67 million small and medium businesses do not have access to digital technology. A study by audit and consulting firm Deloitte says that the sector has potential to create the most jobs in the country. These businesses operate totally offline with no digital access, which means they are not connected to any device and have no Internet connectivity. The SMB industry employs nearly 134 million people, making up to 22 per cent of the country's workforce.

Eli Lilly says drug slows Alzheimer's in patients with mild disease
Patients with mild Alzheimer's disease who took Eli Lilly and Co's experimental drug solanezumab early in the course of their disease preserved more of their cognitive and functional ability, according to new Lilly data released on Wednesday. In 2012, the original 18-month studies of solanezumab, called Expedition and Expedition 2, each included about 1,000 patients with mild to moderate disease. The drug failed to slow cognitive declines or loss of abilities of daily living for the entire patient population. But when Lilly analyzed results only for mild patients, the data suggested solanezumab caused a significant 34 percent slowdown in mental decline and an 18 percent slowdown in loss of functional abilities compared to pl ..


BSE Sensex gains 322 points to end above 28,500; Nifty above 8,600
Disregarding sluggish global cues, the benchmark BSE Sensex rocketed 323 points to close above 28,500. NSE index rose nearly 1 percent on Wednesday, heading towards its highest close in more than three months.Nifty today closed at 8633 up around 104 point. There was some support to the markets, with the government extending the interest subvention scheme to banks to ensure availability of crop loans of up to Rs 3 lakh to farmers at 7 percent per annum.

Govt not considering FDI in e-commerce retail
The government is not considering any plans to introduce foreign direct investment (FDI) in e-commerce retail, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. “No such proposal is under consideration of the government,” Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. On e-biz platform, she said as many as 14 central government services have already been integrated to improve ease of doing business.