Morning Brief: ED Registers Case Against Hooda; HC Says No To AAP Parl Secys; Vehicle Sales Soar

Hooda In Trouble

The Enforcement Directorate has registered a case of money laundering against Haryana’s former chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, within days of the CBI’s raids at 24 premises linked to him, his close aides and former and current bureaucrats of the state government.

The latest charges have been filed by the agency in connection with the Manesar land deal case. Hooda has also been charged by the ED as an accused of money laundering in the case of land transfer to Associate Journals Ltd, which owns the newspaper, National Herald.

Once the money trail is established, the agency will proceed with the attachment of properties, which may include those belonging to the former CM.

HC Order

The Delhi high court has set aside AAP government’s decision to appoint 21 party MLAs as parliamentary secretaries after Kejriwal government conceded it had neither sought the LG’s concurrence nor communicated its decision to him.

The HC ruling stated that LG was the administrative head of the union territory of Delhi and his concurrence was “mandatory” in administrative decisions.

GST Is Now An Act

After 16 states ratified the 122nd constitutional amendment, Goods and Services Tax (GST), President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday signed the bill into law. Now, the GST council will be set up which will comprise of state finance ministers and the Union finance minister. This body will finalise the design of GST and various rates.

The council will also prepare three draft GST bills, central, integrated and state. The first two will need Parliament’s approval and the third one will go to the states for passage. The central government is hoping to pass all these in the winter session, so the council will need to finish its work before December.

No Special Status

Andhra Pradesh won’t get special status that was promised to it by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. However, to compensate for this, the central government has agreed to give a special assistance measure to the state for five years.

As part of the assistance, the centre will fully fund various development projects in the state, including the Polavaram irrigation project. The centre has also promised to bridge a revenue deficit of Rs.22,113 crore that has resulted from the bifurcation and provide financial assistance to develop the backward regions of the state.

Good Sign

If passenger vehicle sales are anything to go by, economic slowdown may be coming to an end, including the distress in the rural areas. Sales of passenger vehicles, including cars, grew 16.7 percent in August from the year-ago period. Sales of motorcycles, a key indicator of spending in rural India, grew 22 percent, the fastest since November 2011. Overall two-wheeler sales grew 26.3 percent.

As evident from the figures above, demand is picking up and with good rainfall, the situation is expected to get only better from now on. This optimism has prompted the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers to revise its growth projections from 6-8 percent to 11-13 percent in FY2017.

MUST READ OP-EDS

How Public Transit Can Learn From Uber And Ola: Indian cities should co-opt their technological solutions for public benefit.

The Case For Cautious Optimism: The sharp increase in nominal growth is welcome: It signals improvement in underlying real economic activity, holds out hope for the health of the corporate and banking sectors.

Building US-India Defence Relations: Political conditions don’t exist that justify a joint defence commitment, but there is every reason to develop joint military capabilities.

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We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!

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