Morning Brief: Unions Go On Strike; Rocket Carrying Fb Satellite Exploded; PC’s Son Defies ED

India Halts

Ten central trade unions will go on one-day nationwide strike against what they call government’s ‘anti-worker’ policies. Besides ports and civil aviation, the essential services like banking, public transport and telecom services are likely to be the worst hit.

The unions are demanding Rs 18,000 minimum monthly wage and an assured minimum monthly pension of Rs 3,000.

As many as 18 crore workers are expected to take part in the nationwide strike, larger than last year when around 14 crore workers participated.

JIO Ya Maro

It’s a do or die situation for other telecoms as Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani declared war on his competitors yesterday. He spelt out aggressive plans for the much-awaited Jio 4G services

Ambani announced that Jio will price mobile phone data as low as Rs.50 per GB, and there will be no charges for voice calls and roaming. This is unprecedented and signals a shift in the Indian telecom sector that data is the new voice.

Reliance is targeting 10 crore subscribers within its first year of launch. After Ambani’s speech, shares of telecom incumbents such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications nosedived up to 9 percent. All in all, their combined losses amounted to Rs 11,983 crore.

Fb Hopes Dashed

SpaceX’s Flacon 9 rocket exploded on the launchpad yesterday at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. No one was physically hurt due to the explosion.

The rocket was scheduled to take off on Saturday and the communications satellite it was carrying would have served Facebook internet.org platform. This is a major setback for both Facebook and Elon Musk-run SpaceX.

Next time if Mark Zuckerberg wants his satellites to be taken to space safely, he should contact experts in the field, like ISRO.

GST Update

Odisha became the 16th state to ratify the GST bill. Now the bill will head for President’s approval. Once he signs the bill into law, GST council will be set up which will discuss various rates and draw up central, state and integrated GST bills.

The government is also planning to advance the budget and monsoon session of Parliament to meet the 1 April 2017 deadline. However, the industry seems stumped at the speed the government has moved to push the legislation through. It may be getting cold feet.

KC Defies ED

P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram failed to turn up at the headquarters of Enforcement Directorate yesterday. He was summoned for questioning in connection with certain transactions in Aircel’s acquisition of Maxis. Aircel-Maxis deal is being investigated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act as part of the larger probe into the 2G scam.

This was the third time that he was summoned by the ED and in the latest one, the agency was particular about him being present. Now it is mulling to take Karti in custody for his refusal to submit to the investigation.

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SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Why The Modi-Jaitley 2017 Budget Is Likely To Be A True Blockbuster: The Union Budget 2017-18 will be a budget of many firsts. The only unfortunate thing is that subsequent budget will be thinner and duller as the fun shifts to the GST Council.

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

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