Morning Brief: Currency Shortage Ruled Out; Mistry Wants Tata Sons Board Removed, Rural India Going Digital

Good Morning, Swarajya Readers! Here's What You Need To Know Today.

Currency Shortage Ruled Out: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday assured that the Reserve Bank of India has enough currency for circulation. The central bank was fully prepared to deal with currency shortages post demonetisation and has enough currency in its chests to last "far beyond" 30 December, he said. Small traders will be able to save up to 46 per cent in tax by migrating from cash to digital transactions.

Railway Fare Hike On Cards? Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the Indian Railways should focus more on its core operations and populism cannot prevail over performance, sparking speculations about a possible hike in prices of railway services after the next general budget. He said passengers should pay for the services they receive.

Mistry Wants Tata Sons Board Removed: Cyrus Mistry, former chairman of Tata Sons, files a petition in the National Company Law Tribunal on Tuesday, seeking Ratan Tata, the interim chairman, along with the entire board of the holding company be removed by a court order and an administrator appointed till an all-new board is put in place.

CBSE Go-Ahead For Board-Based Class X Exams: The Central Board of Secondary Education has approved the restoring of the board-based Class X exams on Tuesday. The first exam will be conducted in March 2018. It has been decided that the weightage division of 80 per cent will be board-based and 20 per cent will be internal assessments.

Rs 3,000 Crore In Black Money Detected: The Income Tax department has detected over Rs 3,000 crore in undisclosed income following raids post 8 November, of which Rs 86 crore have been in new notes. I-T department carried out a total of 677 search, survey and enquiry operations, and has issued over 3,100 notices to various entities on charges of tax evasion and hawala-like dealings for laundering money.

Big Win For BJP In Chandigarh Municipal Polls: The demonetisation drive had no impact on the voters in Chandigarh, as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a landslide victory in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections, with the party winning 20 of the 26 seats. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah said the victory shows that people "approve of the demonetisation decision”.

300 Development Projects Launched In Four Hours: Racing against time to kick off as many government schemes as possible before the election commission announces poll dates, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav inaugurated 300 development projects worth Rs 60,000 crore in just about four hours in state capital on Tuesday.

Rural India Going Digital: The Electronics and IT Ministry said on Tuesday that more than 70 per cent of rural citizens have adopted the methods of e-wallets followed by Unified Payment Interface (UPI) payment option. Similarly, more than 85 per cent of the merchants have adopted the e-wallet system and 13 per cent have opted for UPI, the ministry said.

BJP Calls On Banerjee To Break Silence On Communal Riots: In a bid to corner Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday charged Trinamool Congress with spearheading communal riots in some parts of the state. BJP asked Banerjee to break her “silence” on violence in Dhulagarh area, while seeking intervention from National Human Rights Commission.

MUST READ OP-EDS

Ready For The Day The Machines Take Over? When the machines do finally take over, we will need to stay one step ahead at all times – or else run the risk of being overwhelmed.

Tata Sons Does Need A Succession Process: By all accounts in a professionally run group like the Tatas, the board which is the supreme governing body, should have the responsibility for choosing and grooming the next leader.

A Delay In The Rollout Of The GST Could Be A Blessing In Disguise: International experience tells us that even a transition period of one to two years is not enough for a GST transition and hence industry needs to make most of this additional time.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Madhu Kishwar And The Dogs That Did Not Bark To Protect Free Speech: The efforts to muzzle one of the saner voices of nationalism on Kashmir and India in general will not succeed. Truth will win.

Cyrus Mistry’s Exit From Tata Boards Puts Him In A Better Position Against Ratan Tata: The only way for the Tatas to end the battle is by losing it – and paying off Cyrus Mistry. For he has chosen the right battle to win – the battle for enormous cash resources.

Deconstructing The Half-Fiasco Of Note-Badli: Where Things Went Wrong: Half the hardships to the people could have been avoided by implementing a two-stage demonetisation, and with a better understanding of cash handling logistics post 8 November.

Not 50, Modi Should’ve Asked For 100 Days: Cash Crunch Will Be Fully Over Only By February End: Modi asked people to give him 50 days before the cash crunch gets over. He should’ve asked for 100 days instead because current calculations show that complete normalcy will return only by February end.

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

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