Price changes on key items announced; Mobile phones to be cheaper?
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced significant changes in customs duties in the Budget 2024, leading to price reductions for several key items. The budget includes major reductions in customs duty on cancer medicines and mobile phones, which will bring down their prices in the retail market. Additionally, imported gold, silver, leather goods, and seafood will also become cheaper.
"The government will exempt three more cancer treatment drugs from Customs duty. I will also reduce basic customs duty on mobile phones, chargers, and other mobile parts," Ms. Sitharaman said while presenting the budget in Parliament.
In a bid to boost retail demand and curtail smuggling, Ms. Sitharaman slashed import duties on gold and silver to 6%. This move is expected to stimulate retail demand and help reduce smuggling in India, the world's second-biggest bullion consumer. Higher demand for gold from India could support global prices, which hit a record high earlier this year. However, this might increase India's trade deficit and weigh on the ailing rupee.
On the other hand, the government will raise customs duty on ammonium nitrate by 10% and on non-biodegradable plastics by 25%.
This is the first budget of the Modi 3.0 government and is expected to have a significant impact on India's economic landscape, touching upon various sectors from infrastructure development to social welfare programs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stated that the Finance Minister would present a strong budget, ensuring that the government's guarantees reach the common man. On the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey.
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MP cruise boat tragedy: Death toll rises to nine; search ops continue at Bargi Dam
Jabalpur (PTI): The death toll in the Bargi Dam tragedy rose to nine on Friday, as rescuers recovered the bodies of five more persons who were on the cruise boat that overturned in the reservoir in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur.
Talking to PTI Videos, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Minister Dharmendra Bhav Singh Lodhi said, "Four bodies were recovered on Thursday, while five were found in the early hours during the rescue operation, taking the toll to nine."
As many as 22 people have been rescued so far, he said.
The minister said that a thorough probe will be conducted, and the issue of life jackets, raised by one of the survivors, will also be investigated.
The rescue operation is underway in full swing to trace the missing persons, Lodhi said.
A cruise boat with 29 passengers and two crew members onboard overturned in the Bargi Dam after encountering a sudden storm on Thursday evening, officials said.
The Bargi Dam is constructed on the Narmada River in Jabalpur district.
A search and rescue operation for the missing passengers continued overnight with teams from the Army, NDRF and SDRF joining in, State PWD Minister Rakesh Singh said.
Hydraulic cranes are being used to pull out the cruise boat from the water body, he said.
According to eyewitnesses, strong winds made the water choppy, prompting many on board to raise an alarm and ask the crew to steer the boat back to the banks.
However, the crew was unable to hear these shouts, and the boat drifted and then overturned, they said, adding that some locals rescued a few passengers wearing life jackets with the help of a rope.
