India excludes agri items, gold, silver, footwear from trade pact with Oman
Muscat (PTI): India has protected the interest of domestic farmers and MSMEs by not extending any duty concessions on products across several sectors, including agricultural items such as dairy, as well as chocolates, gold, silver, jewellery, footwear, and sports goods, under the trade pact with Oman.
The comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) was signed on Thursday in Muscat.
The commerce ministry said to safeguard its interest, sensitive products have been kept in the exclusion category by India without offering any concessions.
It includes "agricultural products, including dairy, tea, coffee, rubber, and tobacco products; gold and silver bullion, jewellery; other labour-intensive products such as footwear, sports goods; and scrap of many base metals," the ministry said.
Further, for products of export interest to Oman and which are sensitive to India, the offer is mostly a tariff-rate quota (TRQ)-based tariff liberalisation.
Under the TRQ mechanism, India has extended duty concessions up to a specified quota, beyond which the normal import duty will apply. Goods under this category include dates, marbles, and petrochemical products.
An official said Oman has allowed Indian firms to import marble blocks, which is a banned export item in the Gulf nation.
As per the CEPA, the annual quota for duty-free dates will be 2,000 tonnes.
As per the pact, dairy sector goods, which are out of the purview of the agreement are milk products, cheese, butter, dairy spreads, ghee, and yoghurt.
Cereals like wheat, rice, maize and millets too are out of the pact.
Number of vegetables where no duty concessions will be given by India include tomatoes, onion, garlic, cauliflower, cabbage, peas, beans, radish, pumpkin, lady finger, and bitter gourd.
Similarly, no duty benefit will be given by Indians on edible oils like soybean oil, mustard oil, groundnut oil, and sunflower oil, besides oil seeds like soyabean, mustard and sesame and natural honey.
Further, under the CEPA, India will eliminate import duty in a phased manner for Oman for processed products such as sweet biscuits, rusks, toasted bread, pastry and cakes, papad, dog, or cat food.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
