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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Bengaluru: Woman techie dies by suicide after son drowns
Bengaluru (PTI): A 29-year-old tech professional has allegedly died by suicide after her 11-month-old son was suspected to have accidentally drowned in a bucket of water at their residence here, police said on Thursday.
The incident occurred on April 1 within the limits of the Chandra layout Police Station, they said.
Police said a letter written in English by the woman was found near the bed, in which she stated that their son had fallen into water and died and that she could not save him, and sought forgiveness.
The matter came to light after the woman's husband, Mahantesh Wali, an engineer, filed a complaint with the police, officials said.
The couple had been living in a rented house for the past four years, and they had a 11-month-old son, Agasthya, they added.
According to the complaint, Pratibha Wali was employed at a tech company near Silk Board and had been working from home.
On April 1, at around 9 am, Mahantesh left for work while his wife and child remained at home. At around 6.30 pm, when he returned and knocked on the door, there was no response. He tried calling his wife on her mobile phone, but she did not answer.
He then retrieved a spare key kept near a window, opened the door and entered the house. On checking the room, he found his wife had allegedly hanged herself by tying a saree to a cradle hook. He also noticed a cut on her left wrist and blood stains, a senior police officer said.
Their son Agasthya was found lying on the bed, and when he checked, the child was also dead, the officer said.
An empty strip of 15 tablets was also recovered from the spot, and it is suspected that the woman may have consumed the tablets, police said.
Prima facie, it appears that the infant strayed into the bathroom and fell into a bucket filled with water while the woman was away, seemingly gone to the terrace to dry the clothes. It appears that the woman, distressed over the death of her son, died by suicide, police said.
However, the husband has expressed suspicion regarding the deaths and sought legal action. Further investigation is underway, police added.
