-Livemint.com Krishi Kalyan CESs, a 0.5% CESs on all taxable serviCES introduced last year to support a drought-hit farm sector, will raise Rs 9,000 crore in 2016-17 New Delhi: Krishi Kalyan CESs, a 0.5% CESs on all taxable serviCES introduced last year to support a drought-hit farm sector, will raise Rs 9,000 crore in 2016-17, budget documents presented in the parliament on Wednesday showed. The central government is spending money from this corpus...

-TheWire.in Re-promulgation of ordinanCES is illegal, the apex court ruled, in a judgment that will be applicable to all central ordinanCES, including demonetisation. Thanks to a recent Supreme Court judgment declaring the re-promulgation of ordinanCES unconstitutional, the government’s effort to validate demonetisation through ordinanCES may come to naught. The Specified Bank Notes (CESsation of Liabilities) Ordinance, promulgated in December to give effect to demonetisation, faCES the risk of becoming unconstitutional if re-promulgated after...

-Quartz India On Dec. 30, 2016, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi cajoled president Pranab Mukherjee into promulgating the Specified Bank Notes (CESsation of Liabilities) Ordinance, 2016. Two days later, on Jan. 02, 2017, the supreme court, in a separate matter, delivered a verdict that changed the law of ordinanCES in powerful ways. It scrubbed out old meanings, unearthed new ones, and further garrisoned judges’ hold on the constitution. A prohibitive change...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The Union cabinet cleared on Wednesday an ordinance to penalise those found holding a “high amount” of scrapped banknotes. The Specified Bank Notes CESsation of Liabilities Ordinance makes holding a large number of old Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes a criminal offence that will attract a jail term and a monetary penalty of five times the amount of old cash one is caught with. The ordinance allows exchange...

-The Hindu A reasonable aim of 1,500 MT of coal production by 2022 and a calibrated renewable energy push should enable reaching ambitious targets. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s style is to set ambitious targets with impossible-looking deadlines. Perhaps he is inspired by a Gujarati poet who said, “Nishaan chuk maaf, nahi neechu nishaan” (missing the target can be forgiven, setting a low target cannot). This challenges his colleagues and staff to accomplish...