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The deadlock between protesting farmers and the Centre was broken on Wednesday with the latter conceding two of their four key demands — removal of penalty provision in the Commission for the Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020, and scrapping of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill. The two main issues related to legalising MSP and withdrawing three farm laws were still under discussion, with the next round of talks scheduled for January 4.

listen in to know more on this episode of news explained on the farmers protest.

In this exclusive interview, Manu Lavanya, Director & Chief Operations Officer, Max Life Insurance, talks to BusinessLine about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the insurance sector, the company's digitalisation efforts and the outlook for the new year. He also talks about the company's insurtech accelerator, the Max Life Innovation lab, and how the project has helped both the company and the start-ups that have joined the project. 

The Central Government has mandated that an airbag must be provided for the passenger seated on the front seat of a vehicle, next to the driver. This feature, however, is present in most high-end cars including Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen and more.  

The new rule is bound to have an impact on the overall price of automobiles, especially those in the passenger vehicle category. Also, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, manufacturers might have a tough time due to the delay in procuring the necessary materials or parts of the purpose. This delay is a result of the current issues related to the management of supply chains.  

Now, was such an order necessary? Listen to the podcast.

Looks like the superstar of Tamil cinema, Rajinikanth has backed-off from the world of politics yet again. 

Earlier in December 2020, Rajinikanth had announced the launch of his new political party by January 2021. All his fans were more than elated, including those from his native village in Maharastra. But, a lot had changed after the actor was rushed to a hospital due to high Blood Pressure.  

Surely, his fans would have felt the pinch, but Rajinikanth’s ailment must have raised many concerns among Tamil Nadu’s political fraternity.  

On Tuesday, December 29, 2020, he said that he would serve the people without entering the electoral political space. In fact, in a three-page letter that he had tweeted out he justified his move by saying: even if he was vaccinated for the coronavirus, and if his health deteriorates during election tours, those travelling with him would have emotional and financial sufferings. 

But, could this be the only reason behind his decision? Listen to the podcast.

You want something different? You get something different. At least if LG has anything to do with it. The LG Wing is above all something you won’t have seen elsewhere; an odd experimental idea that the Korean electronics giant has had the courage not to put away in the lab drawer but actually let loose in the wild. Those who buy it may also need a bit of that courage because like anything never tried before, it’s got its element of uncertainty.

Listen in to know more.

Read the full story here

Hi and welcome to Quick look, i am your host -Siddharth

In his last ''Mann Ki Baat'' radio broadcast of the year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged people to substitute foreign-made products they use with items produced in India, and said they should make this resolution for the country in the new year.

India made progress in the fight against the coronavirus, as the number of active cases fell down to its lowest since July.

According to the Union Health Ministry the country has reported a trend of sustained decrease in the number of active cases.

On December 27, The nation's active Covid-19 caseload in the country dipped to 2.78 lakh. India's present active caseload consists of just 2.74 per cent of India's total positive cases.

The total recovered cases stand at 97,61,538.

A great playwright said – The world’s a stage, all men are merely players. Theatre or stage plays have indeed entertained crowds for centuries. For many years, it was considered an effective means of mass communication and was successful in altering many perspectives.

Many great actors in world cinema hail from the theatre space. Naseeruddin Shah, the Late Om Puri, Denzel Washington, and many others have made their mark in the film arena. Indeed, there is a connection between the two avenues.

In Part 1 of this episode of Stage Business, we speak with D Ramachandran – a theatre actor who made his debut in the Tamil movie – Nerkonda Paarvai in 2019. Ramachandran explains the importance of choosing current subjects or themes in theatre productions and cinema.

Listen to the podcast.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going all out to reach out to the farmers -- he once again explained how the new farm laws will help lakhs of farmers in an event today, even as thousands of farmers are protesting against the new laws near Delhi for nearly a month.

Listen: Farmers' protest: All about the breakthrough

Listen: Farmers' protest: What is the way out?

The ruling BJP is reaching out to farmers and attacking the Opposition for their attempt to mislead the farmers. Even the farmers want a dialogue. A top leader of the movement told BusinessLine that no one is against dialogue. Will the deadlock be resolved soon?

India has appealed against the Vodafone tax arbitral award before a Singapore court, government sources confirmed. The tax dispute involves an amount of approximately $2 billion.

The case has its roots in 2007, when Vodafone bought Hutchison's India assets for $11 billion in an off-shore deal. The Indian Tax department wanted Vodafone to pay taxes on the deal and the company moved to the Supreme Court, after an initial setback at the Bombay High Court. In January 2012, the apex court ruled in favour of Vodafone and confirmed that such transfers were not within the Indian tax remit. However, the government introduced an amendment to the Income Tax Act, 1961, through Finance Act, 2012, to allow the tax.

Following the amendment and action by the tax authorities, the dispute moved to the international level when Vodafone commenced arbitration proceedings and defended its side. In September, the Hague ruled in favour of Vodafone.

The Finance Ministry has notified a new set of norms for GST registration. 

These norms were prepared based on the recommendations of GST Council’s Law Committee. 

As per the new norms, if the applicant has opted for Aadhaar based authentication, then every application will be followed by biometric-based Aadhaar authentication and taking a photograph. In case the applicant does not go for the first option, then the process involves taking biometric information, photograph and verification of various KYC (Know Your Customer) documents. 

Listen to the podcast.