New Delhi: Even as the entire electronic media was engrossed with the 13-year-old hit-and-run case in which Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has been convicted and sentenced to jail for five years, there were important developments talking place in other parts of the country too which were completely ignored by the news channels.
Here is a list of some of them:
GST Bill
In Parliament the long-pending Goods and Service Tax Bill was approved by Lok Sabha after a walkout by Congress even as government vowed to compensate states for any revenue loss and assured that the new uniform indirect tax rate will be much less than 27 per cent recommended by an expert panel.
The Constitution Amendment Bill to implement the GST, originally mooted by the UPA, was passed by 352 votes against 37 after the government rejected the opposition demand of referring it to Standing Committee.
GST, which is proposed to be implemented from April 1, 2016, will subsume excise, service tax, state VAT, entry tax, octroi and other state levies.
Real Estate Bill
A united Opposition forced the government to send the controversial Real Estate Bill that seeks to regulate realty business, to a 21-member select committee of Rajya Sabha. The panel has been asked to submit its report by the first week of the Monsoon Session.
After trying twice in this session to take up the bill for consideration and passage in Rajya Sabha where it is not in a position to get it passed due to lack of numbers, the government brought a motion to refer the bill to Select Committee, chaired by BJP member Anil Madhav Dave.
Dawood Ibrahim
Upping the ante against the Narendra Modi government after Minister State for Home Affairs Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary made a controversial statement regarding the whereabouts of one of India's most wanted underworld don and terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, the Congress charged the government with tarnishing India's image.
Opposition parties also sought a statement from the Home Minister on the issue, which the government agreed. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the enquiry in 1993 Bombay blasts had established that Dawood was the culprit.
Sonia hits out at Modi government
Congress President Sonia Gandhi also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "blatant U-turn" on the issue of transparency on governance. She charged his government with "deliberately" keeping key posts of Chief Information Commissioner, CVC and Lok Pal vacant.
Raising the issue in Zero Hour in Lok Sabha and accusing the BJP dispensation of attempting to "subvert the RTI Act", Sonia said citizens no longer have right to question the government as top offices like the PMO, Cabinet Secretariat besides the Supreme Court, High Courts and CAG are no longer accountable for violations under the RTI and protected from public scrutiny.
Rafale deal
India and France decided to set up teams to work out details of the acquisition of 36
Rafale fighter jets in fly-away condition in a "time bound manner". The decision came following the meeting between visiting French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his counterpart here Manohar Parrikar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last month announced India's intention to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France under a government to government deal during his trip to the
country.
NTPC
Country's largest power producer NTPC will raise $1 billion through foreign currency bonds this year to expand its power generation capacity, particularly in renewable energy segment. The official said that NTPC will approach the market for raising funds through foreign currency bonds this year.
State-run NTPC has an installed power generation capacity of 44,598 MW and the company plans to set up 3,000 MW capacity solar power projects across the country this fiscal.
Coal scam
Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal and 14 others, including former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao and ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, were summoned as accused by a Special court in the Jharkhand's Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block allocation scam case.
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar directed all the accused, including five firms, to appear before his court on May 22.
Markets
Stock market witnessed a bloodbath with Sensex tanking 723 points -- its second biggest
single day fall since Narendra Modi government took over -- on huge sell-off by FIIs on concerns over GST and other reforms.
The 50-share NSE Nifty crashed by 227.80 points or 2.74 per cent to close below 8,100-mark at 8,097.
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