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Asia's infrastructure journey and contest has just begun. Growing and emerging economies across the region will require to invest as much as $ 26 trillion to accelerate growth , eradicate poverty and counterbalance climate change. The report released by Asian Development Bank emphasize the need for massive construction, upgrading of public works and for greater investment in private sector. In order to mitigate climate change, $ 22.6 trillion need to be raised more or less over the same period. Moreover, investment of $14.7 trillion is needed for power, $ 8.4trillion for transport, $ 2.3 trillion for telecommunication, and $ 800 more billion will be required for water and sanitation, the ADB said.

The central Board of Direct Taxes has entered into 10 more Advance Pricing Agreements ( APAs) over the last one week, including 7 unilateral APAs signed today. Two of these Agreements are Bilateral APAs with the United Kingdom and Japan.  With this the total number of APAs entered into by the CBDT has reached 140. In the current financial year, a total 76 APAs have already been entered into. The CBDT looks forward for more APAs to be signed and concluded before the end of the current fiscal year. The APAs entered into over the lask week includes telecom, pharmaceutical, steel, retail, information technology, banking and finance etc. The APA scheme was incorporated in the Income Tax Act 2012 . Of the 10 APAs , seven of these Agreements have Rollback provisions in them which was introduced in 2014. The scheme determines to provide surety to taxpayers by specifying the methods of pricing and setting the prices of international transactions in advance. The progress of the APA scheme stre

Mr. Angel Gurria Secretary-General, OECD jointly launched Economic Survey of India in Delhi today. As per the survey Indian economy is expanding at a fast pace. The latest OECD Economic Survey of India 2017 ascertain that the acceleration of structural reforms and the move toward a rule based macroeconomic policy framework are sustaining the country's sea change economic expansion. Mr. Angel Gurria hails India's recent rate of more than 7 percent annually as the strongest among G-20 countried. The survey identifies priority areas for posterity which includes persistent plans to maintain macroeconomic stabilty , to further reduce poverty, to bring additional comprehensive tax reforms, put efforts to boost productivity and to reduce disparities between different regions of India. The survey further said that the ease of doing business in India has improved. It further acknowledged that the implementation of the landmark GST reform will contribute to making India more market ori

Large number of teachers and students of Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jamia Milia Islamia today joined together with a call to SAVE universities from the fierce attack and onslaught of Akhil Bharatiya Vidya Parishad(ABVP). Earlier, the ABVP had carried out " Tirangana March" from Ramjas College to the Faculty of Arts.The students alongside teachers held placards and posters with messages" Your nationalism is not above our democracy". Protesters mainly comprising students of left forums like All India Students Association( AISA) shouted slogans which read as " ABVP Go Back" and Azaadi" as it march through North Campus towards Arts Faculty. There was a heavy police deployment to prevent the possible break out of clashes between ABVP and AISA.

The financing agreement for the " Tejaswini" socio-economic empowerment of adolescent girls and young women project worth US $ 63 million was signed with the World Bank .The project beseech to strengthen and empower adolescent girls with skills and provide them with the opportunities to acquire market driven training or completion of secondary education depending on the tendency of beneficiary. Three main components of the projects are Expanding social, educational and economic advancement; Highly concentrated service delivery; and State building and implementation support. Around 6,80,000 adolescent girls and women are expected to benefit from the project.

For the first phase of a planned 2500 kilometer long East Coast Economic Corridor(ECEC) , the Asian Development Bank and Government of India inked $375 million in loans and grants to develop 800 kilometer Vishakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor. It is expected that this corridor will stimulate development on India's eastern coast in tune with the Government of India's Make in India policy to spur manufacturing and Act East policy to give the sum of Indian economy with Asia's global production structure.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday teased a budget plan that includes a substantial increase in defence spending and cuts in foreign aid. Previewing a plan that will attempt to translate campaign promises into dollars and cents, Mr. Trump promised a “public safety and national security budget”. An administration official said that Mr. Trump’s plan would include a $54 billion increase in defence spending and a corresponding decrease in non-military programmes. “Most federal agencies will see a reduction as a result,” the official said. There will also be a “large reduction in foreign aid” he said, on condition of anonymity. The proposal, which will be picked over and must ultimately be approved by Congress, would increase defence spending — already the largest in the world — by almost 10%. Meanwhile, officials said the Pentagon has finished plans to intensify the fight against the Islamic State (IS). That review is now complete, and Defense Secretary Jim Ma

Indian government has sanctioned Rupees 400 crores for the project. India will likely unveil a large, capacious and powerful supercomputer this coming June. It could earn a spot among the world's top 10 fastest supercomputers, if its processors operate at the full capacity of 10 petaflops as highly anticipated. As per the latest report China and U.S. were vying each other for supercomputing dominance. the yet-to-be-named machine will be jointly hosted at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune and the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting at Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Colleges and other research institutions can keep posted, log in and harness its potential to address wide ranging problems from weather to understanding proteins complex fold. Power usage, arrangement of processors and the processing speed of supercomputers determine the worth of a system. Most of the machines compiting power will help in monsoon forecasting by using a dynamical model.

In a rare move, India has resolved to aid Bangladesh build border outposts at Chittagong Hill tracts. India has also decided to allow Border Guard Bangladesh to construct 13 border outposts using the road connectivity available in the bordering states of Tripura and Mizoram. On multiple occasions, India has provided particulars of insurgent operating from the dense hill tracts of Chittagong. The Border Security Force of India is learnt to have furnished an information identifying 21 functional insurgent camps to Bangladesh. Nevertheless the latter refuse to acknowledge the existence of any such camp. The BGB will be crossing lines of 100 km distance in India to transport building materials from Bangladesh to Chittagong. The official said the time-frame accepted for a year might be extended if needs be.

INS Betwa has been erected by the combined efforts put together by the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai and the Salvage Firm M/S Resolve Marine, particularly employed for the operation. it is recalled that the ship collapsed during her un-docking while undergoing major repairs on 5th December, 2016. Since April, 2016, majority of the equipment had been subjected for routine servicing and had undergone major refit and mid-life operation. with internal expertise and constant efforts, the Indian Navy is self-assured that the ship will be made fully functional by April, 2018.

A clash broke out between activists of ABVP and AISA of Delhi University on Wednesday, a day after JNU student Umar Khalid’s visit to Ramjas College was cancelled following protests by students. The college authorities had to withdraw the invitation to Khalid, who was charged with sedition last year, and Shehla who was face of the movement demanding release of the students arrested in that case. According to reports, ABVP activists were staging a protest in the college on Wednesday, which led to a clash between them and AISA members. Both ABVP and AISA are student political groups representing divergent ideologies. Umar Khalid and former JNUSU vice-president Shehla Rashid were invited to speak at a seminar in Ramjas College on Tuesday but their visit was cancelled after ABVP and DUSU members gathered outside the college gate and shouted slogans against them. There were also allegations of the protesters using violent methods like stone pelting. Meanwhile, there was a section of t