Daily Bulletin: NDA's final Union Budget to be announced before Lok Sabha polls; Selection Committee to meet to appoint CBI chief; day's top stories

Interim Budget 2019 to be presented today Finance Minister Piyush Goyal will present the NDA government’s Interim Budget 2019 on Friday, which will be the last Budget ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. According to reports, it is expected to be ‘pro-people’ and farmer-centric. Income tax concessions for individuals, a farm relief package, support for small businesses and possible populist spending measures may also be part of the Interim Budget. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s final Budget, which is being seen as the “last ditch attempt” to appeal to voters before the polls due by May, is likely to be an Interim budget or a Vote on Account. But it is widely expected that Goyal may go beyond seeking Parliament nod for government expenditure for four months of next fiscal and announce sops to woo rural and urban middle-class voters, industry sources and experts said. [caption id=“attachment_5310331” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Finance Minister Piyush Goyal. PTI[/caption] As per convention, the outgoing government only seeks parliamentary approval for limited period spending, leaving the full Budget presentation for the new regime in July. Under pressure from a resurgent Congress which is going all out to lure voters with the promise of debt waiver for farmers and a minimum income for the poor if voted to power, Goyal may announce some form of a direct transfer of cash to farmers. Goyal will be announcing the Budget in the absence of former finance minister Arun Jaitley, who has gone to the US for medical treatment. Selection Committee to meet for appointment of CBI chief Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Selection Committee will meet on Friday to decide on the post of director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is working without its regular chief. This will be the second meeting of the panel as its 24 January sitting had remained inconclusive. Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge are also members of the committee. The panel is expected to meet at 6.30 pm. The post of the CBI chief has been lying vacant since 10 January after the Alok Verma was ousted by the Committee, and is being led by interim director M Nageshwara Rao. Verma was sparring with his second-in-command Rakesh Asthana over corruption charges. Opposition meeting over EVMs Top leaders of various opposition parties will meet on Friday to discuss their future course of action on the issue of alleged tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and might also move the Election Commission thereafter, according to a PTI report. The Congress has convened a meeting of opposition leaders to discuss a joint strategy on the issue of alleged tampering of EVMs as some parties have questioned their efficacy and demanded that the EC revert to the old system of ballot paper. The sources add that the opposition parties may petition the Election Commission (EC) to demand that some percentage of VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) be compulsorily counted to match the EVMs. “The opposition parties are meeting seriously to raise the issue of EVMs. We are trying to discuss the issue in a meeting of all opposition parties. We are demanding that the EC compulsorily count some percentage of VVPAT (paper trail of votes) with the EVMs,” said TMC leader Derek O’Brien. E-commerce rules effective from today The government ban on e-commerce companies from selling products from entities in which they have an equity interest will be effective from Friday. In a statement, the government had said that the companies will be prevented from entering into exclusive agreements with sellers. “An entity having equity participation by e-commerce marketplace entity or its group companies, or having control on its inventory by e-commerce marketplace entity or its group companies, will not be permitted to sell its products on the platform run by such marketplace entity,” the commerce ministry had said in a statement earlier. The new rules are expected to impact e-commerce majors like Flipkart and Amazon. Walmart invested $16 billion in Flipkart in 2018, touted as the biggest-ever deal, and Amazon, which has committed $5.5 billion in investments in India. India take on Italy in the Davis Cup Qualifier The last — and only — time India has beaten Italy in Davis Cup was in Calcutta in 1985. As they host the European powerhouse in the 2019 Davis Cup Qualifier, they will hope to use the grasscourts of Kolkata’s South Club to their advantage. India is completely outmatched on paper. Even with Italy’s top singles player, Fabio Fognini, opting out, the team has two players in the top-50 and another couple in the top-100. The Indian challenge, on the other hand, will be spearhead by World No 102 Prajnesh Gunneswaran. As per the draw made on Thursday, Andreas Seppi (ranked 37) will take on India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan (133) in the opening rubber. Seppi is an experienced hand and a former top-20 player who has scored wins over the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev. In the second match on Friday, India No 1 Gunneswaran will face Matteo Berrettini (53). Asian Games gold medallists Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan are up against Simone Bolelli and Cecchinato in the doubles contest. James Gunn in talks to direct Suicide Squad sequel Director James Gunn, who was fired from helming the third instalment in his Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, was already writing the script for the sequel which Warner Bros. has slotted for an August 2021 release, reports hollywoodreporter.com. Disney fired Gunn from his Marvel franchise in July after old tweets from 2008 and 2009 resurfaced in which he had made insensitive and controversial jokes. Google Chrome 72 Rolls Out The updated mobile and web browser has brought in a host of security improvements, along with new features for developers. It also lists out the improvements made for Windows, Mac, Linux and for Android, iOS Users.