India is working towards a single national sales tax rate which could be a mid-point between 12 and 18 per cent, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday, in an effort to simplify the tax structure.

The government set the range for the Goods and Service Tax from 28 per cent to 5 per cent on most items when the signature reform was introduced last year.

A volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia's Sunda Strait, officials said on Sunday, voicing fears that the toll would rise further.

Hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the wave, which hit the coast of southern Sumatra and the western tip of Java about 9:30 pm (2000 IST) on Saturday after a volcano known as the child of Krakatoa erupted, national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

As many as 23 newly-elected legislators - 22 Congress and one RLD - took oath as ministers as the Rajasthan cabinet was formed on Monday. Governor Kalyan Singh administered the oath of post and secrecy to 13 cabinet ministers and 10 ministers of state at a ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan in Jaipur.

They are yet to be assigned portfolios.

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, known for producing the best results in board examinations have seen close to 50 suicides by students on campus in just five years, an investigation by The Indian Express has revealed. As per the data accessed under RTI, out of the 49 suicides from 2013 to 2017, half were by Dalit and tribal students, and a majority of them were boys. All, except seven, were suicides by hanging, and the bodies were discovered either by classmates or members of the school staff.

On the eve of Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 94th birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday released a Rs 100 commemorative coin in the memory of the former premier.

Vajpayee's long-time associate and BJP veteran L K Advani, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP president Amit Shah were also present at the event here.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday met his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar where the two regional satraps discussed a Federal Front to provide an alternative to the Congress and the BJP ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Fresh from a landslide victory in his state, KCR will next meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The meeting between the two is scheduled in Kolkata for today.

Two women devotees who were on the way to Sabarimala temple were stopped by the protestors on Monday.

The women were stopped by protestors at Kerala's Appachimedu, reported ANI.

On Sunday, with just four days left for the culmination of the first phase of the annual Sabarimala pilgrimage, a group of 11 women of menstruating age made an unsuccessful bid to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa shrine as they were forced to return by protesting devotees.

Shares of IT major Infosys climbed as much as 2 per cent to Rs 659 apiece on Monday amid reports the IT major may consider a second share buyback proposal of $1.6 billion (Rs 112.30 billion) in which some founding family members could tender their shares.

The share buyback could happen at around 20-25 per cent premium to the current market price, The Times of India reported. The announcement of the buyback can be a part of the board resolution when it meets on January 11, the report added.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday said expansion of India-China ties in all spheres is in "mutual interest" of both the countries as he met the visiting foreign minister of the neighbouring country here.

The Chinese Foreign Minister , Wang Yi, called on Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The rupee fell by 37 paise to 70.07 against the US dollar in early trade Friday amid strengthening of the US dollar against some currencies overseas and foreign fund outflows.

Forex traders said besides increased demand of the US currency from importers, the dollar's strength against some currencies overseas weighed on the rupee.

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