Tata Steel will transfer $3 billion of debt to the new entity, while Thyssenkrupp will move $4.5 billion of liabilities. Photo: Bloomberg

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What is it? The number of states—Gujarat and Delhi—where bootleggers may be given capital punishment if consumption of spurious liquor causes deaths.

Why is it important? Uttar Pradesh may soon become the third state to provide for death penalty in such cases. The state cabinet chaired by chief minister Yogi Adityanath decided to add the death penalty provision in the UP Excise Act, 2010, on Wednesday. As many as 1,522 deaths due to consumption of illicit/spurious liquor were recorded in 2015, accounting for 2.3% of total accidental deaths, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Uttar Pradesh, with the fifth highest number of deaths at 125, accounted for 8.2% of all deaths due to consumption of illicit/spurious liquor.

Tell me more: The state government is planning to bring in an ordinance to this effect and once the assembly is in session, a bill would be passed. The state’s excise act would be amended and a new section would be added that would seek to punish the guilty with life imprisonment or Rs10 lakh fine or both, or capital punishment in case of death or permanent disability due to consumption of illicit liquor.

4,000

What is it? The number of jobs that would be lost due to a preliminary merger agreement of the European operations of Tata Steel and Thyssenkrupp.

Why is it important? The deal will see the creation of Europe’s second largest steelmaker, besides helping the firms deal with overcapacity, cheap imports from foreign countries (especially from China), inefficient plants and muted construction demand. The merger is being seen as a move to safeguard the companies’ future. Tata Steel will transfer $3 billion of debt to the new entity, while Thyssenkrupp will move $4.5 billion of liabilities, which is expected to generate cost savings to the tune of 400-600 million euros per year, once the merger is completed.

Tell me more: The 50:50 joint venture will be named Thyssenkrupp Tata Steel and this merger would help Tata Steel India to grow faster and double its capacity over the next five years.

Rs12,000 crore

What is it? The additional investment by the Indian government for the nutrition of pregnant and lactating women, children (aged between 6-72 months) and out-of-school adolescent girls (aged 11-14), over the next three years.

Why is it important? The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the proposal for revision of cost norms for supplementary nutrition provided in “anganwadis” and for adolescent girls who are out of school, which would help improve the nutritional status of around 11 crore beneficiaries per annum. About half of the pregnant women aged 15-49 and 58.4% of children in the age group of 6-59 months were found to be anemic in 2015-16, according to the National Family Health Survey -4. Nearly half of the children under five were stunted, about a fifth of the children under five wasted, 6.4% of children under five severely wasted and 42.5% of children below five years of age were found to be underweight.

Tell me more: The cabinet also approved annual cost indexation to increase rates in the future.

Rs828.8 crore

What is it? The estimated cost of building a canal in Bhagalpur district in Bihar that breached a day before it was to be inaugurated by the Bihar chief minister.

Why is it important? The project is an example of poor construction of public works, that is often saddled with time and cost overruns. The 11-km Bateshwarstahn Ganga Canal project was conceived in 1977 with total project cost of Rs13.88 crore. It has increased to Rs829 crore in the last 40 years.

Tell me more: 4.74% is the cost overrun with respect to 1,210 projects (each at least Rs150 crore and above) tracked by the statistics ministry. This is as per the latest sanctioned estimates.

80,000

What is it? The number of returns handled per hour by the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) portal on Wednesday, the last day for filing form GSTR-3B for August 2017.

Why is it important? The GSTN portal was facing problems when taxpayers were trying to pay taxes or file tax returns. The fact that GSTN portal handled this much traffic on Wednesday was a relief to tax administrators, as any failure would mean extending the deadline and mismatch of tax revenue and expenses.

Tell me more: GSTR-3B is the summary return form that needs to be filed by 20th each month (that is, by 20 September for August), after paying taxes on goods and services sold. This doesn’t have individual details of invoices, but an overall amount under different categories.

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