This is the Catchup on 3 Things by The Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
Today is the 13th of February and here are the headlines.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold talks with US President Donald Trump, after his meeting with the country’s intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard. PM Modi is currently on a two-day visit to the United States, landing in Washington DC after wrapping up his visit to France where he co-chaired the Paris AI Action Summit alongside French President Emmanuel Macron. PM Modi is set to be the third foreign leader to be hosted by the White House since President Trump took office on January 20 for the second term.
Meanwhile, in news from the parliament, Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the new Income Tax bill in Lok Sabha. The new Income Tax Bill will replace the six-decade old Income Tax Act and will likely come into effect from April 1, 2026. With no major structural changes in the new Bill, experts say its majorly a simplification exercise and its key features are — crisp language, removal of extra provisos and explanations along with expanded definition of income. In the new I-T Bill, virtual digital assets have been included in the definition of property to be counted as a capital asset of the assessee and several provisions have been provided in tabular format such as tax deducted at source provisions, presumptive taxation rates, assessment time limits among others.
In other news, The Adani Group has withdrawn from a 484 megawatt wind project in northern Sri Lanka after the government in Colombo allegedly moved to renegotiate the terms of the project. Adani Green Energy Ltd told Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment yesterday that it would “respectfully withdraw” from the wind project following discussions with officials who indicated that fresh committees would be formed to “renegotiate the project proposal”. The wind project has been under intense scrutiny since the election of Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in September last year, after he promised to cancel the “corrupt” project in the runup to the elections.
Meanwhile, facing growing revenue and fiscal deficits and a mounting debt, the Mamata Banerjee government diverted some of its spending on social welfare from its flagship Lakshmir Bhandar scheme to one for building rural houses, in the Budget tabled yesterday. The Chief Minister, who has accused the Centre of not releasing “a single paisa” for the PM Awas Yojana in Bengal, had announced the Banglar Bari housing scheme in December last year.
In news from Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi today amid speculations of trouble within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra after NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar recently felicitated Shiv Sena chief and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Thackeray, the former Maharashtra minister, is also likely to meet AAP national convenor and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal later in the day.
This was the Catch Up on 3 Things by the Indian Express
