From the Newsroom: India plans to double oil refining capacity in 5 years, says PM Modi

In your evening news brief, From The Newsroom, Farooq Abdullah objects to treatment meted out to Gupkar declaration candidates; Narcotics Control Bureau questions celebrity couple Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa; Study says India is reportedly losing over $10.3 billion, annually owing to international corporate tax abuse and private tax evasion; Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India plans to nearly double its oil refining capacity in the next five years; Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar says CBI had summoned him to appear on November 23.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and president of newly cobbled up People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) Farooq Abdullah on Saturday objected to the treatment meted out to the amalgam candidates, saying security is being used as a pretext to impede and customize democracy in the Union Territory.

In a two-page letter to J-K Election Commissioner K K Sharma, Abdullah, who is at present a Lok Sabha member from Srinagar, said providing security to a select few and literally interning the rest is a gross interference in democracy.

Continuing its swoop on the entertainment industry, the Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB) on Saturday questioned celebrity couple Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa on Saturday.

Reports said that an unspecified quantity of ganja has been seized, however, there has not been any confirmation. After the raids, the duo was handed over the summons to appear at the NCB’s Zonal Unit.

India is reportedly losing over $10.3 billion, equivalent to over Rs 70,000 crore, annually owing to international corporate tax abuse and private tax evasion. Globally, countries lose $427 billion tax across continents due to such tax evasions.

A study titled 'The State of Tax Justice 2020' led by Tax Justice Network, showed that countries are annually losing billions of dollars in tax evasion by various multinational companies and private wealth hoarders.

Of the $427 billion tax evasions, $245 billion was corporate tax abuse and the rest $182 billion was private tax evasion.

India plans to nearly double its oil refining capacity in the next five years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, offering a much more aggressive timeline than previously despite the coronavirus pandemic blighting the economy.

The country's energy minister was quoted in June as saying India's oil refining capacity could jump to 450-500 million tonnes in 10 years from the current level of about 250 million tonnes.

But addressing a petroleum university's convocation, Modi said: "Work is being done to nearly double the country's oil refining capacity in the next five years".

Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar said Saturday that the CBI had summoned him to appear on November 23 in connection with a disproportionate assets case.

“It’s true that I have received the summons,” Shivakumar told reporters. “On November 19, the CBI officers came home, but nobody was there due to a personal event we were attending. The next morning, I came home and they gave me the summons. They’ve asked me to come on November 23,” he said