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The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will hold its 56th meeting on September 3 and 4, 2025, in New Delhi. The meeting will begin at 11 am on both days, according to a communication issued to members.Ahead of the Council meeting, an officers’ meeting is scheduled for September 2, also in New Delhi. The agenda for both meetings, along with details of the venue, will be shared later, the communication said.All members of the GST Council have been invited to participate in the deliberations.The council, comprising finance ministers of all states and UTs besides the Centre, will deliberate on the recommendations by the three GoMs on rate rationalisation, compensation cess and health and life insurance.The GoM comprising state ministers met earlier this week and, in principle, agreed to the Centre's proposal for a two-slab GST, reported PTI.According to the reform proposed by the Centre to the GoMs, Goods and Services Tax (GST) should be a two-rate structure of 5 and 18 per cent, classifying goods and services as 'merit' and 'standard'. A special rate of 40 per cent will be levied on select few items like ultra-luxury cars and sin goods.Currently, GST is a 4-tier structure of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent.

By all appearances, US President Donald Trump wants to be remembered not just as a former US president, but as a global peacemaker, a man whose handshakes stopped wars and whose name belongs beside the likes of Mandela and Carter in Nobel history. But Trump’s latest maneuver, positioning himself as the driving force behind peace between Russia and Ukraine, is quickly unraveling. What began with a red carpet in Alaska and bold declarations is now mired in diplomatic limbo, military escalation and strategic deadlock.Despite the showmanship, there is little substance behind Trump’s claim that peace is imminent. His effort to present himself as the indispensable broker of global ceasefires has always relied more on headlines than on hard results. Nowhere is this clearer than in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the most brutal and geopolitically significant war in Europe since World War II. Neither Russian President Vladimir Putin nor Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has shown serious interest in compromise, much less a Trump-led resolution.A red carpet, a photo op but no peaceThe Alaska summit between Trump and Putin ten days ago was billed as a breakthrough. Trump claimed it would set the stage for a trilateral meeting with Zelensky, portraying himself as the only leader capable of bringing the two warring sides together. The message from the summit was that Trump is the man who can stop the killing, force diplomacy and end the war.But just days later, that illusion has collapsed. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has openly said there is no agreed-upon agenda for a summit with Zelensky. He bluntly accused the Ukrainian president of rejecting talks outright. Meanwhile, Zelensky countered by accusing the Kremlin of deliberately preventing such a meeting, insisting that Russia continues to act in bad faith. Both sides remain entrenched, and Trump’s envisioned summit between the two is nowhere in sight.At the same time, Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian cities have intensified, including a direct hit on a US-owned electronics plant, further straining any narrative of peace. The war rages on, and Trump’s optimistic timeline has been blown apart by hard realities on the ground.Trump's inflated peace claims and the hard realityTrump’s tendency to overstate, or even outright fabricate, peace achievements is not new. He claimed he brokered peace between India and Pakistan and prevented a nuclear war during India's Operation Sindoor. India has refuted this claim, saying it was Pakistan's military which requested for a ceasefire after India pounded nearly a dozen of its air bases with missiles. .His supporters often cite the Abraham Accords from his previous term - the normalization deals between Israel and a handful of Arab states - as a diplomatic win. But those agreements were mostly built on already warming relations and had little to do with resolving active wars or deep-rooted conflicts. Now, Trump is applying the same formula to the Russia-Ukraine war. He asserts his role, stages a spectacle, and claims the credit. But this time, the conflict is not only ongoing, but existential for both Kyiv and Moscow. Unlike in previous cases, this war cannot be glossed over with vague declarations or handshake diplomacy. And unlike the US’s traditional allies in the case of Abraham Accords, neither Putin nor Zelensky is willing to grant Trump a symbolic victory for nothing.Putin’s demands for peace are not compromises but only demands. According to reports, he wants Ukraine to surrender the entire Donbas region, abandon its NATO aspirations, and agree to neutrality enforced by keeping Western troops out. In return, Russia may offer to halt its military campaign and return a few smaller occupied territories. For Zelensky, these are not terms of peace but the seeds of future aggression. European leaders have warned that granting Russia concessions now would only embolden it to strike again later in Kyiv. Zelensky, for his part, has flatly refused to “gift” any Ukrainian territory to Russia. He continues to call for increased sanctions and weapons, not concessions. The gap between the two sides is vast and Trump’s peace narrative, built on the illusion of consensus, has no place to stand.The Nobel remains out of reachTrump has made no secret of his desire for the Nobel Peace Prize. He has frequently compared himself to past laureates and lamented the fact that he has not been awarded the honor. His Alaska summit might have made for compelling theater, but the follow-up, which is crucial in diplomacy, has been a failure. Instead of substantive de-escalation, Russia has intensified its bombing while Ukraine has dug in. The war is escalating, not ending.Even Trump’s own actions raise doubts about his seriousness. By imposing an artificial August 8 deadline for Putin to agree to peace and then walking it back in favour of a summit, he showed more concern for optics than outcomes. And by failing to secure even a basic agreement between the two sides before flying to Alaska, he revealed how shallow his diplomatic effort truly was.Trump’s campaign to brand himself as a global peace broker is running into the one thing he can’t spin, the hard reality. The Russia-Ukraine war is not a stage where leaders make dramatic deals in front of cameras. It is a grinding, bloody conflict rooted in deep political, territorial and historical divides. Neither side is looking for a quick fix, and certainly not on Trump’s terms.Until there is genuine progress beyond just summits and statements Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize will remain what it has always been, a fantasy built on wishful thinking, tall claims and diplomatic shortcuts.

President Droupadi Murmu on Friday gave her assent to The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, that was passed by Parliament this week.The Bill was brought in to encourage e-sports and online social games while prohibiting harmful online money gaming services, advertisements, and financial transactions related to them. The Bill seeks to completely ban offering, operating, or facilitating online money games, irrespective of whether based on skill, chance, or both.The Bill was passed in Lok Sabha on Wednesday and in Rajya Sabha a day after. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, aims to promote e-sports and online social games, while outlawing online money gaming.There will be no punishment for those playing online money games; it is only the service providers, advertisers, promoters, and those who financially support such games who will face the consequences, said sources earlier.Through this legislation, the government aims to promote e-sports and give them legal recognition.This bill will help provide legal support to e-sports. Earlier, there was no legal backing for e-sports, sources said.For the promotion of e-sports, which has been recognised as a legitimate form of competitive sport in India, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports will establish a dedicated framework. The government will also promote online social games.The government believes that the harms of addiction, financial losses, and even extreme consequences such as suicides associated with online money gaming can be prevented by the prohibition of such activities.There were reports of money laundering and terror financing, the sources added.Failing to fulfil the law, can attract imprisonment up to three years and/or a fine of up to Rs one crore for offering or facilitating online money gaming. For advertising money games, imprisonment up to two years and/or a fine up to Rs 50 lakh may be attracted. For financial transactions related to money games, imprisonment up to three years and/or a fine up to Rs one crore is being provided.Any repeat offences may attract enhanced penalties, including imprisonment of three to five years and fines up to Rs two crore. Offences under key sections to be cognizable and non-bailable.The Central government may authorise officers to investigate, search, and seize digital or physical property linked to offences. Officers would be empowered to enter, search, and arrest without a warrant in some instances of suspected offences. Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT S Krishnan had earlier this morning told that once the President gives assent to the Bill, a notification will follow to announce the date on which the Bill will come into effect. "We also have to draft the rules under the bill, and issue the rules which are required to be drafted. As the bill is structured, even without rules, because the rules govern certain aspects, there are certain provisions in the bill which can come into force without the rules, but that is a decision we will take," Krishnan said. The secretary has acknowledged that the new legislation is expected to result in some loss in GST collections. Going by estimates, the annual losses to the exchequer are expected to be around Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000 crore.The MeitY secretary stressed that the legislation has been brought in with the larger objective of safeguarding social interests and ensuring responsible regulation of the online gaming sector."I think when the government has a larger social objective in mind, I think revenue loss is not the primary consideration. In any case, the bill had the approval and the consent of the Finance Ministry as well," the secretary said. Asked when the new legislation would come into effect, the secretary, without getting into specifics, said, "We are working on it, should get it done quickly."