The Biggest Stories of December 8, 2016

To encourage cashless transactions, the government has followed up a tax break on use of credit and debit cards announced earlier in the day, with a discount bonanza for people who make purchases digitally at central government run organisations and PSUs; Income Tax department raided the homes of PWD contractors who are part of the sand mafia in Chennai and recovered 100 kg gold and Rs. 90 crore in cash; President Pranab Mukherjee's rebuked parliamentarians saying: "For God's sake, do your job. You are meant to transact business in Parliament." As deposits in Jan Dhan accounts - suspected to be black money - are reducing following warnings from the government, MNREGA accounts are suddenly flush with funds; Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and several other senior ministers visited J Jayalalithaa long-time companion Sasikala Natarajan, further fuelling speculation about a role for her in the ruling AIADMK; all this and more in our news wrap of the day.