The Biggest Stories Of September 1, 2019

A special report from Assam's Hojai district - a BJP stronghold - tries to examine if the large number of Hindus excluded from the National Register of Citizens from the region has queered the ruling party's political pitch; West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has launched a fresh attack on the Assam citizens' list, alleging many genuine Indians and one lakh gorkhas have been excluded from it; Pakistan says it will provide consular access to Kubhushan Jadhav - former naval officer sentenced to death by a court for alleged "espionage and terrorism" - today; External Affairs minister S Jaishankar has reportedly said the coming days will see a progressive easing up of restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir, while accusing Pakistan of openly practising terrorism; Goods and Services Tax collections in August have dropped to Rs 98,202 crore from over Rs 1.02 lakh crore in the previous month, a second time that the government has missed its collection target this year; Former prime minister Manmohan Singh has hit out at the Narendra Modi government saying they must put vendetta aside amid the "deeply worrying" state of the economy; Maruti Suzuki India has reported a two-year low in domestic sales amid a steeper slide than July for August auto sales; all this and more on today's newswrap.