EPFO WRITES TO FINANCE MINISTRY ON EXPOSURE IN IL&FS BONDS
Concerned over its
exposure to IL&FS bonds, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)
has intimated the Ministries of Finance and Corporate Affairs and sought its
help in protecting the retirement fund money of large numbers of people.
Letters have been written to the Finance Minister and also to Corporate
Affairs, Central Provident Fund Commissioner Sunil Barthwal told IANS. However,
he said the EPFO's exposure in the debt-ridden company's bonds is very less
considering its total corpus. Till now there has been no default by IL&FS
in paying our interest amount or any principal amount. Now we will have to see,
what happens when our interest becomes due. That we are watching, Barthwal said
without divulging the amount of investment in the bonds. Sources inform that
the EPFO has invested about Rs 570 crore in the IL&FS bonds. Though it is
less than 0.1 per cent of the Rs 8 lakh crore assets under its management,
thousands of crores of rupees have been invested by privately managed provident
fund trusts. There are over 1,500 companies, both private and public, that are
exempted from putting their retirement funds with the EPFO and are allowed to
set up and operate their own in-house PF trusts. These include PF trusts of
state electricity boards, PSUs and banks. However, these exempted companies are
regulated by EPFO guidelines and are required to file statutory returns each
month. Complaints can be filed with the EPFO using the Universal Account Number
(UAN) which is mandatory for even the employees of in-house trusts. Till now we
do not have any problem with IL&FS but we are concerned, alert and
monitoring the situation In respect of transactions with us, they are on the
mark as of now, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar told IANS restricting his reply
only to the EPFO exposure.
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347 INFRA PROJECTS SHOW COST OVERRUNS WORTH OVER RS 3.2 LAKH
CRORE
As many as 347
infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or more, have shown cost
overruns to the tune of over Rs 3.2 lakh crore owing to delays and other
reasons, a Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation report said. The
ministry monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above. Total
original cost of implementation of the 1,443 projects was Rs 18,30,362.48 crore
and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 21,51,136.69 crore,
which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 3,20,774.21 crore (17.53 per cent of
original cost), the ministry's latest report for November 2018 said. Of these 1,443
projects, 347 reported cost overruns and 360 time escalation According to the
report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till November 2018 is Rs
7,97,496.44 crore, which is 37.07 per cent of the anticipated cost of the
projects. However, it said the number of delayed projects decreases to 302, if
delay is calculated on the basis of latest schedule of completion. For 710
projects neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period
has been reported. Out of 360 delayed projects, 106 have overall delay in the
range of 1 to 12 months, 60 are delayed by 13 to 24 months, 93 reflect delay of
25 to 60 months and 101 projects show 61 months and above delay. The average
time overrun in these 360 delayed projects is 44.43 months. The brief reasons
for time overruns, as reported by various project implementing agencies, are
delays in land acquisition, forest clearance and supply of equipment.
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NATIONAL INTEREST, JOB CREATION AT THE HEART OF DRAFT
E-COMMERCE POLICY
The draft ecommerce policy
has been made keeping in mind India's national interest and employment
generation officials involved in the process said. The aim of this draft policy
is national interest and that our citizens' data is ours. Data is business,
everything else is ancillary, a senior official told. According to the draft
policy, location of computing facilities like data centres and server firms
within the country will not only give a fillip to computing in India but will
also lead to job creation, especially when activities like back-office
processing are expected to decrease because of rising automation. The draft
states that cloud computing will be an economic activity in India, while data
analytics will be a major job creator. It is vital that we retain the control
of data. We will do an exercise to see how many jobs can be created and what
are the costs involved, the official said. The document also proposes granting
the 'infrastructure status' to data storage services such as data centres,
server firms, towers, tower stations, equipment, optical wires, signal
transceivers and antennae. This will ensure lower borrowing rates and easy
access to bank finance and tax concessions. The draft also favours a review of
the current practice of not imposing customs duty on electronic transmissions
as per the existing norms in the World Trade Organization. It assumes
significance as the US, Singapore and Korea have demanded that the temporary
moratorium be made permanent. While data is the pivot of the policy, it would
help India's cause at the WTO and strengthen the opposition to ecommerce
negotiations, said another official.
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DRAFT E-COMMERCE POLICY HAS LEFT OUT KEY AREAS WHICH MAY
CREATE ISSUES: CAIT
Traders' body CAIT
Saturday said the draft national e-commerce policy released by the government
has left out some areas which may create new problems for the sector. The draft
of e-commerce policy looks to be innovative and good but at the same time
several things have been left out Praveen Khandelwal said. According to him,
the e-commerce policy should provide substantial platform for business and the
draft seems to be silent on domestic players in the sector which is
undesirable, and they should also be brought under the policy. The government
Saturday released the draft national e-commerce policy proposing setting up a
legal and technological framework for restrictions on cross-border data flow
and also laid out conditions for businesses regarding collection or processing
of sensitive data locally and storing it abroad. The draft policy said the
framework would be created to provide the basis for imposing restrictions on
cross-border data flow from specified sources including data collected by IoT
devices installed in public space, and data generated by users in India by
various sources, including e-commerce platforms, social media, search engines.
The 42-page draft addresses six broad issues of the e-commerce ecosystem --
data, infrastructure development, e-commerce marketplaces, regulatory issues,
stimulating domestic digital economy and export promotion through e-commerce. A
business entity that collects or processes any sensitive data in India and
stores it abroad, shall be required to adhere to the certain conditions,
according to the policy draft. The policy laid out strategies to protect misuse
of data while maintaining the spirit of existing regulations, it said adding
that e-commerce warrants a framework which extends across segments, due to the
cross-cutting nature of issues. On e-commerce marketplace businesses, it said
the policy aims to invite and encourage foreign direct investment (FDI) in the
marketplace model alone, which is being carried out by companies like Flipkart
and Amazon. Online marketplaces should not adopt business models or strategies
which are discriminatory and which favour one or few sellers/traders operating
on their platforms over others, the draft clarifies. Besides, all e-commerce
sites/apps available for download in India must have a registered business
entity in India as the importer on record or as the entity through which all
sales in India are transacted.
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JAITLEY DEFENDS GOVT RAISING ISSUES WITH RBI, SAYS COUNTRY
MORE IMPORTANT THAN INSTITUTIONS
Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley Friday stoutly defended the government raising demands, such as
increasing liquidity, with the Reserve Bank of India, saying the country is
more important than institutions He also made a vehement pitch for a government
being elected with a clear majority in the coming general elections so as to
provide stability to the economy and not force a change of guard within six
months. He said the announcements made in three to four months ahead of
elections or after the elections are aberrations and focus must be in long term
direction of policies. Quizzed about the unprecedented move by the government
to get RBI to discuss issues of its concern by citing a never-used-provision,
Jaitley reeled out instances of central bank governors being forced to resign
during Congress regimes and his predecessor P Chidambaram not being on talking
terms with two Governors. Raising an issue of interest to the economy which
everybody concedes is in the larger interest is tinkering with the institution The
country is more important than any institution, be it the government. We can't
starve the market. We can't squeeze credit, we can't squeeze liquidity because
that will hurt the growth, hurt the economy, he said. Stating that the country
has seen the advantages of fiscal discipline, he said policy makers have a
choice between sound policies and populism. The last thing India need at this
stage is political instability, the last thing that India needs at this stage
is lack of policy decision. And certainly we don't need a chaotic sort of
combination and more importantly India needs a five-year government not a
six-month government. I'm quite certain that aspirational societies don't
suffer from a Lemmings complex and commit a suicide, they resist from doing
that, Jaitley said.
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DNS SERVER TO BE LAUNCHED SOON TO PROTECT USERS FROM MALWARE
The government will soon
launch a public domain name system (DNS) server that could protect users from
any malware or phishing with enhanced security features as well as faster
response time, a senior official of the ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY)
told. We are expecting it to be ready in next three months, and we will be
doing a proof of concept (PoC) starting next week, the official said, adding
that the new system would be completely secure and always available with faster
response. DNS is a system that translates domain names to Internet Protocol or
IP addresses that allows browsers to load websites sought. This (DNS) is an
important tool that requires to be fool-proof, and has a major role in browsing
the Internet, he said. The Narendra Modi government is eyeing a new and robust
platform in the wake of critical digital services being delivered online
requiring enhanced security to discourage cyber-attacks and a quicker site
loading time. If a user inadvertently accesses a malicious or phishing site,
the new public system would immediately open up a page or popup to alert the
user of such potential threat so that the suspicious resource could be avoided,
the official who is aware of the initiative, said. The new DNS will be placed
across the country to minimise outage and would be available round the clock.
Users can simply use it by typing the IP number into the Internet browser. The
Centre has also launched a new email platform for all government employees
including those in states and Union Territories. The new platform is an
upgraded version with enhanced in-built security features compared to the
earlier created by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and has a capability
to host as many as 5 million users that can be scaled up further if needed. We
have started the migration of 20 lakh employees to a newer email platform in
batches, the official said, adding that it has been developed based on open
source standards with latest features. The new email system has advanced
calendar options and can transfer large files, and can also schedule email
sending to a later date or time.
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TRAI TO REVIEW MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY CHARGES EVEN AS
MONTHLY PORT REQUESTS DECLINE
The Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday issued a consultation paper to review per
port transaction charge and ancillary services’ charge for mobile number
portability (MNP) amid market consolidation and a decline in port requests. TRAI
in the paper said that Mergers of some of the major telecom service providers
(TSP) and closure of services by many TSPs have been witnessed during the last
one year. Porting data for the last one year shows that the number of port
requests per month is declining According to the data by TRAI the MNP requests
declined 37% to 3.19 million in October 2018 from 5.04 million requests in
September 2018. TRAI had reduced the per port transaction charge from Rs 19 to
Rs 4 and on January 31, 2018. The ceiling of charges leviable from subscriber
was also reduced to Rs 4 for each porting, the consultation paper said. The
authority said that initially the per port transaction charges were calculated
according to estimated data shared by the MNP service providers (MNPSP) in
2009. Subsequently, the charge was reviewed based on the financial and
non-financial data of both the MNPSPs as available for FY 2011-17. However,
TRAI has now asked the stakeholders whether the per port transaction charges
should continue to be calculated the same way and if not then what should be
the new methodology. The authority, in a list of six questions, also asked that
While calculating ‘Per Port Transaction Charge’, whether the total
number of MNP requests
received by MNPSP or successfully ported numbers be considered? the
consultation paper said. Also, whether the per port transaction charge and
ancillary services’ charge should be calculated separately or as consolidated
charges? TRAI said.
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DELAY IN 5G SPECTRUM AUCTION WILL RAISE COSTS FOR TELCOS: TRAI
The telecom department’s
delay in auctioning 5G spectrum in the 3300-3600 Mhz bands will jack up costs
for phone companies planning to roll out 5G networks in India as they will have
to make additional investments in such next-generation airwaves, the sector
regulator said in a white paper on the ultra-fast wireless broadband
technology. The 3.5 GHz band is likely to be the first to be used globally for
5G deployments, and since DoT is yet to auction spectrum in the 3300-3600 Mhz
bands, telecom service providers in India are likely to initially incur an
additional investment while launching 5G services on account of spectrum cost,
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in its 5G white paper Friday.
The DoT is reportedly likely to hold the next spectrum auction only after
August this year, and may use a new pricing methodology, which the regulator is
working on, to lower prices of all airwave bands, even in the upcoming sale. Adequate
spectrum availability, according to Trai, is critical to realise the potential
of 5G in India. It is crucial that enough spectrum is made available in the
appropriate frequency bands to realise the 5G vision, the regulator said in its
white paper. In its white paper on enabling 5G in India, the regulator also
made a strong pitch for abolishing any potential regulatory or licensing
barriers in the path of adopting newer and better technologies. Since 5G will
enable new capabilities, the foremost task of regulators and licensors is to
figure out the changes required in the licensing/regulatory regime to not only
permit or support, but even facilitate proliferation of new services and use
cases since 5G will impact both consumer services and industries embarking on
digital transformation, Trai’s white paper said.
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BIG-SIZE, CONTIGUOUS SPECTRUM ESSENTIAL FOR 5G SERVICES, SAYS
TRAI
Large blocks of contiguous
airwaves would play a pivotal role in the penetration of next-generation 5G
spectrum in India, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(Trai). Trai on Friday said: To offer multi-gigabits mobile broadband services (MBB),
5G would essentially require large contiguous spectrum blocks per operator to
roll out 5G services. The regulator said while larger block size is beneficial
for improving mobile broadband experience and the spectrum efficiency of
networks, smaller block size provides greater flexibility. However, the latter
increases the chances of fragmentation. Trai had in August last year
recommended a block size of 20 MHz with a cap of 100 MHz. The block size of 20
MHz would give flexibility to bidders and a maximum limit of 100 MHz per bidder
would help in avoiding monopolisation of this band. To avoid fragmenting
spectrum, it has been recommended that in case a telecom service provider is
able to win more than two blocks of spectrum, it should be allocated spectrum
in contiguous blocks. Trai observed 5G had the potential to work as a catalyst
in achieving economic growth and investment in mobile network infrastructure
would be a key enabler in this. Given the massive impact 5G will have on
industry verticals, and hence on the economy, effective spectrum pricing will
play a vital role in promoting healthy investment in the networks, Trai said.
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PM MODI SEES INDIA AS USD 10-TRILLION ECONOMY WITH COUNTLESS
STARTUPS
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Saturday said India today is a country where the impossible is now
possible which stood out in contrast to the sentiment prevalent in the previous
government where the only competition was over corruption In particular, the PM
cited that his government had a competition of development to that of the
Congress-led UPA when there existed a competition of corruption. A competition
between ministries, a competition between states - a competition on
development, a completion on achieving targets. Before 2014 also, we heard
about a competition, although of a different kind. A competition between
ministries, a competition between individuals - a competition on corruption, a
competition on delays. There was competition on who can do maximum corruption
and who can do fastest corruption. I will leave it to you to decide which form
of competition you would prefer, Modi said. We also know who were the main
players involved in this competition (of corruption), the PM added. Modi said
that during 2014 to 2019, the country would register average growth of 7.4
percent and the average inflation would be less than 4.5 percent. Post
liberalisation of Indian economy, this will be the highest rate of average
growth and lowest rate of average inflation witnessed during the period of any
government, the Prime Minister said. He mentioned how he was told that there is
a perception that a developing economy cannot grow at higher rate for a longer
period without facing the problem of inflation. Post liberalization, almost all
governments formed in our country had to face this problem - what many experts
call over-heating of economy after a short period of growth. As a result of
this we never had sustainable higher rate of growth, Modi said, speaking of
previous governments. He cited how the government between 1991 and 1996 had an
average growth was about 5 percent but the average inflation was more than 10
percent. The government just before us between 2009 to 2014 had an average
growth of about 6.5 percent with an average inflation again in double digit,
Modi said. Modi said that while for decades, a narrative was made that certain
things are just impossible in India, the progress achieved since 2014 shows
nothing is impossible for 130 crore Indians. Namunkin Ab Mumkin Hai (The
impossible is now possible), Modi said, pointing to how it was said that a
corruption free government in India was impossible but people of India have
made it possible. It was said that economic reforms in India were impossible,
but people of India are making it possible. It was said that governments cannot
be pro-growth and pro-poor at the same time, but people of India are making it
possible, the PM said. Modi added that the country had moved away from the
A,B,C mentality - that is A for avoiding, B for burying and C for confusing.
Instead of avoiding an issue, we dealt with the issue; Instead of burying it,
we dug it out and communicated to the people; and Instead of confusing the
system, we demonstrated that a solution is possible, the Prime Minister said.
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SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN NUMBER OF SERVICE VOTERS
The process of summary
revision of last parts of electoral rolls with reference to 01.01.2019 as the
qualifying date has concluded with the final publication of last parts i.e. on
22.02.2019. A total of 16,62,993 service personnel have been enrolled as Service
Electors in the Country in the final last part of electoral roll 2019. In 2014
the corresponding figure was 13,27,627. Thus the 2019 ER has recorded a
substantial increase on the total number of service voters of 2014. This
increase in number of service voters has been due to the Commission’s all out
efforts to maximise the registration of service electors during summary
revision 2019 and active cooperation of the services/departments concerned and
greater participation of service personnel. As per the provisions of law and
instructions of the Commission, all left out and un-registered eligible service
personnel can still file their applications for registration in the last part
of electoral roll during continuous updation till the last date of filing nominations
of elections, and they can submit the Form 2, 2A or 3, as the case may be,
through their Record officer/Commanding Officer/Authority concerned on the
service voter portal i.e. servicevoter.nic.in. It is clarified that all the
Forms received till 10 days before the last date of filing nominations shall be
disposed of and the names of the applicants shall be included in last part of
electoral rolls, if the Forms have been found complete in all respect by the
ERO concerned.
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GOVERNMENT COMMITTED TO FARMERS WELFARE
To provide an assured
income support to the small and marginal farmers, the Government is launching
the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN). Under this programme,
vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land upto 2 hectares,
will be provided direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year. This
income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of
beneficiary farmers, in three equal instalments of Rs. 2,000 each. This
programme will be funded by Government of India. Around 12 crore small and
marginal farmer families are expected to benefit from this. It will entail an
annual expenditure of Rs. 75,000 crore. PM-KISAN would not only provide assured
supplemental income to the most vulnerable farmer families, but would also meet
their emergent needs especially before the harvest season. PM-KISAN would pave
the way for the farmers to earn and live a respectable living. A small and
marginal landholder farmer family for the purpose of the calculation of the
benefit is defined as a family comprising of husband, wife and minor children
(upto 18 years of age) who collectively own cultivable land upto 2 hectare as
per land records of the concerned State/UT. The existing land-ownership system
in the concerned States/UTs will be used for identification of beneficiaries.
Those whose names appear in land records as on 01.02,2019 are eligible for
benefit. If a Landholder Farmer Family (LFF) has land parcels spread across
different village/revenue records, then land will be pooled for determining the
benefit. Accordingly, it is of utmost importance that the land records are
clear and updated and the State/UT Governments are requested to complete
updation of and records for the purpose expeditiously. All States/UTs shall
endeavor to complete the identification of beneficiaries and facilitate quick
distribution of the benefit to farmers. The funds pertaining to income support
benefit shall be released from Gol periodically based on receipt of fund
transfer order through the concerned State/UT Govt. with the eligible
beneficiaries’ details.
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SOON, QR CODES MAY BECOME MANDATORY ON DRUG PACKS
All medicine packs will
have to carry a unique quick response code (QR) come April. The Department of
Pharmaceuticals (DoP) is likely to issue an order to this effect within a few
weeks, sources said. A QR code is a unique two-dimensional matrix bar-code
which is attached to products to obtain information about them and track their
origin. The idea for QR coding medicines is two-pronged, said an official from
DoP. Firstly, the intention is to pass on the benefit of fair pricing to the
consumer, and secondly, it is to track drugs so that the threat of fake
medicines can be eliminated, the official said. The way this will work is as
follows. When a customer goes to a pharmacist to buy medicines, the pharmacist
will scan the QR code on the medicine pack and bill the customer according to
the price reflected on the computer or mobile phone. The DoP has been mulling
creating a fair pricing system after the Supreme Court pulled up the government
asking it to devise a mechanism, which will help pass on the benefits of
decreased dynamic pricing of drugs to consumers, just in case the Maximum
Retail Price (MRP) printed on the pack is higher at the time of the decrease. The
National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) collates price data of all
formulations and brands so the QR code scanning can be linked to a software
which will be supervised by the regulator. In case the prices of drugs are
revised by pharma companies, the information will have to be fed into the
software. But the industry has been constantly flagging difficulties in
implementing the QR coding instructions. The Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has also submitted a list of issues that the
pharmaceutical companies will face as they take on the mammoth task. There are
close to 60,000 brands and 6,000 formulations whose data needs to be collated
and updated as far as pricing is concerned and that remains a looming challenge
to successfully implement the QR code project, the official said. Another huge
challenge in implementing the QR code exercise will arise in rural areas.
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ZOMATO REMOVES OVER 5,000 RESTAURANTS IN FEB FOR FAILING
HYGIENE STANDARDS
Online restaurant guide
and food ordering firm Zomato Friday said it has delisted over 5,000
restaurants in February for non-compliance with the hygiene standards set by
food regulator FSSAI. Zomato, along with the Food Safety and Standards
Authority of India (FSSAI), is conducting audit of all restaurants listed on
the platform across 150 cities in the country, where it has presence, said a
statement. According to the company, it has delisted over 5,000 restaurants
found non-compliant with the standards set by the FSSAI for hygiene. Zomato CEO
(Food Delivery Business) Mohit Gupta said: We are adding 400 restaurants to our
platform every day So, it is crucial that our restaurant partners are compliant
with regulations and hygiene standards. He further said: For this reason, We
have been re-evaluating all 80,000-plus restaurants listed on Zomato, helping
them be compliant, and delisting those that have failed to follow regulations
in spite of continuous efforts Zomato is educating its restaurant partners to
obtain a licence, as well as meet the necessary hygiene standards. As a result,
the number of compliant restaurants on the platform has increased by over
30,000 in the past six months, it added.
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2019 LOK SABHA ELECTIONS COULD BE WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE, SAYS
EXPERT
The upcoming general
elections in India will be the most expensive in Indian history and perhaps one
of the most expensive ever held in any democratic country, a US-based expert
has said. The Election Commission of India is soon expected to announce its
schedule for the polls to be held to elect 543 members of the Lok Sabha. The
combined US presidential and congressional elections in 2016 cost $6.5 billion.
If the 2014 Lok Sabha elections cost an estimated $5 billion, there is little
doubt the 2019 election will easily surpass that making India's elections the
world's most expensive, Milan Vaishnav, told. The uncertainty associated with
the coming election polls suggest a narrowing gap between the BJP and the
opposition only provides more fodder for an arms race in spending, he said. Vaishnav
has emerged as an authoritative voice on Indian elections, in particular the
funding aspects of it, over the years. While the outcome of the next general
election is up in the air, one attribute about it is already well known: it
will be the most expensive general election in Indian history and perhaps one
of the most expensive ever held in any democratic society, Vaishnav wrote. Noting
that the 2014 general elections costed $5 billion, Vaishnav said it was not
inconceivable that overall expenditure will double again this year. Vaishnav
rued that in India there is virtually zero transparency when it comes to
political contributions.
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ACT AGAINST TERRORISM: PM NARENDRA MODI TELLS GLOBAL COMMUNITY
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi called on the world to unite in the fight against terrorism which
threatens peace and security across the globe. Modi, who received the Seoul
Peace Prize in the South Korean capital on Friday, said that India had been
repeatedly hit by terrorists from across the border over the past four decades.
Our endeavour towards peaceful development has only too often been derailed by
cross-border terrorism. Radicalisation and terrorism have become global and are
the biggest threats to world peace and security. The time has come for all
those who believe in humanity to join hands to completely eradicate terrorist
networks and their financing, supply channels, and to counter terrorist
ideology and propaganda, Modi said. Only by doing so can we replace hate with
harmony; destruction with development; and transform the landscape of violence
and vendetta into a postcard for peace. Modi said India and South Korea will
work together on battling the scourge. On counter terror, we will increase
cooperation, he said. The world has to move beyond just talks now. India’s home
ministry and South Korea's national police signed a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) on Transnational Crimes and Police Cooperation to crack down on
terrorism. The prime minister said India was among the top 10 trading partners
of South Korea and is the sixth-largest export destination for that country’s
goods. The two nations signed three separate agreements to facilitate South
Korean investment. These include speeding up foreign direct investment, along
with supporting Indian startups and funding highways. The South Korean model is
the best for India, he said. The two countries are looking to more than double
bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030 from $21.5 billion in 2018. They have
also fast-tracked the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. At that
last meeting, he talked about his government’s reforms and how the goods and
services tax (GST) had united the country economically. India is the brightest
spot for investment in the world, he said. The PM dedicated the $200,000 prize
money to the Namami Gange programme. This award belongs not to me personally,
but to the people of India, he said. The success that India has achieved in the
last five years is due to aspirations, inspiration and efforts of the people of
India. On their behalf, I accept the award and express my gratitude.
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ODISHA'S UJJWALA DIDIS: 10,000 WOMEN ENERGY AMBASSADORS TO
PROMOTE LPG USE
Oil Marketing Companies
(OMCs) will engage more than 10,000 rural women as Ujjwala Didis to act as
grassroot energy ambassadors across Odisha to ensure sustainability of LPG use.
More than 10,000 Ujjwala Didis have been identified who will act as grassroot
energy ambassadors all over Odisha, Subhajit Ghosh told. He said Ujjwala Didis
will act as a bridge between existing and prospective LPG consumers and the
distributors in the state, which saw phenomenal growth in LPG households from
20 lakh in 2014 to almost 78 lakh in February, 2019. Their positive
intervention into the rural domestic energy ecosystem and distribution network
help all in ease of booking for refill, issuance of new connections and
sustainable use of energy. Noting that Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has
contributed to LPG growth in Odisha almost singlehandedly, he said PMUY was
launched in Odisha on June 20, 2016 and since then 39 lakh PMUY connections
have been given to poor women with nil security deposit. While overall LPG
penetration in Odisha has gone upto 73 per cent from 20 per cent in 2014,
sustainability is the cornerstone of any successfully implemented scheme. The
next logical step is to put in place a framework which shall lead to the
desired effect in the socio-economic spheres of the beneficiaries on a long
term basis.
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NEVER FACED GOVT PRESSURE ON JOB DATA, UNTIL RECENTLY, SAYS
EX-NSC HEAD
Government interference is
undermining the integrity of India’s statistics apparatus, a former head of the
country’s apex statistical body said, raising questions about the reliability
of data from an economy poised to be the world’s fifth-largest. P C Mohanan,
said questions raised about the agency’s work by a government think tank, the
withholding of a jobs report and the lack of enough statisticians were taking a
toll on the institution. He, along with another colleague, resigned in January
in protest. I had never felt any pressure from the government until recently,
Mohanan said. The comments by NITI Aayog, the think tank, on the National
Sample Survey Office’s jobs report was cited by Mohanan as an example of
interference. Mohanan’s views highlight a risk to autonomy of institutions
under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has been accused of
meddling with the functioning of entities from the central bank to the federal
police. It also undermines the reliability of data, some of which have seen
substantial revision recently. Data last month showed economic growth in the
year Modi banned 86 per cent of currency was among the fastest ever at 8.2 per
cent. The magnitude is the issue, Mohanan said. If the revisions are large,
then there is a problem not just for investors but also for the government
because a lot of calculations are based on those GDP numbers. For a country
aiming to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025 and lure more foreign
investments, there is a dearth of reliable official statistics ranging from
monthly retail sales data to housing starts. Mohanan said the problem was a
lack of manpower and government apathy
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RBI'S AUTONOMY MEANT TO FURTHER LIQUIDITY, CREDIT: FM ARUN
JAITLEY
Finance Minister says the
govt used every method at its disposal in larger public interest to boost
credit keeping India’s growth in mind while reiterating that country is more
important than any institution. I think you have to blend good governance with
clever politics. otherwise a sound bureaucrat would be a Prime Minister of
India and that is not likely to happen. No amount of autonomy that the central
bank can enjoy can permit it to deviate from its essential function that is to
ensure that there is credit and there is liquidity. Autonomy is to further
these two, not to curtail these two. I think it is a completely fake issue. Let
us be clear, let us start from each institution — first the judiciary: The only
issue we had with the judiciary was within the constitutional framework. They
recommend several names for appointment. Under the constitutional law as
interpreted by the Supreme Court, government can give its opinion, appoint some
people and send one or two cases back with some information. We exercised that
right. Now RBI, Pandit Nehru in 1955 got B Rama Rao to resign as the RBI
governor. Mrs Gandhi got Jagannathan to resign because he refused to sanction a
loan for Maruti. The government, which is the largest stakeholder in the
economy, is using every method at its disposal, statutory and nonstatutory, to
say we cannot starve the market. We cannot squeeze credit, we cannot squeeze
liquidity — that will hurt growth, that will hurt the economy… Not one voice
from the real stakeholders, the people who do business in the market, came out
and said we disagree with the government because they knew where the shoe is
pinching. Your real estate came to a standstill — that will have a spiral
effect on cement, steel, labour, employment and the data was showing that.
During the peak of that period, auto sales started falling because loans were
not coming from the NBFCs. And therefore, raising an issue of interest to the
economy which everybody concedes is in the larger interest… ‘Oh, he is
tinkering with an institution.’ I have said this earlier and I repeat, the
country is more important than any institution, be it the government or be it
any other institution and therefore the country’s interest cannot be
compromised. I think finally everybody seems to have realised that you need
funding sources to come from both the formal banking sector as also from these
sectors like the NBFCs, which were playing a very important role. When you are
trying to reform a system and bring it in line so that people act as per best
business practices, I think it is also important that whether it is the states
or the Centre, investigating agencies also have to abide by some very high
standards. The high standards have to be — first it has to be integrity, second
it has to be compliance of law, third has to be fairness. So, nobody who is
guilty gets away and nobody who is innocent is unnecessarily harassed.
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GOVERNMENT FOLLOWING CHINA’S STAND ON DATA: INDUSTRY PLAYERS
The new draft policy for
e-commerce is trying to mimic a China-like stand over its citizen’s data and
shows signs of protectionism in the domestic market, senior industry executives
have said after the draft was unveiled on Saturday. It limits cross-border flow
of data, gives the government more access to it and also calls for creating a
data authority to share information in public interest This has spooked
industry executives. An Amazon executive, on the condition of anonymity, said
the new draft is adding another layer of regulatory restrictions that try to
control the flow of data, like China, after it was forced to store payments
data only in India last year. This time, Amazon’s core e-commerce business will
also witness complications on overall compliance. For now, both Amazon and
Flipkart, where US-retail giant Walmart owns 77%, have said they are studying
the draft law and will submit their suggestions to the government by the March
9 deadline. Other players like Snapdeal have welcomed the policy. India and its
citizens have a sovereign right to their data, the draft policy says, which is
being seen as the core theme of the new guideline. A request from Indian
authorities to have access to all such data stored abroad shall be complied
with immediately, the draft mentions, among other proposals over data storage
and its usage. Policy executives and lawyers spoke to also highlight a
consistency in all government policies in the last one year that shows the
Centre wants to have access to data when needed and these rules will complement
that effort. The government is making it clear that here is the rule and you
are welcome if you play by the rules. Somewhere the tech industry is also
beginning to feel that the free run they had across the globe is coming under
watch, says Rameesh Kailasam. While industry executives also cited recent European
regulations trying to strengthen consumer privacy, India’s demand that they are
given immediate access to such data outside the country is stoking fears of the
government’s attempt here to replicate — what some see as — parts of China-like
norms. The new rules would also tighten the noose around Chinese e-commerce
companies like Club Factory and Shein, which are selling products in India
through the gift route.
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SMARTPHONES WORTH OVER $28.5 BN SOLD IN INDIA IN 2018: REPORT
The Indian smartphone
market bucked the global demand downtrend in 2018, growing both sales volume
and value by 19% and 21% respectively, according to a latest study by market
tracker GfK. The study estimates more than 161 million smartphones worth over
$28.5 billion were sold last year in India. In Asia’s emerging markets such as
India, a country where feature phone sales still exceeds half of the total
handset market, smartphone market’s rapid growth is fueled by the high adoption
rate of first-time smartphone users, in addition to the fast replacement cycle
and upgrading of existing smartphone users, said Alexander Dehmel. The study
says global smartphone sales grew 5% to hit $522 billion in 2018. The Asia
Pacific (APAC) region contributed over $254 billion or nearly half of global
sales. Within APAC, China accounted for 60% of the region’s total market value
and 54% market volume—making it the largest contributing country to the global
smartphone market. India was at the second spot. The biggest consumers for
smartphones hail from APAC, who bought over 732 million units last year. In
line with the global sales trend, APAC’s smartphone market similarly registered
slight decline in demand while overall consumer spend increased by 5%. GfK says
the telecommunication sector comprising of smartphones, feature phones and
wearables claimed 44% share, and remains the powerhouse in the $1.2 trillion
technical consumer goods market. Globally, around 12% (up from 9% in 2017) of
smartphones sold were priced at more than $800 in 2018. The $150-400 segment
continues to be an important competitive battleground accounting for 46% of
smartphones sold globally in 2018 (up from 44% in 2017).
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TRAI DIRECTS BARC TO RELEASE TV VIEWERSHIP DATA FOR PAST WEEKS
IMMEDIATELY
Broadcasting regulator
Trai has taken a strong view of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC)
not publishing rating and viewership data during the sector's migration to the
new tariff regime, and directed it to immediately release viewership data for
the past weeks on its website, warning of appropriate action for
non-compliance, a source said. According to the source privy to the
development, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has shot off a
fresh salvo at BARC, and in a strongly worded directive has asked it to furnish
compliance by February 25, 2019, failing which, appropriate action would be
initiated under various sections of the Trai Act. BARC India has modified its
Fair and Permissible Usage Policy in February 14, 2019, even after being
repeatedly asked by the authority to not stop publishing of rating data and
viewership data on its website during the migration to new regulatory framework
until and unless explicitly permitted by the authority and are thus, in
contravention of the direction of the authority dated December 21, 2018 and
January 14, 2019, said the Trai directive, also seen by PTI. Trai rued that
BARC India did not comply with its previous instructions despite being
repeatedly asked by the authority to publish rating and data of the viewership
of different TV channels. The regulator observed that BARC had submitted that
disruption caused by transition to the new regime could prevent consumers from
accessing the channels of their choice, thus not giving fair and true picture
of TV consumption in India. But Trai said it would not be appropriate to stop
rating of channels as these changes were an outcome of consumer choice and real
reflection of market changes. The regulator opined that the decision of BARC
India to withhold the data cannot be justified by any yardstick. It noted that BARC
India has failed to furnish any cogent reason for not publishing the rating and
viewership data and that such action on part of BARC India reflects poorly on
the creditworthiness of the data published by them. Trai reminded BARC India
that it is governed by the provisions of the Trai Act and thus required to
comply with orders, regulations, and directions issued by the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting and Trai from time to time.
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DEMONETISATION 2.0? NEW RULE TO REGULATE DEPOSITS MAY HURT
MANY
An individual reaching out
to a friend for a quick loan to tide over a crisis a cash-strapped businessman
borrowing from an acquaintance to meet a personal obligation; or, a charitable
institution funding students and the ailing — normal transactions like these as
well as dodgy deals by chit funds and cooperative societies to bankroll
political parties before polls will be the immediate casualties of a hurried
ordinance. ‘The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance, 2019’,
notified last week, may be intended to protect gullible investors from dubious
outfits selling ponzi and pyramid schemes, but the timing of its enactment and
likely ramifications have stunned experts. Some have compared it with
demonetisation, which was aimed at curbing black money and announced less than
three months before the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections. The law permits deposits
from ‘relatives’, banks, financial institutions, property buyers, customers
(extending an advance payment), and for other designated purposes. Similarly, a
proprietor can borrow from a non-relative as long as it is strictly for
business purposes. However, the ability to augment resources for meeting
personal and social commitments, (or) medical and educational urgencies will
dry up as no amount can be borrowed from persons other than relatives as
defined under the Companies Act. The definition is restricted to only immediate
family members, said Dilip Lakhani. The real estate sector will be hit hard as
deposits can only be accepted for a designated transaction and can be adjusted
against the future sale consideration. Even if the intention of the ordinance
is laudable, the language could cause difficulties to small traders carrying
out business as a proprietor, partnership firm or LLP Students and the needy
taking loans from charitable trusts would (also) run into hurdles, said Dilip
Lakhani. Significantly, the law prohibits deposits by non-voting members in
multi-state cooperative societies. Based out of various states, such societies,
along with chit funds — masquerading as quasi-banks — are suspected to have
raised large amounts that are then lent to companies and entities that serve as
fronts for political funding. In enforcing the ban, the ordinance has brought
about amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, and Multi-State
Cooperative Society Act, 2002, to explicitly state that a multi-state
cooperative society shall not be entitled to receive deposits from persons
other than voting members. It’s unclear what’s the new mischief that they (the
government) are trying to deal with, and why it warranted an ordinance. Many
bona fide transactions, particularly for SMEs, would be impacted due to the
sweeping nature of the provisions (I) don’t know whether there was enough
consultation before moving the ordinance, said Jayesh H.
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GOVT FLAGS RAILWAYS' STEEL IMPORT PLANS, SAYS 'MAKE IN INDIA'
The steel ministry has
red-flagged Indian Railways’ plan to import rails arguing that domestic
manufacturers should be given preference and the state-run transporter should
work out a long-term strategy for local production, which is the government’s
thrust under PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ scheme. This is the second time
in two years that the railways’ import plans are facing scrutiny after the Modi
administration put in place a public procurement policy that gives preference
to domestically-produced goods. After placing an order to import an estimated
five lakh tonnes for the current financial year, the railways has sought an
exemption from the government order for a four lakh tonne order to meet its
requirement for next year. Against its requirement of 14 lakh tonnes for the
current financial year, the railways has estimated that it will need 17 lakh
tonnes next year. State-run SAIL has a capacity to produce 12 lakh tonnes while
JSPL can manufacture another 6 lakh tonnes of rails, prompting fresh resistance
from the steel ministry, sources told. The ministry has now sought details from
railways, with sources indicating that the transporter needs to disclose its
long-term strategy for expansion of tracks and renewal of existing ones so that
adequate capacity is created in the country. Every country that has done this
kind of work has relied on local manufacturers. If needed, SAIL can work with
railways and plan its capacity augmentation, including a possible joint venture
with railways, said a source. On its part, the railways believes that there is
a shortage of manufacturing capacity and supply needs to be augmented via
imports.
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TRAI DIRECTS DISTRIBUTORS TO PLACE SAME GENRE TV CHANNELS
TOGETHER, WARNS ACTION ON NON-COMPLIANCE
Acting on complaints,
sector regulator Trai has directed distributors of TV channels to make sure
that channels belonging to the same genre are placed together and one channel
appears only at one place as prescribed under its rules, failing which it will
take action against the erring distributor. Trai’s directive is important from
a subscriber viewpoint as not placing same genre channels together results in
consumer difficulty in locating channels. On the other hand, appearance of
channels in more than one place can influence its visibility and ratings. The
latest directive issued to distributors of TV channels — which includes the
likes of DTH operators and multi-system operators — came in response to
specific complaints recieved by Trai alleging transmission of TV channels on
dual ‘Logical Channel Number’, or placement of TV channels by distributors out
of the genre or category declared by the broadcaster. Now, therefore, the
authority, in exercise of the powers conferred upon it and in order to protect
the interest of service providers and consumers and ensure orderly growth of
the sector, hereby directs all distributors of television channels to ensure
that the TV channels of the same genre, as declared by the broadcasters, are
placed together consecutively and one channel shall appear at one place only,
said Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) – also the broadcasting
regulator – in its directive to TV players. Failure to comply, will result on
action being taken against such distributors, under the provision of TRAI Act,
it added. The directive is effective immediately and TV channel distributors have
been asked to strictly ensure compliance with the regulations. The directive
has been issued to ensure that consumers do not face any inconvenience, Arvind
Kumar, Advisor (Broadcasting), Trai, told PTI. The provision of Trai’s service
quality regulations that came into effect in July 2018 requires every
broadcaster to declare the genre of its channels under categories like
devotional, general, entertainment, movies, news and current affairs amongst
others. It is mandatory for the distributor to place channels in the electronic
programme guide, in such a way that the television channels of the same genre,
are placed together consecutively, and one channel appears only at one place.
Under the rules, every distributor of TV channel assigns a unique channel number
for each TV channel available on the network, and in case a broadcaster changes
the genre of a channel then the assigned channel number is also changed such
that it is placed together with channels of the new genre in the electronic
programme guide.
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NET CAN’T BE USED TO FOMENT TERROR: RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD
Law and IT minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad on Saturday said that it was possible to develop technological
solutions to overcome the problem of encryption on social media platforms such
as WhatsApp that will help tackle the spread of rumours which resulted in
lynching and clamp down on dissemination of messages related to terrorism or
radicalisation. Nothing is impossible in technology, the minister said while
appreciating some of the steps taken by WhatsApp, which has been under fire on
the issue. The social media giant has maintained that it was not possible for
it to read messages due to the encryption technology. Internet should not
remain the monopoly of a few. It must reflect local ideas and culture. Internet
must be safe and secure and government has a role as one of the stakeholders.
Internet should not become a means to promote terror, radical thought and
create disorder in the society. You have got the right to appreciate, the right
to criticise. But if internet is abused to foment terror, radicalise and
destroy India, surely a call has to be taken, he said. The minister also took a
dig at the government’s opponents saying, those politicians who used to deride
IT are today on Twitter and enjoying it. Ahead of the elections, Prasad had a
word of caution for social media giants. Indian democracy is very important.
Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp have powerful presence in India, but don’t abuse
data to derail Indian democracy because Indian democratic process has to be
free and fair. Prasad also said the data protection law, which is in the works,
will seek to maintain data sovereignty, while recognising the need for its use
by business. Privacy has come as a fundamental right by the Supreme Court. Some
degree of data movement is required but sensitive data, deeply personal data
needs to be located in India. We have come with the idea of fiduciary of data.
But we are also pragmatic. We need a balance between data availability, data
utility, data anonymity and data innovation. I am very keen that India becomes
a centre of data analytics, he said. The minister said technology, along with
Aadhaar, was not just helping make government schemes more efficient, but also
creating jobs with the government opening BPOs in small towns and a
proliferation of mobile manufacturing units in recent years.
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CHEATING CURBS HAVE 6 LAKH SKIP UTTAR PRADESH BOARD EXAMS
Over six lakh students
have skipped the class X and XII examinations of Uttar Pradesh Secondary
Education Board (UPSEB) while 252 were caught cheating in the past nine days.
The figure of students skipping the exam is expected to touch the figure of
nine lakh by the end of the exams. On Friday, around 18 girls and boys were
caught cheating in Physics, Commerce and Painting papers despite surveillance
by closed circuit television camera surveillance, monitoring by UP-Special Task
Force and use of bar-coded copies in every centres. UPSEB officials said the
examinees are not turning out at centres due to strict anti-copying measures,
but experts stressed on the need to revamp the way education is being imparted
in government schools. The high school and intermediate exams of the Board
started simultaneously on February 7 and will end on March 2. A total of
58,06,922 students were registered for the exams out of which 31,95,603
examinees belongs to high school. Majority of the students who had left the
exams belong to class X, said officials. At least 21% of the total centres in
the state have been categorised as either sensitive or most-sensitive due to
incidents of copying in last year. Neena Srivastava said, The increasing count
of absent students can be attributed to strict anti-copying measures that we
have adopted this year by plugging the loopholes of the class X and XII exams
that were left out in the exams conducted in 2018. The number drop from 1.15
lakh students in 2017, around 1.12 lakh in 2018 to only 6,300 students in 2019
as they failed to connived with school managers for clearing the exams, said
Srivastava.
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PUNJAB TOPS LIST FOR ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AMONG CHILDREN:
SURVEY
Punjab finds its name
topping the list in a recently concluded study, this time for all the wrong
reasons. In a survey released by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre,
AIIMS, New Delhi recently, it was found that 1.2 lakh children between the age
of 10 and 17 years in the state were alcohol consumers The study titled
Magnitude of substance use in India points out that the highest number of
alcohol consumers in the country amongst children three times more than the
national average The national average of 40,000. West Bengal (3.9%) and
Maharashtra (3.8%) stand second and third after Punjab in terms of children
consuming alcohol. We found that one in 37 people affected by alcohol use
disorders and one in 20 affected by drug use disorders have not received any
treatment. The policies of the government need to change and should not be
based on strict control of the supply alone, said Atul Ambekar, lead author of
the survey. Ambekar said, We have seen that strict regulation in the supply has
convinced users to switch over to some other substance This situation can be
avoided by treating users as patients and not as criminals. They need medical
attention.
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SEND A MESSAGE: PAKISTAN’S WEAKEST PRESSURE POINTS ARE
FINANCIAL RATHER THAN MILITARY
Following the Pulwama
terror attack Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan claimed he needed actionable
intelligence on Jaish-e-Muhammed’s (JeM) role, despite the terror outfit itself
claiming responsibility for the attack. Since then, the Pakistani Punjab government
has moved to take control of the seminaries in Bahawalpur, thought to be JeM’s
headquarters. But information minister Fawad Chaudhry claiming these are purely
religious madrasas, with no connection to JeM, showed Islamabad up to its usual
game of making token gestures whenever international heat is cranked up on it.
It does indicate an area of vulnerability, though, which is worth building upon
if New Delhi is to inflict a high cost on Pakistan for harbouring terror safe
havens. Military strikes are difficult at this point since the element of
surprise is gone; moreover terror facilities such as Bahawalpur are likely to
have been evacuated by now. But Pakistan is short of foreign currency; indeed
its policy of nurturing terror creates chronic internal instability which
prevents it from having a viable economy. Its token moves on Bahawalpur and the
ban on JuD (a front for LeT) came because Pakistan needs an IMF bailout and the
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has grey-listed it for sponsoring terror. Giving
proof to Pakistan on terror activities from its soil has been proven to be
pointless by now, but lobbying international agencies has had some success. The
UN Security Council has, for the first time, condemned a terror strike in
Kashmir and blamed JeM for it. New Delhi must strongly lobby international
financial agencies such as IMF or FATF to blacklist Pakistan and deny it
financial bailouts, till such time as it can roll up its terror infrastructure.
This also serves US interests, as it would like to see a stable Afghanistan
when it leaves. New Delhi and Washington should work closely together on this.
India can, in addition, work with the US, EU and other major powers to impose
tough sanctions on Pakistan’s military-ISI elite which drives its security
policies and much else in the country. Such sanctions would quickly bring
Pakistan around, and the argument for them can be reinforced by putting the
international community on notice that further terror outrages such as 26/11 or
Pulwama will lead to an automatic military response from India, as India has
the right to defend itself and domestic public opinion will not stand for
anything less.
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IF PAKISTAN ATTACKS, INDIA COULD FINISH US WITH 20 NUCLEAR
BOMBS: PERVEZ MUSHARRAF
Former Pakistan President
General Pervez Musharraf has rejected the prospects of any nuclear attack from
Pakistan on India even after the relations between the two nuclear countries
have reached dangerous level. He also said that if Pakistan will attack India
with one atomic bomb then the neighbouring country could finish us by attacking
with 20 bombs, reported Dawn. Musharraf said: Indian and Pakistan relations
have again reached a dangerous level. They will be no nuclear attack. If we
would attack India with one atomic bomb, then the neighbouring country could
finish us by attacking with 20 bombs. Then the only solution is that we should
first attack them with 50 atom bombs so that they cannot hit us with 20 bombs.
Are you ready to first launch an attack with 50 bombs. The former president
said that for establishing a relationship with Tel Aviv, who has long-standing
ties with Delhi, there was a need to break the alliance between India and
Israel, and Pakistan could do it very easily. He also claimed that Israel
wanted to establish relations with Pakistan.
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TRUMP SAYS INDIA LOOKING AT SOMETHING ‘VERY STRONG’ AFTER
PULWAMA ATTACK
Asserting that there is a
lot of problems between India and Pakistan, US President Donald Trump has said
New Delhi is looking at something very strong in the wake of the Pulwama terror
attack. India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the
attack and highlighted Pakistan’s role in using terrorism as an instrument of
state policy. The international community led by the US pressed Pakistan to
deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the
perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice. Liu He, told reporters in the
Oval Office of the White House on Friday that in Kashmir, it’s very dangerous.
The President referred to the possibility of a strong response from India in
the wake of the terrorist attack. India is looking at something very strong And
I mean, India just lost almost 50 people with an attack. So, I could understand
that also, he said when asked about India’s right to self-defence. Mr. Trump
said the US is talking so does some other nations, without mentioning them. We
are talking and a lot of people are talking. But, it is a very, very delicate
balance going on right now. There’s a lot of problems between India and
Pakistan because of what just happened, said the US President. We’re very much
involved in that, if that’s what you’re referring to, he said. I stopped
Pakistan, the $1.3 billion that we were paying them. In the meantime, we may
set up some meetings with Pakistan. Pakistan was taking very strong advantage
of the United States under other presidents and we were paying Pakistan 1.3
billion a year. I ended that payment to Pakistan because they weren’t helping
us in a way that they should have. And honestly, we’ve developed a much better
relationship with Pakistan over the last short period of time than we had, Mr.
Trump said. India has asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action
against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its
control.
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IF CONGRESS COMES TO POWER, PARAMILITARY FORCES WILL GET
MARTYR STATUS: RAHUL GANDHI
Rahul Gandhi on Saturday
promised that the Congress, if returns to power at the Centre, will accord the
martyr status to paramilitary forces Gandhi said that he is in favour of
according the status of martyr because they sacrifice their everything for the
safety of the country. Soldiers of paramilitary forces should get the status of
martyrs, if our government comes to power they will get that status, he said.
The Congress president added that he is very close to the paramilitary
personnel because the officials in his security are drawn from paramilitary. He
also said that the number of casualty in paramilitary is more than the armed
forces.
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INDIA-US TRADE DEAL MAY BE WRAPPED UP SOON
India and the US may announce
a trade deal shortly that could address the issue of penal duties on steel and
aluminium imposed by Washington on Indian exports. A trade deal is in the works
between the Commerce Ministry and the US Trade Representative's (USTR) office.
It is likely to be finalised shortly, a government official told. The deal
could include greater market access for certain agriculture and dairy products
in both countries brought about by removing non-tariff barriers, including
lowering standards, the official added. India’s timeline of March 2 for
imposing retaliatory duties on US items in response to American duties on its
steel and aluminium is now likely to be postponed by a few days. There are
talks of postponing the imposition of retaliatory duties by another 15 days as
a deal seems very likely, the official said. The Donald Trump regime, which has
been pressing India to increase imports from the US to bridge the trade
imbalance between the two countries, wants India to provide greater market
access in a number of areas such as dairy, agriculture, energy and health
equipment. India has already responded by buying oil and gas from the US in
2008 worth an estimated $3 billion. The oil purchase from the US will be
increased further in 2019 bringing down the trade deficit further, the official
said. The trade deficit between India and the US bridged by almost six per cent
in 2017 to $22.9 billion.
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VERY GOOD CHANCE OF TRADE DEAL WITH CHINA, SAYS DONALD TRUMP
Donald Trump said on
Friday that there was a very good chance the United States would strike a deal
with China to end their trade war and that he was inclined to extend his March
1 deadline to reach an agreement. U.S. and Chinese negotiators had made
progress and would extend this week’s round of negotiations by two days, Trump
told. I think that we both feel there’s a very good chance a deal will happen,
Trump said. Extending the deadline would mean Trump would put on hold a
scheduled increase to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200 billion of Chinese
imports into the United States. That would prevent a further escalation in a
trade war that has already disrupted commerce worth hundreds of billions of dollars
of goods, slowed global economic growth and roiled markets. Optimism the two
sides would find a way to end the trade war lifted stocks on Friday, especially
technology shares, while oil prices rose to their highest since mid-November,
with Brent crude reaching a high of $67.73 a barrel. Steven Mnuchin said the
two sides had reached a strong agreement on currency. The president said he
expects to meet China’s leader, Xi Jinping, soon, and the biggest trade
decisions could come when they meet. Trump appeared at odds with his top
negotiator, United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, on the
preliminary terms that his team is outlining in memorandums of understanding
for a deal with China. Trump said he did not like MOUs, because they are short term,
and wanted a long-term deal. Either you do a deal or you don’t, Trump said.
Lighthizer responded that MOUs were binding. Reuters reported exclusively on
Wednesday that the two sides were drafting the language for six MOUs covering
the most difficult issues in the trade talks that would require structural
economic change in China. The MOUs would provide an outline for a deal, for
specific details to be agreed by negotiators later. They are common in trade
negotiations. Lighthizer said that negotiators had made a lot of progress this
week on forced technology transfers, one of the more difficult issues. The U.S.
alleges foreign firms in China come under pressure to transfer their technology
to Chinese firms if they want to operate there. China denies this.
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VERY, VERY BAD AND DANGEROUS SITUATION BETWEEN INDIA AND
PAKISTAN: TRUMP
Describing the current
situation between India and Pakistan as very, very bad, US President Donald
Trump Friday said his administration was in contact with both sides and hoped
hostilities would soon end in the Valley. Right now between Pakistan and India,
there is a very, very bad situation. A very dangerous situation. We would like
to see it (hostilities) stop. A lot of people were just killed. We want to see
it just stop. We are very much involved in that (process), Trump told. India is
looking at something very strong. India just lost almost 50 people in the
attack. I can understand that too, Trump said, adding that his administration
was talking to authorities in both countries. We're talking. A lot of people
are. It's going to be a very, very delicate balance. There is a lot of problems
between India and Pakistan because of what just happened, he said. The
president said the US has improved ties with Pakistan and works are on for
meetings with Pakistan leaders and officials. I stopped paying Pakistan the USD
1.3-billion that we used to pay them. In the meantime, we may set up some
meetings with Pakistan. Pakistan was taking very strong advantage of the United
States under other presidents. We were paying Pakistan USD 1.3 billion a year.
I ended that payment, because they were not helping us in the way they should
have, Trump said.
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WITHDRAWAL OF U.S. TROOPS FROM SOUTH KOREA NOT UNDER
CONSIDERATION, SAYS TRUMP AHEAD OF MEETING WITH KIM
US President Donald Trump
has ruled out the possibility of withdrawing American troops from South Korea
as part of any deal with North Korea. President Trump and North Korean leader
Kim Jong-un are scheduled to meet in Hanoi, Vietnam on February 27 and 28.
Previously, they met in June last year in Singapore for the first summit. Asked
if he was considering drawing down US troops from South Korea as part of any
agreement with Mr. Kim, the President replied in the negative. No, it’s not.
That is not a consideration. That is not one of the things on the table, he
said on Friday. Mr. Trump described his first-ever historic meeting with Mr.
Kim as really fantastic and said they had agreed to sign an unspecified
document after their very positive summit, aimed at normalising ties and complete
denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. Mr. Trump said he has a great
relationship with the North Korean leader. We have had such a great
relationship. China has helped us a lot with North Korea and with Kim Jong-un
since I got to office. If I were not elected president, you would’ve been in a
war with North Korea. We now have a situation where the relationships are good,
where there’s been no nuclear testing, no missiles, no rockets, Mr. Trump said.
We got our hostages back. We have many of the remains back and coming back
rapidly. The remains of our great warriors from many, many years ago and the
families are so thrilled and so happy. We’ve had a great relationship, the
president said. The Singapore summit was a tremendous success, Mr. Trump said.
Only the fake news likes to portray it otherwise. We would’ve literally been in
a war with North Korea, in my opinion, had I not been elected, he said.
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MHA FOR URGENT DEPLOYMENT OF 10K CAPFS IN VALLEY
Ministry of Home Affairs
is making arrangements to urgently deploy around 10,000 Central Armed Police
Force (CAPF) personnel in Kashmir Valley, a copy of an order sent to Jammu and
Kashmir government said. In the fascimile addressed to chief Secretary, J&K
government and others, MHA said, we have to urgently deploy additional CAPFs in
Jammu and Kashmir. It is requested to provide 100 companies of CAPFs to
Government of J&K with immediate effect. A company had roughly 100
personnel. As of now, around 65,000 CAPF personnel are deployed in the region.
MHA said apart from 45 companies of CRPF, 35 companies of Border Security Force
(BSF), 10 of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and 10 of Indo Tibetan Border Police
(ITBP) shall also be arranged.
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INDIA REFUSES TO JOIN E-COMMERCE TALKS AT WTO, SAYS RULES TO
HURT COUNTRY
India will not join the
talks on e-commerce at the World Trade Organization (WTO), with New Delhi
pushing the draft e-commerce policy back home. This comes at a time when richer
nations are batting for global rules for the sector. Discussions on the rules
are set to start by March. The idea is to create guidelines that will serve as
the basis of any later international agreement on e-commerce, which will favour
richer nations owing to the nature of the developed market systems and
penetration by online firms in the retail space, a commerce department official
said. The draft, brought out on Saturday, warned about the dangers of massive
revenue and data loss, which will accompany any move to build a global
e-commerce regime. It also pushed a crucial demand for data localisation and tech
transfer that developed economies have consistently resisted. During
negotiations, policy space must be retained to seek disclosure of source code
for facilitating transfer of technology and development of applications for
local needs, as well as for security. Policy space to grant preferential
treatment of digital products created within India must also be retained, it
said. The latest developments at WTO are unprecedented, officials said. WTO
rules come into effect for all 164 members and need to be ratified by each but
for the first time a major decision has been taken without complete consensus
among member nations. We will not encourage a multilateral platform to run,
based on the interests of a few nations. Our policy will deal with concerns
such as cross-border data flows, another official said. Despite protests from
major economies like India, 76 mostly developed nations agreed to initiate
talks on the subject last month. Supported by the EU and the US, the decision
was taken on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The government
believes the push for initiating negotiations on substantive obligations
related to e-commerce will oblige India to permanently accept the current
moratorium on imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions. With
increasing digitisation, more and more products such as books, music, films,
video games, etc. are being traded electronically. By agreeing to the permanent
moratorium, countries with tariff schedules, which allow putting duties on
these kinds of products, will give up these rights and lose revenues, the draft
said. Policy space to grant preferential treatment of digital products created
within India must also be retained, it added. However, New Delhi has hinted
that it is willing to tax electronic transactions in the near future, using
Section 9(1)(i) of the Income Tax Act. The current practice of not imposing
custom duties on electronic transmissions must be reviewed in the light of the
changing digital economy and the increased role that additive manufacturing is
expected to take, the draft says. India was taken off guard by China’s sudden
support of the deal, officials hinted. The deal has been pushed hard by Jack
Ma-led Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba, which has partnered with WTO
and WEF to create Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) — an e-commerce trade
portal for small enterprises, an official said. India fears that new rules
could provide the pretext for unfair mandatory market access to foreign
companies. This will hurt the rapidly growing domestic e-commerce sector, which
is still finding its niche. Also, there are significant business interests
involved with global e-commerce giants looking for an official route to tap the
lucrative markets of the developing world, especially India.
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MODI LAUNCHES PM-KISAN SCHEME, TRANSFERS RS 2,021 CR TO OVER
10 MN FARMERS
Gautam Pawar, was mobbed
by news channels, jostling for his bite after he had shared the stage with PM
Narendra Modi at the Fertiliser Factory Ground here on Sunday. The occasion was
the launch of arguably the world’s largest farm sector scheme, titled the
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-Kisan). Modi handed over Kisan
Credit Cards to a few farmers, including Pawar. The yojana is estimated to cost
the exchequer Rs 75,000 crore annually. It will benefit more than 120 million
small and marginal farmers in India, including 21.4 million in Uttar Pradesh
(UP), the biggest beneficiary among the states of the country. With the farmer
outreach through the launch of the scheme, the BJP laid down its template for
the Lok Sabha polls, with the development agenda of 2014 having been replaced
with the farm narrative. This comes at a time when the Congress has been
insisting on farm loan waiver, especially after the party tasted success in the
recent Assembly polls in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya
Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. Modi in his speech was high on symbolism. He wore a
light green kurta along with a saffron-hued waistcoat, subtly signifying the
balance between the BJP’s twin agendas of agriculture and Hindutva. The high
turnout on the concluding day of the BJP Kisan Morcha’s two-day national convention
was aimed at blunting the Opposition tirade on the purported farm distress
under the Modi dispensation. Modi spiced his modulated speech with descriptions
of farm-related achievements of his government. You know when the PM-Kisan
scheme was announced in Parliament, the faces of Opposition leaders became
grim, he said, alleging Opposition leaders had launched a misinformation
campaign or just spreading lies. Modi blamed the Congress for making hollow
promises to farmers and keeping agriculturists at the mercy of the rulers. Our
government is making efforts to provide farmers all such resources that would
help double their income by 2022, Modi said. Modi, with a click of the button,
transferred almost Rs 2,021 crore to the bank accounts of more than 10 million
beneficiaries in the first instalment under PM-Kisan, which is the flagship
scheme of the Modi government and provides a minimum income guarantee of Rs
6,000 a year to small and marginal farmers. In 2008, farm loans amounted to Rs
6 trillion, according to the official data of banks. However, the Congress
government waived loans worth only Rs 52,000 crore of 20-30 million farmers,
although the farmer count was 120-130 million, Modi said, asking if such a
party could be trusted by the people. Besides, the PM laid the foundation of
development projects of more than Rs 10,000 crore on the occasion, including
the proposed gas pipeline from Kandla to Gorakhpur, estimated to cost nearly Rs
9,000 crore.
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50 LAKH NAMES DELETED FROM MAHARASHTRA POLL ROLLS
The Election Commission of
India (ECI) has deleted as many as 50 lakh names from the voters' list in
Maharashtra after revision ahead of the polls, an official said on Sunday. Some
of these names were registered multiple times or the concerned voters had died,
he said. More names were likely to be deleted in the coming weeks as the
process of authentication of voters was underway, the ECI official said.
#For Source of Information copy and paste the heading in google.
Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
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