DATA OF NUMBER OF ELECTORS 2019
Data of number of Electors
at the time of final publication of Special Summary Revision Roll 2019. Across
the States and UTs the number of Polling Stations are 1035919
·
General Electors across the
States and UTs are 896076899
·
General Electors with disability
total are up to 4563905
·
Overseas Indian Electors
total are 71735
·
Service Electors total are
1662993.
Thus, total number of
Electors as of now for 2019 Electoral Roll is 897811627
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GOVT. REVOKES SUSPENSION OF FCRA REGISTRATION OF 12 MORE
NGOS/ASSOCIATIONS ON PFMS-COMPLIANCE
The Central Government,
under section 46 of the FCRA, 2010 vide notice dated 21.12.2017 had directed
that all the persons who are either registered or who have sought prior
permission under the FCRA, 2010 shall open their bank accounts as mandated in
section 17 of the FCRA , 2010 in one or more banks who have integrated their
system with the Public Financial Management System (PFMS). Later, it was found
that 156 associations had not opened their bank account(s) as mandated under
section 17 of the FCRA, 2010 in PFMS-integrated banks and contravened the said
provisions of the FCRA, 2010. A Show Cause Notice was also served to these associations.
Subsequently, vide order dated 06 Dec 2018, in exercise of the power conferred
by section 13 of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, pending
consideration of cancellation of their certificates, the Central Government had
suspended the registration of the said 156 associations for a period of one
hundred and eighty days. In February 2019, the Home Ministry revoked the
suspension of the registration of 36 associations who had opened their bank
account(s) as mandated under section 17 of the FCRA, 2010 in PFMS-integrated
banks and have complied with the Government directions. Now, again the
Government has revoked the suspension of 12 associations on making the said
PFMS compliance.
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CABINET APPROVES ISSUE OF NOTIFICATIONS FOR GENERAL ELECTIONS
TO THE LOK SABHA 2019
The Union Cabinet chaired
by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the General Elections to the Lok
Sabha 2019 -for issuance of statutory notifications under under sub-section(2)
of Section 14 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. It provides for
calling upon the parliamentary constituencies to elect Members to the House of
the People, on the dates to be recommended by the Election Commission of India in
its Proceedings. The issuing of notifications would begin the election process
for constituting the Seventeenth House of the People.
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CABINET APPROVES PROMULGATION OF: I) THE DAMAN AND DIU CIVIL
COURTS (AMENDMENT) REGULATION, 2019
The Union Cabinet chaired
by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved Promulgation of the Daman and Diu
Civil Courts (Amendment) Regulation, 2019 and the Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Civil
Courts and Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Regulation, 2019 under Article
240 of the Constitution The move will be helpful in bringing uniformity in
Judicial Service. It will also help overcome the difficulties being faced by
the litigants in travelling to Mumbai for filing appeals due to existing limited
pecuniary jurisdiction. Enhanced pecuniary jurisdiction will accelerate the
justice delivery system, besides making access easier for litigants without
having to travel outside the Union Territory.
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CABINET APPROVES PROPOSAL FOR ACCESSION OF INDIA
Modi has approved the
proposal for accession of India to
(i) _The Nice Agreement
concerning the International classification of Goods and Services for the
purposes of registration of marks_
(ii) _The Vienna Agreement
establishing an International Classification of the figurative elements of
marks_ and
(iii) _The Locarno
Agreement establishing an International classification for industrial designs._
Accession to the Nice,
Vienna and Locarno Agreements will help the Intellectual Property Office in
India to harmonise the classification systems for examinational of trademark
and design applications, in line with the classification systems followed
globally. It would give an opportunity to include Indian designs, figurative
elements and goods in the international classification systems. The accession
is expected to instill confidence in foreign investors in relation to
protection of IPs in India.
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DPIIT EXTENDS DEADLINE FOR PUBLIC COMMENTS ON DRAFT E-COMMERCE
POLICY
Deadline for public
comments on draft national e-commerce policy has been extended till March 29 according
to Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). The draft
seeks to provide a policy framework that will enable the country to benefit
from rapid digitisation of the domestic, as well as global economy, it said.
The 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.
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RAGHURAM RAJAN SAYS CAPITALISM IS ‘UNDER SERIOUS THREAT’
Former RBI governor
Raghuram Rajan Tuesday warned that capitalism is under serious threat of a
revolt as the economic and political system has stopped providing for the
people, especially after the 2008 global financial meltdown. Rajan, told that
governments across the world cannot afford to ignore social inequality when
considering the economy. I think capitalism is under serious threat because
it’s stopped providing for the many, and when that happens, the many revolt
against capitalism, the former chief economist at the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) said. Rajan said he believes that capitalism is breaking down
because it is not providing equal opportunities. It’s not providing equal
opportunity and in fact the people who are falling off are in a much worse
situation, he said. He said authoritarian regimes arise when you socialise all
the means of production. A balance is needed, you can’t pick and choose - what
you need to do is improve opportunity, he said. Rajan, tipped by some as a
possible successor to take over from Mark Carney as governor of the Bank of
England, said it was possible in the past to obtain a middle class job with
modest education. But the landscape has changed in the wake of the 2008 global
financial crisis and the resulting austerity. Now, if you really want to
succeed, you need a really good education he said. Unfortunately, the very
communities that are hit by the forces of global trade and global information
tend to be communities which have deteriorating schools, rising crime, rising
social illnesses and are unable to prepare their members for the global
economy, he said. A recent report from S&P Global Ratings suggests another
global credit downturn is possible with a 50 per cent surge in worldwide debt
since the global financial crisis. It said since 2008, government debt has
risen 77 per cent while corporate debt is up 51 per cent. However, the analysts
said the next downturn is unlikely to be as severe as the 2008 financial
crisis. In discussing the state of the global economy, Rajan also pointed to
the challenges of putting limits on the trade of goods. If you put up those
barriers, then down the line they’ll put up barriers to our goods. How are you
going to keep the goods flowing across those borders when we need to send them?
he asked.
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INDUSTRIAL GROWTH SLOWS TO 1.7% IN JANUARY 2019
Industrial output growth
stood at 1.7 per cent in January on account of slowdown in the manufacturing
sector. Factory output as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial
Production (IIP) had grown by 7.5 per cent in January 2018. During
April-January 2018-19, industrial output grew at 4.4 per cent as against 4.1
per cent in the same period previous fiscal, according to the data released by
the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Tuesday.
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FACTORY OUTPUT DRAGS, INFLATION HITS A 3-MONTH HIGH OF 2.57
PER CENT IN FEBRUARY
India's factory growth
dragged while retail inflation saw an uptick in the data released on Tuesday. Retail
inflation rose to a three-month high of 2.57 per cent in February from 2.05 per
cent last month on the back of modest spike in food and fuel prices. Industrial
production slipped to 1.7 per cent in January 2019 from 2.4 per cent in
December 2018, manufacturing index was at 1.3 per cent per cent v/s 2.7 per
cent month-on-month. Eleven out of the twenty three industry groups in the
manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during the month of January
2019. This is the seventh straight month where inflation has remained below the
RBI's medium term target of 4 per cent.
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POLITICAL SCHEME? SLOW PM-KISAN ROLLOUT IN MOST
OPPOSITION-RULED STATES
Many states that figure
prominently on India’s agriculture map seem to have shown little efficiency or
alacrity in completing the necessary formalities to ensure their farmers the
income support announced by the Centre under the PM-Kisan scheme. As on March
9, only 2.6 crore or just 21% of the 12 crore-plus ‘small and marginal farmers’
in the country received the first tranche of Rs 2,000 each in their bank
accounts under PM- Kisan, while the plan is to take the benefit to all the
target population by March-end. Among the laggard states are Opposition-ruled
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Karnataka where the scheme has
practically not been rolled out at all. Among the NDA states, Haryana (82%) and
Gujarat (73%) have done very well while Bihar (0.8%) and Maharashtra (12.7%)
have barely managed to cover much ground. Among the Opposition-ruled states,
the best performer is Punjab (73%). In the politically important Uttar Pradesh,
where 2.22 crore of the 12 crore target population reside, the coverage so far
has been a creditable 47%. In fact, the MP and Bengal governments have openly
criticised the PM-Kisan scheme —while the former said the amount being offered
to each farmer (6,000/year) is ‘paltry’, the latter said its Krishak Bondhu
scheme which offers an annual grant of 5,000/acre to farmers in two instalments
for both the summer and winter crops is superior to PM-Kisan. As the election
schedule has been announced and model code of conduct has come into force, the state
government staff may not be able to put in the same efforts from now on to
collate the data, said an expert. The Centre transferred Rs 5,215 crore until
Sunday, out of the Rs 20,000 crore provided in the Budget for this year. The
farmers who received the first tranche of 2,000 within this month will also get
the second instalment during the first week of April itself, the sources said. If
the government does not have data about farmers, how would they decide whom to
give money? Then it can be anyone, not necessarily farmers. That will not help
redressing farmers’ problems, economist Ashok Gulati had told.
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CASH TRANSFER UNDER KALIA SCHEME TO CONTINUE TILL MARCH 31:
ODISHA FM
Odisha government will disburse
financial assistance to farmers under the Kalia scheme till March 31 SB Behere
has said. The state government will also take steps to include farmers who have
been left out from the benefits of the Kalia scheme. The inclusion process will
continue till March 31, Behera said on Monday. However, Behera claimed the
state government will include the farmers who have been left out from the Kalia
scheme. The Odisha government under the KALIA scheme provide financial
assistance of Rs 10,000 per family (Rs 5,000 each for the Kharif and Rabi
season) to small and marginal farmers for taking up cultivation. Replying a
question on the Centre's PM-KISAN scheme, Behera said, Odisha government does
not have clarity on why three to four lakh farmers have been excluded from the
list that has been sent to the Centre for enrolment under the PM-KISAN Yojana.
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AP TOPS LIST OF STATES IN THE EASE OF DOING BUSINESS: RBI
Andhra Pradesh has topped
the list of states in the ease of doing business followed by Telangana,
Haryana, Jharkhand and Gujarat, according to RBI document released. In its
fourth edition of statistical publication titled ‘Handbook of Statistics on
Indian States 2018-19’, data revealed that for the last two consecutive years,
Andhra Pradesh managed to maintain the top rank in ease of doing index with
98.3 score in year 2017 and 98.78 score in year 2016. The least performing
states in ease of doing business were Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and
Lakshadweep. In the north, Uttar Pradesh jumped two positions from 14th rank to
12th rank while Uttarakhand slipped down from 9th position to 11th position in
ease of doing business. Delhi was at the 23rd place with a score of 31.69,
while Bihar and Kerala were at 18th and 21st position.
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RBI BOARD BACKED NOTEBAN IN 'LARGER PUBLIC INTEREST': OFFICIAL
SOURCES
The government's proposal
to ban Rs 500 and 1000 notes was placed by the then RBI Deputy Governor Rama
Subramaniam Gandhi before its board, which resolved to back the move in larger
public interest though some directors raised concerns about short-term negative
impact on GDP and hardships to some sections, official sources said Tuesday.
The proposal, presented by R Gandhi to the Reserve Bank of India Board on
November 8, 2016, said the move was necessitated due to a Finance Ministry
letter received a day earlier advising the central bank that cash was
facilitating black money. The clarification follows reports citing an RTI reply
saying that RBI Board had not agreed with the government's reasoning on the
need for demonetisation. The sources claimed that the resolution of the central
bank was forwarded to the government on November 8, 2016 itself. Citing minutes
of the meeting, they said some of the directors had observed that though
demonetisation is a commendable measure, it will have short-term negative effect
on the GDP for the current year. Members did make some observations which were
recorded in the minutes. But these did not represent the views of the RBI.
These observations also did not persuade any member come in the way of
endorsing the proposal fully, a functionary said.
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AYODHYA DISPUTE CASE: LITIGANTS APPEAR BEFORE SC APPOINTED
PANEL
Twenty-five litigants in
the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case along with their counsels
appeared on Wednesday before a Supreme Court-appointed mediation panel,
officials said. The Faizabad administration had issued notices to the 25
litigants on behalf of the panel. The mediation process will take place at a
hall at the Faizabad Avadh University, they said, adding that no one has been
allowed to enter the area where the mediation is taking place. Heavy security
arrangements have been made at the university premises, Faizabad District
Magistrate Anuj Kumar Jha said. The members would be staying in Faizabad for
three days as per the programme given by the panel, officials said
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CSC OFFERS TO HELP IN IMPLEMENTATION OF PM-KISAN
Common Services Centre
(CSC SPV) has written to the Ministry of Agriculture offering its services
towards implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan)
scheme. Announced in the interim budget this year, the Rs 75,000 crore scheme
envisages an annual transfer of Rs 6,000 per year to around 12 crore farmers
who hold cultivable land up to two hectares. We believe we have the
infrastructure and the bandwidth for smoother implementation. We have
demonstrated this through our partnership in Ayushman Bharat, said Dinesh Kumar
Tyagi. So far through its network around the country, it has enrolled 1.7 crore
people in 16 states under Ayushman Bharat. One of the world's largest
government healthcare programme, Ayushman Bharat aims to cover around 50 crore
poor people. Tyagi said that CSC has also successfully made inroads in the
financial inclusion space with their pilot loan project with HDFC Bank in Goa
and Pondicherry. In one month we have been able to secure 129 cases and the
bank has disbursed around Rs 1.15 crore, he added.
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ELECTION COMMISSION: NO NAMES REMOVED BASED ON DRAFT NRC
The Election Commission of
India (ECI) on Tuesday assured the Supreme Court that names have not been
deleted from the Assam electoral roll on the basis of their exclusion from the
draft National Register of Citizens (NRC), which was published in July last
year. However, a Bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was not satisfied. But
a question looms large in the light of the preparation of the final NRC, to be
published on July 31, 2019. What would happen to those who do not appear there
but are included in the electoral roll? Chief Justice Gogoi asked the poll
body. The court further directed the ECI to furnish details of the names
included in the electoral roll on January 1, 2017, 2018 and 2019 in Assam. The
Bench quizzed the ECI secretary, who was present in court, on electors in each
constituency in Assam, addition and deletion. The court wanted an affidavit by
March 28.
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EC NOTICE TO BJP MLA FOR PUTTING POSTERS FEATURING IAF OFFICER
ABHINANDAN VARTHAMAN
The EC has issued a
show-cause notice to Delhi BJP MLA Om Prakash Sharma for putting up two posters
featuring him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan
Varthaman on Facebook. The Election Commission (EC) has asked him to take down
the post and give a reply by Thursday. The Lok Sabha elections is scheduled to
begin on April 11 and will continue till May 19. Polling in Delhi will be held
in two phases. The posters, shared on social media on March 1, feature Modi,
BJP chief Amit Shah, the IAF officer, and Sharma, who represents the Vishwas
Nagar seat in the Delhi Assembly. Pakistan has bowed down. Our brave soldier
has returned. It's a big diplomatic victory that Modiji has brought Abhinandan
back in very little time, the posters read. District Magistrate, Shahdara, K M
Mahesh, told PTI, We issued a show-cause notice to Sharma on March 11 for
posting posters featuring Abhinandan Varthaman on Facebook.
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WAGE REVISION FOR BANK OFFICERS AND WORKMEN MAY BE DONE
SEPARATELY
The process of wage
negotiation for public sector bank officers and workmen may be done separately
again after one-and-a-half-decade with the largest officers union boycotting
the talks while the workmen unions are in favour of going ahead with it. Since
the eight bipartite settlement, the wage hike talks have been held jointly for
workmen and officers. The 21 public sector banks has over 8.5 lakh people with
about 458000 workmen. While the negotiation process for the 11th bipartite
settlement may be split , the wage revision is any way likely to be delayed by
at least three months following the imposition of model code of conduct before
Lok Sabha elections, two people familiar with the process said. IBA has raised
its offer to 10% hike but the bipartite talks are stuck as the All India Bank
Officers Confederation (AIBOC) is protesting the proposal to leave deputy
general managers and general managers out of common wage negotiation purview
which would pave the way for bank-wise wage hike for them. Following this
impasse, the five workmen unions led by All India Bank Employees Association
are keen to go ahead with negotiation only for their members under the
Industrial Dispute Act. Workmen includes clerical and subordinate staff of
banks. A final decision will be taken Wednesday at a United Forum of Banks’
Union meeting, AIBEA president Rajen Nagar told. Wage revision in public sector
banks takes place in every five years. The 11th bipartite settlement is due
from November 1, 2017. The updated proposal for officers means bipartite
negotiation will now cover 3.76 lakh officers, which is 99.27% of total
officers in public sector banks. In any case, about three months delay is
likely for wage revision benefits to workforce & improvement in superannuation
benefits to past pensioners, another union leader said.
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STIPENDS FOR APPRENTICES HIGHER THAN MINIMUM WAGES, SAYS
REPORT
Stipends paid to
apprentices are higher than minimum wages doled out across many sectors, according
to a report. Vadodara-based TeamLease Skills University said the growing demand
for skilled talent coupled with revisions in the Apprentice Act seems to be
positively impacting the apprenticeship eco-system. The median stipend is
around 41 per cent higher than the applicable minimum wages in majority of the
sectors and cities, it said. The findings are based on an analysis of data
pertaining to more than two lakh apprentices. With a stipend that is 159 per
cent higher than the minimum wages, Maharashtra topped the list as the highest
paying state. Amongst sectors Construction & Real Estate (125 per cent), IT
& ITeS (122 per cent), FMCG (110 per cent) and Automotive (82 per cent)
were the top paying sector for apprentices, the report said. Besides, stipends
increase in proportion with the educational qualification. Manufacturing and
Services sectors both pay fairly high stipends in the average range of Rs 9,000
- 10,000 per month, it noted. As per the report, large businesses paid
significantly higher stipends -- 12 to 34 per cent -- than others, while the
difference in stipends between medium and small businesses is not very
significant.
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DELHI POLL BODY’S WARNING AHEAD OF POLLS: FALSE COMPLAINTS ON
EVM, VVPAT TO INVITE POLICE ACTION
Individuals who will register
false complaints on Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and Voter-Verified Paper
Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be charged Ranbir Singh told. VVPAT machines are being
used for the first time. This will clear all doubts from the minds of voters
and political parties about EVMs. If the complaint of EVMs and VVPATs is found
to be wrong, an FIR will be lodged against the complainant, Ranbir Singh said. The
state poll body’s warning comes on the back of several complaints and
allegations by a number of parties in the Opposition questioning the efficacy
and fairness of polls conducted through EVMs. In the past, many parties like
the Aam Aadmi Party, the TMC, Congress among others have cast aspersions on the
robustness of EVMs and alleged that these machines can be hacked. The AAP has
claimed that the BJP won several elections by hacking EVMs. The Election
Commission on Sunday announced the poll schedule for the upcoming elections.
According to the electoral roll which was published on January 18, there are
1,36,95,291 voters in Delhi. There are about 97,684 first-time voters in Delhi
this time around. Singh added that ballot units also saw an increase from
24,200 in 2014 Lok Sabha elections to 34,953 this year. VVPAT stands at 20,435
on 13,816 polling booths in seven constituencies of the national capital. Singh
also emphasized that the technology will also play a key role, adding, ‘Cvigil
app has also been developed to check issues such as fake news, hate speech and
the distribution of money and liquor. This app can be downloaded on
smartphones. The citizens can upload photo or video of any misconduct within 5
minutes. It will immediately reach to the flying squads and action will be
taken within 100 minutes of uploading.
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WE CANNOT KILL JOBS IN FIRECRACKER INDUSTRY, SAYS SUPREME
COURT
Supreme Court on Tuesday
said they cannot killed the jobs of poor people working in the firecracker
industry, driving them to starvation. We cannot give money or jobs or support
people who will lose their jobs if we shut down firecrackers manufacturing
units. We do not want to generate unemployment, Justice Bobde Justice S.A.
Bobde said on Wednesday. If the court cannot generate jobs, its orders should
not extinguish their livelihood, Justice Bobde observed. The court asked how it
can possibly feel empowered to put the shutters down on an occupation which is
both legal and licensed. This is the first time the case came up before the
Bench led by Justice Bobde. The case was previously heard by another Bench led
by Justice A.K. Sikri, who retired recently. Justice Bobde is in line to be the
next Chief Justice of India. To a lawyer who said other countries also use
crackers with stringent safeguards, Justice Bobde said firecrackers are not
loved there as much as we do in India.
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TARDINESS IN TARIFF FILINGS AND INADEQUATE TARIFF REVISION
PROPOSALS NEGATIVE FOR THE POWER SECTOR: ICRA
Median tariff revision on
an all India basis was subdued at 3% and 1% for FY2018 and FY2019 and it is
likely to remain at similar levels for FY2020, ratings firm ICRA has predicted.
In a report, ICRA said: While power distribution has seen significant reduction
in losses and debt following debt restructuring under Ujwal DISCOM Assurance
Yojana (UDAY), tardiness in tariff filings and inadequate tariff revision
proposals for FY2020 remain an area of concern. Apart from delay in tariff
filings and inadequate tariff proposals, the lack of progress in reducing
distribution loss levels in line with the targets agreed under UDAY remains a
concern area for the entire power sector, Sabyasachi Majumdar. This delay in
filling of tariff petitions by DISCOMs is a deviation from terms of the UDAY,
wherein they are required to file tariff petitions in a timely manner so that
the state electricity regulatory commissions (SERCs) can issue tariffs orders
by March end. Moreover, tariff hikes proposed by DISCOMs and approved by
regulators for the past two-three years have remained lower than what was
agreed under UDAY, leading to persistent gap between average tariff and average
cost of supply, although the gap has reduced in recent years. Majumdar said:
The median tariff hike for the DISCOMs at all India level has reduced from 8%
for FY2015 to 4% for FY2016 and FY2017 and further to 3% and 1% for FY2018 and
FY2019 respectively. We expect tariff hike to remain subdued for FY2020 as
well, given the limited or no tariffs hikes proposed by most of the discoms in
view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. This is likely to slow down the
process of financial loss reduction which was initiated by UDAY. ICRA notes
that state distribution utilities in 17 of the 29 states have filed tariff
petitions for FY2020, reflecting a less-than-satisfactory progress. This is
despite all utilities requiring to file tariff petitions for FY2020 by November
30, 2018 under tariff regulations so that tariff orders could be issued by end
of March 2019.
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EXPERTS EXPRESS CONCERNS AS CYBER SECURITY THREATS LOOM ON
SMART CITIES
Cyber security threats
loom large on Smart cities as the country embarks on a journey to create about
100 such cities driven by smart solutions, leveraging on cutting edge
technology. Together, these Smart cities aim to house 40 per cent of India’s
population and contribute about 75 per cent to India’s GDP (gross domestic
period) by 2030. Some of the smart solutions include e-governance and citizen
services, smart urban mobility, smart waste management, smart health care,
smart energy and water management among others. These smart solutions are
powered by combination of heterogeneous enabling technologies such as smart
cards, IoT (internet of things) based devices and wearable devices, autonomous
systems devices at physical device level, integrated with intelligent mobile
apps, cloud computing, open data and advanced analytics powered by new age AI
(artificial intelligence) solutions. Even if the use of these technologies
reduce the cost of gathering information for structured analysis, they are also
fraught with associated cyber risks. IoT provides significant advantages but it
comes along with associated cyber risks. As the government gets more and more
familiar with the benefits that IoT can deliver specifically for smart cities –
key concerns around security, privacy and trust are likely to grow. A
comprehensive understanding about the cyber security threats that these
technology brings is being still worked upon but its rapid adoption is exposing
potential security breaches, said a FICCI-KPMG report on 'Cyber Security in
Smart Cities'. Experts, too, have expressed concerns on cyber threats looming
over the Smart cities The development of Smart cities has huge potential to
bring benefits for businesses, city services and people. But the security of
the underlying digital infrastructure is the key to success. Imagine the impact
on Bhubaneswar if a successful cyber-attack shuts down parts of smart city
application infrastructure because security wasn’t developed correctly or
considered at all, said Piyush Ranjan Rout. The FICCI-KPMG report has suggested
a five-point action plan to enable Smart cities to keep pace with the cyber
security needs and build a cyber-resilient and trusted environment across the
entire value chain. The key measures suggested by the report are establishing a
formal cyber security framework, building in security from the ground up,
deployment of security in integrated form across value chain, establishment of
cyber resilient and trusted environment and engagement across industry,
knowledge bodies and regulatory groups to standardize security measures.
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JET AIRWAYS GROUNDS THREE MORE AIRCRAFT AS FINANCIAL CRISIS
WORSENS
Jet Airways, at the
instructions of aircraft lessors, on March 12 grounded three more aircraft due
to non-payment of lease rentals With this, as per Jet Airways' own admission, a
total of 31 aircraft have been grounded But according to employees, over 50
aircraft are not flying due to various reasons. The large scale grounding of
planes has severely curtailed the airline’s flight schedule, inconveniencing
passengers. However, Jet Airways said that it has been providing prior
information to passengers to minimise their trouble.
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MALAYSIA AIRLINES COULD BE SOLD OR SHUT DOWN: PM
Malaysia Airlines may be sold
or shut down Malaysia’s leader said on Tuesday, the latest bad news for a
carrier that has been in crisis since suffering the loss of two planes. The
71-year-old airline has been on the ropes since 2014 when Flight MH370
disappeared and MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made missile over war-torn
Ukraine. With the carrier teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, sovereign
wealth fund Khazanah stepped in to take it over several years ago and major
reforms were instituted, including cutting thousands of staff. But it has
continued to fare poorly and its performance was blamed in large part for a set
of poor financial results released by Khazanah last week. Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad told reporters in parliament: I think it is a very serious
matter, to shut down the national airline. We will nevertheless be studying and
investigating as to whether we should shut it down or we should sell it off or
we should refinance it.
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2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS: NARENDRA MODI URGES RAHUL GANDHI,
OTHERS TO MOTIVATE VOTERS
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Wednesday urged Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other politicians,
sportspersons, actors, business leaders to encourage maximum voter engagement
in 2019 general elections in April-May.A high turnout augurs well for our
democratic fabric, he tweeted. He also mentioned sportspersons P.V. Sindhu,
Saina Nehwal, S. Kidambi; actors Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, business
leaders Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra to encourage more voting in polls.
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BSNL FAILS TO PAY FEBRUARY SALARY TO 1.76 LAKH EMPLOYEES
State-owned telecom firm
BSNL, which has been in the red for the past more than five years, failed to
pay February salaries to its around 1.76 lakh employees due to financial
constraints. This is the first instance of the company defaulting on salary
payments underlining the tough times for it ahead. The employees’ union has
written to telecom minister Manoj Sinha urging that the government release
funds to the company to pay the salaries as well as revive the ailing firm. The
employees have also been holding demonstrations. Around 55% of BSNL’s revenues
goes towards payment of wages, and while the company’s wage bill increases
annually by 8%, its revenues are stagnant. The associations and unions of BSNL
have also said that the financial health of telecom industry has suffered
because of the predatory pricing of Reliance Jio. Financial crisis is being
faced by other operators also but they are managing the situation by infusing
huge amounts, a letter by All Unions and Associations of BSNL (AUAB) to Sinha
said. The source further said even March salaries will be delayed by a few days
despite the fact that cash flows in the month are usually higher because of
billing from the enterprise business.
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SAMSUNG AND XIAOMI TO BATTLE IT OUT FOR TOP SPOT
The war for smartphone
market leadership is going to peak in the next two quarters, with Samsung, desperate
to regain the top slot locking horns with Xiaomi in one of the biggest fights
in the Indian marketplace. The country’s second-largest smartphone maker
Samsung is going to launch one-two handset models every month under the A
series which will straddle across the sub-Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 price point
till June, even as it will expand the online exclusive M series portfolio which
was launched in India first in February. The Korean firm has three handset
models under the M series and relaunched the A series earlier this month in a
move to refresh its portfolio. Samsung is going to have extremely competitive
pricing for these specification-heavy smartphones, having managed to convince
headquarters in Seoul that it would have to give up on profit margins in this
business to regain leadership in India, three senior industry executives said.
They also said the Korean company wants to become smartphone leader by the
festive season. In contrast, market leader Xiaomi has increased its promotional
spending, and for the first time, doled out incentives to retailers to push
sales by 80-100%. The scheme is aimed at pushing all models except the
top-selling Redmi 6A and new models to drive sell-out, the executives said. The
Chinese firm has also rejigged its sales leadership team in India with
erstwhile south business head and chief of Mi Store Sunil Baby now the chief of
offline sales. Erstwhile sales head Deepak Nakra has been made the chief of the
offline consumer electronics business, the executives said. Xiaomi India
spokesperson confirmed the changes. Analysts said it’s going to be a close
fight for leadership this year. Yes, it will be a close fight but on different
fronts such as channel and portfolio expansion along with marketing, said Tarun
Pathak.
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TATA'S VISTARA FINALLY GETS APPROVAL TO FLY ON INTERNATIONAL
ROUTES
In one of the last
decisions taken by the government before the election code of conduct kicked
in, it has approved the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture Vistara to fly on
international routes. The approval will make Vistara the fifth carrier from
India to fly on international routes. Vistara has been granted permission to
operate on international routes, following suggestions from the Group of
Ministers formed to look into the issue. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA)
has conveyed the same to Vistara on March 8, a senior official aware of the
development told Business Standard. Following the approval, Vistara has sought
permission to operate flights between Delhi and Colombo seven days a week.
Vistara has sought bilateral rights to Sri Lanka and slots from Delhi Airport
for the same. They will operate the flight with Airbus A320 aircraft, said an
industry source. Currently, Air India and Sri Lankan Airlines connect Delhi and
Colombo via a non-stop flight, while other Indian carriers like IndiGo,
SpiceJet, and Jet Airways connect the city from south Indian cities like
Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. The approval comes after much delay. It was
delayed due to an ongoing probe into AirAsia India for alleged lobbying and
bribing government officials for international flight permits. Both AirAsia
India and Vistara are owned by the Tata group. The government had formed an
international committee of five Cabinet -ranked ministers headed by Arun
Jaitley to decide if an international flying permit should be given to Vistara.
This was the first time such a panel had been formed for granting an
international flying permit to an airline. Normally, aviation regulator
Directorate General of Civil Aviation has the final authority to grant a permit
for international operations.
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INDIA BANS BOEING 737 MAX PLANES IN LIGHT OF ETHIOPIA PLANE
CRASH
The Directorate General of
Civil Aviation (DGCA) late on Tuesday night grounded all Boeing 737 Max planes
in India, in line with similar pre-emptive moves across the world following
Sunday's Ethiopia plane crash. The aviation regualtor has decided to ground the
Boeing planes until appropriate modifications and safety measures are
undertaken to ensure their safe operations. SpiceJet Ltd and Jet Airways
(India) Ltd operate Boeing 737 Max planes in India. SpiceJet has suspended
Boeing 737 Max operations following DGCA's decision to ground the aircraft,
said a SpiceJet spokesperson. Safety and security of our passengers, crew and
operations are of utmost importance to us. We will be working with the
regulator and the manufacturer to attain normalcy in our operations. As always,
passenger safety remains our top priority. We continue to consult closely with
regulators around the world, airlines and aircraft manufacturers to ensure
passenger safety, the civil aviation ministry tweeted.
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ETIHAD QUIET ON INTERIM FUNDING PLAN; JET AIRWAYS GROUNDS FOUR
MORE PLANES
Etihad Airways has kept
the Jet Airways rescue plan on hold even after a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) between the two partners, it is learnt. In an indication that hurdles
remain before the lenders-led resolution plan can be executed, the Etihad board
did not take a decision on the proposed deal especially on interim funding, in
a meeting on Monday, sources in the know said. Jet Founder-Chairman Naresh
Goyal, had made it clear that the Abu Dhabi-based carrier must infuse Rs 750
crore urgently as planes were getting grounded and dues to lessors and staff
were pending. A company executive said in the absence of Etihad board approval
to the resolution plan, the clock was ticking for Jet Airways. On Tuesday, four
more Jet planes were grounded due to non-payment to lessors, increasing the
count of the grounded planes to 54. According to lenders, who have steered a
rescue plan for Jet, there has been no communication from Etihad Airways on
whether it would pay the proposed Rs 750 crore as its share of interim
financing to keep the airline going. Etihad is learnt to have discussed the
matter, along with the bank-led resolution plan, in its board meeting on
Monday, but a decision is pending. A senior bank executive said there were
indications that Etihad might ask for more time to arrive at a decision on interim
funding.
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AIR INDIA, ARM NARROWS GAP WITH JET-ETIHAD
India saw 6.3 crore
international travellers last year, up 7.3% from 5.9 crore in 2017. While Jet
Airways remained the single largest airline for flying people in and out of
India, its financial troubles coupled with the downsizing of partner Etihad saw
the two airlines together account for 1-crore-six-lakh international
travellers, down from 1.1 crore in 2017. In fact, the Air India and AI Express
together flew almost as many people in and out of India last year as the
Jet-Etihad combine, with the latter ahead by just 18,892 passengers!
Incidentally, the AI-AI Express carried more than 1 crore international
passengers for the first time last year. Thanks to adding a-plane-a-week in
2018 and deploying additional capacity on international routes, IndiGo saw its
overseas passengers number swell 48% to 41.8 lakh from 28.3 lakh in 2017. AI
Express swapped places with IndiGo and became the fifth biggest player. SpiceJet
moved two places up from number 9 in 2017 to seventh spot in 2018 by overtaking
Qatar Airways and Oman Air for international travel to and from India last
year. The silent rise of Sri Lankan, which is successfully replicating Gulf
airlines’ model of flying people between India and rest of the world through
their hubs, appeared in the top 10 list by occupying the number 9 slot. Qatar
Airways, which was the seventh largest international airline in terms of flying
passengers to and from India in 2017, is now at number 10. The 7.2% growth of
international travel could have been much more buts constrained by two factors.
One was India not hiking flying rights of major airlines like Emirates, Qatar
Airways, Singapore Airlines and Turkish. And second was the slot constraints at
Indian airports, especially three metros — Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore — which
makes it very difficult to add flights there. As a result, we have seen a
rather subdued growth, said a senior airline official.
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BOEING B737 MAX: SPICEJET SAYS ALL ADDITIONAL DGCA SAFETY
MEASURES IN PLACE
Budget carrier SpiceJet
Tuesday said it has put in place all the additional precautionary measures
issued by the aviation regulator following the crash of one such plane earlier
this week. The Gurugram-based airline, which has 12 Boeing 737 Max 8 planes in
its fleet, also said, it is actively engaged with the directorate general of
civil aviation (DGCA) and the aircraft manufacturer on the issue. SpiceJet and
Jet Airways are the only two domestic airlines which operate Boeing 737 Max 8
planes. We've already implemented all additional precautionary measures as
directed by the DGCA Monday, the airline added. Aviation watchdog DGCA had
Monday issued strict safety instructions for flying these planes, which include
minimum 1,000 hours of flying for pilot-in-command. BS Bhullar told PTI that no
decision has been taken on the grounding these planes.
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RESOLVER LAUNCHES PORTAL TO ADDRESS CONSUMER GRIEVANCES IN
INDIA
Start-up Resolver India
Tuesday launched a portal to help in speedier resolution of consumer complaints.
Pratyush Singh said the company's goal is to break down the walls between
consumers and businesses by building trust and understanding through a speedy
and jargon-free process. Resolver.in is powered by machine learning and
artificial intelligence (AI) which guides consumers and supports organisations
by making recommendations on what their next steps should be and when to take
them, Singh said. Resolver said it has a proven track record and is the preferred
resolution tool of millions of consumers in the UK with over 3 million case
files closed and a customer satisfaction rate of over 98 per cent in the UK. With
India leading to grow into one of the top-3 consumer markets in the world from
USD 1.5 trillion at present to nearly USD 6 trillion by 2030, we see India as a
tremendous opportunity, said James Walker.
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PRESIDENT CONFERS PADMA AWARDS ON 47 PERSONALITIES
47 prominent personalities
including Malayalam actor Mohanlal, former foreign secretary S Jaishankar,
Akali Dal leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and renowned journalist Kuldip Nayar
(posthumous), were conferred the Padma awards by President Ram Nath Kovind on
Monday. Bihar leader Hukumdev Narayan Yadav (Padma Bhushan), former Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of multinational techno giant Cisco systems John
Chambers (Padma Bhushan) and renowned dancer and filmmaker Prabhu Deva (Padma
Shri) were also honoured.
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COUNTRY SAFE UNDER PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI, ASSERTS ARUN
JAITLEY
Arun Jaitley Tuesday
accused the Congress of weakening the fight against Jehadi terrorists and
wondered if the party could be trusted by voters in the upcoming general
elections. In a blog, Jaitley said the Congress party is one with the
government on condemning Pulwama terror attack resulting in the death of 41
CRPF jawans, but is disturbed about air strikes in Balakot, Pakistan. He said
the Congress has repeatedly rubbished the surgical strikes of September 2016
and contends that they have either taken place in the past also or
alternatively they never took place under Prime Minister Modi. On the air
strikes, their conduct is even more dubious the minister said. While giving lip
sympathy to the Indian Air Force for the first two days, Congress started a
multi-pronged attack and questioned the success of the strikes. The grand old
party, Jaitley said, started demanding proof that terrorists had died at
Balakot and even contended that the strike had taken place not against terror
but to ensure BJP's victory in the forthcoming elections. This was a self-goal
by the Congress in domestic politics. This was also playing into the hands of
Pakistan where statements of Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, were
played out on television channels in Pakistan. He further said the Congress had
no structured plan during ten years of UPA on how to deal with the problems of
Jammu and Kashmir. This country is safe and secure under the NDA Government led
by Prime Minister Modi, he said.
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CONGRESS DENIED MARTYR STATUS TO PARAMILITARY FORCES, RAHUL
GANDHI SPEAKS WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE: ARUN JAITLEY
Arun Jaitley on Tuesday
slammed Congress president Rahul Gandhi for politicising the supreme sacrifice
of CRPF jawans in the Pulwama terror attack. Jaitley said Rahul is ignorant and
speaks on sensitive issues without knowledge of facts. Jaitley said that it was
the Congress-led UPA government which refused to take a decision to confer the
status of martyr on soldiers of paramilitary forces. The minister said that any
soldier, be it of the Army or the paramilitary forces, killed in the line of
duty is a martyr. He said that the only difference is the use of terminology.
He clarified that in terms of defence personnel, such sacrifices are called
battle casualty while in paramilitary, they are referred to as operational
casualty. So many fake statements it is very unfortunate for a political party
which chose (president) through dynasty or through any other process, at least
the person should have knowledge. He (Rahul) repeatedly said that martyr status
should be accorded to the paramilitary forces. He doesn’t have elementary
knowledge Anyone killed be it from defence or paramilitary, is a martyr. In
terms of defence, he is conferred the status of battle casualty and in
paramilitary, he is given the status of operational casualty. He doesn’t have
this basic knowledge, he speaks without knowledge, the minister said. Jaitley
further said that in 2011, when paramilitary forces put forth this demand, then
PM Manmohan Singh set up a committee of secretaries to decide whether
paramilitary could be accorded the same status. It was a confused government.
The secretaries said that they could not decide and left the matter to the
wisdom of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister ignored the demand of the
paramilitary forces. The UPA government refused to give them that status. It is
necessary for him (Rahul) to speak but he doesn’t have the basic knowledge, he
said. Jaitley said that when BJP formed the government under Narendra Modi’s
leadership, it examined the demand. ‘In 2016, we took a decision that every
paramilitary jawan will get Rs 35 lakh and if the casualty is due to violence,
additional Rs 25 lakh will be provided. In 2017, we took another decision that
the operation casualty will also be considered battle casualty. Rahul Gandhi
should understand this basic thing it was his party that refused and Modiji
conferred it in 2017, he said. Jailtey also criticised Rahul for dragging the
name of NSA Ajit Doval to train guns at the government. He said that Rahul’s
argument that it was Doval who freed JuD chief terrorist Masood Azhar during
Kandhar hijack is completely wrong. What was Doval in 90s? Doval was additional
director IB. In such a situation (Kandhar), the intelligence officials can face
them out intelligence people were in Delhi and Kandhar as well and working on
how to repatriate our people. A series of intelligence offices were working at
that time of whom many later became DGPs they were doing background works. An
immature person like him (Rahul) makes intelligence agency a matter of public
debate, he said.
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STATEHOOD FOR DELHI MAIN LOK SABHA POLL ISSUE, SAYS ARVIND
KEJRIWAL
Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday
said the battle in Delhi would be fought over statehood, a long pending demand
of the people. Setting the agenda for the party's Lok Sabha campaign in Delhi,
Kejriwal said, The Lok Sabha elections will be fought on statehood. Like
Telangana and Uttarakhand fought for a separate state, there will be a similar
fight in Delhi as well. The demand for statehood has been a key part of the
party's campaign. The AAP is running a ground campaign on the issue. Kejriwal
had also announced an indefinite fast, which was called off later. The internal
surveys that we have done show that the people of Delhi will elect AAP leaders
to get statehood for Delhi. People are excited about getting statehood for
Delhi, Kejriwal said.
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CONSEQUENCES MAY NOT BE POSITIVE IF I'M DENIED TICKET FROM
UNNAO: SAKSHI MAHARAJ TELLS BJP
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) lawmaker Sakshi Maharaj has written a letter to Uttar Pradesh party chief
Mahendra Nath Pandey claiming that consequences may not be positive if the
party denies him a ticket to contest from Unnao constituency in the forthcoming
Lok Sabha elections. In a letter dated March 7, Maharaj said, If party takes a
different decision (related to my candidature) for Unnao constituency then this
may hurt sentiments of crores of workers from the state and across the country.
Its consequences may not be positive. Maharaj said BJP should allow him contest
the upcoming general elections as he is the only Other Backward Classes (OBC)
candidate in the party. Therefore, I request you to approve my candidature from
Unnao constituency once again for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Reacting to
this, Pandey said, I have not seen the letter yet. I will take cognizance of
the matter once I see it.
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HARDIK PATEL JOINS CONGRESS; PRAISES RAHUL, ATTACKS PM MODI
Patidar quota agitation
leader Hardik Patel on Tuesday joined the Congress in the presence of party
president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Justifying his
decision to enter active politics ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Patel said he
could now work for the six crore people of Gujarat in a better way After
joining the Congress at its rally near Adalaj village in Gandhinagar district,
Hardik in his address asked the gathering if it was the right decision. To
this, the people said, Yes. People ask me why I chose the Congress and Rahul
Gandhi. I chose Rahul Gandhi because he is honest. He does not believe in
working like a dictator, he said.
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MODI GOVT DID NOT FULFIL ITS PROMISES OF PROVIDING JOBS:
PRIYANKA GANDHI
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
Tuesday targeted the Modi government, adding she was saddened by what was
happening in the country. Priyanka said the Modi government did not fulfil its
promises of providing jobs to crores of people in the country.
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LOK SABHA POLLS: PICTURES OF PM, MINISTERS TAKEN DOWN FROM
MOST GOVERNMENT WEBSITES
Following the imposition
of the model code of conduct, several government websites, including that of
the Prime Minister's Office, have taken down pictures of the prime minister and
other union ministers but some ministries are yet to comply. The code states
that the party in power - whether at the Centre or in the states - should
ensure that it does not use its official position for campaigning Ministers and
other government authorities cannot announce financial grants in any form. No
project or scheme which may have the effect of influencing the voter in favour
of the party in power can be announced, and ministers cannot use official
machinery for campaign purposes In a letter written to the cabinet secretary
and chief secretaries of states, the EC had asked them to ensure that
photographs of political functionaries on official websites are removed or
hidden immediately. But the website of the Law Ministry still carries the
pictures of Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, his junior minister P P Chaudhury
and a link to PM's 'Mann ki Baat' monthly radio address. Same is the case with
the website of Ministry of Minority Affairs where pictures of minister Mukhtar
Abbas Naqvi and his junior minister Virendra Kumar are displayed.
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NO ALLIANCE WITH CONGRESS ANYWHERE FOR 2019 LOK SABHA
ELECTIONS: MAYAWATI
The Bahujan Samaj Party
(BSP) will not join hands with the Congress in any state for the coming 2019
Lok Sabha elections, party supremo Mayawati has said. Mayawati's comments are
in line with its decision to tie up with archrival Samajwadi Party (SP) in
Uttar Pradesh, while keeping the Congress at arm's length. The BSP-SP combine
has decided not to contest the two seats - Raebareilly and Amethi - that are
usually held by the Congress's first family. The BSP and SP have also built
their own alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh,
accommodating smaller players like the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). Of the 80 Lok
Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, the SP-BSP front will contest 78. The BSP will
contest from 38 seats and SP from 37, with three seats allotted to the RLD.
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NEW ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION LINES REQUIRE RS 2.7 LAKH CRORE
BY FY22
About Rs 2.7 lakh crore
would be required till FY22 to build the additional electricity transmission
system in the country, the National Electricity Plan (NEP) on transmission
published by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) said. The money would be
spent on the 1.1 lakh circuit kilometres of transmission lines and 3.8 lakh
mega volt amp of sub-stations required to support new generation capacities and
make the infrastructure more flexible to accommodate the evolving trends in
power consumption. The forecast was based on estimated generation capacities of
about 480.4 GW and annual peak load demand of 225.7 GW by FY22-end. The CEA has
also considered the inclusion of 175 GW (60 GW wind, 100 GW solar, 9 GW biomass
and 6 GW of small hydro) renewable capacity, which are intermittent and unpredictable.
In the FY12-17 period, the country had added 1.1 lakh circuit kilometre of
transmission lines and 3.2 lakh mega volt amp of sub-stations. Apart from
state-owned Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL), the requirement opens up
opportunity for private transmission companies such as Adani, Sterlite,
Kalpataru and L&T. Electricity transmission schemes are implemented either
through the tariff based competitive bidding or under regulated tariff
mechanism by PGCIL. However, most of the projects are now being tendered
through tariff bidding, increasing the scope of private players.
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NATURAL RUBBER PRODUCTION DECLINES, DEMAND-SUPPLY GAP RISES TO
45%
Consumption of natural
rubber (NR) rose 12 per cent crossing 10.2 lakh tonne in the period between
April 2018 to January 2019, increasing the demand and domestic supply gap to 45
per cent. Alarmed by the shortage of domestic supply, tyre manufacturers have
asked the government to reduce the import duty for rubber to less than 10 per
cent. Data from Rubber Board shows that production stood at just 5.6 lakh tonne
during April 2018 to January 2019, compared to 5.97 lakh tonne in the same
period last year. The production–consumption gap for the same period of previous
fiscal stood at 3.16 lakh tonnes, which has increased to 4.63 lakh tonnes in
the current financial year. Industry sources said domestic production was
impacted due to the floods in Kerala during the first half of the financial
year, and the peak season in October to January also failed to deliver the
expected production, resulting in a shortage of natural rubber. For the first
time, the NR consumption in India has crossed the mark of 10 lakh tonnes in the
first ten months of a fiscal year recording an average monthly consumption of 1
lakh tonnes. The commitment of the tyre Industry to increase production
footprint in the country needs to be supported by increasing the supply of raw
materials otherwise it will leave domestic manufacturing uncompetitive, said
Rajiv Budhraja.
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SOON, WATCH MOVIES FOR FREE IN MUMBAI LOCALS
Passengers on board local
trains on the Central Railway (CR) will soon be able to have access to movies,
soap operas and audio- video songs for free inside compartments. In a first
attempt to provide infotainment to suburban railway commuters, the zonal
railway will be providing hotspots — locations that offer internet access over
Wi-Fi — in Mumbai’s local trains. Commuters will get access to the preloaded
content in the hotspots by downloading a mobile application. Trials of the
system are currently underway and the system is likely to be introduced in all
trains by July 2019. After downloading the mobile application — which is still
being developed — commuters will have an option to select their preferred
language and stream the loaded movies and videos on their smartphones. Trials
of the system are being undertaken currently, said Anil Kumar Jain. The tender
processing will be undertaken post the trial at Kurla railway carshed. The
hotspots will then be introduced in the local trains. It would take four months
for the complete procedure, said a senior CR official.
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76% INDIAN BUSINESSES HIT BY CYBER ATTACKS: SURVEY
Cybersecurity continues to
be a major issue in India with 76% organizations hit by online attacks in the
last year, as compared to 68% incidents across the globe reveals a new global
survey from security firm Sophos. IT managers are more likely to catch cyber
criminals on their organization’s servers and networks than anywhere else. In
fact, IT managers discovered 39% of their most significant cyber attacks on
their organization’s servers, and 35% on its networks. Only about 8% were discovered
on endpoints and about 19%, which is almost double the global average, were
found on mobile devices. In other key findings, 97% IT managers admitted that
security expertise is one of the greatest issues in India, and while 92% Indian
IT managers wish they had a stronger team in place to properly detect,
investigate and respond to security incidents, 89% believe cyber security
recruitment is a challenge. 14% of IT managers who were victim to one or more
cyber attacks last year can’t pinpoint how the attackers gained entry, and 17%
don’t know how long the threat was in the environment before it was detected,
according to the survey. To improve this lack of visibility, IT managers need
endpoint detection and response (EDR) technology that exposes threat starting
points and the digital footprints of attackers moving laterally through a
network. The report found that on an average, Indian organizations that
investigate one or more potential security incidents each month spend 48 days a
year (four days a month) investigating them. It comes as no surprise that IT
managers ranked identification of suspicious events (22%), alert management
(19%), and prioritization of suspicious events (13%) as the top three features
they need from EDR solutions to reduce the time taken to identify and respond
to security alerts. The survey polled more than 3,100 IT decision makers from
mid-sized businesses in 12 countries including the US, Canada, Mexico,
Colombia, Brazil, UK, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, India, and South Africa.
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NOTHING DONE FOR GANGA IN PAST 5 YEARS : AKHILESH YADAV
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief
Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for doing
nothing to clean the Ganga a promise he had made in the run up to the Lok Sabha
elections in 2014. Swachh Bharat - Failed, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister tweeted and said that the Modi-led National Ganga Council did not meet
even once in the last five years of the NDA rule between 2014-19. He also said
that 351 stretches of rivers in India were now critically polluted up from 302
in 2016. The SP chief further said that seven of the world's 10 most polluted
cities were in India and the cleaning and sanitation efforts have been left to
the lower castes. Thereafter, he called upon people to vote for Maha
Parivartan.
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AMUL RANKED 73RD GLOBALLY AMONG TOP 100 MEGABRANDS
Homegrown brand Amul has
become the only ‘Indian’ brand to be featured in the latest study of the top
100 global megabrands Euromonitor International, a UK-headquartered global
market research firm, has ranked Amul at 73 rank at global level in its report.
The report is a ranking of the top 100 most successful fast-moving consumer
goods (FMCG) brands worldwide released by the global market research company
that provides strategic intelligence on industries, companies, economies and
consumers around the world. Each of the brands making it into the top 100
qualified based on their retail sales value for 2017. The report puts Amul’s
brand value in the range of US $ 2 to 3 billion based on the sales that the
Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) – the marketers of Amul
brand – had registered in the financial year 2016-17.
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INDIAN VISITORS TO SINGAPORE: NON-METROS SEE HIGHER GROWTH
Singapore is witnessing
faster growth of Indian visitors from relatively smaller cities than the
metros. Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said while key metros like Bangalore,
Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai continue to contribute the highest number of visitors
to Singapore 4,98,000 travelers in 2018, a year-on-year (YOY) increase of 8%,
STB’s efforts to engage other key metros and secondary cities resulted in them
providing good growth in visitorship. These cities, including Hyderabad,
Kolkata Pune, Amritsar, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam contributed 253,000
travelers in 2018, a YOY growth of 12%. STB said the city state saw more than
10 lakh Indian travellers in 2018, for the fourth year in a row. India retained
its third position, after China and Indonesia, as a visitors arrival (VA)
source market for Singapore, having first gaining that spot in 2017. It
recorded the second highest growth at 13%, after USA (14%), STB said. With 1.6
Indian travellers taking cruise from Singapore, 27% more than 2017, India
remained the top cruise travel source market for Singapore. GB Srithar, said:
We are grateful to all our partners who promoted Singapore actively in 2018,
making us welcome a record 14.4 lakh visitors from India we look forward to
welcoming more visitors from India to experience Singapore in 2019.
#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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