Archives for 2022

BHOPAL:  Women in Zamindar Mohalla locality of communal violence-hit Khargone town of Madhya Pradesh are holding special prayers daily for a 16-year-old boy Shivam Shukla, who is battling for life at an Indore hospital, after being injured in the violence. 

Shivam was about to leave on April 11 for his native Dhar district to attend the marriage of his elder sister Kritika, but the attack by rioters on April 10, resulting in severe brain injuries, ended him up at a private hospital in Indore.

While women are praying for his safety at their homes and nearby temples in the curfew-clamped Khargone, some residents of Khargone, as well as Indore, have collected around  Rs 2 lakh for the treatment.

After being on ventilator support for more than two days, Shivam started showing signs of recovery on Wednesday and is now on external oxygen support.

A native of Nisarpur village in neighbouring Dhar district, Shivam has been living with his maternal uncle’s family in Zamindar Mohalla for the last five years and had taken admission to a diploma course in government polytechnic after completing matriculation last year in Khargone.

With his maternal uncle’s family being the priests of the famous Hinglaj Mata Temple in Khargone town, Shivam along with cousins performed the special Ram Navami arti at the temple and was returning home, when he sustained head injuries in stone-throwing from neighbouring Khaskhas Wadi locality.

“He fell unconscious and was rushed to Khargone district hospital, from where doctors referred him to Indore,” Shivam’s cousin Manthan Joshi said.

According to Indore Divisional Commissioner Dr Pawan Verma, the MP CM has announced that the government will bear the entire expenses for Shivam’s treatment.

Home Minister, Muslim leaders meet

Muslim community leaders led by Bhopal’s Qazi Mushtaq Ali Nadvi met MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra and flayed the “demolition of the properties of one community”.

LUCKNOW:  After drawing a blank in the just-concluded Legislative Council elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party is facing the likelihood of losing the post of Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the 
Upper House.

On April 28, three SP MLCs — Balwant Singh Ramuwalia, Wasim Barelvi and Madhukar Jaitley — will complete their tenure. This will be followed by the retirement of three more SP MLCs — Rajpal Kashyap, Arvind Kumar and Sanjay Lather — on May 26. Lather is the current Leader of the Opposition.

The Leader of the Opposition is assigned to a member from the largest opposition party in the House, but the party needs to have at least 10 per cent seats of the total strength of the House. On these six seats, the BJP will most likely get its candidates nominated.

On July 6, half a dozen of the 11 remaining SP members will retire.

Those who term ends in July are Jagjeevan Prasad, Kamlesh Kumar Pathak, Ranvijay Singh, Shatrudh Prakash (now in BJP), Balram Yadav and Ran Sunder Das Nishad.

In such a scenario, the SP will be left with just five members — Naresh Uttam Patel, Rajendra Chaudhury, Ashutosh Sinha, Dr Maan Singh Yadav, and Lal Bihari Yadav.

In all, 13 seats of the Assembly quota will be vacated in July and the election to those seats is likely to be held soon. For each seat, votes of 31 MLAs are required.

SP and its allies have 125 members in the Assembly. As per its strength, SP can win maximum four seats and its tally will go up to nine.

Similarly, the BSP, which has four members, will be left with just one seat while the Congress will not be there at all.  

Moreover, three seats which got vacated last year will in all probability be filled by the BJP. Thus, the ruling party is likely to touch the figure of 80 in the Council by July.

WASHINGTON: Russia’s war in Ukraine is likely to result in a significant 1.3 per cent lower GDP growth for India and 2.3 percentage point lower income growth, a top World Bank official has said, even as the lending agency observed that India is emerging strongly from the COVID-19 crisis.

“Our overall assessment is that the war in Ukraine leads to 2.3 percentage point lower income growth for India and 1.3 per cent lower GDP growth. But the adjustment was less than that and that is as I said because of positive surprises we saw in recent data,” he said in response to a question.

The World Bank in its latest South Asia Economic Focus report said that the estimated growth for India in the fiscal year 2021-2022 is 8.3 per cent, which it has forecast to drop to 8 per cent in 2022-2023 and 7.1 per cent in 2023-2024.

“On India, the first observation is that we lowered the forecast for the fiscal year that just started seven tenths of a per cent. That is a combination of the negative impact of the war, but also some positive surprises, especially on the export of digital services which were really strong,” Timmer said.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and the war is grinding toward its eighth week. The US-led West has imposed crippling sanctions on Moscow over its war against Ukraine. Observing that India is coming from a deep recession at the beginning of the COVID cycle, he said, it is still recovering and not all the damages have been undone.

“But you can see now that growth rates are back to where they were before the pandemic. There’s no strong link between a new variant coming up and GDP growth. But the war in Ukraine is an additional strong headwind. That mainly comes through high commodity prices for India, which is a problem for inflation. It is a problem for the fiscal position as far as they are subsidizing goods,” he said.

Timmer said that even the fact that India is able to buy some cheap oil from Russia at the moment, the big picture is still that they are being hurt by the high commodity prices in the market.

“When we run that through models that leads to a bit more than one percentage point lower GDP growth. But then GDP growth doesn’t tell the whole story, because there’s also terms of trade loss. Even when you produce the same but the prices abroad are higher than with what you produce, you can consume less because everything becomes more expensive for you. That’s what we call a terms of trade loss, which people see in their income, but you don’t see in the GDP numbers that are our production,” Timmer said.

The positive surprises are in the field of digital services. “In recent quarters, India has been very successful in producing the services and exporting them. Internationally, there is a lot of demand for the services at the moment and India can meet that demand that is stronger than what we had initially,” he said.

In response to a question, Timmer suggested that India should expand its “direct income support” programme instead of subsidising food and other essential commodities. “I think that the system that is in place should be used. You should have targeted support measures and that the people can still buy the essentials. That is way better than the other support mechanisms,” he said.

Taking a long-term perspective, Timmer said India is vulnerable because it is reliant on fossil fuels and also because a big part of society is not participating productively in the economy. “And that’s unsustainable in the long run,” he said.

Observing that the female labour force participation is just 20 per cent in India, the lowest of the region, he said that there are lots of opportunities to unleash a lot more potential and not just to rely on formal forms. “And that’s ultimately the best way to protect the poor,” he said.

SRINAGAR:  With Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to visit J&K on April 24 — his first after Article 370 was hollowed out in August 2019 — there is quiet anticipation of bilateral peace overtures from him in the wake of the change of guard in Pakistan.

Bilateral relations when Shehbaz’s predecessor Imran Khan was in the saddle had bottomed as he had burnt his bridges by being a hawk and making personal remarks against Modi.

In contrast, Shehbaz is a seasoned politician. Also, the Pakistan Army is inclined towards the resumption of dialogue with India.

The exchange of messages between Modi and Shehbaz has sent positive vibes in J&K. Jammu-based political commentator Rekha Choudhary said Modi may send some positive signals to Pakistan during his address at a public rally in Samba, close to the International Border in J&K.

“He may talk of peace between the two neighboring countries and Pakistan taking up the responsibility that its soil is not used for terror. But there will be no accusations,” she said.

For over a year, Indian and Pakistani troops have strictly adhered to the November 2003 border ceasefire pact. The Line of Control and International Border in J&K have been calm since February 25 last year.

Modi would be visiting the Palli panchayat in the Samba district of Jammu to mark the National Panchayati Raj Diwas celebrations. From there, he will address representatives of around 700 panchayats across the country virtually. About 30,000 representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions of J&K are expected to attend the event.

The PM’s public rally would be his third so far in Samba. Thousands of people from different parts of the Jammu region are expected to attend the rally.  At an all-party meeting of J&K leaders last year, Modi had famously said he wanted to remove the Dilli ki doori (distance from Delhi) and dil ki doori (distance from the heart).

Meanwhile, a senior army officer on Wednesday said that the change of guard in Pakistan is an “internal matter” of that country, asserting that the Indian troops are in full control to ensure no infiltration takes place.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in Rajouri district, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of army’s Jammu-based 16 Corps, also known as White Knight Corps, Lt General Manjinder Singh also said that the army is fully prepared to tackle any type of situation along the Line of Control (LoC) as Pakistan is continuously making attempts to disturb peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Change of guard in Pakistan is its internal matter, while the situation along the LoC is a different thing,” he said, while responding to a question on the recent change of guard in Pakistan where Shahbaz Shareef has replaced Imran Khan, who was removed from office through a no-confidence vote, as new prime minister.

“I would not like to comment what is happening inside Pakistan but as far as the LoC is concerned, it is our duty to guard it and the army is fully in control to ensure that no infiltration takes place,” the GOC said.

Asserting that there are no inputs suggesting presence of a large number of terrorists on launching pads across the LoC, the army officer said that the dropping of weapons by drones from Pakistan is more a threat along the International Border (IB) rather than LoC and the Border Security Force (BSF) is effectively tackling the challenge.

“They (Pakistan) will attempt (to push terrorists into this side taking advantage of melting of snow) by activating the launch pads as Pakistan is continuously making attempts to disturb peace (in Jammu and Kashmir),” Lt General Singh said, replying to a query about the possibility of increased infiltration attempts from Pakistan with the melting of snow along the possible infiltration routes.

“We are keeping a watch on the situation and our counter-infiltration measures are in place to foil all their attempts,” the army officer said.

Asked about intelligence inputs suggesting increasing activity of terrorists on the launch pads across the LoC, he said, “There is no alarming situation that a lot of people had gathered on the launch pads.”

“The number of terrorists on launch pads is an assessment and nobody has seen them physically. There are many agencies and inputs do come, but there is variation in these inputs. We do not have any input like a lot of them had gathered on the launch pads,” he said, adding “if the numbers are compared with last year’s, there are minor variations.”

On the threat posed by the use of drones by Pakistan to drop weapons on this side, he said such activities are mostly taking place along the IB being guarded by the BSF.

“No major action of drones was noticed along the LoC till date. As far as IB is concerned, the BSF is alive to the challenge and are tackling it effectively,” he said.

Asked about his assessment of the challenge being posed by Pakistan and China, the GOC said the major challenge for his troops is definitely Pakistan as White Knight Corps does not share borders with China.

On recent incidents of terror attacks in Rajouri, he said “whenever there is peace and development, the enemy is not happy and makes an attempt to disturb it.”

“Such type of sporadic incidents (are happening) to give anyone a grenade and he hurls it is the work of a coward. It did not need a lot of courage, so such type of work can be done by our enemy alone,” he said.

However, he said the army and the people are together and “I am sure that our enemy will not be able to break our strength and we will emerge as successful. Some of our friends who are misled by any reason will join us as well and the enemy will fail in its design.”

He lauded the people for enthusiastically participating in the ‘Rajouri Day’ celebrations and said “we all have joined hands and will move together for peace and development of this region.”

“Rajouri is a beautiful valley having a lot of tourism potential. We are making attempts to bring the Rajouri festival on the national calendar,” he said.

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh government has constituted a two-member claims tribunal to recover damages from those involved in communal violence during the Ram Navami celebrations in Khargone city, an official said on Wednesday.

According to notification, the tribunal has been formed as per provisions of the Public and Private Property Recovery Act-2021, for hearing cases pertaining to the assessment of damages during the violence in Khargone city on Sunday.

The tribunal, headed by retired district judge Dr Shivkumar Mishra and also comprising retired state government secretary Prabhat Parashar, will complete the work in a period of three months, the notification said.

The tribunal will also ensure the recovery of damages from the rioters involved in such cases, it added.

After the violence in Khargone during the Ram Navami festival on Sunday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said that the tribunal will be set up to assess the losses and for the recovery of damages from the rioters.

Curfew was clamped in the entire Khargone city on Sunday after stone-pelting during the Ram Navami procession triggered arson and torching of vehicles.

Nearly 100 people have been arrested so far in connection with the violence, officials earlier said.

GUWAHATI:  A high-level Nagaland government delegation, led by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, is currently camping in New Delhi to impress upon the Centre to resolve the protracted “Naga political issue” early. The delegation, which comprises former chief minister TR Zeliang, Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton and ministers, would meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah, among others.

Rio told this newspaper on Tuesday that the “political issue” would be on the agenda, apart from other issues. “People’s demand is a solution to the issue. That’s the reason why we are playing the role of a facilitator. The issue has remained unresolved for a long time. It is high time that it gets resolved. That is our wish,” the four-time chief minister said. 

Asked if the government can facilitate the peace process without being a party to it, he said, “We are an elected government and it is the people’s issue. Therefore, we have to do all that we can to facilitate it. Let’s hope for the best.”

There are several extremist groups fighting for the Naga cause and the Nagas at large want a settlement that is inclusive. The Centre holds parallel peace talks with insurgent outfit National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) and several other rebel groups, which came together a few years ago under the banner of Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs).

The NSCN-IM’s peace talks with the Centre started in 1997 after both sides had signed a ceasefire agreement.

NEW DELHI: Retail inflation soared to a 17-month high of 6.95% in March with the prices of most commodities soaring, data published by the National Statistical Office showed on Tuesday. It is the third straight month when the inflation remained above the Reserve Bank of India’s comfort zone of 6%. Retail inflation, measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI), was 6.07% in February and 6.01% in January. The CPI inflation was 5.52% in March 2021. 

Inflation in the ‘fuel and light’ category, however, grew at a slower pace of 7.5% in March (compared to 8.7% in February) as most of the price hikes in petrol, diesel and LPG happened in the later part of the month.

According to the latest data, the prices of most commodity groups touched multi-month highs — cereals and products (19 months), milk and products (16 months), vegetable (16 months), clothing (100 months), footwear (111 months), household goods and services (102 months), personal care (13 months) and food index (16 months).

Core inflation, or non-food non-fuel inflation, was at 6.4% in March compared to 5.8% in February. Core inflation is likely to see a broad-based rise as producers pass on cost pressures across segments, says rating agency Crisil. The poor are bearing the burden of inflation the most, given that food recorded the sharpest rise, Crisil adds.

Meanwhile, rural inflation showed a higher jump of 7.7% than urban inflation (6.12%). RBI in its recent monetary policy had said that its primary focus would be to contain inflation. The central bank also revised the 2022-23 inflation estimates to 5.7% from its earlier forecast of 4.5%.