Iran will continue to develop and test missiles in line with its deterrence policy despite adversarial positions taken on this issue by the US officials, a spokesman of the Iranian Armed Forces said here on Sunday.

“Missile tests and the overall defensive capability of the Islamic republic are for defence purposes and in line with our country’s deterrence policy,” Abolfazl Shekarchi said, Xinhua news agency reported.

“We will continue to both test and develop missiles,” he said, adding that “this issue is outside the framework of any negotiations and is part of our national security.”

“We will not ask for any country’s permission in this regard,” he stressed.

Iran has assured regional countries that the boost of missiles power of the Islamic republic does not hurt the interests of other countries, Shekarchi said.

“Such measures are only in line with boosting the country’s deterrent and defence power,” he added.

Shekarchi made the remarks in reaction to an earlier remarks by the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, that Iran’s ballistic missile tests violated the UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2231.

Pompeo said on Saturday that “the Iranian regime has just test-fired a medium range ballistic missile that’s capable of carrying multiple warheads. This test violates UNSCR 2231.”

“We condemn these activities and call upon Iran to cease immediately all activities relating to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons,” he said.

In reaction, Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday dismissed as “ridiculous” the charges by Pompeo.

“Iran’s missile program has a defensive nature and is designed based on the country’s needs,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Bahram Qasemi, was quoted as saying by the ministry’s website.

“No resolution at the UN Security Council has banned Iran’s missile program or missile tests,” Qasemi said.

The Iranian spokesman said that the remarks by Pompeo is “ridiculous since the US refers to a resolution which not only has it violated by unilateral and illegal withdrawal, but by encouraging others to violate it, or even threatening them to punish” in case they remain committed to it.

UNSCR 2231 has endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the 2015 deal on nuclear program of Iran.

The US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of it in May and reimposed sanctions on Tehran which had been removed under the deal.

Besides, Iran’s Defence Minister, Amir Hatami, said on Sunday that the Islamic republic has turned into one of the world’s missile powers despite tolerating severe western sanctions over the past 40 years.

“Today, Iran is among the world’s top powers in building missiles, radars, armoured vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),” Hatami told official IRNA news agency.

“Iran has managed to attain a very desirable and acceptable performance in the field of defensive products and the (Iranian) Defence Ministry has become self-sufficient in defence industry despite tough sanctions by the arrogant powers in the past 40 years,” he said.

IANS

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on cooperation among G20 countries on issues related to global economy, trade tensions, crude oil prices and terrorism and fugitive economic offenders, India’s G20 sherpa has said.

Addressing the media here, Shaktikanta Das on Saturday said the current challenges being faced by the global economy, especially emerging economy space, were highlighted by Modi at the G20 Summit.

“He highlighted the threat of increasing financial vulnerabilities, mainly arising from monetary policies of advanced economies and oil price volatility,” Das said.

“The Prime Minister also emphasized on unsynchronized policies of advanced economies and the uneven pace of revival of economies of various countries.”

Modi stressed on escalating trade tensions and its resultant and collateral damages it caused to the least developed countries and other emerging economies, he added.

As regards the way forward, Modi emphasized on the need for pro-active and reformed multilateralism.

“He (Modi) talked about various multilateral institutions and stressed there is need to adopt policies of pro-active and reformed multilateralism, basically to activate various multilateral channels, whether it is the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) or other multilateral channels and, of course, the UN and last but not the least, G20,” Das said.

Modi highlighted that any instability in the crude oil prices put big pressure on the budgetary resources and domestic finances of the emerging economies.

He also appealed for reforming the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and sought dialogue on trade and service in promoting global value chain in the agricultural sector, Das said.

The Prime Minister wanted countries to “immediately” join the automatic exchange of information.

“He highlighted the efforts taken in regards to harnessing transformative technologies, that is robotics, data analytic, education technology, Fin-tech (Financial Technology). He talked about democratization of the technologies at the international level for global good.”

Presenting a nine-point action programme against fugitive economic offenders at the second session of the G20 Summit on Friday, Modi said there was a need for a joint effort by member countries to form a mechanism that denies entry and safe havens to all fugitive economic offenders.

India is pressing for the extradition of high-profile fugitive economic offenders including Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya among others.

The Prime Minister stressed it was time to fully implement and operationalise various aspects of 11-point agenda against terrorism adopted in Hamburg in 2017.

He also called upon countries to join the international solar alliance and spoke about global coalition on disaster resilient infrastructure, Das said.

Modi said India will host the G20 Summit in 2022, the year New Delhi celebrates its 75th Independence Day.

IANS

 The United Forum of Bank Union (UFBU) – a consortium of nine unions in the banking sector – will strike work on December 26 opposing the merger of Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank, the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) said on Saturday.

The AIBEA is one of the constituents of the UFBU.

In a statement, the AIBEA said the unions in the banking sector were opposed to the merger of three banks.

IANS

 The market regulator on Friday allowed exchanges to extend the trading hours for the commodity derivatives segment to increase participation.

According to a Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) circular,Athe commodity markets can open at 9 a.m. local time from the current time of 10 a.m.

Trading of agriculture products would go on till 9 p.m. while that of non-agri products would be till 11.55 p.m., said the circular.

“The extension of the trade timing is subject Ato the AStock AExchange Aand Aits Clearing Corporation(s) putting Ainplace adequaterisk Amanagement system, surveillance Asystemand Ainfrastructure Acommensurate Awith the increased trading hours,” the circular said.

“The Aprovisions Aof Athis Acircular Ashall Acome Ainto Aeffect Afrom 30 Adays Afrom Athe date of this circular.”

IANS

 Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has requested his Goa counterpart Manohar Parrikar to lift the blanket ban on fish import, claiming that the crackdown has caused “huge losses” to the fishermen from the southern state.

In a letter, Kumaraswamy said: “I request you to kindly permit transportation and trading activities of fish between the two states and the ban order issued by the state of Goa may be kept on hold till we comply with FDA regulation.

“It is requested that this blanket ban may be withdrawn… Karnataka will ensure that the fish traders comply with the FDA regulations and obtain a certificate after meeting the required standards.”

The letter, which was received by Parrikar’s office on Thursday, also said fisherfolk from three coastal districts in Karnataka — Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi — who harvest a catch of nearly 4.10 lakh tonne every year, were now facing huge losses on account of the ban.

“The fishermen have been taken by surprise by the sudden ban on fish trade to the state of Goa. This has resulted in huge losses by the coastal fishermen and lot of unrest among the fishermen community.”

The controversy involving use of formalin in fish erupted in July after a Food and Drugs Administration team found traces of the carcinogenic cadaver preservative in fish sold in Goa.

The BJP-led coalition government has been on the back-foot ever since, after several of its ministers were accused of allegedly protecting fish traders who were reportedly importing formalin-laced fish consignments into Goa from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Under public pressure to crackdown on the “fish mafia”, Goa on November 12 banned the import of fish from traders who were unregistered with the state’s FDA.

The ban has also hiked prices of fish in Goa.

IANS

The Karnataka government has decided to take up an elevated corridor project to decongest city roads from January 2019 at an estimated cost of about Rs 25,495 crore, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said Thursday.

The project is also aimed at providing effective modes of transportation, minimizing maintenance cost of vehicles and ensuring road safety along with limiting carbon emission, he said.

“Due to traffic congestion on city roads, we have decided to go ahead with construction of corridors to ease traffic in North-South, East-West and central parts of the city,” Kumaraswamy told reporters here.

The project would be taken up under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode, he said.

Officials have been instructed to ensure there were no legal hurdles and that complete transparency was maintained, Kumaraswamy said.

The government has decided to kickstart the project in January 2019 and complete it by 2021.

Kumaraswamy had announced in his budget speech about undertaking of construction of elevated corridor and also allocated Rs 1,000 Crore for present year.

The chief minister held a meeting of officials of various departments Thursday, where he also examined the presentation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) regarding elevated corridors project.

He said with a view to ensuring that public property was not affected, it had been decided to go in for four lane roads at places where it may affect people and six lane in the remaining places.

Kumaraswamy said, according to estimates, 3,700 trees might have to be felled for the project and steps would be taken towards translocating trees wherever possible and also planting of new trees in about 100 acres at various places in the city.

“There will be interlink between corridor and metro line, and at places double decker model is likely to be adopted for this purpose,” he added.

In another move to decongest city roads, the state cabinet had recently decided to bear the land acquisition cost of about Rs 4,500 crore for the 65-km peripheral ring road, estimated to come up at a cost of about Rs 17,000 crore.

“Despite efforts by various governments through various programmes, we have not been successful in providing all the basic necessities to the citizens of Bengaluru,” Kumaraswamy said.

Pointing out that there was a section among citizens who are opposed to such infrastructure projects, Kumaraswamy asked them to take note of situations such as vehicles moving bumper to bumper on city roads and speed limited to 15-20 km per hour leading to wasting of time in traffic.

“If there are any doubts, Vidhana Soudha’s doors are always open. You can clear your doubts either by meeting me or the Chief Secretary.

My priority is providing facilities to people of Bengaluru,” he said, adding that environment-related concerns are being kept in mind while taking decisions.

PTI

Syria’s air defences intercept suspected Israeli missiles

 Syrian air defences responded on Thursday evening to a suspected Israeli missile attack on military targets in southern Syria, media reported.

State TV reported that Syrian air force fired anti-air missiles in response to the strike, adding that all enemy targets were destroyed and that the foreign attack failed to achieve its intended goals, reports Xinhua news agency.

It said the attack took place over the town of Kisweh in the southern countryside of the Syrian capital Damascus.

While the official Syrian media outlets hinted that Israel is behind the attack, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group based in Britain, explicitly stated that Israel carried out the attack in the southern and southwestern countryside of Damascus near the administrative border with the southern province of Quneitra.

The watchdog said the Syrian air defences were firing a number of missiles to intercept the Israeli missiles.

Meanwhile, the pro-government Sham FM radio said two explosions were heard in the vicinity of the town of Al-Dimass in the western countryside of Damascus in tandem with the missile attack in southern Damascus.

Israel has repeatedly targeted military positions in Syria, including Kisweh.

If Israel is proved to be behind the attack, it would be the its first attack on Syrian targets since September, when it attacked military sites in Syria and led to the downing of a Russian surveillance aircraft by missiles mistakenly fired by Syrian air force in response to the Israeli attack.

After the September attack, during which 15 Russian servicemen were killed, Russia and the Syrian government blamed Israel for the crash, and Moscow was quick to equip Damascus with the advanced S-300 air defence system.

Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told Xinhua in September that the arrival of Russia’s S-300 to Syria would push Israel to reconsider before striking Syria again.

Israeli usually claims that its strikes target Iranian positions or weapons in Syria that could end up in the hands of the Hezbollah group in Lebanon.

IANS

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) employees union would go on an indefinite strike from December 3 over non-issuance of the third pay revision.

In a letter to Union Communications Minister Manoj Sinha on November 28 (Wednesday), the union sought a level-playing field for the company in comparison to other players in the telecom sector.

“Thousands of workers (Non-Executives and Executives of BSNL) are retiring every month. Naturally, issues of their third pay revision are still pending despite clear commitment given to them in that regard and that has created serious resentment among them,” said the letter.

It further said: “They are expecting at least 15 per cent enhancement/fitment in pay and payment of pension contribution by BSNL and revision of pension to BSNL retirees with effect from 01.01.2017, as made available to a number of public sector employees and officers.”

The employee’s union also sought the allotment of 4G spectrum to BSNL.

Further, the Centre of Indian Trade Union in a statement released in support of the demands said that the allotment of 4G spectrum to BSNL “is being deliberately delayed by the government to allow advantage to private telecom operators at the cost of BSNL.”

IANS

 In the midst of a government-Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tussle over utilisation of capital reserves of the central bank, former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian strongly supports the government’s view, saying the RBI is holding excess capital between Rs 4.5 and Rs 7 lakh crore which should be used to recapitalise the banks.

However, he adds that deploying capital is a decision for the RBI to take which it must do “voluntarily and proactively without even the whiff of interference from outside”.

Subramanian says he realises that in making this suggestion he is up against all the eminent current and former RBI officials, who argue that the RBI actually needs all the capital it has, but they are wrong.

“These officials command the respect of the public, and for good reasons. I think they are wrong. As Margaret Thatcher used to say, ‘One man and the Truth is a majority’,” the noted economist says in his upcoming book “Of Counsel: The Challenges of the Modi-Jaitley Economy”, published by Penguin.

“It is almost certainly the case that more money will be needed to make banks healthy… It is possible that the government will need to provide anywhere between Rs 3-5 lakh crore — in addition to the amounts already spent — to restore the fundamentally viable public sector banks to health,” Subramanian says.

He adds that there is only one public-sector entity — RBI — that has a strong enough balance sheet to deploy this magnitude of resources.

“Conservative estimates (as well as cross-country comparisons) based on our internal analysis suggest that if the RBI were to adopt the practices of most major central banks around the world in deciding how much capital is necessary, it would find that it has about Rs 3-4 lakh crore of excess government capital, some of which it could deploy for the clean-up,” he says.

Subramanian adds that RBI is an outlier among major central banks, holding about 28 per cent in capital, which is the fifth-largest amongst all major central banks, with two of the four above India in this ranking being oil exporters, which are special cases being highly vulnerable to the swings in the price of petroleum.

He says the RBI calculates risk based on a sample that almost no other central bank does and has set for itself a risk tolerance that is “ultra, ultra conservative, almost bordering on paranoia”.

“Whereas other central banks want to cushion against events with one per cent probability of occurring, the RBI wants to cushion against events that can occur with .001 per cent probability.”

“…Prima facie, then, it seems that the RBI is holding too much capital… Our estimate is that the RBI is holding excess capital between Rs 4.5-7 lakh crore… This excess capital should be redeployed, shifted from where it is not needed and put instead where it is needed urgently, namely, in public-sector banks,” he says.

However, he warns that any redeployment of RBI capital must be seen not as a government demand but as a voluntary commitment of the RBI for the greater good, and should be done only after extensive consultation.

“If there is one strong balance sheet and one weak, there is no good reason the former should not come to the rescue of the latter. We build up strength in balance sheets not for strength’s sake but to use that strength. Savings are meant for rainy days and when rainy days come, savings should be run down.

“During and after the global financial crisis, major central banks across the world have lent the heft of their balance sheets to pull economies out of dire economic circumstances,” the former CEA says.

He adds the legitimacy of central banks is enhanced when they take actions to address serious problems. “When reputations and strong balance sheets are put on the frontline in service of the economy, these assets, far from getting depleted, are actually replenished.”

IANS