New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha in hard-hitting remarks has lashed out at “superman” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for making a “mess” of the Indian economy which is headed for a “hard landing” as sector after sector is slipping into distress.

In an editorial page article in The Indian Express, Sinha, who was Finance Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi “claims he has seen poverty from close quarters (and) his finance minister is working over-time to make sure that all Indians also see it from equally close quarters”.

Sinha said Jaitley had been luckier than his predecessors to hold the Ministry at a time when lakhs of crores of rupees were at his disposal following the depressed global crude oil prices.

But he wasted the oil bonanza which “was waiting to be used imaginatively”.

“The legacy problems like stalled projects and bank NPAs were no doubt there and should have been managed better… But the legacy problems have not only been allowed to persist, they have become worse.”

Illustrating the picture of the Indian economy today, Sinha said private investment has shrunk “as never before in two decades” while industrial production has all but collapsed.

“Agriculture is in distress, construction industry, a big employer of the work force, is in the doldrums, the rest of the service sector is also in the slow lane, exports have dwindled, sector after sector of the economy is in distress.”

Continuing his tirade against the government’s demonetisation decision, Sinha said spiking large currency notes “has proved to be an unmitigated economic disaster” which coupled with “a badly conceived and poorly implemented GST” has played havoc with businesses and sunk many of them.

“Countless millions have lost their jobs with hardly any new opportunities coming the way of the new entrants to the labour market. For quarter after quarter, the growth rate of the economy has been declining until it reached the low of 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal.”

He said if the government had not changed the methodology for calculation of the GDP in 2015, the growth rate of 5.7 per cent would have actually been 3.7 per cent or less — according to the old method of calculation.

He came down heavily on the government’s view that the slowdown was for technical reasons and cited the SBI, the largest public sector bank of the country, as stating “with unusual frankness that the slowdown is not transient or ‘technical’, it is here to stay”.

He said it was not difficult to anticipate the reasons for the slowdown and counter measures taken to deal with them.

“But that called for devoting time to the task, serious application of mind, understanding of the issues and then working out a game plan to tackle them.”

He noted that Jaitley, who holds the department of disinvestment, and also held the Ministries of Defence (which was given to Nirmala Sitharaman in the last cabinet rejig) and Corporate Affairs, was carrying the heavy burden of so many extra responsibilities and it was “perhaps too much to expect from” him.

“I have handled the Ministry of Finance and know how much hard work there is in that ministry alone. Finance Ministry, in the best of times, calls for the undivided attention of its boss if the job has to be properly done. In challenging times it becomes more than a 24/7 job. Naturally, even a superman like Jaitley could not do justice to the task.”

Sinha said he was speaking about the mess after realizing that “I shall be failing in my national duty if I did not speak up even now”.

“I am also convinced that (it) reflects the sentiments of a large number of people in the BJP and elsewhere who are not speaking up out of fear.”

He said the SME sector was suffering from an “unprecedented existential crisis”.

“The input tax credit demand under the GST is a whopping Rs 65,000 crore against a collection of Rs 95,000 crore. The government has asked the income tax department to chase those who have made large claims.

“Cash flow problems have already arisen for many companies specially in the SME sector. But this is the style of functioning of the Finance Ministry now.

“We protested against raid raj when we were in opposition. Today it has become the order of the day.”

(IANS)

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retd), one of the prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on grounds of parity.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Ranjit More and Justice Sadhna Jadhav granted him bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 100,000 and two sureties.

National Investigating Agency (NIA) counsel Sandesh Patil opposed the bail plea, but the court said it had no options in view of Supreme Court directions on parity since other prime accused in the case have been enlarged on bail.

On whether Upadhyay was liable for the charge of “waging war against the nation” and if his role in the blast was bigger than that of another prime accused, Lt Col Prasad S. Purohit, who was released last month on bail, Upadhyay’s lawyer Sudeep Pasbola denied it.

Pasbola contended that the apex court has recently given bail to Purohit while a Special MCOCA Court in Mumbai had last week granted bail to other accused — Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey and Sudhakar Chaturvedi — and hence Upadhyay also was entitled to bail on grounds of parity.

Upadhyay was arrested prior to Purohit in the case wherein a blast in a Muslim locality of Malegaon in Nashik district left seven dead and over 100 injured.

He was accused of joining various meetings organised by right-wing organisation Abhinav Bharat, reportedly founded by Purohit.

Pasbola said the organisation was not banned and the blast proposal was given by Purohit and others as they had planned to wage a guerrilla war, as per the charge sheet filed against them.

In its charge sheet, the NIA has detailed transcripts of telephonic conversations between Purohit and Upadhyay as prime evidence against the latter.

Upadhyay is the 10th accused to get bail in the case, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur who was released last year.

In May 2016, a Special MCOCA Court had dropped the charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against 11 accused in the Malegaon case.

(IANS)

Mumbai: Mumbai-born IIT graduate-turned Senior Advocate (designated) of Supreme Court Colin Gonsalves has been selected for the prestigious Right Livelihood Award 2017 – often described as the Alternative Nobel Prize. Gonsalves said he is “humbled and privileged” at the honour.

The announcement made in Sweden on Tuesday makes Colin the first Indian rights lawyer and also first from the country in the past eight years to be named for the award which he shares with three others.

The other recipients are: Azerbaijan journalist Khadija Ismayilova, Ethiopian lawyer Yetnebersh Nigussie and USA’s Robert Bilott for the 2017 Right Livelihood Awards Honour Inspiring Changemakers and Champions of Justice.

The Stockholm-based award foundation said Gonsalves has been endowed with the honour “for his tireless and innovative use of public interest litigation over three decades to secure fundamental human rights for India’s most marginalized and vulnerable citizens.”

“I am both humbled and privileged by the award. It comes at a time when India is going through a dark period and human rights activists are under siege,” Gonsalves said in his reaction to the announcement.

“We have secured landmark judgements in various public issues like the acid attacks case, the apex court directions to implement food security schemes, the Singur verdict last year and the current case representing 6,000 Rohingyas in Jammu & Kashmir facing deportation to Myanmar,” Gonsalves told IANS.

Over the years, starting as a young lawyer in Mumbai, Gonsalves specialized in labour cases, fighting for various organized and unorganized sectors including mediapersons, other poor and backward sections of society besides environment and crime.

He said the platform the (award) Foundation provides would help them strengthen democratic resistance at this critical stage.

Gonsalves, 65, was born in posh Colaba, south Mumbai, and studied at the Campion School and later St. Xaviers College before moving to IIT-Bombay from where he graduated in B.Tech. in 1975.

Working as a civil engineer for some years, he later joined a night law school and became a lawyer in 1983 when he co-founded the Indian Centre for Human Rights & Law in Mumbai, which later grew into a network of over 200 lawyers under the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) founded by him.

After many successful legal battles in Mumbai and Maharashtra, Gonsalves moved to New Delhi and lives there with his wife and daughter.

Prior to Gonsalves, other Indians who have been honoured with the award, since inception in 1980, include: Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) and Ela Bhatt (1984), Lokayan (1985), Ladakh Ecological Development Group (1986), Chipko Movement (1988), Narmada Bachao Andolan, Medha Patkar and the late Baba Amte (1991), Vandana Shiva (1993), Hannumappa R. Sudarshan of Vivekananda Girija Kalyana Kendra (1994), Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (1996).

It was bagged by the late Asghar Ali Engineer and Swami Agnivesh (2005), Ruth Manorama (2006), Krishnammal Jagannathan and Sankaralingam Jagannathan/LAFTI (2009). After a gap of eight years, Colin Gonsalves (2017).

The award – carrying a prize of USD 374,000 – shall be conferred on the recipients at a ceremony in Sweden late-November or early-December, he said.

(IANS)

New Delhi: India and the US today discussed ways to deepen their defence ties along with key issues such as Afghanistan, where New Delhi has ruled out any troop contribution, and terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her US counterpart James Mattis held comprehensive talks covering the entire gamut of the bilateral defence partnership.

“The situation in our neighbourhood and the growing menace of cross-border terrorism were discussed in depth. There is growing convergence in the approaches of both our countries on this issue,” Sitharaman said at a joint press conference.

She said both sides recognise the importance of holding those who use terrorism as an instrument of state policy to account and to dismantle the infrastructure that supports terrorism. On his part, Mattis said there can be “no tolerance to terrorism safe havens”.He also welcomed India’s contribution in war-torn Afghanistan.

India, one of the largest contributors in Afghanistan where it in involved in several development projects, however, has ruled out troops contribution amidst the US emphasis for a greater participation by the country in the conflict-ridden Islamic nation.

“We have made it clear that there shall not be boots from India on the ground (Afghan),” Sitharaman said while responding to a query on whether India will contribute troops in Afghanistan. Sitharaman also said that Mattis has assured her that he will raise with Pakistan the issue of terrorism emanating from there.

(Agencies)

Jaipur: A 70-year-old widow was allegedly beaten to death in Rajasthan’s Udaipur district by her neighbour, who accused her of being a witch, the police said today.

Champa Devi was working in her field in Kali Ghati village yesterday when the family of her neighbour allegedly abused her and beat her up with sticks leading to her death, a police official said.

According to SHO of Semari police station Yogendra Kumar Vyas, the family thought the woman was using witchcraft against their son and was the cause of his illness. On a complaint lodged by the victim’s son Mohan Lal, a case has been registered against the accused and investigation into the matter is on, the police said.

In a related development, seven tantriks (sorcerers) have been arrested in last two days in Chittorgarh and parts of Bhilwara districts of Rajasthan to curb the practices of exorcism.

(Agencies)

Ahmedabad: Karnataka High Court’s most senior judge Jayant Patel, who had ordered a CBI investigation in the controversial fake Ishrat Jahan encounter case in Gujarat, on Monday resigned reportedly for not being elevated as Chief Justice.

Patel, the senior-most puisne judge of the Karnataka High Court after the chief justice, sent his resignation letter to Chief Justice SK Mukherjee.

It is believed Justice Patel, who was Acting Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court before being posted to Bengaluru, resigned in a huff over his transfer to the Allahabad High Court, where he would be the third most senior judge.

In fact, the Gujarat High Court Bar Association had even raised the non-appointment of Justice Patel with the Collegium and called it shocking. This was when he was transferred as a judge in the Karnataka High Court after being an Acting Chief Justice.

Justice Patel had not only ordered a CBI investigation in the controversial fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan but had also monitored the probe, which included looking into the role of officials of Intelligence Bureau.

He was sworn in as a judge of Karnataka High Court on February 13 last year, while he was appointed the Acting Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court on August 13, 2015.

(IANS)