Archives for 2017

New Delhi: The RBI on Monday hiked the daily ATM withdrawal limit from Rs 4,500 to Rs 10,000 and the weekly Current Account withdrawal limit from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday officially joined the Congress Party, weeks ahead of the Punjab assembly elections. He was felicitate by Congress leader and former Union Minister Ajay Maken. On Sunday, Sidhu met with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who then tweeted out an image of the two of them together, signalling his welcome to the party.

“I am a born Congressman… I am just returning to my party,” Sidhu, said, at a press conference this morning. He is likely to contest the upcoming Punjab assembly elections from the Amritsar East constituency.

“Bhaag baaba Badal bhaag, kursi khaali kar, Punjab ki janta aati hai (run Badal run, vacate your chair, the people of Punjab are coming), Navjot Singh Sidhu said, adding that the upcoming elections are a battle for the honour of Punjab. “Punjab, which was known as the Wheat Bowl of India, has been reduced to a poor state due to the apathy of political parties…

He also spoke about the issue of drugs, saying it was a reality in Punjab that the lives of youth are being destroyed. “You can’t have ostrich mentality of burying your head in the ground and think it doesn’t exist… Films are being made on the misery of Punjab, Congress will wipe out drug menace from Punjab,” he said.

On the Akali Dal, Sidhu said the party has now been reduced to dynasty politics. “Akali Dal was a pious movement once but has now reduced to a dynasty.”

Sidhu also clarified on his relation with Captain Amarinder Singh, saying there was no reason why two people who have differences cannot sit across a table and discuss an issue when two nations can. “I am ready to work under anybody. The Congress high command decides. My goal is the people of Punjab, it’s not an individual’s battle.”

AICC in-charge of Punjab Asha Kumari was also present at the press conference held at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi.

(Agencies)

Davos: In signs of rising income inequality, India’s richest 1 per cent now hold a huge 58 per cent of the country’s total wealth — higher than the global figure of about 50 per cent, a new study showed today.

The study, released by rights group Oxfam ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting here attended by rich and powerful from across the world, showed that just 57 billionaires in India now have same wealth (USD 216 billion) as that of the bottom 70 per cent population of the country.

Globally, just 8 billionaires have the same amount of wealth as the poorest 50 per cent of the world population.

The study said there are 84 billionaires in India, with a collective wealth of USD 248 billion, led by Mukesh Ambani (USD 19.3 billion), Dilip Shanghvi (USD 16.7 billion) and Azim Premji (USD 15 billion). The total Indian wealth in the country stood at USD 3.1 trillion.

The total global wealth in the year was USD 255.7 trillion, of which about USD 6.5 trillion was held by billionaires, led by Bill Gates (USD 75 billion), Amancio Ortega (USD 67 billion) and Warren Buffett (USD 60.8 billion).

In the report titled ‘An economy for the 99 per cent’, Oxfam said it is time to build a human economy that benefits everyone, not just the privileged few.

It said that since 2015, the richest 1 per cent has owned more wealth than the rest of the planet.

“Over the next 20 years, 500 people will hand over USD 2.1 trillion to their heirs –- a sum larger than the GDP of India, a country of 1.3 billion people,” Oxfam said.

The study findings showed that the poorest half of the world has less wealth than had been previously thought while over the last two decades, the richest 10 per cent of the population in China, Indonesia, Laos, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have seen their share of income increase by more than 15 per cent.

On the other hand, the poorest 10 per cent have seen their share of income fall by more than 15 per cent.

“Due to a combination of discrimination and working in low-pay sectors, women’s wages across Asia are between 70-90 per cent of men’s,” it said.

Referring to the Global Wage Report 2016-17 of Indian Labour Organisation, the study said India suffers from huge gender pay gap and has among the worst levels of gender wage disparity — men earning more than women in similar jobs — with the gap exceeding 30 per cent.

In India, women form 60 per cent of the lowest paid wage labour, but only 15 per cent of the highest wage-earners. It means that in India women are not only poorly represented in the top bracket of wage-earners, but also experience wide gender pay gap at the bottom.

It also said that more than 40 per cent of the 400 million women who live in rural India are involved in agriculture and related activities. However, as women are not recognised as farmers and do not own land, they have limited access to government schemes and credit, restricting their agricultural productivity.

The study also said that the CEO of India’s top information firm earns 416 times the salary of a typical employee in his company.

In the US, by contrast, billionaires have frequently chosen to cash out of their businesses, and their wealth has not lasted so long.

In Asia, Singapore and India have a high number of multi-generational billionaires and a lot many people across the globe, including India, will transfer wealth to their heirs in the next 20 years, the study said, while pushing for a need to establish a system of inheritance tax.

It also referred to the world’s largest garment companies that have all been linked to cotton-spinning mills in India, which routinely use the forced labour of girls.

“There are evidences against cotton-spinning mills of India, which feed into the world’s largest garment companies, using forced labour. As per ILO, there are 5.8 million child labourers in India,” it added.

In many parts of the world, corporations are increasingly driven by a single goal — that is to maximise returns to their shareholders.

In the UK, 10 per cent of profits were returned to shareholders in 1970 and this figure is now 70 per cent.

“In India, the figure is lower, but is growing rapidly, and for many corporations, it is now higher than 50 per cent. In India, as profits have been rising for the 100 largest listed corporations, the share of net profits going to dividends has also increased steadily over the last decade, reaching 34 per cent in 2014/15, with around 12 private corporations paying more than 50 per cent of their profits as dividends,” it said.

The report also said the local air pollution caused by burning coal causes around 100,000 premature deaths per year in India.

“South-East Asia and India have both substantial coal power development plants and large populations without access to electricity. While coal provides 75 per cent of the nation’s electricity, many areas with the densest concentration of coal plants also have the lowest rates of electricity access,” it said.

It asked the Indian government to end the extreme concentration of wealth to end poverty, introduce inheritance tax and increase the wealth tax as the proportion of this tax in total tax revenue is one of the lowest in India.

“Indian government must eliminate tax exemptions and not further reduce corporate tax rates. Governments must support companies that benefit their workers and society rather than just their shareholders,” Oxfam said.

“Indian government must crack down on tax dodging by corporates and rich individuals to end the era of tax havens. Government must generate funds needed to invest in healthcare and education. The government must increase its public expenditure on health from 1 per cent GDP to 3 per cent of GDP and on education from 3 per cent of GDP to 6 per cent,” it added.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Islamic Research Foundation of Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naik today challenged in Delhi High Court the Centre’s decision to immediately ban the organisation, claiming no reasons were given for taking such action under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, before whom the matter was listed, heard part arguments on behalf of the organisation and the Centre and asked the government to produce the relevant record on January 17 so that the court can see whether there was material for urgent ban of IRF.

IRF, in its plea, has challenged the November 17, 2016, notification of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) which had imposed an immediate ban on the organisation under UAPA.

According to IRF, the notification gives no reason and cites no material for taking such a step as was required by the law laid down by the Supreme Court.

It said the immediate ban was imposed without giving them any show cause notice.

As per the Centre’s notification, read out in the court by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain, the need for taking the “urgent step” was felt in view of the apprehension that Indian youths could be “radicalised” or “motivated” by the alleged statements and speeches made by IRF and its members, including its President, Naik, to join terror groups like ISIS, which is a cause of global concern.

Opposing the maintainability of the plea, the ASG said the government did not want to wait for some “catastrophic” incident or “pralay” to happen before taking a decision.

He argued the notification mentions that Naik was making statements which not only allegedly extolled Osama bin Laden but also promoted terrorism.

He also said that as per the notification, Naik was also accused of making statements which were “derogatory of other religions” and thus, “spreading communal disharmony”.

He said that Mumbai Police had already lodged an FIR against six others of IRF on a complaint by the father of a Kerala-based youth who joined ISIS.

ASG Jain further said that some terrorists and ISIS sympathisers arrested by the authorities have allegedly claimed “they were inspired by the fundamental statements made by IRF”.

The ASG said the matter is now before the Tribunal, set up under the UAPA, which will take up the issue on February 6 on which date the organisation will be provided all the affidavits filed by the government.

IRF, on the other hand, contended that dates or content of the alleged speeches and statements have not been mentioned in the notification.

It also said the Tribunal refused to accept or admit, before February 6, its plea challenging the immediate ban and thus, it had to come to the high court.

It said that it was limiting its plea to the immediate ban and not raising the issue of freezing of its accounts under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.

(Agencies)

Haryana: Haryana health and sports Minister Anil Vij on Saturday courted a controversy by saying that PM Modi is a better brand name than Mahatma Gandhi.

His remarks came in connection with the row over the photo of the Modi’s image replacing Gandhi in the 2017 wall calendar and table diary published by KVIC.

“Replacing Gandhi’s photo on the khadi calendar is a good step. PM Modi is a better brand name,” Vij said to ANI. “From the time Gandhi’s name has been associated with Khadi, the industry has never been able to stand up. Khadi has drowned,” Vij said.

Good that Mahatma was replaced by Modi on khadi calendar,Gandhi will also gradually be removed from currency notes says Haryana Min Anil Vij pic.twitter.com/e8AXr7WJFw

— ANI (@ANI_news) January 14, 2017

“Ever since Gandhi’s name has been on the rupee note, it has devalued,” he added. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar dismissed the comment as its Vij’s personal opinion and has nothing to do with BJP.

(Agencies)