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Archives for November 2018

BJP government greedy, wants to take away RBI reserves: Chidambaram

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Congress leader and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government is greedy and wants to take away the central bank’s reserves.

“This government is greedy. No government in the past has asked for the reserve with the Reserve Bank of India,” said Chidambaram, who was in Guwahati to hold consultations for preparation of the party’s manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

He said that the RBI is not a limited company. “The RBI has a board of directors, but that cannot be compared with any private or public company. It is the central bank. The BJP government is trying to see the RBI as a limited company. They hardly have the understanding of the central Banks’s role and function,” he said.

Chidambaram said that the Centre was eyeing the RBI’s reserves, for it did not get anything out of demonetisation as most of the money came back to the banks.

Asked about the RBI’s board meeting scheduled for November 19, he said that even if the RBI Governor (Urjit Patel) resigns or complies with the government order of giving money from the reserves, the result will be catastrophic, and even worse than demonetisation.

“My information says that the government may force to pass a resolution at the RBI board meeting to transfer a large sum of money from the reserves. Two scenarios can emerge if such a situation happens. Either the RBI gives in or the Governor resigns. Both the situations will be a disaster and will have catastrophic impact on the country’s economy,” he warned.

“The Congress party believes that the RBI has the mandate to maintain monetary stability and nothing should be done to impair its ability to do so. The immediate goal of the government is to lay its hands on the reserves of the RBI and appropriate a sum of at least one lakh crore to meet its fiscal deficit target and to increase spending in an election year,” he added.

Earlier on Friday, the government dismissed reports that it had sought Rs 3.6 lakh crore from the RBI reserves. Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said that there was no such proposal and that the country’s fiscal deficit target was on track.

“Lot of misinformed speculation is going around in media. Government’s fiscal math is completely on track. There is no proposal to ask RBI to transfer (Rs) 3.6 or (Rs) 1 lakh crore, as speculated,” Garg said in a tweet.

 

(IANS)

Probably time has come to burn PM Modi alive

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Former Karnataka Minister T B Jayachandra on Friday sparked a row by raking up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement during demonetisation that he would not get bogged down even if he was burnt alive for the decision, drawing the BJP’s ire.

The Bharatiya Janata Party dubbed the Congress leader’s remark “outrageous and despicable.”

“The prime minister had sought 50 days time to set things right (after demonetisation). He had asked people to set him on fire alive if he failed to overcome this test ..probably the time has come to burn him alive,” Jayachandra said Friday at Tumkuru.

He was taking part in a protest marking the second anniversary of demonetisation of high currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 two years ago.

Making an emotional appeal at a function in Goa in November 2016, Modi had said there were certain forces up against him that may not let him live and destroy him due to his decision on demonetisation. He had asserted that he would not get bogged down even if he was burnt alive.

The former minister said if the prime minister has any faith in democracy, he should step down immediately.

The BJP’s Karnataka unit president B S Yeddyurappa condemned the statement, saying “This is absolutely an outrageous statement by any standard and by any parameter.

What is shocking is that such a despicable statement has come from Jayachandra, who had functioned as the law and parliamentary affairs minister of our state.”

Yeddyurappa wanted to know if Congress state unit president Dinesh Gundu Rao endorsed Jayachandra’s statement.

 

PTI

 

Several Killed, 45 wounded in Somalia car-bomb attacks

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Array

Three car-bomb explosions on Friday outside a luxury hotel in the Somali capital left at least 14 people dead and 45 others wounded, media reported.

The al-Shabaab terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which took place during the afternoon rush hour on a busy street near a checkpoint that controls access to Mogadishu International Airport, reports Efe news.

Mohamed Abshir from Amin ambulance service told Efe that 14 people were killed, while the ambulance service said on Twitter that it had transported 45 injured people to hospitals.

The first two blasts took place almost simultaneously at 4 p.m. outside the Sahafi hotel, while the third came 20 minutes later in the garage of the adjacent Hayat hotel.

Several terrorists were killed trying to enter the Sahafi, security sources told Radio Dalsan.

The two hotels are located just a few meters away from Criminal Investigation Division headquarters in an area of restaurants and bars.

Among the dead was Sahafi owner Abdifatah Abdirashid, whose father was killed in a similar attack on the same hotel three years ago, according to Radio Dalsan.

 

IANS

US denies pursuing containment policy with China

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 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that Washington was not trying to contain China, but rather to persuade Beijing to adjust its approach in matters related to military expansion and respect for human rights.

“The US is not pursuing a cold war or containment policy with China. Rather, we want to make sure China acts responsibly and fairly in support of security and prosperity in each of our two countries,” Pompeo told a press conference at the State Department on Friday.

He appeared with Defence Secretary James Mattis; the director of the Office of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China, Yang Jiechi; and Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe following their second round of talks about security and diplomacy, reports Efe news.

The conversations were held in an atmosphere of responsibility and respect, according to Pompeo, who acknowledged that China and the US face “significant differences between our nations” in such areas as trade, due to the mutual imposition of billions of dollars in tariffs.

In that regard, Yang believed their differences can be settled through dialogue.

“These issues,” Yang said, “can be resolved through dialogue and consultation. A trade war, instead of leading to any solution, will only end up hurting both sides and the global economy.”

The representatives of the US and China agreed on the need to work together toward the “denuclearization” of North Korea, a regional ally of Beijing, but clashed on such subjects as Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Pompeo expressed concern about the building of military installations on artificial islands and reefs of the South China Sea, while Yang asserted that Beijing has sovereignty over those waters even though other countries, including some allies of Washington, reject China’s claims.

On the other hand, Pompeo demanded that China respect the human rights of Buddhists and Muslims, for which Yang told the US not to interfere in “China’s internal affairs”.

The talks held on Friday in Washington were meant to prepare the way for a meeting of President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later this month at the G20 summit in Argentina.

IANS

India makes climate change case for nuclear power, suggests promoting it

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India has declared that nuclear energy is vital for meeting the challenge of climate change and suggested supporting efforts to promote its public acceptance amid growing opposition to nuclear power and plans by some countries to phase out their atomic generation plants.

“Nuclear power remains an important option to meet the challenges of increased energy demand, address concerns about climate change, redress volatile fossil fuel prices and ensure security of the energy supply,” Sandeep Kumar Bayyapu, a first secretary in India’s UN Mission told the General Assembly on Friday.

Therefore, he said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should support efforts by countries to build public acceptance of nuclear energy and continue to help them start or expand nuclear energy programmes.

Nuclear reactors do not produce greenhouse gases like power plants using coal and, therefore, can increase electricity generation without contributing to climate change.

They can provide a steady supply of electricity because unlike solar and wind power sources, nuclear plants can operate when there is no sun or wind and are not affected by fluctuations in water availability like hydroelectric plants.

To meet one of the points of opposition to nuclear power plants, Bayyapu advocated building advanced fission reactors, including fast reactors, that use nuclear fuel more efficiently and reduce radioactive waste.

While speaking during the debate on the IAEA’s annual report, he presented thorium-based technologies as solutions to other objections to nuclear plants.

Bayyapu said that thorium-based fuel cycles and technologies are inherently less susceptible to be used for weapons production and can also provide enhanced passive safety features.

According to the Department of Atomic Energy, India is planning to more than treble its nuclear electricity generation from the current 6,780 megawatts to 22,480 megawatts by 2031.

Of the nine reactors under construction, one is an advanced fast breeder reactor with 500 megawatt capcity being built at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu.

The fast breeder reactor uses thorium to create uranium 233 for power generation.

A test reactor of the fast breeder type is already operating in Kalpakkam.

Thorium is more abundantly found in India compared to uranium, for which the country has to rely on imports.

India has seen opposition to nuclear power plants, especially the one at Kudankulam in southern Tamil Nadu.

Many countries in Europe are moving away from nuclear energy citing its risks.

Germany is committed to phasing out all nuclear power plants by 2022 and Belgium, Italy and Switzerland also plan to shut theirs down.

 

IANS

UK police officer jailed for killing Indian-origin shopkeeper

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 A police officer in the UK has been jailed for 18 months for causing the death of an Indian-origin shopkeeper by dangerous driving.

Balvinder Singh, 59, died in hospital from his injuries after the van he was driving was hit by off-duty Jason Bannister’s vehicle in Wolverhampton in December 2016.

Bannister, 45, of Wombourne, was treated for minor injuries following the collision and had pleaded guilty in a hearing in September.

He was sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment by a Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, the BBC reported.

Bannister is currently suspended from duty. The Staffordshire police said they would launch misconduct proceedings now the court case had concluded.

Bannister was also banned from driving for three years and nine months. He will be required to complete an extended driving test in order to regain his licence, the report said.

Bengaluru court declines anticipatory bail to mining baron Janardhana Reddy

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 A city court on Friday declined to grant anticipatory bail to Karnatakaa’s mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy, who fears arrest by the state’s Central Crime Branch (CCB) in a Ponzi scheme-related case.

“Additional Sessions Court Judge Vidyadara Shirahatti said he cannot grant anticipatory bail to my client (Reddy) without hearing the prosecution side and adjourned the case to Monday (November 13),” Reddy’s senior counsel C.H. Hanumantharaya told reporters here.

Though the CCB summoned Reddy for interrogation in the Ponzi scam, in which he is accused of shielding its perpetrators from being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Hanumantharaya alleged that the CCB had wrongly framed his client in the case, as his (Reddy’s) name was not in the FIR filed against Ambidant Marketing Ltd suspected to be behind the scam.

When the judge asked the counsel the urgency in seeking anticipatory bail as Reddy was legally bound to appear before the CCB in response to its summons, the counsel said the police was searching for Reddy and raided his residence in the city and Ballari on Wednesday and Thursday in connection with the scam.

Reddy, a former BJP Minister in the state, is on bail in the multi-crore mining scam that rocked the southern state for over a decade from 2002-12.

“The judge has issued notice to the prosecutor for filing objections, if any, against Reddy’s petition for anticipatory bail,” said his counsel.

Reddy’s counsel also sought a court directive to the CCB for changing the investigation officers, as the Ponzi case does not come under their jurisdiction.

The ED on Thursday charged Ambidant owners Syed Fareed Ahmed and his son Syed Afaq Ahmed with running a potential Ponzi scheme offering huge interest to investors in the name of ‘Islamic banking’.

“Investigation revealed that the city-based Ambidant Marketing Ltd has been operating a potential Ponzi scheme and duping hundreds of investors in the name of Islamic banking and ‘Halal’ investment,” the ED said in a statement here.

Since its inception on December 20, 2016, the company is alleged to have received a whopping Rs 954 crore as investments under Haj/Umrah and Ultimate plans.

Interrogation of the Ahmeds (father and son) revealed that the duo had allegedly gifted Reddy 57 kg gold valued at Rs 18 crore through his personal assistant Ali Khan for bailing them out of the cases from the police and the ED.

 

Women’s World T20: India thrash New Zealand by 34 runs

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 A combined effort helped India thrash New Zealand by 34 runs in the opening match of the Women’s World T20 at the Providence Stadium here on Friday.

Opting to bat, first batswomen did a fantastic job especially centurion Harmanpreet Kaur (103) andAJemimah Rodrigues (59) then Indian bowlers kept the pressure right from the first ball and restricted them for 160/9 to seal the match.

Chasing a mammoth 195, New Zealand never looked in contention as they lost wickets at regular intervals.

Apart from opening stand of 52 runs betweenASuzie Bates (67) and Anna Petersen (14)A no other player rose to the occasion and failed to build partnerships.

Bates and Katey Martin (39) were the highest scorers for New Zealand.

For India, Dayalan Hemalatha and Poonam Yadav took three wickets each.

Earlier, India rode on a belligerent maiden T20I century from skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to post the highest ever total of 194/5.

Kaur belted a 51-ball 103, laced with seven boundaries and eight sixes, and more importantly raised a record 134-run fourth wicket stand with the young Jemimah Rodrigues (59 off 45 balls; 4X7) to bail India out of a troubled start.

Electing to bat after winning the toss, India found themselves in a vulnerable position, tottering at 40/3 by the sixth over, after losing the top three batswomen — Taniya Bhatia (9), Smriti Mandhana (2) and Dayalan Hemalatha (15), cheaply.

Making her first appearance in a World T20, Jemimah controlled her nerves playing the perfect second fiddle to the fluent Kaur, who was at her aggressive best throughout the innings.

Kaur raced to a 33-ball 50 and in no time converted that to a magnificent century off only 49 deliveries.A

Sensing the urgency of putting up a big total, Jemimah, towards the end also pressed on the accelerator to get to her half century off 40 balls.

New Zealand managed to get rid of the partnership with Jess Watkin getting the back of Jemimah and Sophie Devine dismissing Kaur, but by then the damage was done as India walked back with the highest ever total in a World T20 tie.

Brief Scores: India 194/5 (Harmanpreet Kaur 103, Jemimah Rodrigues 59; LeaTahuhu 2/18) vs New Zealand 160/9 (Suzie Bates 67;ADayalan Hemalatha 3/26).

 

IANS

Hockey India names probables for women’s national camp

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Hockey India on Saturday named a 33-member core list of probables for the upcoming Indian womens national camp to be held at the Sports Authority of India’s Bengaluru campus from November 12-30.

The core group features goalkeepers Savita, Rajani Etimarpu and Sonal Minj, as also defenders Deep Grace Ekka, Sunita Lakra, Sushila Chanu Phukhrambam, Gurjit Kaur, Rashmita Minz, Suman Devi Thoudam, Mahima Choudhary, Nisha and Salima Tete.

Midfielders Nikki Pradhan, Monika, Lilima Minz, Namita Toppo, Neha Goyal, Udita, Jyoti, Anuja Singh, Shyama Tidgam, Sonika and Karishma Yadav will be joined by forwards Rani, Lalremsiami, Navneet Kaur, Navjot Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur, Vandana Katariya, Anupa Barla, Priyanka Wankhede, Reena Khokhar and Leelavathy Mallamada.

“The core group continues to remain the same while we have brought in a few younger players who have shown good performances in the domestic events. We also have women who have done well at the Youth Olympic Games and it is encouraging to have a strong pool of players who are pushing each other for a place in the team. During this three-week national camp, we will focus more on strength and conditioning, agility and emphasis on keeping up the fitness levels,” chief coach Sjoerd Marijne said in a statement.

The list of probables:

Goalkeepers: Savita, Rajani Etimarpu, Sonal Minj

Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Sunita Lakra, Sushila Chanu Phukhrambam, Gurjit Kaur, Rashmita Minz, Suman Devi Thoudam, Mahima Choudhary, Nisha, Salima Tete

Midfielders: Nikki Pradhan, Monika, Lilima Minz, Namita Toppo, Neha Goyal, Udita, Jyoti, Anuja Singh, Shyama Tidgam, Sonika, Karishma Yadav

Forwards: Rani, Lalremsiami, Navneet Kaur, Navjot Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur, Vandana Katariya, Anupa Barla, Priyanka Wankhede, Reena Khokhar, Leelavathy Mallamada

 

IANS

Karnataka celebrates Tipu Jayanti as CM stays away

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Karnataka on Saturday celebrated the 269th birth anniversary of erstwhile Mysore (Mysuru) ruler Tipu Sultan and the one person who was conspicuously missing from the festivities was Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Even Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, who was slated to inaugurate the state celebrations here, did not make it to the event.

Security was tightened as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) protested against the Vidhana Soudha celebration comemorating “tyrant Tipu” that was eventually presided over by Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar of the Congress.

Minority Welfare Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan and Culture Minister Jayamala of the Congress were also part of the celebrations, although its alliance partner — Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) — stayed away from the state-sponsored event.

In fact, Kumaraswamy’s name was missing from the official invite. The Chief Minister’s office though said that he was resting for three days from Saturday on the advice of his doctors.

Security was tightened around the assembly building in Bengaluru, and in Mysuru, Kodagu and Mangaluru to maintain peace, a police officer said. Several BJP cadres were detained in Madikeri in Kodagu district and Mangaluru.

Celebrations were also held across the state’s district headquarters despite the BJP-sponsored protests.

“Government is observing the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan all over the state. Tipu’s progressive measures in administration, his quest for innovation are commendable,” a statement from Kumaraswamy’s office said.

“The Chief Minister is taking rest on doctor’s advice, and hence is unable to take part in the programme. It is far from truth that he isn’t taking part due to the fear of losing power, as he opposes such blind beliefs,” the statement added.

“Parameshwara had few prior engagements due to which he had to visit Singapore,” Minority Welfare Minister Khan told reporters.

“CM Kumaraswamy missing! While Congress-JD-S government is celebrating a tyrant Tipu, the CM himself goes into hiding, what is the point of celebrating a fanatic when CM himself abandons a government function.

“Glorifying a mass murderer for vote bank clearly shows mindset of this government,” the state unit BJP tweeted.

The Congress began celebrating the birth anniversary of the 18th century ruler on November 10 since 2015 to honour him as a patriot and for his yeoman service to the people in the southern region.

Khan, along with few Muslim clerics, visisted former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah’s residence in the city and presented him a sword and traditional headgear similar to that worn by Tipu.

The eldest son of Sultan Hyder Ali, Tipu (1750-1799) is also hailed as the “Tiger of Mysore” for fighting the British East India Company’s advances and protecting his kingdom.

Tipu was killed in a battle with the British army in 1799 while defending his fort at Srirangapatna near Mysuru, about 120km from here.

Celebrating Tipu’s birth anniversary was the coalition government’s way of appeasing the Muslim community, state BJP chief and former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa had said in 2015.

On Saturday, he again tweeted: “Nobody will appreciate this celebration. In the interest of the state, the sate government must stop it. Government’s intention behind celebration is to satisfy the Muslim community.”

 

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