Archives for 2021

Parmesh Jain

Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had a major role in Independence movement and nation building after the country attained Independence,Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said here on Sunday.

Paying rich tributes to former PM on the occasion of his 132nd birth anniversary Bommai said,Nehru is a great leader who laid a strong foundation for the country’s development through the Five Year Plans after India attained independence. 

Recalling Nehru’s contribution to raise India’s stature,Bommai said,Nehru played a significant role in raising India’s stature at international level.

His affection for children is well known as he was lovingly called the ChaCha Nehru for this aspect. Many institutions in his name have been working for the development of the country.Bommai called upon the people to dedicate themselves in the nation building endeavor by paying tributes to Nehru.

CMs’ meet of southern states in Tirupati :

Replying to a question about meeting of the Chief Ministers of Southern States to be chaired by union Home Minister Amit Shah in Tirupati later in the evening,Bommai said, that the meeting would deliberate on evolving consensus for development with cordial spirit among the states.

When asked whether issues of inter-state river water disputes would figure in the meeting the Bommai said,”it is unlikely as many of these issues are before the courts. Irrigation works in Palar river basin, railway projects and infrastructure development issue are on the agenda.

Parmesh Jain

“We will crackdown on those involved in the Bitcoin issue,”CM Basavaraj Bommai assured here on Sunday.

Speaking to media persons after paying tributes
to former PM Jawaharlal Nehru on his birth anniversary Bommai said that there is no question of sparing anyone who is involved.

Our government is open on this issue.We are the one who exposed this case.It is our government which recommended the ED and CBI to probe the case.ED is conducting the probe and CBI has taken it to Interpol as well.All the necessary information has been provided for these agencies.

We will be merciless, no one will be spared:

If those involved are found to have perpetrated any fraud on the interests of the country, state or any individuals,we will act mercilessly against them,Bommai asserted.

We need not learn lessons from those who allowed the accused to go scot-free:

Reacting to the questions raised by AICC incharge of Karnataka,Randeep Singh Surjewala, Bommai in a strong retaliation said,we have replied to his 6 questions.If the case had a Karnataka connect since 2016 why their own government did not probe the case then.

Why the then Congress CM and ministers did not pay attention to it they released the accused Srikrishna who was arrested.

They could have acted seriously even when the accused sought anticipatory bail.Why are you raising all the questions with us after deliberately allowing the case to attain mega proportion. We need not learn lessons from those who allowed the accused to go scotfree”Bommai said.

It would be better for them to provide the documents,if any,to ED for effective investigation. Bommai added.

Intellectual Bankruptcy :

Surjewala’s efforts to project the issue as a major scam reflects his intellectual bankruptcy. It is not appropriate for a national spokesperson of a national party to indulge in such act just based on a Twitter handle.He should speak with circumstantial evidence,Bommai said.

Replying to questions on confusions about seized Bitcoins,Bommai said,accused Srikrishna had claimed an account of a Bitcoin exchange as his own personal account.

Congress demand SIT Probe :

The Congress on Saturday alleged a multi-crore Bitcoin scam and its cover-up by the BJP government in Karnataka and demanded that an independent investigation be conducted into the matter by a Supreme Court-monitored SIT.

Former party chief Rahul Gandhi alleged that the scam is big but the cover-up is much bigger.

Taking to Twitter, he said,Bitcoin Scam is big.But Bitcoin Scam Cover-up is much bigger.Because it has to cover up someone’s fake big ego he said in his tweet.

Addressing a press conference,Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson,Randeep Surjewala posed a set of six questions to the Prime Minister and asked what was the role of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who was the state’s Home Minister when the scam took place.

He asked why international investigative agencies,including the Interpol,were not informed about the stolen Bitcoins.

“India’s biggest ever ”Bitcoin Scam” has been unearthed in Karnataka. Instead of conducting a fair investigation, the BJP government of Karnataka appears to be preoccupied with ”Operation Bitcoin Scam Coverup” he alleged.

This is not a money laundering crime alone,this is an international crime.Considering how shoddily and compromised the investigation has been done,I don’t think that the ED (Enforcement Directorate) or Karnataka Police can do a fair job.

That is why we demand that an SIT (special investigation team) should be set up and monitored by the Supreme Court which should investigate this case and bring out the truth,” the Congress leader said.

Mr.Surjewala also questioned the silence of Prime Minister,Narendra Modi in the case and claimed that the Prime Minister was told by the FBI about it during his recent visit to the US.

“It is a multi-country investigation and the truth must come out. The government is either colluding or is working shoddily in the investigation.

There are doubts being raised on the reputation of Basavaraj Bommai and his political career and reputation are at stake and that is why he should write to the government for constituting an SIT monitored by the SC to probe this,he said.

Mr Surjewala,along with party spokesperson, Gourav Vallabh,alleged that an alleged hacker, Sri Krishna,was arrested along with his associate Robin Khandelwal by the Karnataka Police on November 14th last year and was kept in police custody for over 100 days by repeatedly arresting him in at least five criminal cases registered one after the other.He was released on bail on April 17th this year.

He alleged that Sri Krishna made a voluntary statement before the Metropolitan Magistrate, Bengaluru, sometime in December 2020, wherein he has allegedly given the names of various foreign companies/portals which were hacked by him, and millions of dollars earned illegally.

The Congress leaders also alleged that Sri Krishna was involved in alleged hacking of Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency exchanges and websites that includes from Bitfinex,registered in noted tax haven,the British Virgin Islands and reports suggest that it was hacked on August 2, 2016 and 1,20,000 bitcoins were stolen. However, in his voluntary statement,he admits to having taken 2000 Bitcoins.

Despite multiple international crimes of significant magnitude, Interpol was not informed for over five months.

Only on April 24, 2021, more than five months after the initial arrest, did the Commissioner of Police,Bengaluru wrote to Interpol Liaison Officer (CBI) asking to inform Interpol and other agencies.

Even ED/CBI/SFIO were not informed by the Karnataka’s BJP government,Mr Surjewala said, adding that Bommai was the state’s Home Minister between August 20,2019,to July 28, 2021.

“Should the then Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai be punished for not taking action in the case,” he asked, alleging that the fraud happened under his watch and when the accused was kept in custody.

“Who are the actors in the Bitcoin Coverup Scam”? Were the stolen bitcoins transferred from the wallet of alleged hacker Sri Krishna? How many bitcoins and of what value? How does the Bengaluru police then suggest (in its third Panchnama dated 22nd January 2021) that the 31 and 186 Bitcoins allegedly transferred to police wallet were lost or were found to be fake transactions,” he asked.

NEW DELHI:  Congress-ruled Punjab has seen the biggest reduction in price of petrol in the country after it cut local sales tax or VAT the most while Union Territory of Ladakh witnessed the largest reduction in diesel rates for the same reason.

Post the Union government’s decision of reducing excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 10 a litre, 25 states and UTs have cut VAT to give further reprieve to consumers battered by record-high retail prices.

Petrol price has been further reduced by as much as Rs 16.02 per litre and diesel by Rs 19.61 a litre as a result of combined impact of the excise duty and VAT cut, according to price charts available from state-owned fuel retailers.

Poll-bound Punjab has seen the most cut in petrol price of Rs 16.02 a litre, followed by UT of Ladakh with Rs 13.43 a litre and Karnataka (Rs 13.35). The VAT reduction in Punjab is Rs 11.27 per litre on petrol while in Uttar Pradesh, which will go to polls early next year to elect a new government in the state, the reduction is Rs 6.96.

Gujarat has seen Rs 6.82 a litre reduction in VAT while Odisha has cut sales tax by Rs 4.55 and by Rs 3.21 in Bihar. Diesel has seen the most reduction in Ladakh where rates have come down by Rs 9.52 per litre because of a cut in VAT on top of Rs 10 a litre fall in excise duty.

Karnataka has cut VAT by Rs 9.30, followed by Rs 9.02 reduction in Puducherry. Punjab has cut Value-Added Tax (VAT) on diesel by Rs 6.77 a litre while Uttar Pradesh has cut the tax by the second lowest level of Rs 2.04.

Uttarakhand has cut VAT on diesel by Rs 2.04 a litre and Haryana by Rs 2.04. Bihar has reduced VAT by Rs 3.91 and Odisha by Rs 5.69. Madhya Pradesh cut tax on diesel by Rs 6.96 a litre.

The states/UTs that extended additional VAT benefits are Ladakh, Karnataka, Puducherry, Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagr Haveli, Chandigarh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Gujarat, Nagaland, Punjab, Goa, Meghalaya, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Andaman & Nicobar, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

States that have so far not lowered VAT include Congress and its allies ruled Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu. AAP-ruled Delhi, TMC-governed West Bengal, Left-ruled Kerala, TRS-led Telangana and YSR Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh have also not cut VAT.

Since states charge local sales tax or VAT not just on the base price but also on the excise duty levied by the Centre, the total incidence of price reduction was higher than Rs 5 a litre cut in excise duty on petrol and Rs 10 per litre cut in diesel.

The reduction was larger in states with higher VAT. In Delhi, the reduction in petrol price was Rs 6.07 per litre, and that on diesel was Rs 11.75, according to the price chart. Petrol costs Rs 103.97 a litre and diesel is priced at Rs 86.67 per litre.

There have been no changes in retail selling price since the excise duty cut was implemented from November 4. After duty changes, the costliest petrol is sold in Rajasthan at Rs 111.10 per litre (Jaipur), followed by Mumbai (Rs 109.98) and Andhra Pradesh (Rs 109.05).

The fuel is below Rs 100-a-litre-mark in most BJP-ruled states barring Karnataka (Rs 100.58), Bihar (Rs 105.90), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 107.23) and Ladakh (Rs 102.99). Diesel is costliest in Rajasthan at Rs 95.71 a litre, followed by Andhra Pradesh (Rs 95.18) and Telangana (Rs 94.62).

BENGALURU: The JDS, which faced a debacle in the recent bypolls to Sindhagi and Hanagal Assembly seats, with both of its candidates losing deposits, has decided to restrict itself to its stronghold of Old Mysuru region for the December 10 Legislative Council polls to 25 seats from local bodies.

With no strong candidates, the party has decided to contest from only about 6-7 seats including Hassan, Tumakuru, Mysuru, Kolar and Mandya. In Hassan, another of party supremo H D Deve Gowda’s family members — H D Revanna’s son Dr Suraj — is expected to take the political plunge.

“I had campaigned in the Assembly polls for my father Revanna. Our party workers have been exerting pressure on me to contest the MLC election. It all depends on my grandfather’s decision”, Suraj, older brother of Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, told TNIE.

With this, one more member of Gowda’s family will join active politics. Suraj’s mother Bhavani is a former ZP member in Hassan. Revanna family members have a good track record of electoral victory as none of them have lost the polls they had contested. However, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of former CM H D Kumaraswamy, had lost the Mandya Lok Sabha election in 2019.

LUCKNOW:  Hitting out at SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath accused him of being a “Taliban supporter” as he “eulogised Jinnah”. 

Cautioning against the opposition parties and listing out his government’s achievements, the CM said: “One has to be careful with such people. BJP has done what it said. Article 370 from Kashmir was removed. Today a grand Ram temple is being built in Ayodhya. Before 2014, the benefit of housing scheme was available to those who were close to the people in power, but today the  poor are being given housing without any discrimination.”

His remark is seen as a veiled dig at the Samajwadi Party (SP).

Om Prakash Rajbhar, the chief of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an ally of the SP, had on Thursday blamed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for the country’s partition, a day after saying India would have remained unified had Muhammad Ali Jinnah been made its first prime minister.

Earlier, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had equated Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, with Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru.

With months to go for the Assembly polls in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Jinnah appears to be dominating the political discourse.

Addressing the Samajik Pratinidhi Sammelan here, Adityanath said, “Those who are speaking about the partition are in a way extending support to the Taliban. As soon as the Taliban resurfaced in Afghanistan, a number of voices started to come up in its support. When strong action was taken, these voices went soft.”

“Supporting the Taliban means supporting a power that works against humanity, against Lord Buddha’s message of ‘maitri’ (friendship). Certain people are moving in that direction and we need to be aware of them,” he added.

The BJP leader said those supporting the Taliban need to learn from the past “We should not forget how Buddha’s statues were destroyed in Bamiyan (in Afghanistan) by the Taliban. Breaking the statues of Buddha means trying to put an end to peace. Twenty years ago, when this incident took place, we thought that one day, they (Taliban) will face ‘durgati’ (misfortune). A few days later, the US dropped bombs on them. Back then, I had said they reaped what they sowed,” he said.

Without naming any political party, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, “The opposition does not have any issue to raise. Rashtranayak (national hero) Sardar Patel is on one side and Jinnah, who divided the country, is on the other. They support Jinnah and insult Patel. But we support Patel. He is a rashtranayak while Jinnah will remain a villain for centuries. Will you support those supporting Jinnah?”

Referring to history books, he said, “History never termed emperor Ashoka or Chandragupta Maurya great, but it termed Alexander, who was defeated by Chandragupta Maurya, great. Historians are silent on such issues. However, once the countrymen learn the truth, India will change.”

Hitting back at Adityanath, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi tweeted, “Hindutva is a fake history factory. Chandragupta and Alexander never met in war. This is yet another example of why we need good public education system. In absence of good schools, Baba-log get to make up facts according to convenience. Baba doesn’t value education and it shows.”

Showering praises on Narendra Modi, Adityanath said the prime minister is making the country resurgent and the philosophy of “Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat” entails this.

Addressing a public meeting in Hardoi, the SP chief had said, “Sardar Patel, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jinnah studied in the same institute and became barristers. They helped the country achieve independence and never backed away from any struggle.”

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the hearing on air pollution in Delhi-NCR, the AAP government has told the Supreme Court that it was ready to take steps like complete lockdown to control air pollution.

“GNCTD (Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi) is ready to take steps like complete lockdown to control the local emissions. However, such a step would be meaningful if it is implemented across the NCR areas in neighbouring states. Given Delhi’s compact size, a lockdown would have limited impact on the air quality regime.”

“This issue would need to be addressed at the level of airshed involving NCR areas. In view of the above, we are ready to consider this step if the same is mandated for the entire NCR areas by the government of India or by the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and adjoining areas,” an affidavit filed by the Delhi government said.

The affidavit was submitted in response to a plea filed by environmental activist Aditya Dubey and law student Aman Banka, who sought directions to provide stubble-removing machines to small and marginal farmers for free.

Terming the rise in air pollution in Delhi-NCR an “emergency” situation, the apex court on Saturday suggested clamping a lockdown in the national capital as it asked the Centre and the Delhi government to take immediate measures to improve the air quality.

The court had said the situation of pollution is so bad that people are wearing masks inside their houses.

It had said there are other reasons for pollution such as vehicular emissions, firecrackers and dust, and singling out stubble burning is not the solution.

The apex court had also expressed concern that schools in the city have opened and children are being exposed to severe pollution conditions.

Meanwhile, Delhi’s air quality on Monday witnessed marginal improvement as the air quality in the capital city reached the lower end of ‘very poor’ category with Air Quality Index (AQI) at 318 (overall), according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

The pollution level in the National Capital Region (NCR), especially Noida and Gurugram, have also shown slight improvement. Noida reported AQI in the upper end of the ‘very poor’ category at 387, while the air quality in Gurugram has seen significant improvement and has now reached the lower end of the ‘very poor’ category at 317.

As per SAFAR’s bulletin, the AQI is likely to improve by tomorrow “as winds at transport level are slowing down resulting in lesser intrusion of farm fires related pollutants into Delhi.”

However, according to SAFAR, calm local winds reduce the dispersion of pollutants, the net effect of which is likely to make air quality remain very poor category.

The effective farm fire count for yesterday was 3445, contributing to 12 per cent of Delhi’s PM2.5.

“Implementation of lockdown for the two days with restrictions in anthropogenic activity emitting pollutants, air quality may improve a little but likely to remain in the very poor category if stubble burning share does not increase,” SAFAR’s bulletin read.

The agency further said that the AQI is likely to deteriorate from November 16 night onwards due to calm wind conditions, as predicted.

“On November 17, it is likely to be in the upper end of very poor category,” they added.

The mercury in the capital city has dropped to 11.8 degrees Celcius on Sunday, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Owing to high levels of air pollution, schools in Delhi and Haryana have been closed. All construction activities have also been shut down.