Archives for August 2022

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged people to focus their energy on the five resolutions of making India a developed nation, removing every trace of bondage, taking pride in its heritage and unity, and fulfilling their duties in the next 25 years.

“By the 100th year of Independence, we have to work with the vision of accomplishing what our freedom fighters dreamt of,” he said while addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 76th Independence Day.

“I urge the youth to dedicate the next 25 years of their lives to the development of the nation. We will work towards even the development of the entire humanity. That is the strength of India,” he said.

Modi said India will have to move ahead with big goals to fulfil the vision of a developed India in the centenary year of its Independence.

“For the next 25 years we need to focus on the five resolves, developed India, removing every trace of bondage from our mind, taking pride in our glorious heritage and unity, and fulfilling our duties,” he said.

“We need to now move with a renewed focus and resolve for the next 25 years, and this can be made possible through the strength and determination of 130 crore Indians.”

Modi said the world looked at India with pride and hope, and as a problem-solver. “The world looks at India as a destination where aspirations are met,” he said.

The prime minister said a stable government has resulted in fast decision-making which has been noticed around the world.

SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Thursday began a debate on a no-confidence motion brought by the opposition Congress and the CPM against the Jai Ram Thakur-led state government.-ADVERTISEMENT-Ads by 

Starting the debate on the second day of the ongoing monsoon session, Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri said the law and order situation in the state has deteriorated under the BJP government.

He said 354 murders, 1,574 rapes and 7,406 molestation cases have so far been reported in the hill state under the Thakur-led government.

The debate started at 11 am and would continue till 3 pm. Chief Minister Thakur is expected to give his reply at 3 pm.

The notice for the motion was given by 22 Congress MLAs and the lone CPM legislator in the assembly on Wednesday.

The speaker told the House on Wednesday that the notice was given at 9.50 am under Rule 278 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

“The notice stated the House expresses no confidence in the council of ministers as the government fails on all fronts,” the speaker had said.

The BJP has 43 MLAs in the 68-member House, while the Congress has 22. There are two Independents and one CPI(M) MLA.

NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India have raised concern over increasing Central government debt as several indicators gauging the sustainability of debt have turned unfavourable since 2015-16. The CAG in a report tabled in parliament recently pointed out that some of the indicators like debt/GDP ratio, interest repayment to revenue receipts and interest rate spread became unfavourable during the five-year period from 2015-16 to 2019-20.

The Central government debt-to-GDP ratio in 2019-20 was 52.30% compared to 50.5% in 2015-16. The government was using 34% of the revenue earned in 2019-20 to pay interest on the debt. This was 32% in 2015-16. The report also pointed out that although the average interest cost declined from 6.91% in FY16 to 6.61% in FY20, the actual interest paid on debt consistently increased from Rs 4.57 lakh crore in FY16 to Rs 6.55 lakh crore in FY20 due to expanding overall debt.

Another area of concern pointed out by the CAG is that the interest spread, which is the difference between nominal GDP growth rate and average interest cost, turned negative in 2019-20. The CAG said the government must have in place a requisite plan to achieve the target set by the FRBM act to cap the Central government debt-to-GDP ratio of 40%.

Meanwhile, data released by the department of economic affairs in the Finance Ministry showed interest paid on debt by the central government has increased to `8.05 lakh crore in FY22 from Rs 6.80 lakh crore in FY21. The government spent almost 37% of its total revenue in FY22 on interest payments. The overall central government debt, as per provisional estimates, was Rs 128 lakh crore, 54% of the GDP in FY22.
India’s debt situation is a cause of concern, feel experts.

“One of the major fallouts of high debt is interest payments, which could have been otherwise used for more productive purposes. It is estimated that the Indian government’s interest payment is approx 3.1% of GDP against 2.5% in 2014-15,” says Debopam Chaudhari, chief economist and head of research, TruBoard Partners.

NEW DELHI: India is working closely with Spain to strengthen its naval and air defence capabilities. In line with that India could consider buying five naval submarines from Spain. This follows an agreement India has signed with Spain for procuring 56 C295MW Airbus aircraft worth Euro 2.5 billion, to replace the Indian Air Force (IAF) AVRO fleet.-

“India is considering buying submarines and several countries including Spain are taking part in the tender. Spain considers that Navantia’s (a Spanish company) offer is very competitive in terms of quality, cost, transfer of technology and indigenisation. Navantia would be in charge of providing to the Indian Navy with state-of-the-art conventional Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) submarines – if the Indian government consider’s the offer,” said Spain’s Ambassador to India, Jose Maria Ridao told this paper.

Meanwhile, India signed an agreement with Spain for the acquisition of 56 Airbus aircraft at a cost of Euro 2.5 billion.

“This contract is representative of the great potential between our two countries. On the one hand, it shows the importance of Spain´s defence industry and, on the other, it contributes to the “Make in India” policy. In that context, the first 16 aircrafts will be produced in Seville and the other 40 will be produced by Tatas with Spanish assistance,” Ambassador Ridao added.

This will be  the first ‘Make in India’ aerospace programme in the private sector, involving the full development of a complete industrial ecosystem: from the manufacture to assembly, test and qualification, to delivery and maintenance of the complete lifecycle of the aircraft.

“Under the contractual agreement, Airbus will deliver the first 16 aircraft in ‘fly-away’ condition from its final assembly line in Seville, Spain. The subsequent 40 aircraft will be manufactured and assembled by the Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) in India as part of an industrial partnership between the two companies,” said a spokesperson of Tatas.

The first 16 aircraft will be delivered over four years after the contract implementation. All the IAF C295MW aircraft will be handed over in transport configuration and equipped with an indigenous Electronic Warfare Suite.

With a proven capability of operating from short or unprepared airstrips, the C295 is used for tactical transport of up to 71 troops or 50 paratroopers, and for logistic operations to locations that are not accessible to current heavier aircraft.

Meanwhile, in recent years, imports into Spain have tripled, compared to exports.

“In 2021, Spanish exports were €1,496.53M and imports from India were €4,200.10M, a coverage rate (which is the ration between the value of exports and imports) of 35.6%. In 2021, total exports increased by 37.1% as a sign of recovery after the pandemic,” said Ambassador Ridao.

During the first five months of 2022, Spanish exports to India were €731.9 million and imports from India were €2,466.7 million, which represents a coverage rate of 29.67%.

LUCKNOW: While UP CM Yogi Adityanath sought a report from state home department in the case involving Shrikant Tyagi alias Langda Tyagi who misbehaved with a woman and pushed her in her flat at a housing society –Grand Omaxe — in Noida last week, six cops, including inspector-in-charge, a sub-inspector and four constables have been suspended on account of laxity in the case. 

The incident came to light after a video of it went viral on social media.

Meanwhile, bulldozers of Noida Authority demolished a part of the illegal extensions at the residence of Tyagi after his accomplices had come asking for the address of the victim.

CM Yogi had directed the home department authorities to conduct a detailed investigation into the case initiating a stern action against the accused who is currently at large. He has also sought the list of officers allegedly close to the accused.

Noida police registered a case against Tyagi after the video of his misbehaviour went viral forming teams for his arrest. The Noida police registered a case against Tyagi under sections 354 (assault or use of criminal force on any woman), 447 (criminal trespass), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

The Gangster Act has also been invoked against him.

ADG, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said that while Noida Police Commissionerate were making an all-out effort by setting up a dozen special teams to nab the accused and a reward of Rs 25000 was announced on Monday for information leading to Tyagi’s arrest, the victim was provided with two PSOs for her security and protection, said the officer.

The sources claimed that Noida police teams had been conducting raids at 18 destinations including Delhi, Rishikesh, Hardwar and Lucknow.

Tyagi, who is elusive of police net, has reportedly approached Surajpur-based Noida district court through his lawyer submitting an application for surrender. The court has given time on August 10 to the accused.

On the other, cracking down on the encroachment by the accused, a team of Noida Authority’s work circle 8 put the bulldozers into service to demolish a part of the illegal extensions at the residence of Shrikant Tyagi in Noida on Monday morning.

As per the sources, Noida Authority officials reached Grand Omaxe society in Sector 93 early on Monday with workers and two bulldozers to demolish the illegal extensions Tyagi had made to his ground-floor residence – D-003 and the adjoining park.

While the bulldozers demolished the glass roof and wooden pillars partially, the workers took over the responsibility as the bulldozers could not enter the narrow path to encroachment. They used hammers to break the glass roof and the wooden panels in the narrow path.

Ishtiyaq Ahmed, general manager (planning) of the Noida Authority, was present at the site alongside police officers.

The action of demolition of the illegal extension of Tyagi residence in the society led to celebrations by the residents.

PATNA: Members of both houses of Parliament and state legislature, belonging to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar‘s JD(U), converged here on Tuesday to attend a meeting at his official residence, amid speculations of a major political move by the veteran leader, senior party functionaries said.

The meeting is scheduled to commence at 11 AM.

While the outcome will be known once the meeting is over, more than one of the prospective attendees denied the party’s ties with the BJP having worsened to an extent to call for a realignment.

““Our party had held many such meetings of MPs and MLAs in the past. We have been told that the current meeting has been called to discuss organisational matters. Never heard about any major crisis in the NDA,” said Ram Nath Thakur, a Rajya Sabha member, low key but known to enjoy proximity to the chief minister by virtue of being the son of late Karpoori Thakur, the latter’s political mentor.

Another confidant of Kumar, Leshi Singh, who is an MLA and a minister in his cabinet, said, ““I was away for the last four or five days but I have an idea of how things have been. There does not seem to be any major crisis facing the NDA government. It goes without saying, though, that the party will abide by any decision taken by the chief minister”.”

Meanwhile, MLAs of the opposition RJD, the largest party in the state assembly, have also been commanded by their leader Tejashwi Yadav to remain present at a meeting which will be held at his mother Rabri Devi’s Circular Road bungalow, a stone’s throw from the CM’s Anney Marg residence.

Chetan Anand, a young RJD MLA who is serving his first term, said, “Rumours of political realignment have been afloat for a couple of years. Let us not make any rash assumptions. Once the party leadership takes any decision, it will be definitely made known to all.”