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India hikes import duty on Pakistani goods to 200 per cent

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Taking strong economic action against Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack, India Saturday raised the customs duty to 200 per cent on all goods imported from the neighbouring country, including fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products and mineral ore.

The decision would significantly hit Pakistan’s exports to India, which stood at $488.5 million (around Rs 3,482.3 crore) in 2017-18 as it would drastically increase the prices of its goods here.

“India has withdrawn MFN (most favoured nation) status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200 per cent with immediate effect,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a tweet.

India has withdrawn MFN status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200% with immediate effect.

The two main items imported from Pakistan are fruits and cement, on which the current customs duty is 30-50 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively.

Slapping an import duty of 200 per cent effectively means almost banning the imports from Pakistan, official sources said.

India on Friday revoked the MFN status to Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. The country invoked a security exception clause of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to withdraw this status. Both the countries are member of this organisation.

India can also restrict trade of certain goods and impose port-related restrictions on Pakistani goods.

Items which Pakistan exports to India include fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products, bulk minerals and ores, finished leather, processed minerals, inorganic chemicals, cotton raw, spices, wool, rubber product, alcoholic beverages, medical instruments, marine goods, plastic, dyes and sport goods.

India granted the MFN status to Pakistan way back in 1996, but the neighbouring country had not reciprocated.

Under the MFN pact, a WTO member country is obliged to treat the other trading nation in a non-discriminatory manner, especially with regard to customs duty and other levies.

In 2012, Pakistan had committed to giving the MFN status to India but retracted later due to domestic opposition. Instead of MFN, Pakistan said it was working on granting Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) status to India but that also was not announced.

Total India-Pakistan trade has increased marginally to $2.41 billion in 2017-18 as against $2.27 billion in 2016-17. India imported goods worth $488.5 million in 2017-18 and exported goods worth $1.92 billion.

During April-October 2018-19, India’s exports to Pakistan stood at $1.18 billion, while imports were $338.66 billion.

India mainly exports raw cotton, cotton yarn, chemicals, plastics, manmade yarn and dyes to Pakistan.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kgs of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

Agencies

Opposition demands Nitish Kumar’s resignation over Bihar shelter home rape case

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Nasheman News :  The Opposition on Monday created a ruckus in the Bihar Assembly demanding Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s resignation, two days after a special POCSO court in Muzaffarpur directed the CBI to investigate the involvement of Kumar and two IAS officers in the infamous shelter home rape case.

Legislators of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and the Left parties disrupted proceedings in both houses of the Assembly shouting slogans and demanding Nitish Kumar’s resignation.

While RJD spokesperson Bhai Virendra demanded a narco test of Nitish Kumar to confirm his involvement in the case, senior RJD leader and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, said, “After the court directed the CBI to probe chief minister’s role in suppressing facts, Nitish Kumar should resign.” 

Special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Court Judge Manoj Kumar had on Friday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the role of the Chief Minister as well as Muzaffarpur District Magistrate Dharmendra Singh and Principal Secretary (Social Welfare) Atul Prasad in the case. 

The order came on a petition filed by accused Ashwani, a self-claimed medical practitioner, demanding an investigation into the role of the three. 

According to a charge sheet filed in the case, Ashwani used to visit the shelter home to allegedly administer sedative-laced injections to the inmates before they were subjected to sexual abuse. 

The Muzaffarpur horror came to light in May 2018 when the Bihar Social Welfare Department filed an FIR based on a social audit of the shelter home conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. 

Following the FIR, police arrested Brajesh Thakur, a journalist-turned-social activist who headed the NGO that ran the shelter home, and other accused including his close aides and some government officials. The matter was handed over to the CBI in July last year. 

State Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma was also forced to resign following protests over reports that her husband and former Janata Dal-United legislator Chandreshwar Verma allegedly had close links with Thakur. 

Thakur has been shifted to a high-security jail in Patiala following a Supreme Court order, while the other accused are lodged in jails in Patna and Muzaffarpur. 

This month, the trial of the case was shifted to Delhi. 

Recently, the apex court also directed the CBI to probe allegations of sexual abuse at all such shelter homes across the state. 


Gayle to retire from ODIs after World Cup

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Nasheman News :  The West Indies cricket board on Sunday announced that Chris Gayle will retire from One-day Internationals after the ICC Cricket World Cup to be held in England and Wales later this year.

“Gayle made the announcement just ahead of a Windies practice session leading up to the One-Day International series against England at Kensington Oval in Barbados,” a statement on Windies cricket official website said.

Gayle, 39, is the second most capped West Indies player with 284 matches and is also the second highest run-scorer with 9,727 runs, behind only Brian Lara – who has 10,405 runs from 299 matches.

Gayle also has the most number of centuries by a West Indian in a 50-over game with 23 to his name.

He also holds the record for the highest score of 215 which he scored in the last edition of the World Cup against Zimbabwe.

Gayle has also picked up 165 wickets.

Earlier this month, Gayle made a return to international cricket after he was named in the ODI squad for the first two matches against England. The dashing left-hander last played an ODI for the West Indies in July 2018 – in a home series against Bangladesh.

Karnataka transport department halts Ola, Rapido bike-taxi services

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Terming bike-taxi services as illegal, the Karnataka transport department officials have impounded around 200 bikes, belonging to Ola and Rapido, operating as taxis in Bengaluru.

The owners of bikes have been booked as part of a crackdown against the operation of illegal bike taxis. They have been reportedly imposed fine of Rs 2K for using bikes with white number plates on them for commercial purposes.

“Several mobile app based aggregators, like Ola and Rapido, are illegally operating the bike taxi business. Bike owners are held responsible for using private bikes for commercial purposes,” Additional Transport Commissioner C.P. Narayana Swamy was quoted as saying to The Hindu report.

Transport Department has already issued notices to cap-hailing firm Ola and Rapido asking them to stop its bike-taxi services immediately.

Cab-hailing firms have been asked to explain why the services were introduced without bringing it to the transport department notice. The officials have been asked to seize bike-taxi and penalise them if found on the road.

According to Transport commissioner VP Ikkeri, the state is still working on policy and have asked for stakeholders view on the introduction on bike-taxi services. Until the complete policy is made, offering such services are illegal.

Ola had piloted bike-taxi service last week in Bengaluru whereas Rapido has been in operation for many days.

This is not the first time the Karnataka transport department has halted the bike taxis services. In March 2016, Uber and Ola both had to suspend its bike-taxi pilot after state government objected.

Nine months later, the government had issued draft guidelines asking state governments to draft their own transport regulations. States including Rajasthan, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and Haryana have allowed bike-taxi operation.

Meanwhile, bike-taxi services have also faced opposition from cab and auto driver unions, who are now complaining of being threatened by services as they witness downfall in their earning.

Ola and Rapido have not yet reacted to the incident.

Congress to finalize candidates, manifesto by February

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Nasheman News : With a view to preventing infighting due to ticket distribution, the Congress has directed all its state units to expedite the process of candidate selection as well as state-wise electoral understanding for the Lok Sabha before this month which shall be then approved by the Congress Election Committee.

The recent Assembly polls, particularly in Rajasthan, saw a lot of infighting in the Congress over ticket distribution, causing embarrassment to the central leadership. Several disgruntled party leaders staged protests and over a dozen contested as independents, denting the party’s showing.

In order to avoid a repeat of a similar situation, the state units have been told to expedite the procedure of candidate selection and submit the lists before the month end.

One of the major issues discussed during the recent Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with general secretaries and state unit chiefs was ticket distribution.

“Ticket distribution has always been a contentious issue with all the parties. But this time it has been decided that ticket distribution will be finalized only after names recommended are approved. All state units will prepare their candidate lists before end of February,” a Congress leader who did not want to be identified by name told IANS.

The leader also said that the Congress will announce most of its candidates by the end of March, allowing them sufficient time to campaign. The Lok Sabha election schedule is expected to be announced by the Election Commission in the first week of March.

“Soon after the schedule is announced, the candidate lists will be published gradually and we expect to complete the process by the end of March,” said the leader.

Besides giving more powers in term of candidate selection, the state units have been asked to provide details of local issues and feedback on the central issues that are to be included in the election manifesto.

Along with the key issues of unemployment, agrarian distress, attacks on democratic institutions and “Rafale scam”, suggestions from the Indian diaspora across the globe has also been taken to incorporate their views in the manifesto expected to be released in March.

The Manifesto Committee, comprising key party leaders P. Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid, Shashi Tharoor and Sam Pitroda among others, so far has held 176 consultations in 56 cities taking public feedback on the issues to be incorporated in the manifesto.

Among the major highlights of the manifesto will be Gandhi’s mega poll promise of “minimum income guarantee”. With consultations from renowned economists that reportedly include former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, the manifesto will provide the blueprint of the scheme touted by the Congress as a “game-changer”.

Involving the party’s various wings including women, students and youth, the Congress has also taken the views of transgenders. An advocate of transgenders rights, Apsara Reddy was appointed the General Secretary of the Congress women wing in January.

The party has also been seeking ideas from the public through a dedicated website for the manifesto where netizens can submit their ideas and issues.

The meeting of the CWC – the Congress’ highest decision making body – will be held on February 26 in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat. The meeting, presided over by Rahul Gandhi, will also be attended by newly-appointed General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh among others.

Besides the strategies and roadmap for the election battle, the party leaders will also discuss and chalk out a draft of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the anti-BJP front of opposition parties.

Following a meeting on February 13, opposition parties decided to have a pre-poll pact and Rahul Gandhi was tasked to circulate a draft CMP among the opposition parties.

“As has been decided by all the opposition parties earlier, the major agenda in the CMP will be unemployment, agrarian crisis, attacks on democratic institutions and the abuse of central agencies to stifle the opposition and dissenting voices,” said a Congress leader.

Rs 46 cr collected under Bharat Ke Veer: Government

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Nasheman News : The Government on Monday said that a sum of Rs 46 crore has been collected and dispersed as part of the “Bharat Ke Veer” initiative for CRPF troopers who lost their lives in the February 14 Pulwama attack.

Over 80,000 people came forward in the last few days since Thursday to contribute over Rs 20 crore, a statement said.


Pakistan foreign ministry website hacked, India blamed

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Nasheman News : Amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following the deadly Pulwama attack on February 14, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website was not working in several countries including the US on Saturday, the media reported.

Blaming India for the attack on the website, Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal alleged that New Delhi was behind the attack out of fear of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) proceedings against Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Express Tribune reported.

The public hearing in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case is slated to commence on Monday before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Jadhav, 48, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for espionage in April 2017 following which India moved the ICJ. A 10-member ICJ bench restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till the case was adjudicated.

Users in US, Britain, Holland, Norway and Australia were unable to access Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website on Saturday, the report said.

According to a report in the Dawn, cross-border hacking attacks have been sporadic yet common since at least 1998.

Fingers were pointed to India-based hackers when the official website of PPP was found defaced in June 2017. In December that year, the official website of Karachi police was hacked and defaced, allegedly by Indian hackers, the report said.

Earlier, in July 2016, hackers claiming to be from Pakistan defaced websites of seven Indian embassies, high commissions, and consulates in various countries with pro-Pakistan Army slogans. 

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website was accessible in India on Monday, but an attempt to open the Pakistan Army website showed the following message:

“The owner of this website (www.pakistanarmy.gov.pk) has banned the country or region your IP address is in (IN) from accessing this website.”

There were unverified reports that several other websites in Pakistan were not working following the February 14 Pulwama attack on Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers for which Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility.


ISL: Delhi hand Bengaluru another defeat

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New Delhi, Feb 17 (IANS) Daniel Lalhlimpuia scored twice in three minutes as Delhi Dynamos FC pipped Bengaluru FC 3-2 in a closely fought Indian Super League (ISL) clash at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, here on Sunday.

Ulises Davila’s goal in the ninth minute gave Delhi the lead and opened the game up in midfield before Boithang Haokip scored in the 19th minute to bring Bengaluru level. 

Sunil Chhetri’s 72nd-minute strike looked to have put Bengaluru in the driving seat before Lalhlimpuia struck twice (77′, 80′) to seal a win for his team. 

The win means Delhi are now unbeaten in their last five matches, winning three of them. 

Bengaluru, on the other hand, have lost three of their last five matches, picking up just four points after being unbeaten in the first 11 games of the season. Bengaluru, however, are perched at the top of the table with 31 points from 16 matches.


Sports and politics should be kept separate: PCB MD

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Nasheman News :  The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has expressed “extreme” disappointment over the removal of posters of Pakistan Prime Minister and World Cup-winning skipper Imran Khan in the Cricket Club of India, Mumbai, and elsewhere and IMG Reliance pulling out of the deal to produce and broadcast PSL 2019 in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attacks.

PCB Managing Director Wasim Khan said in a statement that cricket has always played a key role in building bridges between people and countries.

“Unfortunately, denying India cricket fans the right to follow HBL PSL by blocking all digital coverage as well as covering or removing portrait of former Pakistan cricket captain and Prime Minister Imran Khan and other legendary cricketers from one of the most historic cricket clubs and venues are highly regrettable actions.

“The PCB has also noted the recent turn of events and expresses its extreme disappointment as we have always believed and emphasised that sports and politics should be kept separate. History tells us that sports, particularly cricket, have always played a key role in building bridges between people and countries.” Wasim said in a statement. 

He, however, remained positive about the PCB managing a new partner by Monday while expressing disappointment that the Indian public will be denied the opportunity to watch the PSL.

“We have been informed by IMG Reliance that they will be unable to partner with us for the remaining HBL PSL 2019 and PCB has reserved all its rights. The PCB always had a contingency plan in place and we are confident we will be in a position to announce the new partner on Monday after the completion of the formalities,” he said.

Wasim said that the PCB will take up the matter with its Indian counterparts, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the global cricket governing body in the upcoming International Cricket Council (ICC) committee meeting in Dubai later this month.

“The PCB intends to take up these incidents with the BCCI and the ICC at the upcoming ICC committee meeting in Dubai later this month,” he said.

In protest against the killing of 49 CRPF troopers by a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber near Srinagar on Thursday, the Cricket Club of India (CCI) and the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali had on Sunday removed the portraits and pictures of Imran Khan and other Pakistani cricketers which were placed in their premises, 

Remove Sania Mirza as Telangana brand ambassador: BJP MLA

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Nasheman News :  Controversial BJP legislator Raja Singh on Monday called for removing Indian tennis star Sania Mirza as the brand ambassador of Telangana, calling her “Pakistan’s daughter-in-law”.

The Telangana Assembly member said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao must immediately remove Mirza as the brand ambassador in the wake of the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama that claimed the lives of 49 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers.

“We don’t need a Pakistani bahu as brand ambassador of Telangana,” said Raja Singh, who represents Goshamahal constituency in Hyderabad.

He feels that removing Sania Mirza, the wife of Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, as brand ambassador will send a strong message to Pakistan over its involvement in terror activities.

Raja Singh said when the Central government was taking a series of tough measures against Pakistan, the state government should also take the step to convey strong sentiments of the Indian citizens to Pakistan.

The BJP leader suggested that the state government could appoint any other player as its brand ambassador. 

“We have cricketer V.V.S. Laxman and badminton stars Saina Nehwal or P.V. Sindhu, who are also from Telangana and who have brought many laurels to the state and to the country,” he added.

Telangana had named Sania Mirza as the state’s brand ambassador in July 2014. Then BJP leader in Telangana Assembly K. Laxman had termed Mirza as “non-local” and “Pakistan’s daughter-in-law” questioning her credentials to represent the state.

Reacting to Laxman’s comment, the tennis ace had said that though married to a Pakistani, she would remain an Indian until the end.

Married to Shoaib Malik in 2010, Sania Mirza gave birth to a baby boy in 2018.


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