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Kerala government sticks with KPMG for rebuilding state

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Thiruvananthapuram The Kerala government on Wednesday decided that despite the Congress-led opposition’s opinion about KPMG, an international professional service company, selected as consultant partner for rebuilding the flood-ravaged state, it will stick with them, a minister said.

Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan, deputising for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who is presently in the US for treatment, told the media here that KPMG has already started its work in the state.

“They (KPMG) are known for their expertise. They are presently conducting a study to help us rebuild after the floods devastated the state.

“They are doing it for free, so what’s the issue. When such an organisation is helping us for free, what we should now do is, wait for their report. Once they submit it, then we will take a call,” said Jayarajan.

Earlier this week the Congress party expressed strong reservation about selecting KPMG as the consultant partner even as they faced cases in a few countries where they were involved in various programmes.

Vijayan said on August 31, the KPMG has agreed to provide free consultancy service and would be the consultant partner for rebuilding Kerala.

[IANS]

Sandeep, Rana fight back in Dakshin Dare rally

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Davangere (Karnataka) Sandeep Sharma and Suresh Rana scripted a gallant fightback for Team Maruti Suzuki in the 10th edition of the Dakshin Dare, taking the fourth and sixth positions respectively after Day 2 here on Tuesday evening.

Suzuki’s Sandeep, and his co-driver Anmol Rampal, were at their aggressive best on the day, clocking 58.09 minutes in three Special Stages and one Super Special Stage for a cumulative timing of 03:35:05 over the first two days.

His teammate, 10-time Raid de Himalaya champion Suresh (with Chirag Thakur), also fought back bravely to climb from the 11th position to take the sixth position.

Suresh, who fell behind after enduring a punctured tyre on the opening day, caught up on lost time by going flat out and even posting the day’s third best timing.

“I did not have the best of starts to the rally. But I am glad that I could get back into the fray. Our team (Maruti Suzuki) has its hopes pinned on me and I am quite sure that I will keep improving and fight till the end to defend my title,” Suresh said.

Three-time APRC champion Gaurav Gill continued to hold on to the top position on the leaderboard after yet another power-packed performance.

The Mahindra Adventure racer, along with his co-driver Musa Sherif, was in his elements from the word go, winning all the three Special Stages and one Super Special Stage.

His teammate Philippos Matthai (with navigator PVS Moorthy) came in second, with a total time of 03:26:03 minutes.

Another Mahindra Adventure driver, Amittrajit Ghosh (with co-driver Ashwin Naik), slipped one place to take the third position after losing six minutes in the early part of the morning.

Yuva Kumar continued to lead in the bike category, winning two of the day’s stages and finishing second in the third. Aakash and Vishwas are in the second and third positions.

In the TSD category, Pramod Vig and Prakash Vig jumped to the top spot, while Santosh and Nagarajan took the second spot. Srikanth and Raghuraman are on the third spot.

[IANS]

Have to improve reflexes, agility ahead of Tokyo Olympics: Manika Batra

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Kolkata Manika Batra, who created history by becoming the first Indian female paddler to win an Asian Games medal, is now planning to work overtime in order to improve her reflexes and agility and come close to matching her Asian counterparts by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Manika, who built on her Commonwealth Games (CWG) high by winning a bronze with veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal in the mixed doubles category in table tennis, was no match for Wang Manyu of China in the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s singles.

Though it was the best-ever outing for the country in the sport at the Asian Games, with the men’s team also bagging bronze, Manika said she has her eyes set on a podium finish at the Olympics in two years’ time and for that she needs to catch up with the mighty Chinese and other strong Asian players.

“I gave my hundred percent against Wang Manyu, but I realised I have to improve a lot to beat them. I will prepare well for the coming tournaments,” Manika told IANS in an interview.

“As a team we are in a good shape right now. In singles we have to improve a lot, especially when we play with Asians. Their reflexes are so good. Personally, I have to improve my reflexes and agility to match them.

“So I will work on that till the Olympics and try to match them there,” said Manika, who showed signs of ending Singaporean supremacy in the discipline by choking out Mengyu Yu in straight sets to clinch a historic first-ever gold medal in women’s singles of the CWG earlier this year.

The 23-year old bagged four medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games as India finished with a rich haul of eight.

Besides her game, Manika also aims to break into the top-40 rankings. Currently, the Delhi girl is ranked World No 56.

“Personally, my goal would be to break into top 30 or 40. I am 56 right now, so I have to improve that. To improve my rankings, I have to play many tournaments abroad, so I am preparing for that as well.”

Manika, who will take part in the Belgium Open, starting from September 23, and the Swedish Open, from November 15, also revealed that she has plans to play for a European club next year but it’s too early to speak on that, she added.

On her and Kamal’s bronze medal winning performance in the semifinals of the mixed doubles match where they ended up with bronze, Manika said she never wanted to come back empty-handed from Jakarta.
“It was not difficult, but, of course, since all Asians come together at the Asian Games, the challenge is stiffer as compared to Commonwealth Games. In my mind, it was there that it would be difficult… but when I reached Jakarta, I thought that I had to do something here, I had to beat someone,” she said.

Kamal and Manika played four matches in a day and only the opener against Malaysia was comfortable.

In the semis, Kamal and Manika made life tough for China’s Yingsha Sun and Wang Sun before going down 9-11, 5-11, 13-11, 4-11, 8-11.

[IANS]

Telangana cabinet likely to recommend assembly dissolution on Thursday

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A crucial meeting of the Telangana cabinet is likely to be held on Thursday to recommend dissolution of the state assembly to pave way for early polls.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has asked his cabinet colleagues to be available at 6 a.m. on September 6 for the cabinet meeting, according to sources in the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

The TRS chief considers ‘6’ as his lucky number and that’s the reason cited for not taking the decision during the cabinet meeting on September 2, which was held hours before the massive public meeting by the ruling party to sound the poll bugle.

The cabinet is expected to pass a resolution recommending to Governor E. S.L. Narasimhan to dissolve the assembly. The term of the assembly is till May, 2019 and the elections in normal course have to be conducted along with the polls for Lok Sabha.

On the eve of the cabinet meeting, the state capital on Wednesday witnessed hectic activity in the political circle. Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi, Chief Advisor to government Rajiv Sharma, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, S. Narsing Rao and Legislative Assembly Secretary Narasimhacharyulu called on Narasimhan on Wednesday.

KCR also had a series of meetings with top party leaders.

A day after recommending dissolution of assembly, KCR will be launching the election campaign with a public meeting at Husnabad in Siddipet district on September 7.

Christened ‘Prajala Aasirwada Sabha’, this will be the first of 100 public meetings planned by TRS over next 50 days.

Political observers say TRS is keen for early assembly elections as it believes that simultaneous elections to assembly and Lok Sabha may not help it in properly highlighting the welfare and development works undertaken during last four years.

The political circle has been abuzz with the talks of early polls for the last few weeks with KCR himself giving strong hints with his two meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August, announcement of sops for various sections of people and transfer of top police and civil officials.

There was strong possibility of a decision in the cabinet meeting before September 2 public meeting, attended by lakhs of people and claimed to be mother of all rallies.

While the cabinet took no decision, KCR kept the suspense by telling the party cadres that the party leaders have empowered him to take a decision and that they would soon hear it (decision on early polls).

At the public meeting, the TRS chief highlighted the achievements of his government since it took reins in the newly created state in 2014.

He sought fresh mandate to continue the good work and achieve the goal of ‘Bangaru Telangana’ or golden Telangana. He urged people to protect their ‘self-respect’ by rejecting the parties from Delhi who want to make them slaves.

Shashi Tharoor’s ‘Why I Am A Hindu’ to be made as web series

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Politician and author Shashi Tharoor’s book “Why I Am A Hindu” will be made into a web series with National Award-winning producer Sheetal Talwar as showrunner. The Congress MP will also narrate it.

Taking head-on the current misinterpretation and misappropriation of Hinduism, Tharoor’s book is about the history of Hinduism and its core tenets, as well as socio-cultural developments in India that relate to Hinduism and his own religious convictions.

The book is a repudiation of Hindu nationalism, and its rise in Indian society, which relied upon an interpretation of the religion which was markedly different from the one with which he has grown up, practiced and had studied.

On its adaptation, Tharoor said in a statement to IANS: “In any time and era, an adaptation of this book into film would be relevant, but in the current political, social and cultural environment it is imperative that the message of true Hinduism – the Hinduism of acceptance reach the widest audience possible.”

“I am glad that Sheetal and I – who share a similar belief system – are collaborating on this effort,” he added.

Talwar, who will be seen producing in India after nearly 7 years, says when he gave “Why Am I A Hindu” a read, it shook him.

“I was ashamed that as someone whose profession is to voice, I had not raised my voice and done nothing while the inherent integrity of our pluralism was being threatened.

“After ‘Dharm’ and ‘Rann’, it is after years that I have been so excited about a subject. I am glad that I could convince Shashi to not only make this into a web series, but also offer his time as a narrator to the series.”

The series will headline numerous known filmmakers film an episode each. It is set to be made in various Indian languages and will be released in the first quarter of 2019, the statement read.

India’s Russia missile purchase, Iran won’t be focus of 2+2 meet: Pompeo

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that India’s planned purchase of a Russian missile system or its relations with Iran will not be “the primary focus” of the “incredibly important” 2+2 Strategic Dialogue meeting he and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis will be having with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Seetharaman this week.

Calling India a “true strategic partner,” he said on Tuesday the meeting in New Delhi is “really about things that are big and strategic and will go on for 20, 40, 50 years” and “those are the kinds of topics that Secretary Mattis and I are hoping to address”.

“We have a true strategic partner who, frankly, is our only major defence partner… with whom we have a great relationship and who is very important to our success in our Indo-Pacific strategy — enormous country with incredibly opportunity and capacity for wealth creation,” he told reporters travelling with him to India according to a transcript provided by the State Department.

“We hope we can find opportunities to continue to expand the relationship not only diplomatic and military-to-military but a good set of business relationships as well,” he added.

“There’s half a dozen things on the agenda that we’re really intent on making progress on,” he said.

The 2+2 Strategic Dialogue was postponed twice at the request of the US — first in April when the leadership of the State Department was transitioning from Rex Tillerson to Pompeo.

“I regret it was my fault the second time” in July, he said. “I had to travel to Pyongyang.” Trump had suddenly set up a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump had decided on the Strategic Dialogue when they met in Washington in 2017.

Trump administration’s strategic vision embodies India and the US as “the two bookends of stability” in the Asia Pacific region — and a counterbalance to China’s rising power.

Symbolically, the US now calls the region Indo-Pacific and even renamed its Pacific military command.

At this week’s meeting, Iran and the Russian missile defence system purchase “will certainly come up, but I don’t think they will be the primary focus of what it is we are trying to accomplish here,” Pompeo said.

“Those decisions are important to the relationship for sure, but I don’t see us resolving those during this set of meetings of the Strategic Dialogue,” he added.

India is planning to buy five advanced S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems from Russia in a deal estimated to cost about Rs 40,000 crore.

India reportedly also plans to continue buying oil from Iran despite threat of sanctions by Trump, who reneged on the agreement between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany to stop Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Gutkha scam: CBI raids 40 places in TN

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The CBI on Wednesday conducted raids at 40 locations in Tamil Nadu in connection with the multi-crore gutka scam in which involvement of state Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar and Director General of Police T.K. Rajendran is suspected.

“Separate CBI teams conducted simultaneous raids at 40 locations in Tamil Nadu early in the morning in Gutkha scam. The raid is still on,” Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) spokesperson Abhishek Dayal told IANS at around 11 am.

CBI officials in Chennai said the raids were at 30 places, officials in New Delhi put the number at 40.

The raids were conducted at the godowns, offices and residences of pan masala and gutkha manufacturers in Tamil Nadu.

The CBI in May-end had registered a case in the scam against unknown officials of Central Excise, Tamil Nadu government, Food Safety Department, public servants and private persons under charges of criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act following the direction of the Madras High Court on April 26.

The agency has been investigating into all aspects of the offence of illegal manufacture, import, supply, distribution and sale of gutkha and other forms of chewable tobacco which are banned in Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry, including detection of and action against those involved in the offence whether directly or indirectly by aiding or abetting the offence or interfering with attempts to curb the offence.

The scam came to light on July 8, 2017 after Income-Tax officers raided a pan masala and gutkha manufacturer in Tamil Nadu, who has been facing charges of evading tax to the tune of Rs 250 crore.

The manufacture, storage and sale of the chewable forms of tobacco, including gutkha and pan masala were banned by the Tamil Nadu government in 2013.

RR troopers attacked in J&K’s Pulwama

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Militants attacked a patrol party of the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday, police said.

The 55 Rashtriya Rifles’ (RR) patrol party was fired upon by the militants in Haji Darpora village.

“The fire was returned by the RR troops. There was a brief exchange of gunfire after which the area was cordoned off for searches.

A non-local labourer sustained a bullet injury in the incident. He has been sent to hospital, the police said.

(IANS)

Rupee slips to a new low; touches 71.75/$

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The Indian rupee plunged to a fresh record low of 71.75 to a dollar during the morning trade session on Wednesday.

Around 10.40 a.m. the Indian rupee traded at 71.75 to a dollar — the lowest ever mark — it has touched against the greenback.

It opened the day’s trade at the Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market at 71.44 to a dollar from its previous close of 71.58 to a greenback.

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