This is epic as far as photos go. Mamata Banerjee who dethroned the mighty Communists of Bengal, is more left than the left itself. She goes to the wedding of the century where the high and mighty of power and pelf arrive in their finest. The entrance exudes opulence. India, nay, the world hasn’t seen a union of this scale. She is aware of the details and the devil’s dwelling therein. But she makes a point with flat chappals. A point so poignant that blunts a thousand Jimmy Choo pointed heels piercing the bloody red carpet.

Mamata Banerjee in plastic flip flops is not what Communist wet dreams are made of. Mamata Banerjee in plastic flip flops entering through the gilded gates of world’s second most expensive residence is. Half the people in the hall were wearing on their bodies what municipal bodies in Bengal don’t spend in a year. Mamata Banerjee walked into that hall in a beguni-border Dhaniakhali sari. 100 Marx for Kolkata Communism.

Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani’s daughter Isha tied the knot with Ajay and Swati Piramal’s son Anand on December 12. The evening was a glittery one at the Ambanis’ 27-storey residence in the heart of Mumbai, Antilia. And as Altamount Road saw a stream of VVIP guests on Wednesday evening, dressed in the finest of their ethnic and formalwear, the solitary Mamata Banerjee stood out from the crowd.

The chief minister, surrounded by a sea of extremely well-dressed people, cut quite an impressive figure dressed in her plain white saree and plastic chappals. Mamata is known for her plain cotton sarees and the simple chappals. No one remembers seeing the Trinamool Congress leader in anything but her trademark cotton saree and chappals ever since she entered politics. And since 2009, Mamata has stuck to a special kind of handloom sarees – the Dhaniakhali sarees.

In the past 9 years, the weavers of Hooghly’s Dhaniakhali have spun many sarees for Mamata, from before the time she became the a chief minister.

Mamata prefers her custom-made sarees, that have come to be called ‘Mamata Sarees’ now, with thin stripes all over the body and a narrow border. The handloom sarees that Mamata wears are a little longer than the usual ‘twelve-arm-length’ sarees that are the norm. Crimson and red are a big no for Mamata. The chief minister sticks to lighter shades, mostly white and grey.

Mamata Banerjee’s Spartan lifestyle is well-known in the political arena. When former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Mamata, the then Central Railways Minister at her Harish Chatterjee Street home in Kolkata, he is said to have been quite stunned. The year was 2000.

In 2014, when Rahul Gandhi addressed a rally in Ghatal in West Bengal, he famously took that dig at Mamata’s chappals: “The slippers that Mamata Banerjee wears have ‘Made In China’ tag on them. We want to change that to ‘Made In India’.”

Over the past four years, political equations have changed. What hasn’t changed is Mamata Banerjee’s way of dressing. Even at a billionaire’s wedding, with a star-studded guest list, Banerjee knows how to make a loud statement without saying anything.

News agencies

Relief for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Supreme Court says no evidence of ‘favouritism’ in deal.

India’s top court has ruled there was no wrongdoing in the government’s awarding of the contract in a multibillion dollar warplane deal with France, handing a boost to Narendra Modi’s ruling party months before a general election.

The Supreme Court on Friday declined demands to order a court-monitored probe into graft allegations around the controversial defence deal.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress party have been at loggerheads over the $8.7bn deal to buy 36 Rafale planes from France and a decision to pick Reliance Defence as a domestic partner.

Opposition parties, including Congress and the Left, say India overpaid for the planes and are also questioning why tycoon Anil Ambani’s Reliance, a private firm with no experience in the defence sector, was awarded the contract instead of the state-run manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics.

Rival political outfits have protested across the country against what they allege is a “corrupt” deal favouring one of India’s richest industrialists.

Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi had previously raised the matter in parliament and attacked Modi and Ambani in several election rallies, accusing them of duping the nation.

Court ‘satisfied’

Prior to Friday’s ruling, India’s Supreme Court had sought details in sealed envelopes from the government over the multibillion dollar deal.OPINION

The case was heard by a three-judge bench, headed by newly-installed Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

“We are satisfied that there is no occasion to really doubt the process, and even if minor deviations have occurred, that would not result in either setting aside the contract or requiring a detailed scrutiny by the Court,” the court ruling said.

Ranjan Gogoi added that scrutiny “will have to be made keeping in mind the confines of national security”.

“We do not find any substantial material on record to show that this is a case of commercial favouritism to any party by the Indian Government,” the ruling stated.

Renewed focus on the deal could have had political consequences for the right-wing government in New Delhi. The BJP welcomed Friday’s ruling.

“We stand vindicated today,” said BJP spokesperson Zafar Islam. “The false propaganda of the opposition has been rejected by the top court. This should set the matter to rest. This is a big political victory for the ruling party and a loss of face for the opposition which has been needlessly gunning for the Prime Minister.”

The Supreme Court has clearly stated that it is outside their jurisdiction to probe into the #RafaleDeal. We continue our demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the #RafaleScam. 

The people of india: India needs to know the truth on Rafale

The lawyer who argued the case for the petitioners seeking a probe into the deal, disagreed with the court’s decision.

“We feel the ruling is incorrect,” said Prashant Bhushan. “We were not seeking to rescind the deal, we only sought a probe. The judges have just accepted what the government said lock, stock and barrel without dealing with our concerns. We will file a review of this ruling.”

Opposition wants parliamentary probe

The opposition Congress party has said it will aim to keep the pressure on the government and continue to press for a parliamentary probe.

The contest for next year’s elections appears to be tightening with the ruling BJP failing to win a mandate in 5 recent state elections. Indians have become increasingly frustrated with the economic situation in the country.

Former French President Francois Hollande, who approved the deal when he was in office, created a stir in September when he revealed that the Narendra Modi government in New Delhi forced the French firm Dassault Aviation to choose Ambani for the deal.

“We had no choice. We took the partner that was given to us,” Hollande was quoted as saying in an explosive interview to French investigative news service, Mediapart.

Modi’s BJP and French firm Dassault denied the allegations.

Meanwhile, caught in a political storm over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal, Ambani’s Reliance sent defamation notices amounting to millions of dollars to several Indian opposition politicians and media outlets.

Aljazeera

 At a time when there is a call for all countries to do more to fight climate change, India is telling the world at the ongoing UN climate negotiations, COP24, that it is in a position to comfortably overachieve its Paris climate change commitments, and will do more.

India had committed that by 2030, as much as 40 per cent of its installed energy capacity will be non-fossil fuel based.

Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Secretary Anand Kumar told IANS here the actual number will be 60 per cent, even without taking into account large hydropower projects.

“Today, India has 73 GW of wind, solar and biomass capacity, and another 22 GW is under construction. Yet another 25 GW is in the process of being tendered out. That leaves 55 GW more to be set up by 2022 for India to meet its target of 175 GW,” Kumar said.

After 2022, India will auction 30 GW of solar and 10 GW of wind every year till 2030. By 2030, the country will have 350 GW of solar and 150 GW of wind installed capacity, he added.

The political phase of the ongoing UN climate negotiations that began on December 12 with ministers and high-level country representatives together with non-party stakeholders entered the last phase.

Each country was sharing its plans for the transformation of economies in line with the 2015 Paris goals.

The negotiations will culminate on Friday, hopefully with an agreement on the Paris rulebook for transparent implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement — the first global treaty to reduce emissions by all rich and poor nations.

India’s Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan, who attended the climate summit last week, signalled that the country was ready to update its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) if other countries do the same. 

India was on track to meet majority of Paris goals and become a global climate leader by meeting one target a decade earlier, US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said in report on the margins of the UN climate summit.

The Paris agreement requested each country outline, update and communicate its post-2020 climate actions, known as NDCs, reflecting a country’s ambition for reducing emissions.

According to IEEFA, India’s NDCs included three key targets: To achieve 40 per cent of electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel by 2030, to reduce the emissions intensity of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 33-35 per cent from the 2005 level to 2030 and to create an additional 2.5-3.0 billion tonnes of carbon sinks — reservoirs that accumulate and store carbon dioxide, through the planting of additional forest and tree cover.

R.R. Rashmi, India’s former climate negotiator and Fellow at The Energy Resource Institute in New Delhi told IANS: “In terms of India’s efforts in reducing its emissions relative to its economic growth, it is a fairly positive story and it’s more significant because the energy growth is tremendous.”

Favouring the strong Paris rulebook, New Delhi-based Council on Energy Environment and Water Fellow Vaibhav Gupta said the Paris agreement came with a mandate which needs to be balanced and strong.

“The negotiations are stuck on contentious issues because there is no consensus reached by parties one way or another. A strong rulebook should strike a balance between action and support, between mitigation and adaptation, and between science and political will,” he said.

Anirban Ghosh of the Mahindra group said: “Renewables, energy efficiency, electric vehicle are clear win. We don’t need external finance for these items, they pay for themselves.”

India on Wednesday said the Paris agreement was “non-negotiable” and there could be no compromise on the basic principles.

IANS

  Veteran Congress leader Ashok Gehlot was on Friday picked as Congress choice for Chief Minister of Rajasthan and his rival in the race Sachin Pilot could be the Deputy Chief Minister.

The question of leadership is understood to have been sorted out by Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who met both the contenders on Friday, their third such meeting in two days. 

Party sources said Pilot had agreed to become Gehlot’s deputy as the party was keen to woo the Gujjar community to which he belongs in view of the coming Lok Sabha elections. 

The Gujjar community is one of the dominant communities in Rajasthan and is important in electoral battles. 

In a sign that the leadership question in Rajasthan has been settled, Gandhi on Friday posted his photograph with Gehlot and Pilot. 

The photograph of the smiling leaders had a caption “United Colours of Rajasthan!”, without giving any hint as to who will be the Chief Minister. An official announcement is expected in the evening. 

Gandhi’s tweet capped hectic consultations with Gehlot and Pilot, who put up his claim strongly even as members of the Gujjar community took to the streets on Thursday and Friday demanding that he should get the top slot. 

Gehlot, a two-time Chief Minister, and Pilot reached Gandhi’s residence within minutes of each other on Friday.

Ahead of the meeting, Gehlot took a veiled dig at Pilot saying that the party unit had already left the decision on Gandhi and it was not the time to express individual choices. 

“We have given the duty to the High Command. Let it decide who is to be given what responsibility. If I say my choice is this, it is not time for that. The time is to strengthen the Congress, see how its graph goes up. 

“If Congress is strong, everyone will be empowered and we prove to be useful in meeting the objectives of the 2019 elections. This alone should be our thinking,” Gehlot said. 

He said a resolution had been passed by newly elected MLAs in Rajasthan authorising the High Command to take a decision. 

“Whether it is Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh or Chhattisgarh, once a resolution is passed, the decision of the Congress President should be acceptable to all. This is what our workers, MLAs and people expect,” he said. 

He said winning elections in the three Hindi heartland states was a big achievement and that it all started with a strong performance of the Congress in Gujarat under Gandhi’s leadership. 

“(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and (BJP President) Amit Shah have lost their aura. They have not been able to recover due to which we won elections in the three states,” he said. 

Gehlot had played an active role in formulating the party’s campaign strategy in Gujarat. 

Friday’s meeting came hours after the leadership issue was settled in Madhya Pradesh, with Gandhi tweeting his picture with Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia, who were both chief ministerial aspirants. 

The picture — akin to the one on Friday — carried the line “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time – Leo Tolstoy.”

Both in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the Congress missed the majority mark by two seats and is now dependent on external legislative support. 

Pilot, who stayed put in Delhi on Thursday, appealed to party workers to maintain peace and that he would welcome any decision taken by the party. 

Pilot reportedly has put up a strong claim to the post on the ground that he had galvanised the party after the defeat in 2013, when he was appointed the state party chief.

 Ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday tweeted “Satyamev Jayate” after a Supreme Court bench ruled there was no wrongdoing in the Rafale fighter jet purchase deal.

“Satyamev Jayate! #RafaleVerdict,” the Chief Minister tweeted. Parrikar was the Defence Minister when Prime Minister Narendra Modi clinched the deal during an official visit to France.

On Friday, a three judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi gave a clean chit to the Rs 58,000-crore deal, ruling there was no wrongdoing in the purchase of the French aircrafts as alleged by the petitioners, while dismissing the clutch of petitions.

IANS

After the election results of five states, the union finance department had availed the information on state loan waiver scheme on Thursday, said Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

CM was speaking to media persons after the launch of a road safety awareness campaign at Police Parade Ground on a query whether the centre was copying the state’s model of loan waiver.

Kumaraswamy said the government will give a befitting reply to BJP leaders on the floor of the house. Pity central leadership through their state leaders had availed the information on states loan waiver model.

”How the centre would act over it we will wait and watch”, he said. In the backdrop of over 50 persons had died on Belagavi-Yaragatti road in last several months, five departments including Police, Health, Education and Public Works had worked out  a road safety measures which had resulted in a decline in the number of accidents and deaths on the road. The same model will be emulated, adopted and implemented across the state, he informed the media.

News Agencis

 BJP President Amit Shah on Friday demanded that Congress President Rahul Gandhi should apologize to the nation for his “brazen lies” accusing the government and the Prime Minister of corruption in the Rafale jet deal with France and said he should also disclose the source of information for his attacks.

Addressing a press conference after the Supreme Court dismissed the petitions seeking a probe into the deal, he said truth had triumphed and Gandhi’s “lies” had no legs to stand on.

Quoting from the judgement, Shah said the court expressed satisfaction with the process followed in purchasing the aircraft and set aside the demands of the petitioners for a probe into the matter. 

He said the court agreed with the government’s contention that the country was financially benefited in the deal.

“The court observed that neighbouring countries’ air forces were equipped with fourth and fifth generation aircraft. So there should not be any delay (in procuring the aircraft) in the interest of the country and it should not be stopped,” he said.

“The court also said that the government of India had no role in choosing the offset partner. It (judgement) is a slap on the face of Congress leaders,” Shah said. 

Questioning Rahul Gandhi’s sustained attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government, he said Gandhi had harmed the country’s security interests and the morale of the forces by trying to stop the acquisition process.

Asking who had “directed” Gandhi to launch the campaign against the Rafale deal, he asked the Congress leader to reveal the source of information. 

He also asked why Gandhi did not approach the Supreme Court if he had the evidence of corruption. 

“Why did you run away from the court? You should have gone there. Your B-Team went there. Who stopped Rahul Gandhi from going to Supreme Court and place evidence of corruption?”

Shah also said the process for acquisition of fighter jets was initiated in 2001 and why did the UPA government not complete it during its tenure. 

“Whether commission (kickbacks) stopped it,” he said, adding the Congress governments were experts in scams and it was laughable that they were raising doubts about Modi’s integrity. 

The Modi government adopted a transparent process for the jet deal by going for a government-to-government deal.

Replying to questions on Rahul Gandhi’s description of Modi as ‘chowkidaar chor hai’ (watchman is a thief), he said only thieves were scared of a vigilant watchman.

“People have not doubted Prime Minister Modi or his government” he said.

Referring to the Congress demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the deal, Shah said first let the issue be discussed in Parliament.

“Congress should come to Parliament and debate. Disruption is not a solution. The government is ready for any length of discussion. Even for constituting a JPC , there should be discussion. How will you decide it? Will the Congress President set up a committee? We do not do match-fixing,” he asked. 

Asked about the contract given to a private company to manufacture Rafale aircraft in preference over state-run HAL, Shah said: “No Rafale aircraft will be manufactured in India -neither by the private company nor by HAL. All 36 jets will be manufactured in France.”

Asked whether Gandhi’s campaign on Rafale during the elections had harmed the BJP, he said election defeats was a different issue. “We are not bothered about profit and loss. We are bothered about the harm it caused to the nation’s security.” 

IANS

The BBMP is Rs 900 crore short of its target of Rs 3,000 crore in property tax for this fiscal.

As poor property tax collection by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) continues to remain a pressing issue, Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun has decided to tighten the noose for defaulters. One of the steps mulled against regular defaulters includes “seizing” movable property. While the property tax target for 2018-19 was Rs 3,100 crore, the civic body has failed to collect even Rs 2,000 crore. For the last financial year ending in March 2017, BBMP managed a total collection of Rs 2,170 crore.  

In a meeting held on Thursday, the Mayor asked the eight BBMP Zonal Commissioners to prepare a list of the top 50 tax defaulters and monitor updates with regard to collection, every 15 days. The Mayor also urged ward level officers to take steps to improve tax collection.

“BBMP officials are armed with lot of power to collect revenue from the defaulters. We have been resorting to methods such as beating drums in front of the properties of big defaulters and ‘naming and shaming them’, all of this hasn’t helped much. Laws do not permit us to lock up or seize properties of defaulters but we do have powers to seize immovable properties. This can be furniture, fridge, washing machine and others.” Gangambike said.

To this effect, BBMP Joint Commissioner (Revenue) M Venkatachalapathy has directed officials on the ground to issue distress warrants to regular defaulters and sought an action taken report from them. Based on that, the BBMP top brass is expected to take action against defaulters who decide to ignore show cause notices.

“Once the list is ready, fresh notices will be issued. The final step will be seizure of properties,” Venkatachalapathy told The Times of India.

He added that revenue officials were not issuing three show cause notices to the owner as mandated by the rule book, which is essential for the BBMP to seize property.

Mahadevpura Zone has so far recovered Rs 511 crore out of Rs 800 crore target. Zonal Commissioner said he will focus on the top 500 defaulters to meet the target before the end of the financial year.

PTI