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Bringing good news to the common man ahead of Diwali, the retail inflation dropped to 6.46 per cent in September on falling prices of fruits and vegetables, the lowest since India started computing Consumer Price Index (CPI) in January 2012.The overall food inflation measured on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell to 7.67 per cent as against 9.35 per cent in the previous month and 11.75 per cent in September 2013.CPI inflation is on the decline since July.The retail inflation was at 7.73 per cent in August, revised downward from the earlier estimate of 7.8 per cent.As per the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the CPI inflation in vegetable basket in September fell to 8.59 per cent as against 15.15 per cent in the previous month.Inflation in fruits slowed to 22.4 per cent from 24.27 per cent in August. Similarly price rise in protein rich items like eggs, fish and meat was slower in September as compared to August.The data for inflation based on Wholesale Price Index will be released tomorrow. The WPI inflation in August was at 3.74 per cent.Lately, Reserve Bank has been mainly considering CPI inflation while deciding on its bi-monthly monetary policy.RBI has been targeting a retail inflation of 8 per cent by March 2015 and 6 per cent by March 2016.In its last monetary policy, the RBI had maintained a status quo in interest rate citing worries on the inflation front despite industry demanding reduction.The data further revealed that consumer inflation was 6.34 per cent in urban India and 6.68 per cent in rural parts of the country. The urban and rural inflation was at 7.04 per cent and 8.27 per cent, respectively in August.India's annual consumer price inflation eased for a second straight month in September to 6.46 per cent, its lowest level since the government started releasing the data in 2012, government data showed on Monday.The latest number was sharply lower than a Reuters poll forecast of 7.2 per cent and August's revised 7.73 percent print.Consumer food price inflation, under a new series published by the government, eased to 7.67 percent last month from a revised 9.35 percent in August.(Agencies)
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Cracking the whip, Congress on Monday (13 October) removed Shashi Tharoor as party spokesperson for his praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which did not go down well with the Kerala unit of the party."Congress President Sonia Gandhi has accepted the recommendation of the AICC disciplinary committee to remove Shashi Tharoor from the list of spokespersons of the AICC with immediate effect."The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee had submitted a complaint in this regard to the disciplinary committee," said party general secretary organisation Janardan Dwivedi in a press release.Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee had prepared a report against Tharoor, which was referred to AICC's disciplinary action committee a few days ago.The report of the Kerala unit had held that Tharoor's adulatory statements about Modi had hurt Congress workers in Kerala, who had worked sincerely and tirelessly for his victory from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat.Tharoor had earlier reacted sarcastically to the Kerala unit's move, saying this would mean the state leadership would finally read what he actually wrote instead of oral summaries.The complaint by the Kerala Congress Committee had come at a time when Tharoor had accepted the invite by the Prime Minister to be a brand ambassador of "Swachch Bharat" mission of the NDA government.Tharoor had also gone to the US during the time the Prime Minister was in that country and had appeared on various television channels. Party sources say that nobody was assigned from Congress to the US during Modi's visit and speak on the party's behalf.Tharoor has not been briefing media at the AICC from June 4 after his piece in Huffington Post praising Modi kicked up a big row in Congress.The Congress leader had said that it would be "churlish" if his party did not take note of Modi's efforts to sound gracious and accommodative and reinvent himself from a "hate figure into an avatar of modernity and progress".Congress had snubbed him immediately, describing it as his "personal view". Since then Tharoor did not brief the media from AICC podium. The view in the AICC is that Tharoor should have kept in mind that he holds a responsible position in the party and party interests should come first.The three-member disciplinary action committee of AICC, which looked into the complaint of the Kerala Congress, comprised Motilal Vora, A K Antony and Sushilkumar Shinde.Taking strong exception to his repeated praise of Modi and his initiatives like "Swachh Bharat" mission, Congress in Kerala had sought appropriate action by the high command against Tharoor.Incidentally, Tharoor's press conference at the AICC were not uploaded on the party website beyond May 7 this year while the site is updated on AICC briefings till October 10.A senior party functionary said that despite the fact that Tharoor's books in past had been "very critical" of late Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, the party made him a minister even when he was the first time MP.The only other first time MP to become a minister in the UPA government was Manish Tewari.The leader said that despite his controversial utterances with which the party had to distance from time time, the party gave him an opportunity to head the Parliament Standing Committee on External Affairs in September when the government reconstituted Parliamentary panels after the new Lok Sabha came into being.Tharoor has so far rejected suggestions that he was moving closer to the BJP by asserting that he was a "proud Congressman" and never endorsed the "Hindutva agenda" of the BJP.In a massive rejig of the AICC media department ahead of Lok Sabha elections, Tharoor was made a national spokesperson in the AICC in January while he was still in the thick of a controversy over his wife Sunanda Pushkar's sudden death.A number of faces included in the list of spokespersons and television panelists that time were close aides of the Congress Vice President and had Youth Congress or NSUI background.(PTI)
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A special court on Monday (13 October) rejected the closure report of CBI and summoned as accused former Coal Secretary H C Gupta, two government servants, MP-based Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd and its officials in a coal blocks allocation scam case.Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar took cognisance of the offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust by public servant under the IPC and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act."I am taking cognisance for the offences under sections 120B, 420 and 409 of the IPC and also under sections 13(1)(d) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. I am summoning the accused," the judge said, adding that a separate order will be followed.The court issued summons to Gupta, two other serving government officials, Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd, its managing director Pavan Ahluwalia and senior official Amit Goyal and directed them to appear before it on October 31.The court directed the investigating officer to get the summons served to all the accused and also asked him to complete the documents to be given to the accused before the next date of hearing (October 31).The court passed the order while rejecting the closure report filed by CBI in the case in which Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd, its directors, Pavan, Kamaljeet Ahluwalia, Prashant Ahluwalia, Amit and some unknown government servants were named as accused for allegedly misrepresenting facts, including inflated net worth, to acquire coal blocks.(PTI)
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