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The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) said on Monday (25 August) it will close this week the case against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Coal Secretary P C Parakh in connection with alleged irregularities in the allocation of Talabira-II coal block.CBI spokesperson Kanchan Prasad said the closure report is likely to filed in the case this week.The agency had reached conclusion to include names of Birla and Parakh in the FIR in connection with allocation of Talabira-II coal block after scrutinising related files during its nearly 16 month-long preliminary enquiry.CBI sources said that allegations levelled by it in the FIR could not be substantiated by it.Immediately after the case was registered by the agency on October 15, 2013, Prime Minister's office had given a detailed clarification saying, "the Prime Minister is satisfied that the final decision taken in this regard was entirely appropriate and is based on the merits of the case placed before him."The agency's decision to file the FIR in which it accused Birla and Parakh of criminal conspiracy and criminal misconduct on the part of government officials had come under criticism from the former Coal secretary who said in his book that "CBI is either outright incompetent or is playing a deeper game."He blamed CBI Director Ranjit Sinha of abusing his office by accusing him and Birla of conspiracy and corruption.The FIR related to allocation of Talabira II and III coal blocks in 2005 and CBI had charged Birla, Parakh and other officials of Hindalco under various IPC sections including criminal conspiracy and criminal misconduct on the part of government officials.In its FIR, the agency had alleged that during the 25th Screening Committee meeting, chaired by Parakh, applications of Hindalco and Indal Industries were rejected for mining in Talabira II and III "citing valid reasons". The agency had alleged in its FIR that on the recommendations of the Screening Committee, the coal blocks were allocated to Mahanadi Coalfields and Neyveli Lignite Corporation, both public sector undertakings.These recommendations were placed before the "Competent Authority" which agreed with Parakh, who later issued letter of allocation to the PSUs on June 16 and July 15 of 2005.Within days, a "personal meeting" took place between Parakh and Birla in which the industrialist requested for the allocation of Talabira II coal block, CBI had said."Pursuant to these letters and personal meeting between Parakh and Birla, Parakh, by abusing his official position as a public servant recommended the allocation of Talabira II along with Talabira III coal block to Hindalco Industries Limited, along with other two companies without any valid basis or change in circumstances and with the sole intention to show undue favours to Hindalco Industries Limited," the agency had alleged in its FIR.The agency has said that Parakh recommended formation of a joint venture between Mahanadi Coalfields, Neyveli Lignite and Hindalco with equity share holding of 70 per cent, 15 per cent and 15 per cent respectively. The FIR alleged that inclusion of Hindalco reduced the share of Neyveli Lignite in the coal field."Due to this arrangement, the proposed power project of the NLC could not take off as planned," it alleged.Defending his decision, Parakh had said "there is absolutely nothing wrong with the decision. It was a very fair and correct decision that we took. I don't know why CBI thought that there is a conspiracy."(Agencies)
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N.R. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, has floated an e-commerce joint venture with the world’s largest online retailer Amazon through his private investment firm Catamaran Ventures to help small and medium businesses join the online bandwagon. Murthy’s family office holds 51 per cent stake in the venture. Currently, the two partners are working on a back-end-operations structure for the venture as foreign direct investment in e-commerce is not allowed in India.Last-mile ConnectTaking a cue from Amazon chief Jeff Bezos — known to encourage customers to email him directly — Flipkart co-founder and chief executive Sachin Bansal has decided to reach out to customers by spending a day on the back of an eKart delivery boy’s bike, delivering orders at customers’ doorsteps. The drill of personally delivering orders was initiated two months ago by co-founder and chief operating officer Binny Bansal. In the coming months, over 85 senior executives will undertake this drill.Juncker Strikes GoldThe new president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, 59, is set to earn £1.8 million over the next five years. The former Luxembourg prime minister will earn £245,629.70 a year — almost double the package of British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was also in contention for the EU post. The salary is topped up by a residential allowance of £184,222 over five years, plus an expenses deal of £1,136 a month. On leaving office, he will receive a £20,469 resettlement allowance, a transitional allowance of £98,252 for three years, plus a pension worth £52,500.A Free LunchRecycling magnate Chen Guangbiao hosted lunch at a fancy Central Park restaurant for 250 homeless New Yorkers. He regaled the guest by singing ‘We are the world’. His original plan was to invite 1,000 guests and give everyone $300 in cash. But security concerns forced Guangbiao to change his plans. He instead donated $90,000 to a charity. Earlier this year, the 46-year-old businessman wanted to buy The New York Times. Its chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said the newspaper was not for sale.The InheritanceThere are others ahead of him for the throne, but Prince Harry is in line for a huge award. He is scheduled to receive £10 million on his 30th birthday on 15 September as an inheritance from his late mother Diana. He, however, faces a £4 million deduction due to inheritance tax, which experts say he could limit to £3.6 million if he donates some of the cash to charities. His older brother William too paid 40 per cent tax when he received his inheritance. Diana’s estate was worth £13 million after tax at the time of her death in 1997.Ace U His Sleeve Former Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj has lent his name to an Indian wine label. The Grover Vijay Amritraj Reserve Collection was launched in London at a Wimbledon-themed party. His collaboration with premium wine producer Grover Zampa Vineyards is aimed at the UK market. The collection of red and white wines is inspired by Amritraj’s legendary feats on the tennis court and priced at around £14.99.Fighting SpiritJamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has been diagnosed with throat cancer, but the ailment is at an early stage. In a memo to employees and shareholders of the largest US bank, the 58-year-old has said that the prognosis is excellent and that he will continue to be actively involved in the company during his treatment, which is expected to last eight weeks.The Chosen OneRobert McDonald, former chief of Procter & Gamble (P&G), has been appointed head of the Department of Veterans Affairs by US President Barack Obama. The 61-year-old replaced former secretary Eric Shinseki, who resigned in May amid revelations of systemic failures in caring for veterans and large-scale cover-ups of those failures. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 28-07-2014)
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Government on Tuesday (8 July) proposed "highest ever" plan outlay of Rs 65,445 crore to the railways for the current fiscal, with a budgetary support of over Rs 30,000 crore.Presenting the Railway Budget for 2014-15, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda said the "highest ever plan outlay" would include market borrowing of Rs 11,790 crore and internal resources of Rs 15,350 crore.Another Rs 6,005 crore would be mopped up through public private partnerships (PPP) mode, while railways would create a safety fund of Rs 2,200 crore.As per Budget Estimates for 2014-15, total receipts are projected at Rs 1,64,374 crore, while total expenditure at Rs 1,49,176 crore.Operating ratio would be 92.5 per cent, which is an improvement of 1 per cent over the last fiscal.While passenger traffic grew by 2 per cent, passenger earnings stood at Rs 44,645 crore after revenue foregone of Rs 610 crore on account of rollback in monthly season ticket fares, Gowda said, adding freight earnings are estimated at 1,05,770 crore for this fiscal.The expenditure on pension is pegged at Rs 28,850 crore, while Rs 9,135 crore would be spent on dividend payment.On the challenges facing railways, Gowda said, "Surplus revenues are declining. There is hardly any adequate resources for development works."The surplus resources, which stood at Rs 11,754 crore in 2007-08, is estimated to be only Rs 602 crore in the current financial year, he added.He also said Rs 5 lakh crore was required to complete the ongoing projects alone as only 317 of the 674 projects sanctioned in last three decades could be completed.Completing the unfinished projects would require Rs 1,82,000 crore, he said.Observing that most of gross traffic receipts was spent on fuel, salary and pension, track and coach maintenance and on safety works, Gowda said that Rs 1,39,558 crore was the gross traffic receipts and total working expenses were at Rs 1,30,321 crore last year.(PTI)
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The Indian rupee fell marginally by five paise to 60.52 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday (25 August) at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market due to increased demand for the US currency from importers.Forex dealers said besides the dollar's gains against other currencies overseas, increased demand from importers for the American unit put pressure on the rupee but a higher opening in the domestic equity market, capped the losses.The rupee recovered 20 paise to close at over three-week high of 60.47 against the US dollar in the previous session on Friday following strong local equities and capital inflows.Meanwhile, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex jumped 130.96 points, or 0.49 per cent, to hit an all-time high of 26,540.51 in early trade on Monday.(PTI)
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In June, there was a 43 per cent deficit in rainfall across India. Only five of the 36 meteorological divisions had normal rain. The monsoon is likely to pick up in JulyClick here to view graphicCompiled by Anup Jayaram; Graphic by Prashant Chaudhary(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 28-07-2014)
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The Supreme Court on Saturday (23 August) refused to postpone civil services preliminary examination scheduled for Sunday (24 August), saying the objections raised by students on comprehension part have been addressed and the exam can't be stayed at the last hour when nine lakh students are ready to appear.In a special hearing, a bench of justices J S Khehar and Arun Mishra, which assembled on a non-working day, dismissed the plea for a stay on the examination.The bench granted a patient hearing for around half-an-hour but did not agree with the contention of the petitioner that the examination procedure favours students of science background."You have pointed out only one point that is on comprehension and it has been removed. Defect has been remedied," the bench said.It was referring to UPSC's decision asking candidates not to answer questions in English Comprehensive section of the preliminary exam following protest over its inclusion.Advocate Ravindra S Garia and Vishal Sinha, appearing for the petitioner Angesh Kumar, submitted that the present pattern of examination is already skewed against the students from non-urban background and from Humanities and non Engineering/ Science/ Management streams."Your difficulty has been removed so you are in better position. Your grievance has been decided in your favour.Merit cannot be assessed in your way," it said, adding that these are academic issues which should be left to the government and expert bodies to decide.The bench, however, observed that the bright students opt for science and medicine stream and that may be reason why people from such stream do well in exams."Where do the most intelligent students go? The cream goes to science and medicine. So students from those stream score marks higher than the students from humanities background," the bench said, adding, "No system is perfect".It also asked the petitioner why he approached the court so late."Everything is same. Syllabus is same. Why do you need more time? Nine lakh students are ready to appear in the exam.What to do if one is not ready. All students applied in May and they have prepared for the exam," it said, adding, "We find no merit in this petition and the same is accordingly dismissed".(PTI)
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India has set up a four-member panel of secretaries from different ministries to work out a new gas pricing mechanism, a senior official at the oil ministry said on Friday.The first meeting of the panel will be held on Monday, said Rajive Kumar, additional secretary in the oil ministry.Apart from Kumar, other panel members include secretary of expenditure in the finance ministry, power secretary and fertiliser secretary - all top-ranking bureaucrats."It (the gas pricing) will be re-examined comprehensively and we will have consultations with major stakeholders," Kumar said, referring to producers and buyers.In June, India had deferred gas pricing to end September saying the complex issue needed more discussion.India is a large importer of energy. Its net energy imports amounted to 6.3 percent of gross domestic product in the last fiscal year that ended in March.India's gas demand far exceeds output, but prices have been kept low for key industries such as fertiliser and power, deterring investment in the gas sector.Kumar hoped the panel could work out in two-to-three weeks a mechanism, which could then be submitted to the federal cabinet.(PTI)
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BNP Paribas, France’s largest bank, pleaded guilty to violating US economic sanctions against Iran, Sudan and other countries and agreed to pay a record $8.9 billion in penalties. The US Justice Department action against the French bank has sparked speculation that some of its rivals in Europe would also be punished. The US has focused its investigations on dollar operations of a handful of European banks with countries blacklisted by it. The probes, which began in 2009, are looking at the alleged transfer of billions of dollars to the accounts of blacklisted entities which benefited from a US legal loophole that closed in 2008. The investigations are being led by several US authorities: the justice and treasury departments, the Federal Reserve and New York’s Department of Financial Services.Pulling The PlugOrkut, Google’s first social networking site, will cease to exist after September, with the search giant deciding to shut down the service launched 10 years ago. The service, quite popular in Brazil and India, lost out to rivals like Facebook. “Over the past decade, YouTube, Blogger and Google+ have taken off, with communities springing up in every corner of the world. Because the growth of these communities has outpaced Orkut’s growth, we’ve decided to bid Orkut farewell,” Google said. Orkut was launched in 2004, the same year Facebook was founded. The latter has gone on to have 1.28 billion users.Bitter PillPharma major GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has confirmed the existence of a sex tape of its former head in China, the latest twist in the ongoing corruption scandal it faces in the country. The secretly filmed video of Mark Reilly and his Chinese girlfriend was emailed to several senior GSK executives. Reilly has been accused of ordering his staff to bribe hospital officials to use GSK products and has been barred from leaving China. GSK said it was continuing to cooperate with the Chinese authorities. “The issues relating to our China business are very difficult and complicated,” the firm said in a statement.A Step ForwardThe US wants to restart a cyber-security working group that China shut down after the US indicted five Chinese military officers on charges of hacking into American companies’ computers to steal trade secrets. Assistant secretary of state Daniel Russel said the US was ready to resume talks, which he described as “useful and important”, if China was. Russel said officials would raise the matter at the annual US-China Security and Economic Dialogue in Beijing. After the indictments against the five officers were unsealedin May, Beijing pulled the plugon the working group.Bit By BitThe bitcoin world kicked into high gear as the US government began auctioning some of the virtual currency seized in an FBI raid on Silk Road. The US Marshals Service auction was for 29,000 bitcoins — about $17 million at current rates, although bitcoin values have been highly volatile. Bidders had to register with a deposit of $200,000 — in cash only from a bank transfer. US authorities have another wallet of over 144,000 bitcoins, which is not currently up for sale, which probably makes Washington the largest holder of the controversial cryptocurrency.In The BagMexican tycoon Carlos Slim’s real estate company Inmobiliaria Carso has bought out US telephone operator AT&T’s $5.6 billion stake in telecommunications firm America Movil. The acquisition of AT&T’s shares represent 8.27 per cent of America Movil’s capital stock, according to a company statement. “Upon consummation of the transaction authorised by the board of directors, AT&T will no longer be a shareholder of America Movil,” it stated. AT&T has gradually reduced its stake in America Movil in recent years. Last year, the American group sold more than 1.5 million shares.New WingsFast-growing Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad is spreading its wings. It has agreed to pick up a 49 per cent stake in Italian loss-making airline Alitalia. The two parties put out a brief statement which said they had agreed to “principal terms”, without disclosing any financial details. Alitalia has made an annual profit only a few times in its 68-year history. Italy’s transport minister Maurizio Lupi said Etihad, as part of the deal, is prepared to invest up to $1.7 billion over the next four years. Etihad is expected to cut up to 2,200 jobs once it takes over.Call ConnectedThe European Commission approved telecom giant Vodafone’s acquisition of Spanish cable firm Ono, ruling that the transaction posed little threat to competition. In a statement, it said the companies’ activities were “largely complementary”, with Ono’s main activity related to fixed line telecommunication services, “whereas Vodafone is active in mobile telecom”. Vodafone, flush with cash from the sale of its Verizon Wireless stake to partner Verizon for $130 billion, agreed in March to purchase Ono for $10 billion. The deal marks Vodafone’s desire to grow in Europe following last year’s €7.7-billion takeover of German cable operator Kabel Deutschland.Teaming UpDaimler and Renault Nissan will invest $1.36 billion to develop small cars and build a factory in Mexico, the companies said, in a step that deepens cooperation between the Mercedes and Infiniti brands. The companies said they will build a plant with a capacity of 300,000 vehicles in Aguascalientes, Mexico. The first Infiniti cars will roll out of the new plant in 2017, followed a year later by Mercedes, with both brands planning to market those vehicles globally. Nissan, Mercedes and alliance partner Renault have shared engines, plants and vehicle underpinnings for small cars since Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche and Renault Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn forged an alliance in 2010.Thumbs UpEuropean regulators have recommended approval of a copycat insulin for diabetics, posing a threat to French drugmaker Sanofi whose top-selling Lantus is now set to face a cheaper rival in 2015. The new drug, Abasria, is made by US rival Eli Lilly, which has developed it as a so-called biosimilar version of Sanofi’s $8 billion-a-year Lantus, or insulin glargine. The green light from the European Medicine Agency for Lilly and its partner Boehringer Ingelheim marks another step forward for biosimilar medicines, which are copies of biotech drugs that promise to cut the cost of treatment. Industry analysts expect Lilly’s version of insulin glargine to be priced significantly lower than Lantus, to attract patients and healthcare providers.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 28-07-2014)
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The strategic importance of India’s realty sector as an engine of growth cannot be emphasided more. Playing a central role in the development of the country’s infrastructure base, the real estate sector is one of the largest generators of economic activity. With multiple cross-linkages across various industries like cement, steel, chemicals, IT/ITeS, manufacturing and retail, the real estate sector is at the core of the construction industry and is a conduit for private sector participation in India’s built environment. Within the realty sector, the housing segment offers the greatest potential and opportunity. A recent report by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) titled “Assessing the Economic Impact of India's Real Estate Sector 2013-14” documents that the real estate sector had a total supply pipeline of close to 3.6 billion sq. ft. lined up for completion in 2013. About 98 per cent of this is concentrated in residential segment, including organised as well as unorganised space. The rest includes organised commercial office and retail space in Tier-I and some Tier-II cities.The total economic footprint generated by the construction of this real estate pipeline can be gauged from the fact that it will require a total investment of about INR 254,000 crore, which will help generate revenues worth INR 370,000 crore, and provide employment to about 7.6 million people across the country. Persistent Woes There are pertinent and long prevailing issues ailing India’s real estate sector. Despite repeated petitioning to the central government, the sector has not been accorded the status of an “industry”, consequently affecting the sector’s ability to access debt lending at better interest rates and reduced collateral values. Swelling cost of construction, higher cost of finance due to delay in approvals, lack of availability of serviced urban lands, absence of single window approval system, slow reforms and dawdling pace of growth in infrastructure are some of the other significant issues curtailing growth of the sector.Unlocking the PotentialThe three major promises made by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in their manifesto having direct implications for the real estate sector include (i) development of 100 new cities; (ii) implementing a new land use policy; and (iii) planning for low-cost housing. Prime Minister Modi’s pledge to ensure ‘Housing for All’ by 2022 presents anINR 9 lakh crore opportunity for the sector.Budget 2014-15 holds the key to unlocking this opportunity for India’s real estate sector. Key issues that await government attention are the following: Conferment of “Industry” status, at least to the Housing Segment:Both from a developer’s and a consumer’s perspective, there is merit in according real estate sector with the official recognition of being an industry. It is imperative for the sector to be recognised as a priority sector and ensure easy access to much needed finance, bring down prices and kick start the economy. Even if industry status for real estate is not conferred, housing segment should be given that status. This necessity needs to be addressed particularly in pursuit of lowering the national housing deficit. Further, while 100 per cent FDI is permitted in the real estate sector subject to certain norms, the inflows have been limited. The conferment of the special status will give the sector the identity of an organised sector and assure investors in the international markets, paving the way for greater FDI inflows, easy sanction of loans for projects and stabilisation of interest rates. Single Window Clearance Mechanism: One of the major needs of the hour is the single-window clearance system for project approvals, especially for the housing segment in order to curb the ongoing delays in project sanctioning. Currently, this process is very tedious and takes 1-3 years, affecting the timelines and scheduling of the projects. Moreover, there is no transparency in the system. A single-window clearance would help to speed up the approval process thus boosting the sector in the long run.Tax Appropriations: There is great optimism associated with the establishment of the new government in impacting real estate pricing. Further, reduction in interest rates on home loans, implementation of the proposed GST framework and the implied tax benefits to buyers are other expectations that will augur well for the sector. Going forward, taxes on under-construction properties must be reduced as it will help first home buyers. Service tax, sales tax and VAT on built-up etc. are other chargesapplied during the construction of the project whereas completed properties only attract registration charges. The budget presents an opportunity to offer some benefits for buyers opting for under-construction properties, which will accelerate the demand-supply cycle. Presently, the only benefit that the customers get is the option of staggered payment.Moreover, the current income tax benefits on deduction of interest on housing loans are considered inadequate. Upward revision in interest rate on home loan deduction limit and reintroduction of standard deduction are some of the key requirements to provide an impetus to the real estate sector.Reduction in Repo-Rate: While the RBI’s continuous increase in repo rate is being done to keep inflation under control, it is adversely impacting the real estate sector as EMIs are steadily rising. Reduction of repo rates will, in turn, lead to reduction in rate of interest on home loans. Reduction of home loan interest rates would encourage more people to go for loans, fueling demand and supply in the sector. REITs: Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) could have a significant positive impact on the sector by providing a new funding avenue to developers,reducing exposure of Indian banking system to the sector and providing a productive investment avenue for channeling household savings. To kickstart REITs in India, the government should look to announcing favorable tax provisions relating to taxability of stakeholders in a in the upcoming budget. Affordable Housing: The new government has announced a clear mandate in terms of ‘housing for all’, and will therefore need to come up with a detailed affordable housing policy. However, to tackle the massive housing requirement of urban India in an effective and speedy manner, the new housing policy should look to suggest some viable methods for making affordable housing possible in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.The government also needs to look into providing additional incentives such as tax concessions and more income tax relief to buyers of affordable housing units. Developers of affordable housing can also be incentivised in various ways, such as income tax deduction, reducing duties. Government should consider providing specific tax holiday benefits for affordable housing projects like 80IA to provide further impetus to the sector. While the government had taken a commendable step by allowing External Commercial Borrowings (ECB’s) for affordable housing, easing norms for the same will allow for greater access. FDI in Real Estate: The industry looks forward to the announcement of progressive policies pertaining to FDI in real estate, since the sector is in marked need of a more liberalised funding flow. Lock-in requirements for foreign players and stringent exit clauses have had a dampening effect on FDI in the sector.Sustainable Growth:The Union Budget should incentivise adoption of sustainable technologies like rain-water harvesting, zero liquid discharge and solar installations for housing projects. Currently, the incentives being offered are not consistent across all States, and in States where they exist, the implementation mechanism is yet not aligned to the expected output. From a developer’s perspective, there are limited incentives for enabling green initiatives. There is a need for proactive efforts, such as providing extra FSI for projects that incorporate green initiatives and property tax rebates for green developments on a large scale in this Budget announcement. This will enable increased focus of the sector on its environmental responsibility and incentivise development of eco-friendly, green infrastructure. With the twin objectives of spurring growth in India’s realty development and benefitting the end-consumer, expectations of some policy improvements from the upcoming budget are high. To re-establish the country as an economic force and boost consumer and investor confidence,the real estate sector is hoping for the announcement of new progressive policies pertaining to some of the issues of immediate concern. Real estate sector has been at the forefront of the Indian Government’s agenda due to its potential to propel economic growth significantly. Hence, it is imperative that this sector gets due weightage in the upcoming budget for the policies and incentives that aid its development.Budget 2014-15 is being watched, closely.(The suthor, Brotin Banerjee, is MD & CEO, Tata Housing Development Company Limited)
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Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday (7 July) blamed the recent hike in rail fares on decisions taken under the previous UPA regime and said that the BJP-led government should be judged from what is presented on Tuesday (8 July) as part of its railway budget."The fair hike which has happened is your (UPA's) legacy.Whether we hike it or not, you will get to know tomorrow," Jaitley said while addressing the Congress benches in Rajya Sabha during a discussion on price rise.Railways recently implemented a 14.2 per cent hike in passenger fares along with a 6.5 per cent raise in freight charges.Jaitley said there was a need to understand the situation in which the UPA dispensation had left railways. A major allegation against UPA, Jaitley said, is that it eschewed hard decisions even when those were in the public interest, leading to the present state of affairs.He said that in February this year, the losses incurred by railways on the basis of passenger fares alone touched Rs 30,000 crore.Jaitley claimed that as the losses got so inflated by February that they threatened to bring things to a standstill, the then rail minister approached the government with a proposal to hike fares on February 6. And, on February 11, the then Prime Minister agreed to the rise in rail fares, he said."At the Prime Minister's suggestion, it was decided to implement the fare and freight revision with effect from the first week of May, 2014," Jaitley added.He said that as there was a feeling the parliamentary polls would be over by May, the proposal that was cleared was for raising the fares only after that exercise.On May 16, as the results were being announced, Indian Railway Board issued a notification giving effect to the then Prime Minister's direction. "The fares were implemented. By evening the (then) minister knew that his government was going. At 7 in the evening, having approved the tariff hike in February itself to be given effect in May, the outgoing minister passed another order saying 'what you have done in the afternoon should be rescinded and this matter should be decided by the next minister'," Jaitley said.The Finance Minister said that the present rail minister Sadananda Gowda was faced with a Hobson's choice."Should he (Gowda) allow the railways to continue to bleed and then hide behind some fact and say 'I won't raise the fare' and we reach a situation few months down the road that railways are unable to operate," he said.He said that the question was whether the new Rail Minister would follow the "weak-kneed" policy of his predecessors that unpopular decisions cannot be taken even if they are in the national interest or if he would take his decision and place the fact before the country that, to run the railways, it was necessary.(PTI)
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