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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to unveil his top 10 policy priorities on Thursday (29 May), seeking to unblock an investment logjam and setting deadlines for action in order to revive the economy.A top aide flagged the action points ahead of a cabinet meeting at which Modi will begin the task of meeting the aspirations of voters who handed his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the strongest electoral mandate in India in 30 years."The entire machinery will be geared up to fulfil the mandate of the new leader," Nripendra Misra, newly named as principal private secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, told The Hindu in an interview.Misra said that Modi's policy priorities will "necessarily have to be implemented in a time-bound manner". They would focus on overcoming delays to major infrastructure projects and addressing why India has become a coal importer, he added.Reuters reported exclusively last week that Modi was considering restructuring Coal India, the state-controlled mining behemoth, in a bid to halt a decline in output.The Prime Minister's Office is expected to become a powerful centre of policy making under Modi, who has named loyalists such as Arun Jaitley to key posts like finance but whose cabinet team lacks strength in depth.Modi was due to chair a cabinet meeting at 11 a.m., his office said, with a briefing to follow afterwards.(Reuters)
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CVC Pradeep Kumar, who along with other two vigilance commissioners was asked by the Supreme Court to assist it in monitoring coal blocks allocation scam probe, today pleaded for his withdrawal from the cases. The Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) submitted before a bench headed by Justice R M Lodha that he be allowed to withdraw from the cases as he had worked with the coal ministry as a joint secretary between 2003-06. The apex court said that it would consider the plea made by CVC when the special bench, which is hearing coalgate cases, assembles. The court had on March 28 sought assistance of CVC to examine all cases in coal blocks allocation scam in which there were divergent views between the investigating officer and CBI's head office on filing charge sheets. It had asked CVC and two vigilance commissioners to give their suggestions whether the cases can be closed or CBI can go ahead with the filing of charge sheets in them. The apex court had passed the order after it was informed that the agency had filed closure reports in two cases despite there being difference of opinion among CBI officials. CBI had informed the court that there were till date 20 such cases where officers had differed on what further action needed to be taken. The court had directed the agency to place the documents of all 20 cases within five days before CVC for its perusal and the corruption watchdog was asked to file its report in four weeks. It had said CVC, along with other two vigilance commissioners, will examine the documents and file their report in a sealed envelope on what should be done in those cases. DIG Ravi Kant Sharma, who supervises the coal scam probe, along with other two officers of the same rank, had said that the investigating officer (IO) had opined to close one of the cases which was rejected by him but his officers approved the opinion of IO after which closure report was filed. (PTI)
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Three men found guilty of gang-raping two women in the abandoned Shakti Mills in city last year were today sentenced to death by a court, bringing into force for the first time the new law for repeat rape offenders. Handing out the capital punishment under Section 376 (E) of the Indian Penal code after prosecution sought death for the repeated offenders--Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and Salim Ansari--Principle Judge Shalini Phansalkar Joshi held that there was no scope of reformation of the trio. Before pronouncing the verdict, the court took into consideration the arguments of Special Public Prosecuter Ujwal Nikam who forcefully contended that the circumstances under which the crime has been committed demands maximum punishment to the accused. Yesterday, the court held the three convicts guilty under the amended IPC section for the repeat offence of rape, which made them liable for the maximum sentence of death. The amended section which has been applied for the first time in the country, was introduced after the brutal gangrape of a paramedic at Delhi in 2012. The two gangrapes in Mumbai involving two women--a telephone operator and a photojournalist--took place within a few weeks at the Shakti Mills compound in Central Mumbai last year, shocking the metropolis. The 18-year-old telephone operator was gangraped in the the deserted premises in July last year while the 22-year-old photojournalist was brutalised on August 22, 2013. The scribe was raped by Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali, Salim Ansari, Siraj Rehman and a minor boy when she had gone to the desolate Mill compound with a male colleague on an assignment. While the three common convicts were awarded death penalty, Siraj was sentenced to life term in the photojournalist case. The Bombay High Court had last week refused to interfere with the sessions court's decision to frame fresh charges for repeat offence of rape under the amended section. (PTI)
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Shares in state-run Oil India Ltd fallafter the company reported a 26 percent fall in its Jan-March net profit. Oil India stock was down 2.5 per cent as of 10:57 a.m.Domestic brokerage Motilal Oswal Securities said Oil India's profit was significantly below estimates on lower oil and gas production and higher-than-expected subsidy.Oil India shares had surged 21.3 per cent this month until Tuesday (27 May) along with other state-run companies on hopes of an economic revival and cheap valuations compared to private sector rivals.(Reuters)
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The 1992 Babri Mosque demolition was an "act of planned sabotage" and not a by frenzied mob of Hindu outfits, a news portal claimed today on the basis of a sting operation it had carried over a period of two years. At a press conference here, Cobrapost editor Anirudh Behl screened the recorded interviews in which some low rung leaders of BJP, VHP and Shiv Sena have claimed that the operation was carried out with precision by their volunteers after going through intensive training and mock drills. Among those who were interviewed were BJP leaders Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh and Vinay Katiyar, who talked about the the events in the run up to the demolition. Behl rejected BJP's charge that the sting operation was being made public at the behest of Congress for polarising elections. Asked about BJP's demand that the Election Commission stop the telecasting of the sting operation, he said, "We have not got any information from Election Commission regarding this. "Our stand is that it is the responsibility of the media. We are not contesting the elections. Our aim is to bring out the truth and that is what we have shown. Truth is bitter to some people. Whichever authority demands tapes from us, we will provide it to them." Codenamed 'Operation Janmabhoomi', the exercise was based on the interview of 23 leaders who were allegedly in the forefront of the demolition for which a conspiracy was hatched at the level of two Hindu outfits, VHP and Shiv Sena, but not jointly, he said. The "confessions" named BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and others for "secretly planning" out the demolition in an elaborate way, the news portal said. The tapes claimed that even the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh and former Prime Minister P V Narsimha Rao were in the know about the imminent demolition. The investigation claimed that the entire "sabotage" was planned with so much secrecy that no government agency got a wind of it. After many years of investigation, the CBI has not been able to find clinching, corroborative evidence against all those 40 it has made accused in its chargesheet, it claimed. Cobrapost claimed that out of the 23 who were "were involved in the demolition of Babri Masjid, either as conspirators or as executors" and interviewed, 12 were from Bjrang Dal-VHP?BJP combine, five from Shiv Sena and the rest from other Hindu religious outfits. Cobrapost claimed that both the Hindu outfits had trained their cadre as part of an action plan many months before it was implemented on December 6 and even a 'balidani jatha' (suicide squad) was also formed with the trained RSS workers. Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of VHP, had its training in Surkhej of Gujarat, while Shiv Sena trained its cadre in Bhind, Morena. An oath (sankalp) for the construction of a grand Ram Temple at the disputed site after removing the structure was also administered to'karsevaks' in the presence of L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore and Acharya Dharmendra, apart from the entire galaxy of Hindu leaders, the investigation revealed. While the VHP brought together around 1,200 RSS workers and named it 'Laxman Sena' with a clarion call or secret code of 'Jai Sheshavtaar', Shiv Sena meanwhile had a similar band of local workers at Ayodhya and had named it Pratap Sena. The investigation claimed that while Shiv Sena had planned to use dynamite to bring down Babri if traditional methods failed, a Bihar team used petrol bombs to dismantle the structure. "There are two more persons who were responsible for Babri demolition as both were keeping a close watch on the developments but did nothing--Kalyan Singh, then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, had knowledge before hand of what was going to happen. Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti, a former BJP MP, claimed in the tapes,"On the December 5 night itself Kalyan Singh was informed of it and he was told that if need be the structure would be felled. Now, you decide what you have to do)." Cobrapost also Sakshi Maharaj, another former BJP MP, also claimed in the interview of having given Kalyan Singh a minute-by-minute account of the developments. The sting operation claimed that the allegations of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao having a hand in the demolition were found to be true as certain leaders Vinay Katiyar, B L Sharma, Santosh Dubey, Sakshi Maharaj and Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti "openly acknowledged" Rao?s supportive role. (PTI)
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The rupee fell by 18 paise to 59.22 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on capital outflows by foreign funds amid month-end demand for the American currency from importers.Besides, dollar's strength against other currencies overseas on the back of encouraging economic data also put pressure on the local unit but a higher opening in the domestic equity market limited the fall, forex dealers said.Meanwhile, the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex recovered by 91.69 points, or 0.37 per cent, to trade at 24,641.20.The rupee had lost 33 paise - its biggest drop in over two months -- to close at 59.04 against the dollar in the previous session as overseas investors pulled out funds from stocks.(PTI)
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The rupee is trading at 60.30 per dollar, weaker than its previous close of 60.18, tracking weakness in local shares and importer dollar demand."The central bank is suspected to have been buying dollars in recent sessions to shore up its foreign exchange reserves," said Subramaniam Sharma, director at Greenback Forex Services.Most other Asian currencies like yuan, peso and baht are trading weaker compared with the dollar.Local shares will be watched during the day for cues on foreign fund flows, which have been a key factor hurting the pair in recent sessions.Indian shares retreated from a record-setting rally and as losses accelerated, with importers rushing in to buy dollars.Caution is also seen prevailing ahead of US jobs data due later in the day.(Reuters)
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Backtracking from his defiant stand, former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday (26 May) furnished a bail bond before a court here which ordered his "forthwith release" from Tihar Jail where he spent six days in a case of criminal defamation filed by BJP MP Nitin Gadkari. The drama came to an end after day long activities during which Kejriwal's counsel visited him in Tihar Jail and conveyed to the Delhi High Court that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader has given consent to its suggestion and agreed to file the bail bond. Kejriwal had earlier refused to furnish a bail bond before the court on the ground that it was against the principles of AAP to furnish bail bond in a case of political nature. The proceedings, which started before a bench of justices Kailash Gambhir and Sunita Gupta at around 11 am, ended in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha at 5.15 pm when the counsel representing Kejriwal told her that the AAP leader has signed the personal bond and was ready to file it. "It is also submitted that Arvind Kejriwal has written in his own handwriting that he is filing the personal bond in compliance with the high court order. In view of this, the personal bond furnished is accepted," the magistrate said. "Let the accused be released forthwith," she said. During the hearing which began in the jampacked courtroom of high court, the bench advised senior counsel Shanti Bhushan and advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Kejriwal, to ask their client to furnish a bond and later raise whatever legal issues he wants to once he comes out of jail. The bench thereafter allowed Kejriwal's lawyers to meet and apprise him about the court's suggestion to furnish bail bond which would be subject to final outcome of the legal issues raised by him. It also advised Kejriwal not to make it a "prestige issue". To this, Kejriwal's lawyer told the bench that they would like to meet their client in the jail after which the hearing was postponed till 3 pm. As soon as the hearing resumed, the court queried as to what was Kejriwal's response on the suggestion of the bench. "He (Kejriwal) has agreed," Prashant Bhushan told the court, adding, he has signed a bond of Rs 10,000 and showed his handwritten note to the bench. (PTI)
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IIn the first decision after assuming office, the Narendra Modi government on Tuesday (27 May) constituted a special investigative team (SIT) to unearth black money. The SIT will be headed by former Supreme Court judge M B Shah and will include Revenue Secretary, CBI and IB directors, Enforcement Directorate official, CBDT Chairman and RBI deputy governor. Former Supreme Court judge Arijit Pasayat will be the vice-chairman of the panel. The Supreme Court had last week granted the government one week to constitute the SIT for monitoring of all black money cases. "In the first Cabinet of the new government...in the light of the directions of the SC, we have constituted an SIT for unearthing black money... This was an important issue for us," Law and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after a one-and-a-half-hour long Cabinet meeting. (PTI)
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The BJP secured a majority with just 31 per cent of the votes polled. Amongst its MPs is a fair share of glamour from tinsel townClick here to view graphicCompiled by Anup Jayaram; Graphic by Prashant Chaudhary(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 16-06-2014)
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