The deadlock over the Telangana bill persisted with the government on Thursday (20 February) accusing BJP of bringing amendments at the eleventh hour even as it said it could consider extending the Parliament session to get crucial bills passed.The session, the last of the 15th Lok Sabha, is scheduled to conclude on 21 February.."We have listed the Telangana bill in Rajya Sabha and we would be attempting to get it passed. The question of amendments at this stage does not arise," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath told reporters.Criticising BJP, he said the opposition party had moved no amendment in Lok Sabha, "(but) they suddenly changed their mind and want to move amendments".He said BJP voted against similar amendments moved by members of other parties in Lok Sabha."If they didn't do it (move amendments) in Lok Sabha, I don't see why they should do it in Rajya Sabha. I have requested them to let the bill be passed," Nath said.With BJP pressing for a package for Seemandhra and moving amendments for the purpose, he said the government would like to see that Seemandhra gets its "adequate resources, adequate revenues and full justice is done"."There are issues which concern Seemandhra, valid issues.Of course, the government supports all the valid issues of Seemandhra," he said.Nath's statement meant that the government and BJP have not found common ground on the Telangana bill issue even though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and his party colleague M Venkaiah Naidu had a meeting yesterday. The stalemate on the Telangana bill is over a demand for a constitutional amendment and a wholesome package for Seemandhra region.Asked if the government would extend the current session of Parliament, Nath said it could if key bills were not passed."We would like to see some bills passed and, if necessary, will extend Parliament (session)," he said, adding that till the time the business that is listed is not passed, the session would go on.Nath said there were certain bills on which there was no disagreement and that the government was also keen on the anti-corruption legislations."We want that the anti-corruption legislations are passed.They are much needed after the passage of the Lokpal Bill," he said.He said it was sad that some parties were blocking those legislations.(Reuters)
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The rupee is trading at 61.10/11 versus its previous close of 61.07/08 amid lack of any major triggers though month-end dollar demand from oil importers could push the pair higher later in the session.Traders will continue to monitor domestic sharemarket moves for cues on foreign fund flows. The BSE Sensex is trading down 0.2 per cent in early trade.Asian currencies trading mixed versus the dollar.Traders say sentiment also likely to be cautious ahead of the outcome of the currently underway national elections due on 16 May.The pair is expected to move in a 60.90 to 61.50 range during the session.(Reuters)
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US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said on Wednesday (19 February) he will go to India in two weeks to participate in talks that were canceled last month amid a diplomatic row.The energy secretary, who will meet with counterparts in New Delhi, had planned to visit India in January but the trip was canceled in the midst of an escalating dispute over the arrest in New York of Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul. (Reuters)
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India is likely to witness below-average rainfall in 2014, the government's weather office said on Thursday (24 April), if El Nino hits the four-month-long rain season. Rainfall is expected to be 95 per cent of the long-term average, with a margin for error of plus or minus 5 per cent, during the June-to-September season, it said in a statement. The Meteorological Department defines average, or normal, rainfall as between 96 per cent and 104 per cent of a 50-year average of 89 cm for the entire season. The first official monsoon forecast is in line with the latest outlook of the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organisation's (WMO) forum that predicted mostly below-average rains in much of South Asia including India. (Reuters)
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India's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party was set to make gains in two big states in the south and east that began voting on Thursday in the sixth phase of a mammoth general election that could help it build a stable majority in parliament.A final set of opinion polls predicted a strong showing by the BJP and its allies in Tamil Nadu in the south and West Bengal in the east that could make it less dependent on the two women who rule those states and who have in the past proved to be fickle coalition partners.The Hindu nationalist-led opposition, led by prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, is riding a wave of public anger across India against the ruling Congress party over a slew of corruption scandals and a slowing economy.A little over 180 million people were registered to vote on Thursday in the sixth phase of the world's biggest election that will end on May 16 when votes are counted from across India.While Modi has focused on development issues, some of his colleagues on the Hindu far right have sought to rake up divisive issues that rivals say is aimed at polarising voters in the BJP's northern and western bastions.His party is also looking to make a dent in the south and east to pull off an outright majority, something that no party has been able to achieve in nearly two decades."This election we are expecting a significant contribution from the south," said former BJP president Venkaiah Naidu, adding that the party wanted to lift its southern tally to 50 seats from 19 in the last election in 2009.A regional party led by Jayaram Jayalalitha, the powerful chief minister of Tamil Nadu, is expected to win the most seats, but not enough to sweep the state as Modi's aggressive campaign for an all-out majority makes inroads, polls by India Today-Cicero and CNN-IBN said this month.In West Bengal, a third of voters picked Modi as their first choice for prime minister ahead of state chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who leads a regional group. Her party is expected to win the most seats at stake in the state.Banerjee was an ally of the ruling Congress coalition until late 2012, when she walked out in protest against its decision to allow foreign supermarket chains into India's $500 billion market.Both Jayalalitha and Banerjee are seen as belonging to parties to which Modi could turn in case he falls short of a majority in the national vote.However, both are likely to extract their pound of flesh. In Banerjee's case, her left-leaning policies may run counter to Modi's reformist instincts."We are trying to get a majority of our own. Otherwise, we will have to take the support of the regional parties and the day-to-day running of government will not be trouble-free," said BJP general secretary J.P. Nadda.Banerjee forced Indian giant Tata Motors to shift the plant for the world's cheapest car from West Bengal to the western state of Gujarat, which Modi governs, after violent protests over land acquisition.A voter in India's financial capital Mumbai, which also went to the polls on Thursday, said the election was a chance to stop India's slide and restore economic momentum."It's important for this city to vote for a party that is business and development friendly, and that matters over and above anything else," said Riddham Gaba, a 32-year-old businessman. (Reuters)
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Mohammad Amin Pandith, a smallholder and father-of-three from Indian-controlled Kashmir, was lured from his home at night by a man in army uniform, dragged along a potholed lane and shot in the back of the head.His execution, one of three deadly attacks on village elders in the last week blamed on militants determined to derail elections, spread fear through the hamlet of Gulzarpora and made locals wary of voting when polls open on Thursday.It also underlined how hard it will be for India's next prime minister to reach a lasting political settlement in Jammu and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region that has been largely pacified by a huge security presence, yet is not at peace."People are very afraid," Pandith's brother Abdul Rahim told Reuters.He said Pandith's "crime" had been to act as village headman for a regional party now in opposition. The 45-year-old did the job, which paid 2,000 rupees ($30) a month, not out of conviction, but to pay for his children's education.India's election, staggered over several weeks and ending on May 12, may well propel Hindu nationalist leader Narendra Modi to power, a prospect that has Kashmir's 12.5 million people scrabbling to determine what it would mean for them.India's sizeable Muslim minority of 150 million is wary of the 63-year-old, whom many blame for failing to prevent communal riots in 2002 in which more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in Gujarat, where he is still chief minister.Modi denies the charges, and says they are repeated by allies of the ruling Congress party to tarnish his reputation at a time when opinion polls make his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) favourite to lead the next government.In its election manifesto, the BJP vows to uphold India's territorial integrity and abrogate a clause in the constitution that grants Jammu and Kashmir a degree of autonomy.India, Pakistan Or Independence?That puts Modi at odds with locals in Gulzarpora and many beyond who have long favoured independence from India.Of more than 30 men gathered at a neighbour's house to discuss Pandith's murder, not one expressed allegiance to a mainstream political party. Asked if they preferred independence to staying with India, given the choice, all raised their hands.In another sign of a more assertive policy should Modi come to power, during a recent campaign speech in Kashmir's Hindu-majority district of Udhampur he criticised the ruling Congress party for being soft on Pakistan, which also claims the region.India blames Pakistani forces for coordinating and carrying out attacks on its troops and civilians in Kashmir.Udhampur has already voted - elections to the region's six seats are staggered for security reasons. The BJP candidate there, Jitendra Singh, came to support a colleague in Anantnag, which lies in the broad Kashmir valley."We do not wish to enter into a dialogue with Pakistan from a position of weakness," Singh said at the BJP's heavily-guarded office in Srinagar, the state's summer capital. "We cannot allow terrorist attacks and a dialogue to continue at the same time."Pakistan is playing a waiting game on Kashmir until India's new government shows its hand on the issue.Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif promised to revive Kashmir talks and made this a focal point of his own election campaign last year, but the efforts stalled after a spate of violence on the disputed border in August.The Kashmir conflict dates back to independence in 1947, when its Hindu ruler dithered over whether to join India or Pakistan. A war broke out between the newly independent states that ended in stalemate the following year.India and Pakistan fought a second war over Kashmir in 1965, and another undeclared war in 1999, after both became nuclear powers. The 1948 ceasefire line still divides the territory.Although a truce reached in 2003 has broadly held, Indian Kashmir still bears the scars of an insurgency that flared in the 1990s in which 70,000 people died and 8,000 disappeared, human rights activists estimate.Relative peace has only been achieved through the deployment of more than 700,000 police and soldiers who, campaigners say, have abused special legal powers to shoot protesters and carry out extra-judicial killings with impunity."This is democracy at gunpoint," said Khurram Parvez, convener of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society.Change Or No Change?Talk of a "wave" of support for Modi across India brings a wry smile to the lips of Mehboob Beg, who is seeking re-election in Anantnag on a joint ticket of Congress and its regional ally, the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, that runs the state."The more the wave is in favour of Narendra Modi, the more it will help us," Beg told Reuters before addressing a crowd of 3,000 in Kokernag, a township that hosts a large police base.Playing up the secular ideology of Congress and independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru's roots in the region, Beg said: "Congress understands Kashmir better than the BJP and Modi. This is a Muslim-majority state, for God's sake!"Next door, South Kashmir police chief Vijay Kumar estimates that 40 separatist militants are active in the area, 10 of them foreign. He is deploying more than 30,000 security personnel to guard 1,600 polling booths in the constituency.Even that may not be enough to encourage people to vote. At 39 percent, Jammu and Kashmir had the lowest turnout of any Indian state in 2009 elections, due to widespread rejection of the political choices on offer."Elections cannot be a substitute for self-determination," said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a hereditary Kashmiri religious and political leader who declares the election illegitimate but still views himself as a "pro-freedom" moderate.Even hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani does not rule out talks if New Delhi meets conditions including recognising Kashmir's disputed status and cutting back troops."We are not against dialogue, but we want meaningful, results-oriented dialogue," the 84-year-old told Reuters at his home, where he has been under house arrest for most of the last four years.C. Uday Bhaskar, a fellow at the Society for Policy Studies in New Delhi, played down prospects of renewed violence, saying: "People prefer jobs to guns." But he saw little chance of a strategic shift if Modi claims power."The experience of the last 60 to 65 years suggests that a change in government doesn't mean a change in security and foreign policy," he said. "You only see a change in emphasis." (Reuters)
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India is set to pay Iran $1.65 billion over the next three months under an interim nuclear deal that eases sanctions on Tehran and gives it access to $4.2 billion in blocked funds, four sources with knowledge of the matter said.As long as Tehran complies with the terms of its preliminary agreement with western powers, which took effect on Jan. 20, Iran receives some of its funds frozen abroad in eight payments from various buyers over six months.Iran has cut its most sensitive nuclear stockpile by nearly 75 percent in implementing the pact, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in its latest report, as the OPEC member allays fears about its atomic aims.This means Tehran will have access to the next two installments, each of $550 million, which are due on 14 May and June 17. The final $550 million installment, due on July 20, is contingent on confirmation that Iran has fulfilled all of its commitment.The Indian government has asked refiners to make the first payment by mid-May, three of the sources said, adding that refiners will settle all three tranches if payment is allowed by the United States and European Union."The individual companies' share is to be worked out," one of the sources said.Iran has so far received $2.55 billion in frozen oil funds, in five payments, four from Japan and one from South Korea.Omani RialThree of the sources said Iran had asked India to make payments into the Central Bank of Iran's account with Oman's Bank Muscat in Omani rials."All I can confirm is that some movement is happening on payments by India to Iran, but the modalities as to which bank will be used by India to remit funds is yet to be worked out," said a western diplomat privy to the matter, who was not one of the four previously cited sources.Indian refiners Essay Oil, Bangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd together owe $3.6 billion to National Iranian Oil Co.The tough sanctions slapped on Iran in 2012 closed banking channels for the transfer of oil payments to the OPEC member country, putting a stranglehold on its revenue, crippling its economy and ultimately bringing it to the negotiating table.Indian buyers of Iranian oil have been settling 45 percent of payments in rupees, which Iran used for importing goods from India, while the refiners held the remainder.Before the interim deal, countries that imported Iranian oil were required to steadily reduce their purchases to qualify every six months for a waiver from US sanctions.Imports SlashedIran's crude oil exports fell for the first time in five months in March and are slated to drop further in April, moving closer to the levels stipulated by the November interim deal.That agreement allows Iran to keep exporting at current reduced levels of about 1 million bpd and opens a door for lifting shipment volumes later.Iran's top four oil clients - China, India, Japan and South Korea - together cut oil imports from Iran by 15 per cent to an average of 935,862 barrels per day (bpd) in 2013, government and industry data showed.India's intake of Iranian oil surged nearly 43 percent in the first quarter of 2014, bringing a warning from the United States that it needed to hold the shipments closer to end-2013 levels of 195,000 bpd.(Reuters)
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The US has requested India for "provisional arrest" of Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member K V P Ramachandra Rao after he was indicted by an American court in an alleged international racketeering conspiracy involving bribes of $18.5 million for allowing mining of Titanium minerals in Andhra Pradesh. In a letter sent by National Crime Bureau of the US through Interpol to CBI, the US authorities have said Rao should be put under provisional arrest till all the documents were handed over to India through diplomatic channels, official sources said. The sources said CBI sent the letter to the Andhra Pradesh Police asking them to take action against Rao, who was a close aide to late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. The US also informed CBI that Interpol had already been approached for issuance of Red Corner Notice against Rao, who was charged in the US in an alleged international racketeering conspiracy involving bribes worth $18.5 million to state and central government officials in India to allow the mining of Titanium minerals in Andhra Pradesh. A US federal five-count indictment, returned under seal in June 2013 and unsealed in Chicago on April three, charges 65-year-old Rao and five others with one count each of racketeering conspiracy and money laundering and two counts of interstate travel in aid of racketeering. Rao was not immediately available for comments. Apart from Rao, the others charged are Hungarian businessman Andras Knopp, 75, Suren Gevorgyan, 40, of Ukraine, Gajendra Lal, 50, an Indian national and permanent resident of the US who formerly resided in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Periyasamy Sunderalingam, 60, of Sri Lanka. A defendant, Dmitry Firtash 48, a Ukrainian national was arrested on March 12 in Vienna. Beginning in 2006, the defendants allegedly conspired to pay at least $18.5 million in bribes to secure licenses to mine minerals in Andhra Pradesh. The mining project was expected to generate more than $500 million annually from the sale of titanium products, including sales to unnamed "Company A", headquartered in Chicago. The indictment seeks forfeiture from all six defendants of more than $10.59 million and alleges that these individuals used US financial institutions to engage in the international transmission of millions of dollars for the purpose of bribing Indian public officials to obtain approval of the necessary licenses for the project. They allegedly financed the project and transferred and concealed bribe payments through an international conglomerate of companies besides using threats and intimidation to advance the interests of the enterprise's illegal activities. According to the indictment, Firtash was the leader of the enterprise and spearheaded the participation of Group companies in the project. He allegedly met with Indian officials, including Reddy, to discuss the project and its progress. (PTI)
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