ACB registers disproportionate assets case against Karnataka Cong MLA
Zameer Ahmed Khan
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Bengaluru, July 05: Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials are conducting
raids on the properties belonging to Chamarajpet MLA and Congress leader B
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By Rajesh Kumar Singh | NEW DELHI
India posted on Wednesday the world's fastest growth rate for a large economy in the September quarter, yet that offered cold comfort after misery inflicted by the government's unexpected move to remove high denomination banknotes from circulation.
Gross domestic product (GDP) INGDPQ=ECI clocked an annual 7.3 percent growth between July and September, faster than 7.1 percent in the previous quarter and higher than China's 6.7 percent.
That impressive headline figure, however, failed to mask the underlying weakness in Asia's third-largest economy.
Not only was the overall growth lower than expected, it was primarily driven by consumer and government spending. Contraction in capital investment deepened.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision this month to scrap 500 rupee and 1,000 rupee banknotes as part of a crackdown on tax dodgers and counterfeiters denting consumer spending, which makes up 55 percent of India's economy, the outlook for upcoming quarters is not encouraging.
In a country where most people are paid in cash, and buy what they need with cash, Modi's decision has removed 86 percent of the currency in circulation virtually overnight. His shock therapy has left companies, farmers and households suffering.
"Post-demonetization the situation is really grim whether you look at any sector or talk to people," said Devendra Kumar Pant, chief economist at India Ratings & Research.
KNOCK-ON EFFECTS
Economists agree the economy will take a hit this quarter and for several quarters to follow. But opinions on the scale of damage vary widely.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley expects a minor impact lasting for a quarter or two. Private economists, however, reckon the impact would be felt through 2018.
The most optimistic forecasts suggest that India will finish this fiscal year in March with a respectable, but slightly lower, growth rate of 7.3 percent.
But the most pessimistic forecast, from Mumbai-based brokerage Ambit Capital, is for a precipitous drop to 3.5 percent growth.
Modi has sold the move as an attack on the illicit "black economy", it is also aimed at shrinking the cash economy which has lasted so long because few Indians have bank cards and infrastructure for online transactions is poor.
According to Credit Suisse more than 90 percent of consumer purchases are made in cash, while another study shows 85 percent of workers are paid in cash.
The crackdown will also have a spillover effect for India's formal economy.
Take India's construction sector, for example. It relies on so called "black money" for funding, but it accounts for about eight percent of GDP, employs about 40 million people and has a direct bearing on steel, cement and manufacturing companies.
"In terms of the policy implications, today's release is unlikely to have much of an impact," said Shilan Shah, India Economist with Capital Economics. "Attention has already turned to the impact of the government's demonetization measures."
STRANDED TRUCKS
Supply chains at small, medium and even larger companies are already crumbling. Trucks are stranded with no money for fuel, workers won't load goods for free, and distributors can't pay up. Wholesale markets in many cities are shut.
In the wheat-growing states, farmers have told Reuters they have run out of cash, and as a consequence sales of seeds and fertilizer have plunged halfway through the sowing season.
At least the potential for lower inflation holds out some hope that the Reserve Bank of India will extend its easing cycle with a quick interest rate cut - possibly as early as next month.
"We think that it will attempt to cushion the blow from demonetization," said Shah, who expects a 25 basis rate cut at the central bank's policy review meeting on Dec. 6-7.
(This story was refiled to remove extraneous word in fourth paragraph)
(Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
By Krishna Eluri
BENGALURU (REUTERS)Indian inflation is expected to have cooled to a 14-month low in November after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise removal of high denomination bank notes caused an intense cash shortage and severely hurt consumption, a Reuters poll found.
Modi's announcement on November 8 that he was withdrawing 500 and 1,000 rupee bank notes in an attempt to curb corruption and tax evasion made it much harder for consumers to make purchases in the predominantly cash-based economy.
Consumer spending makes up 55 percent of India's economy and most people buy and get paid in cash. The virtual overnight removal of 86 percent of the currency in circulation has left companies, farmers and households suffering.
Inflation is expected to ease to 3.90 percent in November from a year earlier, according to the median consensus from the Reuters poll of over 20 economists.
That would compare with October's 4.20 percent and the Reserve Bank of India's target of 4 percent to be reached by 2021.
"Overall, I think there is a 10- to 20-basis point impact on inflation due to demonetization. We have downgraded our forecast to the same degree," said Tushar Arora, senior economist at HDFC Bank.
Indian services activity dived into contraction last month due to a sharp decline in demand following the withdrawal of the high denomination bank notes, with factory activity showing a sharp deceleration as well.
Despite the turmoil following the cash clampdown, India's central bank surprised markets by eschewing a rate cut and leaving its key policy rate unchanged at 6.25 percent this week, choosing to wait for more information before judging the full effects of the demonetization.
Before last month's announcement, the recently formed Monetary Policy Committee chaired by RBI Governor Urjit Patel was expected to cut interest rates in early 2017.
With the central bank passing up the opportunity to make a rate cut in December, despite cooling inflation, a February move could be on the menu.
Wholesale price inflation likely cooled to 3.10 percent in November from 3.39 percent in October, the poll found.
(Polling by Shaloo Shrivastava and Khushboo Mittal; Editing by Kim Coghill)
By Serajul Quadir
DHAKA(REUTERS)A Bangladesh government-appointed panel investigating the cyber-heist of $81 million from its central bank in February found five officials at the bank were guilty of negligence and carelessness, the head of the panel told Reuters on Thursday.
In his first detailed comments on the inquiry since a report was submitted to the government in May, former central bank governor Mohammed Farashuddin said the officials were low to mid-level and were not directly involved in the crime.
"They were negligent, careless and indirect accomplices," he said in an interview in his office. "The committee came to the conclusion that the heist was essentially committed by external elements."
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Bangladesh has so far refused to make the inquiry report public saying it wanted to deny perpetrators knowledge of the investigation into one of the world's biggest cyber-heists.
It was not immediately known if Bangladesh had shared the report with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the main agency investigating the crime.
Farashuddin did not name the officials he found were negligent. A senior central bank official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no action had been taken against any employee since the inquiry report had not been made public.
Bangladesh Bank spokesman Subhankar Saha declined comment.
Although over 10 months have passed since the heist, there have been no arrests and no word on who carried out the complex heist.
Hackers used stolen credentials to try to transfer nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York through the SWIFT transaction system. Many of the transfer orders were blocked or reversed but $81 million was sent to accounts in a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) in the Philippines.
The money eventually went into the sprawling casino industry in the Philippines and most of it remains untraced.
Like Bangladesh police investigators, Farashuddin said the inquiry panel also found the hackers may have exploited loopholes in the bank's online security when technicians hooked up the central bank's local money transfer system with SWIFT's international payments network late last year.
SWIFT has denied charges that its technicians were responsible for exposing Bangladesh Bank's systems to hackers.
Reuters has reported earlier that Bangladesh Bank had not protected its computer system with a firewall, and used second-hand $10 electronic switches to network computers linked to SWIFT, weaknesses that the hackers may also have exploited.
Farashuddin said that RCBC was responsible for allowing the stolen funds to be withdrawn and disbursed into the casino industry. Bangladesh has said it wants RCBC to compensate it for its losses.
RCBC has said Bangladesh Bank was "negligent" in letting the initial security breach take place there, and hence the Manila-based bank need not pay any compensation. So far only about $15 million of the stolen funds have been recovered.
Farashuddin said his personal opinion was it would be better to make the inquiry report public, since it would make clear that some local officials were negligent but not responsible for the heist.
"If the government would publish, then Bangladesh Bank's position would be strengthened," he said.
Bangladesh's law minister said earlier this week that his government would share the findings of the inquiry with Philippine authorities.
(Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Relatives grieve as they wait for word on the collection of the remains of victims of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane crash at PIMS hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan December 8, 2016. REUTERS/Caren Firouz
By Mehreen Zahra-Malik and Asad Hashim
ISLAMABAD (REUTERS) Pakistan on Thursday mourned the 47 victims of its deadliest plane crash in four years, including a famed rock star-turned-Muslim evangelist, as officials sought to pinpoint the cause of the disaster.
Engine trouble was initially believed responsible, but many questions remain, stirring new worries about the safety record of money-losing state carrier Pakistani International Airlines.
The ATR-42 aircraft involved in the crash had undergone regular maintenance, including an "A-check" certification in October, said airline chairman Muhammad Azam Saigol.
"I want to make it clear that it was a perfectly sound aircraft," Saigol said.
The aircraft appeared to have suffered a failure in one of its two turboprop engines just before the crash, he added, but this would have to be confirmed by an investigation.
"I think there was no technical error or human error," Saigol told a news conference late on Wednesday. "Obviously there will be a proper investigation."
Grief erupted online soon after flight PK661 smashed into the side of a mountain near the town of Havelian, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, on Wednesday, after taking off from the mountain resort region of Chitral.
It crashed just 50 km (31 miles) short of its destination, the international airport in Islamabad, the capital.
A PIA spokesman said the pilot, who issued a "mayday" emergency call before the crash, may have prevented an even bigger catastrophe by manoeuvring the plane away from populated areas.
"It seems that the pilot directed it away from people's homes. Otherwise there could have been even more damage," Daniyal Gillani told Reuters outside a morgue at an Islamabad hospital where bodies were being identified.
Stunned relatives gathered there, some weeping quietly, others besieging officials with questions.
"What can I tell you?" said Raja Amir, as he waited for his mother's remains. "I don't know what we will get of her. There is still another hell to go through."
Television images appeared to show rescue officials retrieving the aircraft's "black box" flight recorder from the wreckage, and the airline confirmed the recovery to the Geo News channel.
ROCK STAR AND ROYALTY
Much of the public's anguish focused on Junaid Jamshed, the vocalist of Vital Signs, one of Pakistan's first and most successful bands of the 1990s, who abandoned his music career in 2001 to become a travelling evangelist with the conservative Tableeghi Jamaat group.
Many comments on social network Twitter pointed up the contrast between his two roles, first as a pop sensation singing about love and heartbreak, and then as a stern, bearded preacher admonishing young people for straying from Islam.
"Junaid Jamshed's journey was so quintessentially Pakistani. Conflicted, passionate, devoted, ubersmart, and so, so talented. Tragic loss," Mosharraf Zaidi, an Islamabad-based development professional and analyst, said in a tweet.
Others simply shared his band's many hits, such as 'Dil Dil Pakistan', which has become an unofficial anthem, played at public gatherings since its release in 1987.
Among the 46 others who perished were two infants, three foreigners - two Austrians and a Chinese man - and five crew listed on the manifest.
Foreign tourists increasingly travel to Chitral, along with numerous domestic visitors, as Pakistan emerges from years of militant violence.
The dead included a member of Chitral's traditional royal family, his wife and family, besides a regional administrative official, Osama Ahmad Warraich, killed with his wife and infant daughter.
At a funeral for the Warraich family, Osama's mother was seen waving at the coffins and weeping: "Let me say goodbye to my kids one more time".
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter made an
unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Friday, amid questions about what
President-elect Donald Trump's foreign policy will mean for the country
as it faces a renewed Taliban-led insurgency.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Friday, amid questions about what President-elect Donald Trump's foreign policy will mean for the country as it faces a renewed Taliban-led insurgency.
Carter will meet U.S. troops and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani while in Afghanistan.
Trump has given few details on his foreign policy plan, with surprisingly little specifics on Afghanistan, where nearly 10,000 U.S. troops still remain more than 15 years after the Islamist Taliban were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces.
Afghanistan was barely mentioned during a bitterly fought election campaign, which largely focused on domestic issues, between Republican Trump and his Democratic rival, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Trump, however has said the United States should stop carrying out "nation building".
Ghani and Trump spoke by telephone last week, the Trump transition team said in a statement, when they discussed the "terrorism threats facing both countries".
One of the most important questions on Afghanistan facing Trump, former officials and experts say, is how many U.S. troops will remain there.
Acknowledging that security in Afghanistan remained precarious and Taliban forces had gained ground in some places, President Barack Obama shelved plans to cut the U.S. presence almost in half by year's end, opting instead to keep 8,400 troops there through to the end of his presidency in January.
General John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, said last week there was a medium level of risk with the current number of U.S. forces.
"My assessment of our current capabilities (is that) we have adequate resources to conduct this mission at a moderate level of risk going forward ... this is acceptable for what we need to conduct," Nicholson told a Pentagon briefing.
James Dobbins, a former U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, said Afghanistan would not factor highly for Trump given the fight against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.
This, Dobbins said, was likely to mean that the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan would remain unchanged, at least in the short term.
Trump will inherit a challenging security situation in Afghanistan. A number of provincial capitals have been under pressure from Taliban militants and Afghan forces have been suffering high casualty rates, with more than 5,500 killed in the first eight months of 2016.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Paul Tait)
Staff Reporter
The main objective of the conference is to create ground for development of blogging in the World, promote Hindi literature and Indian culture, and provide opportunities for language harmony and cultural study and tourism.
Chief Editor of Parikalpana Samay and Organizer of ‘International Bloggers Conference’ Mr. Ravindra Prabhat said that after having successfully organized the conference in Delhi (India), Lucknow (India), Kathmandu (Nepal), Thimpu (Bhutan), Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Bangkok (Thailand). this time the seventh International Blogger’s Conference will be organized from 23 Dec. 2016 to 1 January, 2017 in Auckland, Hamilton & Rotorua in New Zealand.
This time the host of this conference will be NRI Mrs. Suman Kapoor. she is an activist, educationist, research scholar, entrepreneur, a hospitality professional, social critic and writer of New Zealand. She is not an activist, not even a protester but visionary who values and recognises diversity. She has led and served various NGO’s and is currently the Chairperson of GOPIO International Women Council. She is a creative high achiever with a deep involvement with philanthropic and linguistic areas and is always true catalyst for positive change both within New Zealand and globally. She is Formerly founding President of GOPIO Waikato Chapter and Life Member of GOPIO; Double postgraduate, an; Director Indian Cuisine in company at New Zealand; executive at National council of women, Waikato Graduate women, Multicultural council , interfaith council and Indian organizations; community advocate, serving various boards and committees, leading positions in New Zealand.
The host of this conference Mrs. Suman Kapoor Said that the Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi has emphasized on historical and cultural relation between India and the out side of world and sought to promote co-operation and harmony between the all countries. This blogger’s conference being organized in New Zealand is an effort in the same direction.
Mr. Ravindra Prabhat and Mrs. Suman Kapoor jointly said that on this occasion celebrities from the field of blogging, literature, social and cultural world will be felicitated.
During the conference more than bloggers will be awarded out of which some important ones are Mrs. Rekha Rajvanshi from Australia , Mr. Ravi Kant Mittal, Mrs. Seema Gupta and Ms. Sarjana Sharma from Delhi, Mrs. Dr. Urmila Shukla from Raipur in Chhatisgarh, Dr. Anita Srivastava, Dr. Archana Srivastava, Dr. Nirmala Singh Nirmal, Ratna Srivastava, Dr. O.P. Singh and Mrs. Kusum Verma from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh; Dr. Rama kant Kushwaha from Deoria, Uttar Pradesh; Dr. Vijay Pratap Srivastava from Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh and Mrs. Sampat Devi Murarka & Rajesh Murarka from Hyderabad in Telangana.
Mr. Prabhat said that during the conference, study of Hindi in global perspective especially in New Zealand, promotion of Hindi literature, various dimensions of blogging as new media and role of Social Media in changing times etc. will be discussed.
Kusum Verma Night in Auckland
After the conference in night of 25th Dec. 2016, Indian folk singer & dancer Kusum Verma will be performed on the stage.
Kusum Verma is a folk-singer, Poet, performer and danser from Uttar Pradesh, India. She sings Bhojpuri and Awadhi folk songs, and has received the Parikalpna Sur-Saraswati Award for her contribution to music. Kusum did not get any sort of formal training of classical music neither before nor after becoming a successful folk singer but She had an effective command over high and low notes. She is best known for her distinctive, melodious, powerful voice, complex and dark emotional expressions which led many critics to state her voice as the greatest and most distinctive they had ever heard. She is acclaimed as one of the greatest singers ever lived in central Uttar Pradesh and could sing high tenor notes with ease. She has performed national and international stages, like Kolkata, Delhi, Allahabad, lucknow, Mahoba, Gonda, Lakhimpur Kheeri and Kathmandu in Nepal, Thimpu & Paro in Bhutan, Kaindi & Colombo in Sri Lanka, Pataya & Bangkok in Thaighland etc.
Along with folk song she will be presented a Nritya Natika of 1 hr 10 minutes. Which is based on a Mahakavya PADMAVAT written by very famous writer MALIK MOHAMMED JAYASI . The title of the NrityaNatika is BARAHMASA.
The theme is the queen Nagmati of the king RatnaSen of chittod is so beautiful and always want approval & praise of her beauty from friends. But one day she heard the beauty of the queen Paďmawati of Singhaldweep by her parrot Heeramann . She told it to the Heeramann not to tell it to the king but one day Heeramann explained about the beauty of Padmini to the king, King immediately depart to Singhaldweep . Naagmati cursed Heeramann for that and start waiting for the arraival of her king back to home . Means all the twelve months. It is a recorded programme .
Art Exhibition in Hamilton
The next day, 26th September 2016 will be held Art Exhibition and International kavi sammelan in Hamilton. Exhibited Indian folk art and culture. These are traditional painting like ; TulsiChauk, Chhath Pooja,Karwa Chauth and Kohber etc.
Participation
Few media persons will be participated in this conference like Ms. Sarjana Sharma, Ceative Head, kabir Communication, Mr. Ravi Kant Mittal, C.O.O. Sanskar TV and Mrs. Seema Gupta, News Editor Aj Tak.
Participation
Few media persons will be participated in this conference like Ms. Sarjana Sharma, Ceative Head, kabir Communication, Mr. Ravi Kant Mittal, C.O.O. Sanskar TV and Mrs. Seema Gupta, News Editor Aj Tak.
Eight poets from india will be participated in Kavi Sammelan like Mr. Ravindra Prabhat from Lucknow, Dr. Urmila Shukla from Raipur, Dr. Ramakant Kushwaha from Deoria, Dr. Vijay Pratap Srivastava from Kushinagar, Dr. Nirmala Singh 'Nirmal' from Lucknow, Mrs. Sampat Devi Murarka from Hyderabad, Dr. Archana Srivastava from Lucknow, Mrs. Kusum Verma from Lucknow, Shri Ravi Kant Mittal from Delhi and Mrs. Ratna Srivastava (Announcer) etc.
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Male (SAT): The president of the Maldives was unhurt but his wife and two aides were injured in an explosion on board their speedboat as it approached Male, capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago, a senior aide told Reuters.The cause of Monday's blast was not immediately clear, but it was witnessed by several journalists who were waiting to meet President Abdulla Yameen on his return from the Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
"There was a explosion at President Yameen's official speedboat near Male jetty. The president is unhurt, but the first lady was slightly injured," Mohamed Hussain Shareef, minister at the president's office, told Reuters.
Yameen, 59, is a controversial figure both at home and abroad. He rose to power in a bitterly contested presidential election in 2013.
The leader he defeated, Mohamed Nasheed, was jailed earlier this year for terrorism in a case that has drawn international criticism. Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, wife of Hollywood actor George Clooney, called for international sanctions against the Maldives after visiting Nasheed this month.
A broader crackdown against political dissent belies the reputation of the Maldives as a holiday paradise, with radicalised youths enlisting in significant numbers to fight for Islamic State militants in the Middle East.
Yameen had landed earlier at the main international airport of the Maldives, an island chain with a population of 400,000, and was making the short final journey to Male by water with his entourage.
"We don't know if the explosion was from explosives or the inboard engine," said Shareef, reached by telephone from Sri Lanka.
A Reuters eyewitness saw Yameen walking and helping an injured victim soon after the explosion, which occurred when his speedboat was just six feet (two meters) from the main jetty.
Shareef said Yameen had accompanied his wife, Fathimath Ibrahim, to Male's main hospital. A bodyguard who suffered serious injuries and a presidential aide who was slightly hurt were also taken to hospital.
(With agency inputs)
