Bank fraud: Mehul Choksi surrenders his passport

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January 21, 2019

Bank fraud fugitive Mehul Choksi has surrendered his Indian passport to the High Commission in Guyana, official sources said Monday.

Choksi, one of the alleged masterminds of the USD 2 billion scam in state-run Punjab National Bank and an uncle of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, took citizenship of Antigua last year.

Indian citizens are expected to surrender their passports when they acquire a foreign nationality. India continues to pursue Choksi’s return with the government of Antigua through diplomatic and legal channels, the sources said.

In August last year, India gave Antigua a request for Choksi’s extradition. A team from India was also sent to Antigua to pursue the request. Choksi is wanted in India by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, which are probing the PNB fraud, the biggest banking scam in the country.

PM Modi to inaugurate Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas convention in Varanasi tomorrow

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January 21, 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday inaugurate the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas convention in his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi.

For the first time, the three-day-long convention is being organised from January 21 to 23 instead of January 9 to allow participants visit the Kumbh mela in Allahabad and attend the Republic Day parade.

The theme of this year’s convention is ‘role of Indian diaspora in building new India’, a statement from the Prime Minister’s office said.

Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth will be the chief guest of the convention, while Himanshu Gulati, member of Parliament of Norway, will be the special guest. Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, member of Parliament of New Zealand, will be the guest of honour.

The decision to celebrate Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas was taken by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the first event was celebrated on January 9, 2003 here.

January 9 was chosen as the day to celebrate Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas as it was on this day in 1915 that Mahatma Gandhi had returned to India from South Africa.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas is now celebrated once in every two years and provides a platform to the overseas Indian community to engage with the government and reconnect with their roots, the statement said.

During the convention, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman is conferred on the selected overseas Indians for their significant contributions to various fields, both in India and abroad.

Indian Army to buy over 3,000 anti-tank missiles from France

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January 21, 2019

In a bid to provide more firepower to its infantry units against enemy tank regiments, the Indian Army is planning to buy more than 3,000 Milan 2T anti-tank guided missiles from France in a deal likely to be worth over Rs 1,000 crore. An Army proposal in this regard would come up for discussion at a high-level meeting of the Defence Ministry for buying more than 3,000 of the second-generation Milan 2T ATGMs which are license-produced by the Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) in partnership with a French firm, sources in the Defence Ministry said.

Sources also said that the procurement of Milan 2T ATGMs is likely to be the stopgap arrangement before the Army gets its homegrown third-generation ATGM which is undergoing trials. Milan-2 is a French second-generation (ATGM which is produced in India by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) with a range of over 2 kilometres.

India had last year scrapped a programme to buy the Spike ATGM from Israel in view of the indigenous developments in this direction. The DRDO has, so far, conducted two successful trials of the man-portable ATGMs. During the NDA government tenure, several programmes for acquiring weapon systems from foreign vendors have been scrapped in favour of indigenous programmes.

In 2017, a Defence Acquisition Council meeting headed by the then the Defence minister Arun Jaitley had favoured Akash surface to air missile over vendors from Israel and Sweden for supplying Short-Range Surface to Air Missile (SR-SAM) programme worth over Rs 18,000 crore.

Indian Army has a requirement of around 70,000 anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) of various types and around 850 launchers of different types even as it is looking for third-generation ATGMs with a longer range than that of its existing Milan-2T and Konkurs ATGMs.

Modi is panicking and is in anxiety as election is approaching: Congress on EVM committee critics

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January 21, 2019

Speaking to the media, Congress leader PL Punia on Sunday said that as the elections are approaching; Prime Minister Modi is panicking and is in anxiety therefore criticising the formation of the four-member committee for EVMs. We have objections with EVMs and we have informed the election commission about the same. We want that vote should be done on ballot papers. Ballot paper should be used for voting instead of EVMs.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that a four-member committee had been formed to clarify opposition parties’ stand on EVMs in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Where Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, SP president Akhilesh Yadav, BSP leader Satish Mishra, and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, are the members of this committee.

Speaking on the party’s poll preparedness, Punia said that like all other political parties, Congress is also holding discussions and formulating strategies for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. All the frontal organisations, departments, etc, are holding discussions over plans and strategies for the upcoming elections. He further added that the Congress President Rahul Gandhi might be visiting Raipur on January 28 for meetings in the state.

Hikes in fuel prices, petrol costlier

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January 21, 2019

Continuing its upward trend, the petrol prices in the national capital on Monday witnessed a significant rise of 1.02 rupees per litre while diesel became costlier by 26 paise per litre.

Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 71.14 per litre while diesel rate touched Rs 65.71 per litre. On Sunday, petrol was sold at Rs 70.12 per litre and diesel at Rs 65.45 per litre.

Fuel prices in Mumbai rose only marginally with petrol getting costlier by 0.19 paise per litre. Diesel in the financial capital of the country was being sold at Rs 68.81 per litre.

The rise in prices comes amidst the revision of global crude oil prices owing to a possible stifling of supply in the near future.

Yamaha India launches FZ-FI, FZS-FI bikes

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January 21, 2019

Japanese two-wheeler major Yamaha on Monday launched two new motorcycles in its FZ range in the premium segment priced up to Rs 97,000 (ex-showroom Delhi). The two new products FZ-FI and FZS-FI equipped with advanced braking system, anti-lock braking system (ABS), are powered by 149 cc 4-stroke, single-cylinder engines. While the FZ-FI is priced at Rs 95,000, the FZ-S FI is tagged at Rs 97,000 (all prices ex-showroom Delhi), India Yamaha Motor (IYM) said in statement.

The new launch from Yamaha will strengthen the company’s presence in the deluxe class in India, Yamaha Motor India Group of companies Chairman Motofumi Shitara said.

The introduction of the new FZ-FI and FZS-FI with ABS followed the first launch of ABS-enabled YZF-R15 version 3.0 from the company in 2019. The company also said that it has introduced ABS-equipped version of its FZ 25 model; and will be available for Rs 1.33 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

Mahagathbandhan is unviable and unworkable: Arun Jaitley

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January 21, 2019

Dismissing opposition parties’ Mahagathbandhan’ as unviable and unworkable in a Facebook post titled ‘Agenda for 2019 Modi Vs Chaos’, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Monday on said that India has moved ahead of 1971 and the aspirational society will not commit a collective suicide in the forthcoming general elections. The two-fold strategy of the opposition parties for the general elections is to pursue anti-Modi agenda and take advantage of the electoral arithmetic.

Will 2019 be a replica of 1971? It is Modi vs an unviable and an unworkable short-lived combination. OR is it Modi vs Chaos, Jaitley wondered. The Minister is currently in the US for a medical checkup. Recalling the 1971 General Elections, Jaitley said that the opposition had formed a ‘Grand Alliance’ or the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ teaming up against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. We had powerful leaders and a head-start in the media. Additionally, the Congress had split into two. The results were announced and India rejected negativism. The India of 2019 has moved way ahead of India of 1971. Aspirational society never commits a collective suicide. They do not suffer from a Lemming Syndrome. Lemming Syndrome refers to a phenomenon wherein crowds of people, imitate actions of each other just because they see majority of their peers doing it.

Stating that every General Election has its own script that is dictated by the prevailing political environment, Jaitley said for 2019 political battle that India’s opposition has a two-fold strategy, firstly, negative anti-Modi agenda and secondly, random political grouping to gain from the electoral arithmetic.

He said that the opposition politics has thrown up four desirous Prime Ministers wishing to challenge Narendra Modi. It is obvious that the level of satisfaction with PM Sh @narendramodi ji is very high. If that weren’t so, what was the need for multiple disparate forces to come together against him? It is only the fear of his popularity & a certain comeback that is bringing them together, stating that the anti-Modi rally organised by opposition parties in Kolkata, became significantly a non-Rahul Gandhi rally by his conspicuous absence. All four ambitious politicians pursue fanciful strategies to replace PM @narendramodi, however, Congress can at best dream only to be a pillion rider, Jaitley said.

I have been harassed in film industry: Kangana Ranaut

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January 21, 2019

Kangana Ranaut told reporters that she was harassed several times by actors on film sets. Harassment happens on many levels. So many times on sets, I wasn’t sexually harassed, but some people had ego issues. I was harassed on many other fronts. It wouldn’t come under #MeToo but it was still harassment and the experience was daunting and humiliating. I have faced toxic behaviour from many people in my career.

The actor also said that the harassment ranged from making her wait for long hours to dubbing her voice without her consent. However, talking about her harrowing experiences, Kangana said, making me wait on set for six hours, willingly giving me wrong call time to make me stand, always giving me the wrong set of dates so I’m missing out on opportunities and then cancelling the schedule last minute by these heroes. Ganging up on me and not inviting me to film events, launching trailers without me and then someone else dubbed for me without even telling me, which is violating the basic right of taking permission from an actor.

The “Queen” star said that because of the #MeToo movement, which hit India last year; men in the industry are scared, that people are scared, obviously and they should be. Men are scared in the industry. This isn’t going to stop. This will continue till we really go into the root cause of it because essentially it’s a patriarchal society which is extremely chauvinistic and we need to come to a point where they are scared. All the talks of ‘what if women lose work’ should stop. I believe there’s no life without dignity. You shouldn’t worry about raising your voice.

The actor had come out in support of the survivor when allegations of sexual harassment were levelled against “Queen” director Vikas Bahl.

Kangana, 31, said that going forward strict rules and immediate action policy should be implemented to make film sets safer for women. On film sets there have to be strict rules and strict action should be taken. Things can’t be solved on a personal level or behind closed doors. Things should be taken to authority and immediate action is the need of the hour. She further added that when anyone raises concern, people director, producer or anyone needs to solve it. We need to become more sensitive about these things.

Kangana will be seen nexr in “Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi”. The much ambitious period-drama features her in the titular role and has been directed by Krish and Kangana. The film is ready to release on January 25.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui shares his desire to stay away from controversy

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January 21, 2019

Nawazuddin Siddique, who became a popular name post the success of 2012 film “Gangs of Wasseypur”, seems to be embroiled in a controversy since 2017 after the release of his autobiography “An Ordinary Life”. Recently, another controversy that him last month was his upcoming film on late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray, where Siddique plays the role of the charismatic leader. Ahead of the release of the film, Nawazuddin Siddiqui said that he wants to stay away from controversies as they shift the focus of the audience from his work to personal life.

In his memoir, co-written by Rituparna Chatterjee, Nawazuddin detailed his relationships and flings with former Miss India Niharika Singh and actor Sunita Rajwar allegedly without their consent.

The actor later withdrew the book and apologised for hurting the sentiments of women whose name he had mentioned in the memoir.

“I am just the same person. I am an actor and I just want to work. I just want to act. I don’t want to talk about anyone and what is happening in my personal life. I don’t want people to focus on that. I am known and have become popular due to my work and so I just want to concentrate on my work,” Nawazuddin told agencies.

There were also allegations against him that he hired a private detective to spy on his wife.

“I do not feel bad. I just feel why focus on someone’s personal life. Celebrities are also human being. Everyone criticises celebrities for every little thing and that should not happen. They are normal human beings,” he added.

When asked to remark upon the #MeToo allegations against filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani, Nawazuddin maintained a no comment stance.

“I just don’t want to talk about it. Why unnecessary create it all again,” he said.

The 44-year-old actor said that he is afraid of controversies and wants to concentrate on his work.

“For me my career is important. After so many years of struggle I am getting to work so I want to focus on it. I want to try and stay away from all this. Now whether I get affected or not, it is a personal thing.”

Nawazuddin will be seen next in “Thackeray”, which releases this Friday. His upcoming projects are “Motichoor Chaknachoor”, “Photograph” and “Roam Rome Mein”.

Mamata is a good administrator, has all capabilities to lead the country: Kumaraswamy

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January 21, 2019

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has said that the people of the country were totally “disappointed” with the administration of Narendra Modi and heaped praise on his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, saying that she is a “good administrator” and has all capabilities of leading the country. However, The Janata Dal (Secular) leader maintained that the leadership was not the pressing issue at hand and the opposition needs to focus on ways and ideas to win the polls.

In an interview to the media, the Karnataka chief minister said, “According to me, deciding on the leadership is not a criterion to win the polls. People of the country are totally disappointed with the administration of Narendra Modi. Several states have their own problems. It is not necessary to select a leader before the elections. There are effective leaders, who can move in a big way for the development of the country. They can make headway in areas where the previous governments have failed. But we can sit and select our leader after the elections are over.

Kumarswamy, who was part of the Trinamool Congress-led mega opposition rally – ‘United India Rally’ – held here on Saturday, also said that, she (Mamata) is simplest of the simple and a very good administrator. I believe that Mamata ji has all the capabilities of leading the country. And she has already proved herself by leading West Bengal for so many years. Drawing parallels with the situation the country in 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi faced revolt from various quarters, Kumaraswamy said that the present scenario is quite similar to that period. Even the politicians sat together and select their leader. This time, too, I think we will also have no problem in doing that.

The Janata Dal (Secular) leader asserted that the Mahagatbandhan would be an alternate to the national party. Several states have their own problems. Each of them has regional leaders who are as strong as national party members. And these regional parties will play a crucial role in the elections. This time people are going to bless them. However, talking about the absence of Telangana Chief Minister KCR at the mega rally called by Banerjee, Kumaraswamy said, “I think after the elections everybody will join. Everybody will come together. I am quite hopeful.”

Incidentally, KCR had come down to Kolkata to meet Banerjee last month for a discussion on the grand alliance. He, however, stated that his efforts for a non-BJP and non-Congress alliance would continue. Heaping praises on Banerjee for bringing together opposition leaders on a same platform, the Karnataka CM said, “Mamata ji did a great job in organizing the rally. She had even requested the Left to join her. This shows her generosity in her tactics in fighting the BJP government. She is ready to make compromises to take our fight to the next level.”

Setting the tone for the Lok Sabha polls, leaders from 22 opposition parties came together at the mega rally here on Saturday and declared that they will put up a united fight to oust the Narendra Modi government.