To oppose the privatisation of electricity distribution supply in Thane Mumbra region, Congress party leaders vehemently protested against Torrent Power on Thane streets.
If the government doesn’t reconsider its decision to provide the contract to Torrent, they have warned a bigger protest. The decision was taken in a special meeting arranged on Wednesday.
The party cadres laid on streets to display their ire and also claimed a foul play of corruption in his move. A warning has been released by Manoj Shinde on behalf of the party that if the privatisation move won’t be taken back the protest will be intensified.
A big rage can be seen among the citizens after the privatisation decision. Another all-party protest will happen on Jan. 19.
Former BJP lawmaker Savitri Phule, who resigned from the saffron party last month, on Thursday met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
“I am only talking to strengthen the alliance,” Phule told agencies without giving any details.
She said that nothing concrete has so far happened. “I will inform you, if things take shape,” she told PTI.
The meeting comes days after once arch-rivals Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party announced their tie-up in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, sharing 38 seats each.
The meeting, which was also confirmed by SP’s chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary, lasted for about 15 minutes. He said both the leaders have met earlier as well.
Phule, who has often been critical of the BJP leadership, resigned from the party last month, saying it was dividing society.
However, she said that she will complete her tenure as a Member of Parliament and won’t quit the post.
The opposition alliance for Uttar Pradesh, which also includes Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal, has taken shape after consecutive successes in last year’s by-elections.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the SP had won five seats, while the BSP failed to win any seat. The BJP bagged 73 along with its allies of the total 80 seats.
In the 2017 assembly polls, the SP and the BSP got 22 per cent votes each.
Come to 2019, if both the parties continue to have a say in their traditional vote bank, the combine can create hurdles for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In the politically-crucial Uttar Pradesh, there are about 22 per cent Dalits, 45 per cent OBCs and 19 per cent Muslims, whose vote share will be decisive in the general elections this year.
A special CBI court in Panchkula on Thursday sentenced self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and three others to life imprisonment for the murder of a journalist over 16 years ago.
The Dera Sacha Sauda chief and the three others convicted last Friday in the case appeared before the court through video conferencing.
“All four have been sentenced to life imprisonment,” CBI counsel HPS Verma said.
On January 11, special CBI Court judge Jagdeep Singh had convicted the four men for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati in 2002.
All the four were convicted under section 302 (murder) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Ram Rahim appeared through video conferencing from Sunaria jail in Rohtak, where he is already serving a 20-year-sentence in a rape case.
The three others – Nirmal Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Krishan Lal – appeared from Ambala jail.
The journalist was killed in Haryana’s Sirsa in October 2002 after his newspaper published an anonymous letter alleging sexual exploitation of women by the godman at the Dera headquarters in the same town.
Ram Rahim was named as the main conspirator in the case.
Chhatrapati’s family approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2003, seeking the transfer of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The investigation was later handed over to the CBI which filed the chargesheet in July 2007.
In August 2017, the sect leader was brought to the Panchkula court where the CBI court judge pronounced the verdict in rape case.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday told that the CBI and the Maharashtra CID not to completely rely on the revelations made in the Gauri Lankesh case and conduct an independent probe into the killings of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and Left leader Govind Pansare.
A bench of Justices S C Dharmadhikari and M S Karnik asked both the probe agencies to make a “sincere effort” towards tracing the absconding accused in Pansare and Dabholkar cases. The directions came after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the state CID submitted its progress report before the bench.
The bench noted that the SIT had said, among other things, that it was questioning those arrested by the authorities in Karnataka in the murder case of journalist Gauri Lankesh, to help trace the absconding accused in Pansare case. The bench noted that on the previous hearings too, both the CBI and the SIT had submitted that they were questioning the accused in Lankesh case to get information on the killings of Dabholkar and Pansare respectively.
You are questioning the accused in another case in Karnataka…but the report (SIT’s progress report) doesn’t reveal what the actual measures you are taking to arrest the absconding accused. You cannot rely completely on the revelations made by the accused in another case. How long will this go on? You have to conduct an independent probe, gather some independent material, especially since these crimes in Maharashtra (killings of Pansare and Dabholkar) took place before the crime in Karnataka, the bench said.
The CBI, however, argued through its counsel Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, that its officers were doing their best to trace the absconding accused. “It is not as if our officers are not doing anything. They are taking all possible steps and only very capable officers have been chosen to take part in these two operations (CBI’s and the CID’s)”, Singh submitted.
The bench also said that it seemed as if the probe machinery in Karnataka was making much headway, but the agencies in Maharashtra had failed to do so, especially due to bureaucratic hassles and lack of coordination with each other.
The unfortunate part is that in one state the machinery gets full assistance, while in our state, either the machinery is not working or not getting cooperation,” the bench said.
ASG Singh, however, submitted that the probe authorities in Maharashtra worked better than anyone else. Some arrests have been made in both the cases (Pansare and Dabholkar) and we will file a charge sheet soon in the Dabholkar case.
The bench has now directed both the CBI and the CID to submit their respective further progress reports by February 6. Dabholkar was shot dead on August 20, 2013 in Pune while on his morning walk. Pansare was shot at on February 16, 2015 in Kolhapur and succumbed to his injuries a few days later on February 20.
The CBI and the state CID are probing the killings of Dabholkar and Pansare, respectively. The high court has been hearing a plea filed by the family members of Dabholkar and Pansare seeking a court-monitored probe in both the cases. As per the probe agencies, some accused persons, including one Sharad Kalaskar, arrested in Lankesh case have revealed that they also had links to the killings of Dabholkar and Pansare.
With the initiative of Thane Shiv Sena President and TMC Chamber’s leader Naresh Mhaske, an innovative cultural fest titled as ‘Chav Maharashtrachi ‘ (Taste of Maharashtra) has been organised from January 23 to 30 at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Maidan Jambhali naka, Thane. The event has been conceptualised by ‘Creative Hook’ an organisation founded by Ranjana Khanolkar.
The fest will exhibit various cultural activities, culinary culture, textiles, jewellery, traditional music poetry prevailed across the state.
A replica of typical Maharashtrian village would be set up at the location conceptualised by renowned creative director Nishikant Prabhukhanolkar to experience the essence of rural life of the state. Stalls of traditional eatery, handicrafts, textiles will cater the public who wants to experience culture of Maharashtra.
The Maharashtra fest will see many dignitaries from politics, Marathi film industry, and classical music. PWD Minister and Thane Shivsena leader Eknath Shinde , Marathi actor Subodh Bhave,Sandeep Kulkarni, Mangesh Desai, renowned artists from classical music like Pandit Nayan Ghosh , Ashatai Kadhilkar etc. will attend the event.
The fest also intends to encourage new artists so an array of cultural programmes has been lined up during the fest. Differently abled persons will also be encouraged to showcase their talent during the fest. The timings of the fest will be evening 4 to 10 .
Under ‘N’ Section of Brihanmumbai municipal corporation, a street play has been performed by solid waste management committee under the presence of president of public health committee and local corporator of Ghatkopar Archana Bhlerao.
Array of events and programs have been planned in Mumbai and suburban areas to accelerate the ‘Swachta Abhiyan’ . Twenty five street plays have also been aligned under the ‘N’section. The public will be briefed about the segregation of wet and dry garbage, how to produce organic manure from wet garbage through the street plays. BMC has appealed the public to participate in this campaign.
Indian incense stick exporters can now soon start shipping the product to European markets, including Italy, after putting appropriate labelling on the goods.
The exports of these sticks to Europe were earlier facing issues after Italian customs authorities seized consignments, alleging that the product contains harmful chemicals beyond a permissible limit.
The issue was immediately taken up by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu with Italian authorities for its resolution as it is a labour-intensive cottage industry.
“Thanks to a concerted effort of our embassy and competent authorities in Rome, the complex issue concerning the exports of incense sticks from India to Italy is finally resolved,” Italian Ambassador to India Lorenzo Angeloni has said in his letter to Prabhu.
As Italy is a member of the European Union, restrictions on imports of these sticks from India apply to all the member countries.
Alerts concerning Indian incense sticks have been removed by the the European Union’s Rapid Alert System (RAPEX) database, the Ambassador has said.
RAPEX is a rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products that permits the member countries to exchange information on those goods posing a risk to health and safety of consumers and measures taken to do away with that risk.
The Italian ministry of economic development will finalise in the coming days the necessary administrative procedures, in particular informing the border and finance police about the measures in order to avoid new seizures of the consignments, the letter said.
Largest export destinations for the product include the US, EU, the UK, Latin America and Japan.
Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal has told the State Bank of India (SBI) that he is ready to invest up to Rs 700 crore in the airline on the condition that his stake does not fall below 25 per cent.
Goyal’s offer comes against the backdrop of strategic partner Etihad reportedly putting forward strict conditions, including that Goyal should give up control, for infusing funds into the crisis-hit carrier.
In a letter to SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar, Goyal said he is writing with reference to the resolution plan under discussion and in view of Etihad’s position, “despite the significant cash crunch and imminent grounding, which the airline is facing”.
Goyal said that he is committed to an “infusion of funds into the company to the extent of Rs 700 crore” and pledging all his shares.
This is subject to the condition that his shareholding post such infusion is at least 25 per cent, he said in the letter which was seen by PTI.
“Should this not be possible, then I would not be able to infuse any funds or pledge my shares, unless Sebi accords me an exemption permitting me to increase my reduced stake (if it is to be below 25 per cent) without triggering the Takeover Code,” as per the letter.
When shareholding of an entity in a listed company goes beyond a certain threshold, then the open offer requirement is triggered under Sebi’s Takeover Code.
SBI is the lead lender of a consortium of Indian banks that has provided loans to the airline; and the stakeholders are considering a resolution for Jet Airways, which is facing acute financial problems.
With the country’s GDP size increasing in quantitative terms, there could be need for more currency in the economy, a Reserve Bank of India official said Thursday.
Following demonetisation in November 2016, when the government junked high value currency notes of denominations 500 and 1,000, there was a shrinkage in currency in the system. Now, with the growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), “there may be a need for more currency in the system,” the RBI official said during an interactive session.
Post-demonetisation, the government re-introduced Rs 500 banknote but the Rs 1,000 currency note was discontinued. However, the RBI introduced banknotes of denomination 2,000 during the period.
The central bank official said there has been a decline in counterfeit notes and whatever is in circulation at present is “very crude counterfeiting”.
“The bank will also be issuing more security features in the currency for which pre-qualification bid notice has been floated,” he said.
Regarding Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFC), another official said that the RBI would appoint an ombudsman for deposit-taking NBFCs, with the addition of a digital ombudsman.
The apex bank has been pursuing a national strategy on financial inclusion, he said.
The RBI has also formed an expert committee for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) so that they were able to avail bank credit without too may hassles.
The RBI had also started co-origination of loans with banks and NBFCs which would help the customers in getting a better rate as the cost of funds of banks were low, he said.
Bollywood talent Rajkummar Rao, who is all set to star in Anurag Basu’s next, seems to be quite excited for their upcoming film.
The film will see Rajkummar sharing screen space with ‘Dangal’ fame Fatima Sana Shaikh for the first time ever.
He took to his Twitter handle to tease fans with a glimpse from what looks like a shot from the sets of the film, writing, “Bahut jaldi samane aayenge aap logo ke, tab tak ke liye aek jhalak #AnuragBasu sir’s next with @fattysanashaikh.”
Reportedly, the team began their 15-day schedule on Monday in Bhopal. The untitled film is said to be on the lines of his 2007 hit film ‘Life In A Metro’. According to various media reports, the film will be narrating stories of four different people from four small towns of India.
Apart from Rajkummar and Fatima, the film also features Abhishek Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapur and Pankaj Tripathi in lead roles.
Fatima was last seen in 2018’s action-adventure drama ‘Thugs of Hindostan’ alongside Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Katrina Kaif. Meanwhile, Rajkummar’s ‘Stree’ became one of the biggest blockbusters of 2018.
Rajkummar has three other movies in his kitty including ‘Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga’, ‘Mental Hai Kya’ and ‘Made in China’.
