Balasaheb Thakre Trauma Care Centre launched ‘Audiometry and Speech therapy service’

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January 13, 2019

Because of consistent demand for Audiometry services, Bala Saheb Thakare Trauma Care Centre Jogeshwari has launched ‘Speech therapy ‘and ‘audiometric services’ recently. Minister of state higher education and technical education and MLA Jogeshwari east, Ravindra Waikar has initiated to make it happen.

Many accident victims had lost their lives due to the non-availability of emergency centre in between Boriwali and Bandra on western express highway . So in the year 2013, with the initiative of Ravindra Waikar this trauma care centre was built to cater accident victims. More than 1000 patients are being treated here every day. Many accident victims face audio related problems after accidental injuries. Audio related problems can also be seen in new-borns and in old age persons as well. So it was a prolonged demand by people to start an audiometric centre at the trauma centre. Ravindra Waikar along with Trauma centre Superintendent Ganesh Shinde and hospital management materialised the proposal and launched these services from January 9, 2019.

The services will be available three days a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm. An expert committee of doctors headed by Dr. Ajay Doifode will treat the patients of speech therapy. Audiometry patients will be handled under the expertise of Dr. Mayashankar Vishvakarma and Dr. Anupama Shetty will head the department.

RSS-BJP’s main agenda is to remove quota for SC/ ST: Mewani

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January 13, 2019

Gujarat independent MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mewani on Sunday said that the Centre’s move to provide 10 per cent quota to upper caste poor is a step towards realizing the RSS-BJP’s agenda to remove caste-based reservations from the system.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday gave his assent to the constitutional provision to provide 10-per cent reservation in government jobs and education to economically backward section in the general category. The bill was passed by the Parliament on January 9.

“I am apprehensive and so are the members of the Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class that this is the first step towards putting an end to the reservation on the ground of socio-educational deprivation.

“It has been a long-pending agenda of the RSS-BJP to discard the Constitution and end reservation based on caste system,” Mewani said on the sidelines of a programme in Kolkata.

The Independent MLA also said that the quota system was introduced in the country to give representation to socially and educationally backward people, it wasn’t meant to end poverty.

“We have absolutely no issues with the poor people from the other communities getting any benefit. But reservation is not meant to remove poverty.

“It is meant to give representation to SC/ST/OBC people, who on account of the society’s caste structure, have remained socially and educationally backward,” he said.

Congratulating BSP supremo Mayawati and SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav for stitching an alliance in Uttar Pradesh against the BJP, Mewani said the other opposition parties should also take cue from the coalition and make efforts for maximum polarisation of anti-BJP votes.

Rs 46,000 crore loan waiver commitment to be met ‘completely’ in budget: K’taka CM

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January 13, 2019

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has announced that he will fulfill his Rs 46,000 crore loan waiver commitment made to farmers “completely” in the Congress-JDS coalition government’s second budget that he is scheduled to present on February 8.

The farm loan waiver scheme would be implemented in one stroke with required allocation in the budget instead of completing the process in four stages as was planned earlier, he said, as he took on the state and national BJP leadership for their relentless attack on him on the issue.

Kumaraswamy has come in the line of fire of BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been mocking the scheme, saying it had only offered a “lollipop” for an insignificant number of farmers.

The JDS leader was also critical of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for his reported comment at the BJP National Convention meet in New Delhi on Friday that the state government had promised waiver but was issuing notice to farmers for loan recovery.

Kumaraswamy said that notices were being issued by nationalised banks that come under the central government.

“This shows the mean mentality of BJP leaders. This shows how lightly they have taken the issue of solving farmers’ worries.”

“…February 8. I will present a new budget of 2019-20. We have announced as a cabinet decision that loan waiver will be in four stages, we will not take it to four stages,” Kumaraswamy told agencies in an interview.

“We are working out on that. In the coming budget I will be clearing the complete loan waiver. I will not take four years. I want to bring it to the notice of central BJP leaders — it is not lollipop,” he said.

Kumaraswamy asserted that it would be done without violating the fiscal responsibility.

Seeking to implement a key poll promise of the JDS, the Kumaraswamy government had announced over Rs 46,000-crore loan waiver scheme in July. But it has been bogged down by several issues, particularly relating to nationalised banks.

While defending the time taken in implementing loan waiver, the Chief Minister said, the state’s scheme would become a model for other states in the days to come.

He said guidelines for implementation of farm loan waiver scheme by his government would become a model for any government in future that decides to waive loans.

Noting that till January 11, loan waiver has reached 1,70,000 farmers for which about Rs 900 crore money has been released, he highlighted that in the budget presented in July after coming to power, Rs 9,000 crore was already allocated for loan waiver in the first year.

Only 73 women judges in HCs: Govt tells par panel

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January 13, 2019

Only 73 judges out of the 670 judges serving in various high courts are women, the government has informed a parliamentary committee.

The government also pointed out that against the sanctioned strength of 1,079 judges as on March 23, 2018, only 670 judges are working in 24 high courts of the country, leaving 409 vacancies.

“There are 73 women judges working in different high courts as on March 23, 2018, which in percentage terms is 10.89 per cent of the working strength,” the Department of Justice in the Law Ministry informed the department-related Standing Committee on Law and Personnel.

Responding to the concerns of the parliamentary panel on inadequate representation of women and people from marginalised communities, the ministry said that the Centre had been requesting chief justices of high courts that while sending proposals for appointment of judges, “due consideration” be given to “suitable candidates” belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes, minorities and women.

It, however, made it clear that there was no proposal to amend Articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution to allow reservation in the higher judiciary.

As of now, Governors and Chief Ministers are given six weeks to recommend proposal received from the chief justice of the high court to appoint a candidate as a judge.

There were 24 high courts when the committee had prepared its report.

From January 1, the number of high courts have gone up to 25 with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana getting separate high courts.

Youth Leadership Meet to kick off on Jan 19-20 in Telangana

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January 13, 2019

Telangana Jagruti, an organisation formed by TRS MP K. Kavitha which works for heralding cultural renaissance in Telangana is to host an International Youth Leadership Conference on January 19-20, which will focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The conference will start on January 19 with the chief guest and anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare who will address the delegates on the ‘Gandhian Path to Sustainability and India’s unique role in sustainable development, and why youth is the only key who can attain sustainable development goals, a release said.

The two-day conference’s “cross-cutting” theme will be ‘Mahatma Gandhi’s Path to Sustainability and Innovation?’ After the keynote address, journalist Shekhar Gupta will moderate a panel discussion on ‘What Have Policymakers Done for Youth Development in India?, it added.

The two-day TJIYLC 2019 is expected to have over 500 delegates from 110 countries discussing 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) with emphasis on poverty, gender rights, education, health, sanitation, worker safety and wages among others, the release informed.

Set up separate dept for logistics to improve transport sector: PM’s advisory panel

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January 13, 2019

Setting up a separate logistics department and introducing one permit-one tax system for trucks, among other measures, will boost the transport sector and improve ease of doing business, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has suggested.

These suggestions form part of the Bibek Debroy-led Logistics Development Committee’s report titled ‘Key Challenges in Logistics Development and the Associated Commerce – Policy Reforms for Ease of Doing Business/Trade in India’ which was submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently.

Outlining the need for supporting the truck industry, the committee has suggested that the government should create an independent department focusing on logistics and trade facilitation space by upgrading the existing Logistics Division under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

“Introduce the One Nation, One Permit, One Tax system by amending Motor Vehicles Act as recommended by the Parliamentary Committee.

“Also suitably amend the provisions of Motor Transport Workers Act to incentive trucking industry to increase its scale and size,” the committee suggested.

As per the one permit-one tax system, all truck permits will be valid across the country.

It also pitched for reduction and rationalisation of rail freight tariff structure, at least on select pilot routes (Delhi-JNPT, Delhi-Mundra etc).

According to the report, the government should target increasing rail modal share by improving predictability in railway services, rationalising railway tariffs and expediting Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) commissioning.

The committee also pitched for developing Common Development Plans for revival of railway sidings near major airports for promoting multi-modal air-rail connectivity and easing last mile connectivity to the airports.

To improve trade facilitation at borders, it is said that the government should shift towards fully facilitated trust-based clearance processed through state of-the-art risk management system (RMS) and make physical examination an exception.

It pointed out that while the physical infrastructure augmentation projects (like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, DFC) are transformational in nature, some major governance and procedural reforms are incremental in nature.

Findings of the World Bank’s Doing Business (DB) report 2018 suggests that it took more than six days to export and more than 13 days to import in India, considerably higher than the time taken in the developed world.

Meanwhile, India saw a jump of 19 positions in the International Logistics Performance Index (LPI) — from 54th rank in 2014 to 35th position in 2016 out of 160 countries.

The prime minister has set an ambitious target to realise a quantum jump in Doing Business and LPI ranks within the next 2-3 years.

“This will be difficult to achieve if we fundamentally do not reorient the way we have looked at logistics and trade facilitation space,” the committee said.

It also noted that the requirement of physical paperwork and multiple documentation continues despite push towards digital governance.

Only 22% shareholders exit IDBI Bank following open offer by LIC

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January 13, 2019

Only 22 per cent of the minority shareholders of IDBI Bank exercised their option of exiting the company in the open offer floated by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), which is taking majority stake in the debt ridden state-owned bank, sources said.

Bulk of the minority shareholders, however, continue to hold the shares of IDBI Bank indicating their faith in the new management, they said.

Existing shareholders feels that the value of their shares going up substantially in the future following management takeover by LIC, the sources added.

The open offer for 2,04,15,12,929 shares was made last month at a price of Rs 61.73.

LIC had already increased its holding beyond 44 per cent before the open option.

In August, the Cabinet approved the acquisition of controlling stake by LIC as a promoter in the bank through combination of preferential allotment and open offer of equity.

LIC has been looking to enter the banking space by acquiring a majority stake in IDBI Bank, as the deal is expected to provide business synergies despite the lender’s stressed balance sheet.

With the culmination of the deal, LIC will get about 2,000 branches through which it can sell its products, while the bank would get massive funds of LIC.

RBI net-seller of dollars in November, unwinding $644 million

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January 13, 2019

The Reserve Bank remained a net seller of dollars in November 2018, as it sold $644 million of the greenback on a net basis in the spot market, according to the latest data from the Central bank.

As against this, in November 2017, the Central bank had purchased $2.570 billion from the spot market and sold $1.706 billion, while in the reporting month, the monetary authority bought $3.127 billion from the spot market, and sold $3.771 billion, shows the data.

The rupee had a better run in the past fiscal, while it was one of the worst among its emerging market peers this fiscal year, which explains the reasons for the RBI intervention in the forex market.

In October 2018 also, the RBI was a net seller of dollars, after it purchased $945 million and sold $8.149 billion of the US currency in the spot market.

Normally, the central bank sells dollars to contain rupee volatility as it does not officially set a price level for the rupee, which is only partly fully floating as the country does not allow full capital account convertibility.

In first five months of this fiscal year, the central bank has sold a whopping $34 billion as the rupee was on a roller-coaster, plumbing a low of 74 to the American unit.

Between April and November 2108, the central bank has net sold $26.51 billion of dollars in the spot market. This compares with a net purchase of $18.017 billion made in the same period in 2017.

The RBI has, so far, remained a net-seller of the US currency in the current fiscal.

SP-BSP alliance will put tough fight in LS polls: BJP ally

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January 13, 2019

Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an ally of the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday said that the newly formed SP-BSP alliance will put up a strong fight in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The country is witnessing an era of coalition, and no party has the courage to go to the polls alone. The SP-BSP alliance is a strong alliance, and it will put up a strong contest in the elections, “UP Cabinet minister and SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar told reporters here on Saturday.

Replying to another query on whether his party will go with the SP-BSP alliance, Rajbhar said that there was no truth in such rumours. However, taking a jibe at the BJP, he said that, the BJP feels there is a saffron wave across the state. The BJP is having the galatfahmi (wrong perception) that more than 60 per cent of the people are supporting it.

The party could see the result of this wrong perception during the Lok Sabha by polls when it lost the Gorakhpur, Phoolpur and Kairana, and Noorpur assembly seat, he said.

Rajbhar also said that, “If the alliance with the BJP has to continue, then there should be a division of reservation quota of the backward castes into three categories like: backward, very backward and most backward.

No one is born yet to trounce Shiv Sena: Uddhav Thackray

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January 13, 2019

While hitting out to the BJP chief Amit Shah for his remarks that the saffron party will thrash the former allies if a pre poll alliance is not materialised before the Lok Sabha election, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said that “no one is born yet who can trounce Sena.”

In a veiled warning to the Sena, Shah had recently said that if an alliance happened, the BJP will ensure victory for its allies, but if it did not then the party will thrash its former allies in the coming Lok Sabha polls. While criticising the remarks, Thackeray, whose party is an ally of the ruling BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, said that, I have heard words like ‘patak denge’ from someone. One who will trounce the Shiv Sena is yet to be born.

While adressing to the public in a rally in Worli area, taking a swipe at the ‘Modi wave’ before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he said that, “The Sena has seen enough ‘waves’ in its journey.”

Unlike the BJP, he said, the Sena has raised the Ram temple construction issue before the polls to “expose” those who used the issue as a poll plank. I raise the Ram Mandir issue during elections only to expose others who always use it as an election plank,” the Sena chief said.

The Congress party was shown its place in 2014 for its deeds. The party even could not get the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha then the BJP should tell me how the congress is hindering the construction of the Ram Mandir, he asked.

How the BJP could build the Ram temple when it has allies like Nitish Kumar of the JD (U) and Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP opposing it. The BJP should come clean on it, he further added.