Senior AAP leader HS Phoolka resigns

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January 3, 2019

Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader HS Phoolka, who has fought the legal battle for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims, resigned from the party on Thursday.

The move comes amid speculation over possibility of an alliance between the Congress and the AAP for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

In a tweet, Phoolka said he will explain reason behind the move in a press briefing in Delhi Friday.

“I have resigned from AAP & handed over resignation to Kejriwal ji today. Though he asked me not to resign but I insisted. Will be briefing media tomorrow at 4pm at Press Club, Raisina Rd, New Delhi to explain the Reason of leaving AAP & my further plans,” he wrote on Twitter.

The AAP has not denied alliance prospects with the Congress, saying its political affairs committee will take a call after considering opinion of its leaders and workers from Delhi, Punjab and Haryana.

Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was recently convicted in an anti-Sikh riot case by the Delhi High Court, where Phoolka represented the victims.

“Rlys’ grave lapse”: 60% vacancies among staff for maintenance, inspection of bridges

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January 3, 2019

Calling it a “grave lapse” on part of the Railway Ministry, a parliamentary panel said there was 60 per cent vacancy in staff for inspection and maintenance of railway bridges, which may compromise safety.

The report of the ‘Standing Committee on Railways on Maintenance of Bridges in Indian Railways: A Review’ also expressed concern over the fact that there existed no separate protocol for inspection and maintenance of bridges which were 100 years old or older.

“The Committee found high rates of vacancy in the staff dedicated for inspection and maintenance of bridges. As against a sanctioned strength of 7,669, the actual strength is only 4,517 (around 40 per cent). It is of the opinion that since bridges are the most vulnerable link on the railways, lack of manpower in this segment is bound to create gaps in inspection and maintenance which may compromise railway safety,” the report tabled in Lok Sabha on Thursday said.

The Committee recommended that the ministry should fill up these vacancies in the shortest possible time and that till such a time, it should set up some temporary measures like filling up these posts through deputation to tide over the shortage.

“The panel feels this is a grave lapse on the part of the ministry in ensuring safety of rail traffic…the committee therefore, direct the ministry to shake off its inertia and fill up these vacancies in the shortest possible time…” it said.

The report stated that bridges which were over 100 years old may not be compliant with modern rail paraphernalia or unable to withstand higher load and speed, resulting in accidents or compromise with punctuality and thus may need a separate inspection protocol.

“The Committee advise the ministry to device a protocol of inspection and maintenance to include a greater degree of safety/safeguards for bridges which come under this category while keeping their commercial interests intact,” it said, disagreeing with the ministry’s view that the age of a bridge had no direct bearing on its safety.

It recommended that the ministry use modern technology instead of putting undue strain on inspectors and their adherence to prescribed norms, and hence, there was the added risk of the possibility of subjectivity creeping in as perceptions are often open to interpretations.

Railways has a total of 1.47 lakh bridges, while 700 has been categorised as ‘important’, 12,085 as ‘major’ and 1.34 lakh as ‘minor’.

In the last three years, the railways has commissioned 8,611 new bridges. The 4,027 existing ones have been approved for rehabilitation, while in the same period, 2,347 bridges have been rehabilitated.

The parliamentary panel said against the total bridge population of 1.4 lakh, the railways has approved the rehabilitation of a minuscule number of bridges, which was “not proportionate to the number of bridges requiring upgradation”.

SEBI comes out with rules for single regime for FPI, NRI fund flows

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January 3, 2019

Markets regulator SEBI has come out with rules for merger of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) and non-resident Indian/overseas citizens of India routes to bring in a single regime for foreign investors and regulate NRI and person of Indian origin fund inflows.

The regulator has also exempted housing finance companies and systemically important NBFCs (non-banking financial companies) from disclosure of increase or decrease in shareholding due to encumbrance or release of encumbered shares, SEBI said in a notification.

A similar exemption is already available to scheduled commercial banks and public financial institutions.

In another notification dated December 31, SEBI said that if single and aggregate NRI/OCI/RI holdings in assets under management of FPI are below 25 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively, then such persons will be allowed to be constituents of the FPI.

In case of temporary breach of investment limits, FPI will need to comply within 90 days and in case it remains non-compliant even after 90 days, no fresh purchases will be permitted and such FPI will have to liquidate its existing position in Indian securities market within 180 days.

The final regulation has been put in place after taking into account suggestions of a SEBI working group headed by H R Khan, former deputy governor at RBI.

Further, the regulator has relaxed its norms for clubbing of investment limits by well regulated foreign investors.

Currently, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are treated as part of the same investor group and the investment limits of all such entities are clubbed for deriving the investment limit as applicable to a single FPI, in case of the same set of ultimate beneficial owners investing through multiple entities.

Under the new norm, multiple entities having common ownership, directly or indirectly, of more than 50 per cent will be treated as part of the same investor group and their investment limits would be clubbed, as per the notification.

“Multiple entities having common ownership, directly or indirectly, of more than 50 per cent or common control shall be treated as being part of the same investor group and the investment limits of all such entities shall be clubbed at the investment limit as applicable to a single FPI,” it added.

Besides, the clubbing of investment limit would not be applicable in case of entities having common control, if the FPIs are appropriately regulated public retail funds.

Public retail funds typically include insurance companies, pension funds and mutual funds or unit trusts that are open for retail subscriptions.

“In order to appropriately monitor investment concentration where common ownership or control is identified for such public retail funds, the Indian depositories shall maintain details of controlling entities on the basis of name, address, nationality, passport number/ any other identification card issued by government and provide appropriate reports to the board on a periodic basis,” SEBI noted.

Sushant Singh Rajput, Jacqueline Fernandez’s ‘Drive’ to release on June 28

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January 3, 2019

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput and Jacqueline Fernandez-starrer “Drive” will hit the theatres on June 28 this year.

The news was shared on Twitter by filmmaker Karan Johar, who is producing the project through his banner Dharma Productions.

“On your marks, get set & race. See you in cinemas for a pulsating ride on 28th June, 2019 . #DRIVE,” he tweeted.

The film, being directed by Tarun Mansukhani, was earlier scheduled to release on September 7 last year but was delayed.

Jacqueline also shared the news on micro-blogging site and wrote, “On your marks, get set & race!! See you in cinemas for a pulsating ride on 28th June, 2019. #DRIVE.”

“Drive” will also feature Boman Irani, Pankaj Tripathi and Sapna Pabbi.

Prepare to fight LS polls alone if needed: Shah to Maha MPs

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January 3, 2019

BJP president Amit Shah has reportedly asked the party’s Maharashtra MPs to be prepared to contest the ensuing elections alone in the state.

Shah gave this message at a meeting with Maharashtra BJP MPs in Delhi Wednesday, said an MP who was present.

“Shah asked us to prepare for the possibility of contesting elections alone in the state if needed,” the MP said.

“The BJP president told us that efforts are on to have an alliance with the Sena but if that did not materialise, we should be prepared to fight the polls alone,” he said.

BJP is in alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and at the Centre. The Sena has been critical of BJP and its leaders have spoken of contesting the Lok Sabha elections alone.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Shiv Sena on Thursday wondered when would the Ram temple be constructed in Ayodhya if not during the tenure of the BJP-led government.

Shiv Sena has also backed the opposition’s demand for a JPC probe in the Rafale fighter aircraft purchase deal.

“Shah said that if need be, we should be prepared to contest all 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra,” the MP said.

A senior Maharashtra BJP leader told PTI that Shah was “very clear” in telling the party MPs from the state to “be prepared for going it alone” in case no tie-up happens with the Shiv Sena.

Sabarimala protests: 266 held, 334 taken into preventive custody

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January 3, 2019

As many as 266 people have so far been arrested in connection with the violent protests staged by right-wing groups in the last two days after two women of menstruating age entered into the Sabarimala temple, police said on Thursday.

A group of 334 people were taken under preventive custody, they added.

As the state continued to witness massive violence due to the hartal called by Hindu outfits, the police launched a special drive, ‘Operation Broken Window’ to take action against those indulging in violent protests, they said.

The special branch would prepare the list of those indulging in violence and hand it over to the district police chiefs for further action, the police said in a release.

A photo album of the perpetrators of violence would also be prepared, the release said, adding that special teams would be set up to arrest those agitators involved in violence.

Mobile phones of suspected persons would be confiscated and sent for digital examinations and raids would be carried out at their homes, to unearth arms, if any, it said.

Cases would also be registered against those involved in alleged hate campaign on social media, it added.

The state is on a boil since Wednesday when two women– Bindu and Kanakadurga in their forties trekked the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala and offered prayers on early Wednesday, taking everyone by surprise.

The dawn to dusk shutdown called by Sabarimala Karma Samithi, an umbrella organisation of various pro-Hindutva groups, and the Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad on Thursday led to violent protests, never seen in the state’s recent history.

Parliament approves NCTE amendment bill

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January 3, 2019

Parliament Thursday approved a bill to provide retrospective recognition to central and state government funded institutions offering B.Ed and related courses that are not recognised under the National Council for Teacher Education Act.

The National Council for Teacher Education (Amendment) Bill would help over 17,000 students who have obtained B.Ed degrees from those institutions which do not have NCTE approval for the course under the 1993 law, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said in Rajya Sabha.

The bill would rovide post-facto approval to the students from several state and central universities, whose degree have no recognition under the 1993 law, the Minister said replying to the debate in the Upper House where it was passed on Thursday.

Lok Sabha has already passed this bill on July 23, 2018.

Javadekar said this amendment would help several central and state universities that were running Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) and related courses without having any recognisition.

The Minister said that the government would ensure that the quality of institutes offering B.Ed courses is maintained.

Javadekar said the ministry has asked them to submit affidavits and video recording of the facilities they offer.

Moreover, the minister said that from 2020, the government proposes to start integrated course in B.ED as in Law and other courses.

“I hope, like law, integrated course in this would also be successful,” he said adding the Centre is enforcing strict standards for the institiutes offerings teacher’s training courses.

According to him, in the last three years, the government has not given any permission for new B.ED colleges.

Supporting the bill, JD(U) member Kahkashan Perween said this was the need of the hour.

K K Ragesh of CPI(M) said NCTE should not be filled with only bureaucrats.

Saibaba temple gets Rs 14.54 cr donation in 11 days

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January 3, 2019

The famous Saibaba temple at Shirdi in Maharashtra received donations worth Rs 14.54 crore over the 11-day period starting before Christmas and ending on the New Year day, an official said.

The devotees, from the country as well as abroad, donated Rs 8.05 crore in donation boxes kept in the temple premises between December 22, 2018 and January 1, 2019, Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust’s vice chairman Chandrashekhar Kadam told reporters on Wednesday.

The temple trust also received Rs 6 crore through online donations, debit/credit cards, cheques, demand drafts and at its donation counters, he said.

Gold and silver items worth Rs 19 lakh were also donated, he said.

In addition to this, devotees from 19 countries, including USA, the UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and China, donated foreign currencies worth Rs 30.63 lakh.

Apart from these donations, the temple trust earned Rs 3.62 crore through paid passes issued to visitors and the online darshan facility provided by the temple management, Kadam said.

Nearly 9.5 lakh devotees from different parts of the country and abroad visited the Saibaba temple, located at Shirdi town in Ahmednagar district, during the 11-day period, he added. Saibaba temple gets Rs 14.54 cr donation in 11 days.

If Ram temple can’t be built during BJP govt tenure, when will it be, asks Sena

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January 3, 2019

In a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Shiv Sena on Thursday said it wondered when the Ram temple could be constructed in Ayodhya if not during the tenure of the current BJP-led majority government.

It said if the Ram temple cannot be built before 2019 (polls), it will be like betraying people of the country, for which the BJP and the RSS would have to apologise to them.

The Sena, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, slammed Modi for his comment in a recent interview, broadcast by several TV channels, that any government action on the temple construction can happen only after the judicial process is over.

“He (Modi) came to power in the name of Ram, however, according to him, law is not bigger than Lord Ram. The question now is if the temple cannot be constructed in the majority government, when will it ever be,” the Sena asked in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

The Modi government got a magnificent statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel constructed in Gujarat, but the prime minister did not show the courage of ‘sardar’ over the Ram temple issue, it said, asserting that this would be recorded in the pages of history.

The agitation for the Ram temple began in 1991-92 and hundreds of ‘kar sevaks’ lost their lives, it noted.

“Who did this massacre and why? While hundreds of Hindu kar sevaks died, the subsequent (Mumbai) bomb blasts led to the killing of hundreds of people from both sides (Hindu and Muslim communities). If the Supreme Court had to take the decision, why this massacre and bloodshed?” it asked.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party further sought to know whether the BJP and the RSS were ready to take the responsibility for those killings and bloodshed.

“The way the Congress had to apologise for the massacre of Sikhs (after the anti-Sikh riots in 1984), we have to understand the sentiments of those who demand an apology (from the BJP) for the massacre of Hindus,” it said.

Further attacking Modi over his interview in which he defended his government’s decision of demonetisation in 2016, the Marathi daily said if note ban was not a shock and people had been warned a year before it was done, “who exactly were those people”?

“Those who lost their lives standing in bank queues and those who lost employment, were they not citizens?” it further asked.

In remarks laced with sarcasm, the Sena said if according to Modi, the upcoming general elections would be between people and the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (the proposed anti-BJP alliance), “did people of Iran vote for the BJP in 2014?”

“The people of five states who voted against the party (in the recent Assembly polls), are they not citizens of this country,” the Sena queried.

Indrani, Peter wanted Rahul and Sheena to separate: Witness

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January 3, 2019

A former employee of INX Media told a court in Mumbai on Thursday that Indrani Mukerjea and her husband Peter were not happy with the relationship between her daughter Sheena and Peter’s son from an earlier marriage Rahul.

Indrani and Peter, now an estranged couple, are facing trial along with Indrani’s former husband Sanjeev Khanna for allegedly killing Sheena Bora, her daughter from an earlier relationship, in April 2012.

The witness, an MBA graduate, was working with the Mukerjea company INX Services from 2000 to 2007. Later he was shifted to INX Media, which he quit in 2009.

The prosecuting agency CBI’s claim is that Indrani and Peter were not happy with the relationship between Sheena and Rahul. The agency has also cited financial disputes as one of the reasons for the killing.

The witness told the special CBI court here that he had visited the Mukerjeas’ house in Worli in central Mumbai many times.

Indrani introduced Sheena to him as her sister at the INX office in 2003, he said.

In 2008, he was asked to accompany Indrani and Peter to a place in suburban Khar where Sheena and Rahul were staying together, he said.

“Indrani wanted to bring Sheena back home and even Peter was not happy with the relationship. They wanted Sheena and Rahul to separate,” the witness said.

Peter wanted Rahul to settle down professionally before getting into any relationship, he said.

The Mumbai police arrested Indrani in August 2015 for allegedly killing Sheena Bora inside a car on April 24, 2012, and disposing of the body. The CBI, which took over the case later, arrested Peter Mukerjea for allegedly being party to the conspiracy.