The Reserve Bank of India on Friday slashed the growth projection to 7 per cent for the current fiscal from the earlier forecast of 7.2 per cent, citing aggressive tightening of monetary policies globally and moderation in demand.
Unveiling the fifth monetary policy for this fiscal, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the central bank remains committed to price stability to put the country on the sustained path of growth.
Real GDP growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal was 13.5 per cent.
Das, however, cautioned that there is a third wave of shock globally triggered by aggressive monetary policy tightening to curb inflation.
The central bank in April slashed the real GDP growth projection to 7.2 per cent from its earlier forecast of 7.8 per cent for 2022-23.
Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra has issued orders for the appointment of vice chancellors to eight universities in consultation with the state government.
According to an official statement issued on Thursday, Dr Abhay Kumar Vyas has been appointed as the vice chancellor (VC) of Agriculture University, Kota; Prof Bagda Ram Choudhary of Agricultural University, Jodhpur; and Dr Arun Kumar of Swami Kesavanand Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner.
Prof Ramsevak Dubey has been appointed as the VC of Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Rajasthan Sanskrit University, Jaipur; Dr Ajit Kumar of Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur; and Prof Pradeep Kumar Prajapati of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Rajasthan Ayurved University, Jodhpur.
Prof Kailash Sodhani has been appointed as the VC of Vardhman Mahaveer Open University, Kota; and Dr Balraj Singh of Shri Karan Narendra Agricultural University.
The eight VCs have been appointed for a term of three years or till they attain the age of 70, whichever is earlier.
Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde on Thursday announced a Diwali bonus for health workers including Mumbai Municipal Corporation, BEST employees and teachers.
Chief Minister announced, “Rs. 22,500 will be given to employees of Mumbai Municipal Corporation, employees of Municipal Corporation Teachers BEST and one Month salary to health workers as Diwali bonus”.
Due to this decision, 93 thousand employees of Mumbai Municipal Corporation and 29 thousand employees of BEST, along with teachers, and health workers will get a Diwali bonus.
He appealed that the employees of Mumbai Municipal Corporation have done an excellent job in the difficult situation of Covid. CM Shinde wished the employees ‘Happy Diwali’ but asked everyone to work for Mumbaikars wholeheartedly.
MP Rahul Shewale, Commissioner and Administrator of Mumbai Municipal Corporation Dr. i. S. Chahal, Additional Commissioner Ashwini Bhide, and other officials of various municipality departments were also present.
CM Shinde said, “the employees of the Municipal Corporation have done a good job in the difficult situation of COVID19. Doctors and all staff have played a vital role in keeping the Covid position in Mumbai under control. Development work must be spent. But those who do well should be encouraged. A balance has to be maintained between the development work and the welfare schemes of our employees. The employees and the citizens are ours”.
While announcing the Diwali bonus, CM urged the people to celebrate Diwali with joy. “Obstacles related to development works and employees related to Mumbai Municipal Corporation will be resolved on a priority basis. Everyone should now work wholeheartedly for Mumbaikars. The chief minister also said that engineers should take care to ensure that the works of roads and infrastructure are of high quality as per the wishes of the citizens”, he added.
A 37-year-old American man has been charged in a Singapore court with assaulting cabin crew and making a hoax bomb threat aboard a Singapore Airlines flight travelling from San Francisco.
Singapore police were alerted on Wednesday to an alleged bomb threat on board flight SQ33 from San Francisco to Singapore.
The man was restrained by the crew, and police subsequently arrested him for making false threats of terrorist acts and for the suspected consumption of controlled drugs.
The plane landed safely at Changi Airport at about 5.50 am, under the escort of Republic of Singapore Air Force F-16C/D fighter jets.
“Preliminary investigations indicate that during the flight, the man had allegedly shouted that there was a bomb on the plane and grabbed another passenger’s luggage from the cabin’s overhead compartment,” the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a statement on Thursday.
A member of the cabin crew who tried to intervene and restrain La Andy Hien Duc was allegedly assaulted, said the police.
Checks by the cabin crew did not reveal any suspicious items in the American’s luggage, Channel News Asia reported, citing police.
“Preliminary investigations by the Central Narcotics Bureau revealed that the man’s urine tested positive for controlled drugs,” police added.
The American was charged with offences read with a section of the Tokyo Convention Act 1971, which allows offenders to be charged under Singapore laws if a crime takes place on a Singapore-controlled aircraft flying outside of the country.
He was also remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric observation and will return to court on October 13.
If found guilty of using threatening words likely to cause alarm, he could be fined up to Singapore dollars 5,000. The offence of voluntarily causing hurt carries a penalty of up to three years jail term, a fine of up to Singapore dollars 5,000, or both.
In its first major bureaucratic reshuffle after it came to power in June, the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government on Thursday transferred 44 senior officials including IAS officials.
Jayashree Bhoj, Managing Director of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has been appointed as director general, Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR), said an official release.
Bhoj replaced Deepak Kapoor who was holding additional charge at DGIPR.
Kapoor, who was also the vice chairman and MD of the Maharashtra Airport Development Company, has been now appointed as Additional Chief Secretary, Water Resources Department.
Sanjay Khandare, chairman and MD of the state power generation company has been posted as principal secretary public health, replacing Pradeep Vyas.
Vyas will now be additional chief secretary, tribal development department .
Tukaram Mundhe, secretary, state human rights commission has been transferred as commissioner, family welfare and director of the national health mission.
Valsa Nair, principal secretary tourism, civil aviation and state excise will now handle the housing department in place of Milind Mhaiskar.
Mhaiskar will be in charge of the departments held by Nair till now.
Shraddha Joshi, member secretary of the state women’s commission, will be MD of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation.
Pravin Darade, MD of Maharashtra state small scale industries development corporation has been posted as secretary, environment and also given additional charge as member secretary of the state Pollution Control Board.
Deepender Kushawah, commissioner, skill development, employment and entrepreneurship has been transferred as development commissioner, industries in place of Harshdeep Kamble.
Kamble has been appointed as principal secretary, industries.
UK is “working intensely” with India to achieve the Free Trade Agreements soon, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.
This comes after Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had said the UK is keen to stick to the Diwali deadline for free trade agreements.
“We have signed Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand – and we are working intensely to agree one with India soon”, the foreign secretary Cleverly said.
In a keynote speech at the 9th Annual Milken Asia Summit, while setting out the UK’s continued commitment in the Indo-Pacific region, the UK foreign secretary noted, “We were the first European country to secure a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with India. And we intend to be the first European country to accede to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. It will give the region access to the UK’s world-class financial services sector as well as, as well as the world’s sixth largest economy. That’s why engagement between the UK and Indo-Pacific needs to cover the broadest spectrum of activity.”
Earlier, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had said the UK is keen to stick to the Diwali deadline for India-UK free trade agreement and both countries are working towards it.
He referred to the passing away of Queen Elizabeth II and said “as we are expanding our engagements, the UK is at a cusp”.
“I received a letter from the UK again reiterating that they want to stick to the Diwali deadline (for the India-UK Free Trade Agreement),” Goyal had said at an event in New Delhi.
Speaking of India’s engagements and the quest to become self-reliant, Goyal said, “If we don’t engage with the international market, we are the losers…Today the whole world is talking of Atmanirbhar…There is no power that can stop us from becoming a developed nation in the next 25 years…The world wants to engage with us, the world has more confidence in us than we have.”
British High Commissioner to India, Alex Ellis had also said that India and the United Kingdom have the high ambition of completing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by Diwali this year. He had said that the agreement will increase employment and bring economic development to India over the next 25 years.
“Both, India and UK need to grow because we have great ambitions from both prime ministers. FTA is one of the best ways we can support the growth and development of India’s economy and India’s employment over the next 25 years. Now is the time to write a new chapter in our history as partners and support each other in our growth,” the UK High Commissioner told to agencies on the sidelines of an event held in New Delhi.
On being asked, if it could be a “Diwali Dhamaka”, the UK High Commissioner nodded, saying, “I hope so.”
“I think we have high ambition on completing the FTA by Diwali. The FTA will create more jobs, more growth, and more opportunities for India to grow and develop,” he added.
The two countries concluded the fifth round of talks for the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) last month.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Superintendent of Taloja prison in Maharashtra to shift jailed activist Gautam Navlakha to Mumbai’s Jaslok hospital for medical checkup and treatment.
A bench of Justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy said receiving medical treatment is a fundamental right of a prisoner while allowing Navlakha, accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, to meet his partner Sabha Husain and sister in the hospital.
In its order, the bench said, “We are of the view that petitioner is an undertrial and what is far more important which is right to life. The right of the undertrial to receive medical attention would be a fundamental right. This petitioner is taken immediately for a thorough medical checkup.”
“Accordingly, we direct Superintendent Taloja jail to take the petitioner to Jaslok hospital so that he is able to undergo a required medical check-up and receive treatment. We make it clear that the petitioner will remain in police custody,” it added.
The order of the top court came from a plea of Navlakha seeking direction that he be placed under house arrest instead of judicial custody in Taloja jail.
During the hearing, counsel appearing for 70-year-old Navlakha told the bench that he has colon cancer and requires colonoscopy and also check-up for skin allergies and dental issues.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the National Investigation Agency (NIA), opposed Navlakha’s request for shifting him to house arrest and for a medical checkup.
I don’t know if skin allergy and dental issues are serious enough, the SG said, adding that as regards colonoscopy, the request should be raised before a competent court.
“Let him breathe some fresh air. He wasn’t even convicted in any small IPC offence earlier,” the bench observed.
As regards the main prayer to shift Navlakha from jail to house arrest, the bench posted the matter for hearing on October 21 as Solicitor General sought time to respond.
Navlakha has moved the top court challenging the April 26 order of the Bombay High Court which had dismissed his plea for house arrest over apprehensions of lack of adequate medical and other basic facilities in Taloja jail near Mumbai where he is currently lodged.
He can be put under house arrest in Mumbai, where his two sisters live, or in Delhi, Navlakha has asked.
The High Court had said Navlakha’s apprehensions about the lack of medical aid and inadequate basic facilities at the Taloja prison, were “ill-founded”.
He had approached the High Court saying the Taloja prison has poor facilities, overcrowded, and his medical condition deteriorated during his incarceration there.
Navlakha, one of the several civil liberties activists in the Bhima Koregaon case, has been booked under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for an alleged conspiracy to topple the government.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had granted bail to 82-year-old activist P Varavara Rao in the case.
India and Zimbabwe on Thursday held Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) in New Delhi where both leaders “undertook a comprehensive review of bilateral relations.”
The Indian side was led by Puneet R Kundal, Joint Secretary (East and Southern Africa) and the Zimbabwean side was led by RM Faranisi, Chief Director of Economic Cooperation, International Trade and Diaspora in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Zimbabwe.
During the consultations, both sides undertook a comprehensive review of bilateral relations and expressed their desire to further advance these relations for the mutual benefit of both countries, a press release by the Ministry of External Affairs read.
Both sides emphasized the importance of bilateral political exchanges to realize the full potential of the partnership.
The delegations also discussed enhancing cooperation in a number of areas, including, trade and investment, development partnership, defense, consular issues, agriculture, health and railways, among others. Views were also exchanged on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
Both sides also agreed to continue high-level political exchanges and regular meetings of the joint institutional mechanisms to keep the partnership vibrant and mutually beneficial, an MEA press release read.
The talks were held in a friendly and cordial atmosphere. Both sides agreed to hold the next round of Consultations at mutually convenient dates in Harare.
The Drugs controller general of India (DCGI) allowed the export of approximately 2 lakh vaccine doses of Malaria which is produced in India, said sources on Thursday.
This vaccine is developed by scientists at the University of Oxford and manufactured by Serum Institute in the UK.
According to the sources, the Serum Institute of India (SII) has developed the vaccine against malaria under the leadership of CEO Adar Poonawalla, this vaccine is made in India and it is for India as well as world at large.
This malaria vaccine was designed at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, which collaborated with the SII in 2020 for manufacturing at a large scale.
The vaccine against malaria which is available globally is manufactured by GSK.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Thursday that a probe has been ordered into the purchase of 18 Rapid Response Vehicles (RRVs) by the previous MVA government allegedly at an inflated price of Rs three crore each during the pandemic.
The vehicles, called “Devdoot”, were purchased in 2020-21 fiscal by the relief and rehabilitation department, which was then headed by the Congress minister Vijay Wadettiwar. The vehicles are said to be equipped to respond quickly in event of a natural calamity.
Fadnavis, who holds the finance and home portfolios in the current dispensation, told Agency that a probe has been ordered into the alleged scam after media reports said that the vehicles were purchased at a higher price than their actual cost. The total cost of the vehicles was Rs 54 crore.
“The tender was issued by the relief and rehabilitation department. In July 2020, minister Vijay Wadettiwar had written that it was very necessary to provide RRVs to 16 municipal corporations, NDRF and the SDRF,” one of the sources said.
“However, the finance department, at that time led by Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party, objected to the purchase since the state was facing a very tight fiscal situation due to the pandemic. Despite the objection, the RRVs were purchased,” the source added.
Recently, BJP leader and Maharashtra minister Sudhir Mungantiwar too had demanded a detailed inquiry into the suspected scam.
The previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government comprised the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party. It was led by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray
