10:46 Choksi surrenders Indian passport, extradition gets tougher: Absconding Punjab National Bank fraud accused Mehul Choksi, who is wanted by investigating agencies for loan fraud, has given up his Indian citizenship by surrendering his passport to the Antiguan government.
The move is seen as an attempt to avoid extradition to India, where he is wanted by multiple agencies for loan fraud.
Choksi had been living in Antigua for over a year now. On December 25, 2018, Choksi had told a court that he cannot return to India to face probe for loan fraud because his ‘poor health’ will not allow him to undertake a 41-hour long journey from Antigua to India.Choksi, 59, also submitted 177 dollars with his passport to the Indian High Commission in Antigua. Officials say he has given his new address as Jolly Harbour Marks Antigua.
The foreign ministry had said that Mehul Choksi could not have dual citizenship. Antigua is hearing India’s case for the businessman’s extradition.
10:41 Encounter underway in Kashmir’s Budgam : An encounter broke out on Monday between security forces and militants in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said. Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Hapatnaar area of Budgam District following information about presence of militants in the area, a police official said. He said the search operation turned into a gunbattle after militants opened fire on security forces. No casualties have been reported so far in the encounter, he added. PTI
10:09 Siddaramaiah to hold K’taka CLP meeting at 11 am today: Former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah has called for another Congress Legislature Party meeting at 11 am on Monday. All MLAs have been directed to attend the meeting, which comes in the wake of an alleged rift in the Congress-JD(S) coalition government.
The meeting has been called for a day after two Congress MLAs — Anand Singh and JN Ganesh — had a “minor fight”. However, Congress leader Zameer Ahmed said the two leaders had minor differences after a discussion between the “two friends.”
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge had said on Saturday that the party would issue a show-cause notice to MLAs who did not attend the CLP meeting held in Bengaluru on Friday. “First, we will issue a show-cause notice asking for an explanation. Then we will take some action after discussion with the party members,” he told ANI.
Kharge said out of the four MLAs who were absent at the meeting, two MLAs clarified their absence. “We will issue notices to the two who did not respond,” he had said.
Four Congress MLAs skipped Friday’s meeting, following which the Congress moved rest of the 76 legislators to a resort.
The meeting was convened by the party to assess whether its flock was intact amid speculation that some of the party MLAs had switched over to the BJP.
The Congress, which shares power with JD-S, has 80 MLAs in the 224-member Assembly, including the Speaker. Accordingly, 79 MLAs were expected to attend the CLP meeting held under the supervision of central leaders K C Venugopal and Mallikarjun Kharge. — ANI
09:59 Citing Ambedkar, Rajnath justifies 10% quota:
Accusing the Congress of trying to secure votes of Dalits in the name of B R Ambedkar, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said that the new law guaranteeing 10 per cent quota for the poor among the general category was in tune with Modi government’s commitment to ensure development of all sections.
The Constitutional amendment to provide the 10 per cent quota in government jobs and higher education to the economically weaker secions among the general category received assent of President Ram Nath Kovind January 12.
Some sections of the society have opposed this provision saying it has violated the Constitution which doesn’t recognise economic backwardness as the criterion for reservation.
Addressing a public rally in Nagpur on the concluding day of the national convention of BJP’s Scheduled Caste cell, Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the new reservation to realise Dalit icon Ambedkar’s dream of the egalitarian society.
“Babasaheb Ambedkar had talked about liberty, equality and fraternity. He enshrined reservation in Constitution to ensure equality and the quota facility was provided for people who were economically and socially backward. Ambedkar’s dream was to ensure equality,” Singh said.
The home minister further said those people who could not get benefits of reservation, and those among them who are economically backward who could contribute in the development of the country, should also get reservation.
“With this objective, the prime minister provided 10 per cent reservation to fulfil the goal of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’,” Singh said. — PTI
09:42 Wife of K’taka Congress MLA, injured in ‘brawl’, threatens legal action:
The wife of Karnataka Congress MLA Anand Singh, who had to be hospitalised after being injured in an alleged brawl with party legislator J N Ganesh, has threatened to take legal action against the errant MLA.
“If it is true that Ganesh beat up my husband, my children and I will not keep quiet and will take legal action against him,” Laxmi Singh told a section of media from Mumbai.
She is currently in Mumbai to attend a relative’s wedding and is expected to return to Bengaluru soon.
Anand Singh was hospitalised after he and Ganesh, both from Ballari district, had a heated argument and came to blows late last night at the resort where the party MLAs are herded together amid the BJP’s alleged poaching attempt, according to sources.
Asked if she has been informed that Ganesh provoked Singh, Laxmi said, “I do not know whether Ganesh provoked my husband, but can anybody try to kill somebody for provocation? Is it right?”
Asked if there was a scuffle between Ganesh and Singh in the recent past, she said, “No, they are good friends. Yes, my husband told me that in the last Congress Legislature Party meeting, there was a heated exchange with (legislator) Bheema Naik. Other than that he did not tell me anything.”
Replying to another query, Laxmi said she does not know when Singh would be discharged from the hospital.
“My relatives, including my brothers, who are at the hospital, said my husband is in pain,” she said.
“I have made several calls, but I was told he was sleeping. Nobody is telling me the exact account of my husband’s condition,” she said, adding that her son had spoken to Minister D K Shivakumar, who said Singh was fine.
Singh was admitted to a private hospital.
Singh had “a black eye and suffered blunt injuries” and also complained of uneasiness in the chest, hospital sources said.
Ganesh is among the disgruntled Congress MLAs who was reportedly in touch with other dissidents in the party and was on BJP’s radar in its alleged toppling game. — PTI
09:35 2 killed in Jammu cable car crash days before inauguration by PM:
Two workers were killed and four others suffered injuries on Sunday after a cable car of the under-construction Jammu ropeway project crashed during a mock rescue drill, days before it was likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials said.
The crash took place due to some technical snag near the Mahamaya temple this evening, a police official said.
The executing agency was conducting a mock rescue drill and due to imbalance, one of the trolleys carrying six workers fell down.
One of them, 45-year-old Rakesh Kumar from Bihar, died on the spot.
The rest five — Hari Krishan (45), Manjeet Singh (32) and Lovely of West Bengal, Ravinder (30) of Uttar Pradesh, and Engineer Balkirat Singh (32) of Jammu — were rushed to the Government Medical College hospital where Krishan died later, they said.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik ordered a magisterial inquiry into the accident and announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs five lakh to the next of kin of those killed.
He also directed the divisional administration to provide free medical treatment to the injured, an official spokesman said.
On the instructions of the Governor, Advisor Khurshid Ahmed Ganai and Chief Secretary B V R Subramanyam visited the injured in the hospital late this evening.
The Chief Secretary also visited the accident site and took stock of the situation, the spokesman said.
The Jammu ropeway project, planned to boost tourism in the winter capital, is likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 3. — PTI
Photograph: PTI Photo
09:20 JD-U to vote against citizenship bill in Rajya Sabha:
The Janata Dal-United said it would vote against the controversial citizenship bill when it is tabled in the Rajya Sabha, notwithstanding the party’s alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The party’s national general secretary and chief spokesman K C Tyagi said this while criticising the Congress for staging a walkout from the Lok Sabha when the bill was being put to vote, saying it was a “farce” and “tantamount to support”.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12 years, which is the norm currently, even if they do not possess any document.
A large section of the people and several organisations in the northeast have opposed the bill saying it would nullify the provisions of the Assam Accord of 1985, which fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for deportation of illegal immigrants irrespective of religion.
Tyagi was speaking to reporters after a meeting of the party’s national office bearers here at the residence of chief minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD-U.
Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor, who joined the party in September last year and was elevated to the post of national vice-president a few weeks later, was among those who attended the meeting chaired by Kumar.
“The national office-bearers of the party reaffirmed the commitment to the legacy of socialist movement and to our old stand on issues like Ram temple, Article 370 and uniform civil code,” Tyagi said.
“As far as the new citizenship bill concerning Assam is concerned, we condemn the attitude and behaviour of the Congress when the bill was put to vote in the Lok Sabha,” he added.
Staging a walkout is tantamount to support and it is our apprehension that the Congress, by enacting a farce, wants to support the bill. We are going to oppose it when it comes before the Rajya Sabha, Tyagi said further.
The stance of JD-U assumes significance in the backdrop of the BJP, its ally in Bihar, facing the heat on the issue in Assam where it is in power and has lost the support of its former ally Asom Gana Parishad following differences on the matter.
The JD-U leader also said a party delegation, which would comprise Kishor and himself, among others, would soon visit Assam to take stock of the ramifications of the legislation. — PTI
09:14 Bhagwant Mann pledges to quit alcohol; earns high praise from Kejriwal:
Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann on Sunday said he has left taking liquor on his mother’s advice.
Mann, who is often criticised by political opponents for “excessive drinking,” earned high praise from party supremo Arvind Kejriwal for giving up alcohol.
“My political opponents often level accusations against me, saying ‘Bhagwant Mann takes liquor and remains intoxicated day and night’. Brothers, it always pained me when I saw old videos of myself on social media where I was being defamed,” Mann said, at a rally in Barnala.
He said he has left drinking from January 1 and that he hopes to shun liquor for the rest of his life.
“I admit I used to take liquor occasionally. But my political opponents maligned me. Today my mother is here. She had told me that people defamed me excessively on the television and then asked me to stop taking liquor. Now they cannot defame me,” said Mann, who is set contest the Lok Sabha elections from Sangrur seat again.
In 2016, the suspended AAP MP Harinder Singh Khalsa had complained against Mann to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, requesting her to change his seat in the Parliament as Mann, who sat next to him, was stinking of alcohol.
Later during his address, Kejriwal lauded Mann for leaving liquor, saying his commitment was “not a small thing”.
“Friends, Bhagwant Mann has won my heart. Not only mine, he also won the hearts of whole Punjab. A leader should be like him who is ready to make any kind of sacrifice for the people. It is not a small thing to make such a big commitment. After January 1, he says he will not touch liquor. It is a very big thing,” said Kejriwal.
Kejriwal said Mann, who was a stand up comedian, left his career to serve the people of Punjab.
“Today Punjab is sinking because of drugs. In the last Punjab elections, Mann fought against Sukhbir Singh Badal from Jalalabad seat because he felt at that time Sukhbir was the biggest guilty for the situation Punjab was in. Today, Sukhbir Badal is responsible for drugs in Punjab,” alleged Kejriwal.
Kejriwal asked how many people are ready to leave liquor for the people. — PTI
08:42 Indian billionaires’ wealth rose by Rs 2,200cr a day in 2018: Report:
Indian billionaires saw their fortunes swell by Rs 2,200 crore a day last year, with the top 1 per cent of the country’s richest getting richer by 39 per cent as against just 3 per cent increase in wealth for the bottom-half of the population, an Oxfam study said Monday.
Globally, billionaires’ fortunes rose by 12 per cent or USD 2.5 billion a day in 2018, whereas the poorest half of the world’s population saw their wealth decline by 11 per cent, the international rights group said in its annual study released before the start of the five-day World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.
Oxfam further said that 13.6 crore Indians, who make up the poorest 10 per cent of the country, continued to remain in debt since 2004.
Asking the political and business leaders who have gathered in Davos for the annual jamboree of the rich and powerful of the world to take urgent steps to tackle the growing rich-poor divide, Oxfam said this increasing inequality is undermining the fight against poverty, damaging economies and fuelling public anger across the globe.
Oxfam International Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, one of the key participants at the WEF summit, said it is “morally outrageous” that a few wealthy individuals are amassing a growing share of India’s wealth, while the poor are struggling to eat their next meal or pay for their child’s medicines.
“If this obscene inequality between the top 1 percent and the rest of India continues then it will lead to a complete collapse of the social and democratic structure of this country,” she added.
Noting that wealth is becoming even more concentrated, Oxfam said 26 people now own the same as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity, down from 44 people last year.
The world’s richest man Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, saw his fortune increase to USD 112 billion and just 1 per cent of his fortune is equivalent to the whole health budget for Ethiopia, a country of 115 million people.
“India’s top 10 per cent of the population holds 77.4 per cent of the total national wealth. The contrast is even sharper for the top 1 per cent that holds 51.53 per cent of the national wealth.
“The bottom 60 per cent, the majority of the population, own merely 4.8 per cent of the national wealth. Wealth of top 9 billionaires is equivalent to the wealth of the bottom 50 per cent of the population,” Oxfam said while noting that high level of wealth disparity subverts democracy.
Between 2018 and 2022, India is estimated to produce 70 new dollar millionaires every day, Oxfam said.
“It (the survey) reveals how governments are exacerbating inequality by underfunding public services, such as healthcare and education, on the one hand, while under taxing corporations and the wealthy, and failing to clamp down on tax dodging on the other,” Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar said.
The survey also shows that women and girls are hardest hit by rising economic inequality, he added. — PTI
Image used for representational purpose only.
Source: Rediff