22:02 Modi’s new year sops to cost govt Rs 3,500 cr annually: SBI:
The government will have to make an additional budgetary provision to the tune of Rs 3,500 crore to pay for the slew of welfare measures announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the poor, pregnant women and
farmers on the eve of the New Year, says a report.
“The overall fiscal impact of all these measures announced by the PM on December 31, will be around Rs 3,500 crore per year, which is minimal compared to the social and economic benefits,” SBI Research said in a note today.
Modi announced a slew of schemes for multiple beneficiaries last Saturday, in a bid to soften the blow of demonetisation drive between November 8 and December 30.
In what looked like a mini-Budget speech, Modi announced interest subventions for agricultural loans, financial assistance of Rs 6,000 for pregnant women and an increase in the number of houses being built for poor by a
third, among others.
The note said the interest subvention on agri loans will result in a fiscal burden of Rs 1,300 crore, schemes for women and children will be a fiscal drag of another Rs 1,200 crore and the benefits under the PM Awas Yojana will cost Rs 1,000 crore to exchequer.
These bogies will have various facilities to ensure the differently abled passengers or “divyangs” have smooth train travel, said Kamlesh Pandey, Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities in Union Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.
Addressing a press conference in Nagpur, he said the special bogies will be interlinked, will have more seats, space and signage to locate them.
Pandey is in Nagpur for a review meeting of welfare schemes launched for “divyangs” in the district.
This initiative has been taken to make rail travel more convenient for divyangs, he added.
Pandey informed that around 180 Government buildings in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur will be made accessible to divyangs with various facilities like ramps, lifts and disable -friendly sound system.
The project has been sent to the Central Government for approval, he said.
Among banks, Corporation Bank, Bank of India and Punjab & Sind Bank slashed their marginal cost of funds based lending rate.
Taking a cue from State Bank of India and other major lenders, mortgage finance company HDFC Ltd, Indiabulls Housing Finance too reduced lending rate by up to 0.45 per cent.
Loans up to Rs 75 lakh will attract interest rate of 8.7 per cent per annum, while it will be 8.75 per cent for higher amounts, HDFC said in a statement.
A woman applicant will get a discount of 0.05 per cent in interest rate.
HDFC’s earlier benchmark rate was 9.1 per cent. Besides, Bank of India reduced its MCLRs upto 0.9 per cent. For one year, the MCLR is now 8.50 per cent, down 0.75 per cent.
21:40 CRPF at BJP’s Kolkata office after TMC’s violent protest: CRPF have been deployed outside BJP’s Kolkata office after students wing of Trinamool Congress attacked the party headquarters with stones to protest the arrest of the TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay in Rose Valley chit fund scam case.
Carrying TMC flags and shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the agitated party workers accused the BJP of pursuing vendetta politics.
Bandyopadhyay, the second TMC MP to be arrested in the scam within a week after actor-turned-politician Tapas Pal, was earlier subjected to questioning for more than four hours, CBI sources said.
Lighthizer, who served as deputy USTR under President Ronald Reagan, would play a key role in Trump’s trade agenda.
The president-elect has vigorously opposed the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership pact, but has said he would ink one-on-one trade deals with individual countries.
Trump has also signaled a tough stance on trade with China, including levying a hefty tariff on Chinese imports.
“Ambassador Lighthizer is going to do an outstanding job representing the United States as we fight for good trade deals that put the American worker first,” Trump said today in a statement announcing his pick.
19:58 Rs 5 discount on online payment of LPG cylinder: After petrol and diesel, buying and paying for cooking gas (LPG) online will get consumers a discount of Rs 5 per cylinder.
State-owned fuel retailers, Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd will offer “an upfront discount of Rs 5 on every LPG refill to all LPG customers who will book and pay for it online,” an official statement said.
To provide cash-less transactions, the government had asked oil companies to pay consumers 0.75 per cent discount on cashless fuelling of petrol and diesel at petrol pumps. This has now been extended to cooking gas.
“Customers can make payment through existing online modes i.e. net banking, credit and debit cards at the time of web- booking their refills,” the statement said.
On doing so, customers will get the discounted amount displayed on their screens. This net amount payable will be retail selling price minus incentive amount of Rs 5 per cylinder.
19:44 CBI files chargesheet against Teesta Setalvad: A chargesheet has been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against social activist Teesta Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand and a company run by them for alleged violation of foreign funding rules.
The chargesheet, which has listed the firm Sabrang Communications and Publishing Private Limited and a man named Sushma Raman, was filed on Saturday in a court in Mumbai, CBI spokesperson R K Gaur said today.
The probe agency had in July 2015 registered a case against Setalvad, who was at the forefront of campaign for 2002 Gujarat riot victims, and others for alleged violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act in receiving funds from abroad without taking prior permission from the Union home ministry.
The chargesheet has been filed under Section 120 B of Indian Penal Code (criminal conspiracy) along with FCRA 2010 and FCRA 1976, the spokesperson said. — PTI
19:21 JUST IN: Paytm gets RBI licence for Payments Bank.
19:18 No scope of compromise between SP factions: Ram Gopal: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadavs uncle Ram Gopal Yadav on Tuesday categorically said there was no scope of compromise between the factions of the Samajwadi Party, adding that both the groups have put forth their arguments in front of the Election Commission.
“No compromise to be made in the Samajwadi Party. Both the factions have presented their arguments in front of the Election Commission,” said Ram Gopal.
He asserted that they are going to fight the upcoming elections under the leadership of the new national president Akhilesh only.
Commenting on the election symbol row, Ram Gopal said, “There is no confusion. As far as the issue of symbol is concerned, the Election Commission is going to decide on it.”
Even as the battle over the party’s symbol ‘cycle’ continued unabated, Akhilesh met his father at the latter’s residence here amid speculations of a patch-up on the cards.
Samajwadi Party’s patron Mulayam Singh Yadav’s younger brother and close confidante Shivpal Yadav, however, said that he was not aware about any such meeting, but added that he would definitely attend it if invited.
This came as reports earlier suggested that the father-son duo had a telephonic conversation.– ANI
18:32 Trinamool workers protest outside BJP office; pelt stones: Trinamool Congress workers protested, pelted stones and tried to enter Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kolkata office after party MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay’s arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
TMC MLAs and MPs including Saugat Roy, Dinesh Trivedi and Partha Chatterjee reached Kolkata’s CBI Office.
Earlier, the BJP office was allegedly attacked by members of TMC’s student’ wing, which the latter denied.– ANI
Photograph: ANI
18:03 TMC ministers gherao CBI office in Kolkata after MP’s arrest: BJP office in Kolkata attacked after TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay’s arrest for his alleged involvement in a ponzi scheme.
All TMC ministers have now reached the CBI office in Kolkata to protest the arrest.
Bandopadhyay was arrested for alleged involvement in a ponzi scheme that bankrupted lakhs of small investors in Bengal. TMC chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “Trinamool-bandi after note-bandi”, alleging that her party is being persecuted for its aggressive campaign against his demonetisation drive.
17:52 NCW lambasts Parameshwara, Abu Azmi for ‘disgusting’ remarks on Bengaluru incident: National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam on Tuesday condemned the sexist remarks made by Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara and Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi regarding the Bengaluru molestation incident and said that summons have been issued to the duo for their ‘disgusting’ assertions.
“Politicising any issue leads to issue being covered up and politics becomes more important. It does not matter whether Abu Azmi belongs to one particular party or other party. To be brutally frank, there are men across all parties who make such disgusting statements and they are all to be condemned equally. In this case, it is Abu Azmi and Karnataka Home Minister,” said Kumaramangalam.
Expressing disappointment over the police inaction, Kumaramangalam said if the state’s Home Minister is himself trying to brush the matter under the carpet then what one can expect from the men in uniform.
17:48 5.7-magnitude quake jolts Tripura: An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale hit Tripura this afternoon.
No damage to life or property was immediately reported.
According to the National Centre for Seismology, the epicentre of the temblor was in Dhalai district in the north-eastern state.
‘The 5.7-magnitude earthquake hit the region at 1439 hours (2.39 pm). The epicentre was located at a depth of 28 km in the district,’ it said.
Many panic-stricken people ran out of their homes and shops as the quake struck the region.
“It was the strongest earthquake that I have felt till date. It felt as if the whole building would collapse,” Pradip Mallik, an Agartala resident, said.
17:11 BJP office in Kolkata attacked after TMC MP’s arrest : Just in: BJP office attacked in Kolkata after TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay’s arrest. Bandopadhyay was arrested for alleged involvement in a ponzi scheme that bankrupted lakhs of small investors in Bengal. TMC chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “Trinamool-bandi after note-bandi”, alleging that her party is being persecuted for its aggressive campaign against his demonetisation drive.
Last week, the CBI arrested Tapas Pal, an actor-turned-politician from the Trinamool Congress. Banerjee said, “I challenge Modi, if you think you can arrest our leaders and run away, we will not let this go.”
The CBI is investigating the unregulated financial investment schemes that were run by Rose Valley – a Bengal conglomerate with interests in real estate and entertainment. The case, filed two years ago, accuses Rose Valley of stealing nearly 17,000 crore from investors.
16:48 Akhilesh to take control of SP, Shivpal to move to Delhi: Reports: According to reports UP CM Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav are in a meeting brokered by senior leader of the party Azam Khan. The meeting which also had Shivpal Yadav present, has just ended.
As the Election Commission is set to announce the dates for the polls in Uttar Pradesh and four other states tomorrow, this morning, Akhilesh Yadav, spoke on the phone to his father. Akhilesh has the backing of a majority of party workers and MLAs and has replaced his father as party chief. He has also expelled Amar Singh from the party.
Mulayam Singh who was in Delhi meeting EC officials to stake a claim to the party’s symbol — the bicycle — left for Lucknow immediately after the phone call to his son.
NDTV reports now say that a semblance of peace between the two warring factions has indeed been brokered with Mulayam being reinstated as the party’s chief and Akhilesh’s choice of candidates being accepted. Akhilesh is likely to be given control of the party, while Shivpal Yadav will be moved to Delhi.
File pic.
The 50-day exercise ended on December 30, but the cash supply situation is yet to ease in certain pockets. As a result, the government has not lifted the withdrawal ceiling of Rs 24,000 per week.
On observing that bank notes being supplied to rural areas is not commensurate with the local requirements, some steps have already been initiated, RBI said in a notification.
With a view to ensuring at least 40 per cent bank notes are supplied to rural areas and mitigating the issue in a more enduring manner, the banks maintaining currency chests are advised various steps, including liberal issuance of the existing stock of other denomination notes below Rs 100.
15:38 Sugar will attract ants: Abu Azmi scales new heights in misogyny : Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi on Tuesday said women in Bengaluru had been molested en masse on new year’s eve because they were wearing “short clothes’, hours after the Centre condemned Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara’s similar victim-blaming comments.
Azmi, like Parameshwara, claimed that the women faced repeated sexual harassment on the city’s streets because they had not conformed to “Indian culture’.
“But in these modern times, the more women are naked, the more fashionable, modern and educated they are considered. This is a blot on our culture,” he said. “It’s regrettable, a case should be registered. But if we say anything against girls and boys going out together, we are called old fashioned. In Indian culture there should be propriety in how men and women meet. Women must step out with the family,” Azmi said.
The SP leader also compared women with sugar, which he said will always attract ants. The party, however, disagreed with Azmi’s analysis of the events.
“It is really unfortunate that Azmi thinks like that. The party condemns it. He should apologise,’ SP leader Juhie Singh told CNN-News18. National Commission for Women chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam said they had sent summons to both Azmi and Parameshwara, ” If men at this level say such things, where is nation heading?’This is not the first time Azmi has been criticised for blaming women for being sexually assault.
In April 2014, he had told Mid Day that women too should be punished alongside their rapists, and also when there is consensual sex outside marriage.
15:21 TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay arrested by CBI in Rose valley scam case.
15:16 Akhilesh stakes claim to SP’s bicycle: Cycle, the election symbol of Samajwadi Party, today formally came under dispute with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s camp telling the Election Commission that the party is “actually” headed by him now and not its founder Mulayam Singh.
Yesterday, Mulayam himself drove down to Nirvachan Sadan, the EC headquarters, to inform the poll watchdog that he continues to head the party and the decision to anoint his son Akhilesh as its president by the rival faction was unconstitutional as per the SP constitution.
Leaders loyal to Akhilesh — Ram Gopal Yadav, Naresh Agarwal and Kiranmoy Nanda — met the Commission this morning to stake claim over SP and its election symbol.
All three who represented Akhilesh before the poll panel stand expelled from SP by Mulayam. “The real Samajwadi Party belongs to us as 90 per cent of the people support us,” Ram Gopal, who is Mulayam’s cousin and has sided with Akhilesh in the family feud, told reporters after meeting the Commission. He was asked about what he conveyed to the Commission on the party and its symbol.
15:00 Tremors felt in Assam, Northeast as earthquake of magnitude 5.5 strikes India-Bangladesh border region, says USGS
15:00 PM Modi in Tirupati.
14:12 Dog day afternoon: CP Mumbai Police @CPMumbaiPolice Very proud to announce that Max, won a gold medal in explosive detection during the 60th All India Police Duty Meet at Mysore.
14:11 CRPF jawan shot at in Pulwama, but he is stable.
13:22 Akhilesh meets Mulayam at Lucknow home : A patch-up in the offing? Reports say Akhilesh Yadav is on his way to Mulayam Singh’s residence in Lucknow. Shivpal is also headed there. Mediator and senior SP leader Azam Khan is at the meeting.
Reports says that the SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav left New Delhi in a chartered without Shivpal and reached Lucknow this morning.
The war within the ruling Samajwadi Party of Uttar Pradesh moved from Lucknow to Delhi where Mulayam Singh approached the Election Commission to stake claim over the ‘cycle’ symbol, hours after cancelling the January 5 party convention called by him.
Mulayam’s son Akhilesh Yadav, the Chief Minister who deposed his father from the post of national party president, met the full three-member Election Commission today with the same claim.
File pic.
13:12 Society has to ponder on degrading mindset, says Rijiju on B’lore horror: A day after the Karnataka home minster’s casual comments about the incidents of sexual harassment and molestation in Bengaluru on New Year’s eve, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said such incidents should not be seen just through a law and order lens. “I condemn the shameful harassment of women. It’s not just an incident or law and order issue. Whole society has to ponder on degrading mindset,” tweeted Rijiju.
On New Year’s eve, many women were allegedly molested by mobs on MG Road and Brigade Road in the heart of Bengaluru. When asked about it, Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara responded by saying “these kinds of things do happen”. Police, too, said women are often molested during such celebrations and no case had been registered as no complainants had come forward.
During days like New Year or Christmas Day, there are women who are harassed or treated badly. We take precautionary measures. But unfortunately, on days like New Year, a large number of youngsters gather on Brigade Road, Commercial Street and MG Road. And youngsters are almost like westerners. They try to copy the west, not only in their mindset but even in their dressing. So some disturbance, some girls are harassed, these kinds of things do happen,” Parameshwara told a TV channel yesterday.
12:31 Just in: EC likely to announce poll dates for five states tomorrow. Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur will go to the polls.
12:28 Budget session likely to begin from Jan 31: After a near-washout Winter Session, the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs which met today to finalise the date for the forthcoming Budget Session of Parliament, has fixed the date for January 31, say reports. The government has yet to confirm the date. Union budget to be presented from February 1, Economic Survey on January 31.
Almost no business was conducted in either House during the Winter Session with the Opposition staging protests over demonetisation almost every day resulting in constant disruptions in Parliament.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill 2014, which was introduced in Rajya Sabha in 2014, was the only bill cleared by both Houses.
This year’s budget session will be the first after the merger of Railway Budget and the Union Budget. The 92-year-old practice of presenting a separate Rail Budget is going to end from the this fiscal, with the Finance Ministry accepting Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s proposal to merge it with the General Budget.
11:58 Delhi High Court has adjourned the matter of SP Tyagi bail cancellation hearing for next Monday.
11:48 Budget Session of Parliament likely from January 31.
11:36 Home, corporate loans to be cheaper: Housing, auto and corporate loans are all set to become cheaper as many PSUs and private banks on Tuesday steeply reduced the benchmark lending rate by up to 1.48 percent after spurt in deposits following demonetisation.
Taking a cue from the State Bank of India (SBI), other lenders including largest private sector lender ICICI Bank and state-owned Oriental Bank of Commerce and Andhra Bank announced cut in marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR).
However, SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya has hinted that the mega merger of its five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank could be pushed to the next financial year as it is still awaiting the government’s notification.
The SBI along with PNB and Union Bank of India earlier on Monday reduced the lending rate by 0.9 percent after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his New Year eve address urged the banks to focus on the needs of poor and lower middle class and middle class.The reduction in lending rates may prompt increase in credit off take which has moderated substantially putting burden on the balance sheet of banks.
11:20 Rose Valley chit fund scam: TMC MP Tapas Pal’s daughter Sohini appears before CBI for interrogation in Bhubaneswar for the second time. TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay at CBI office for questioning in connection with Rose Valley ponzi scam.
11:12 Booker prize-winning author John Berger dead at 90: John Berger, the Booker prize-winning novelist and pioneering art critic, has passed away at the age of 90. The Marxist intellectual, whose BBC series, “Ways of Seeing”, brought a political view to art criticism, died at his home in the Paris suburb of Antony on Monday. He had been ill for about a year, reported Telegraph. Berger won the Booker Prize in 1972 for his novel G, and pledged to give half the prize money to the radical African-American movement, the Black Panthers.
11:03 Mulayam leaves Delhi without informing Shivpal: SP Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav leaves for Lucknow fromk Delhi. He is accompanied by other party members and met Election Commission officials yesterday. Curiously, he left Delhi without informing his brother Shivpal Yadav who is in Delhi. Another piece of information doing the rounds is that SP senior leader Azam Khan seems to be brokering peace between Mulayam and Akhilesh Yadav. Reports say Azam Khan made the father-son speak to each other over the phone.
As the ongoing tussle in the ruling party of Uttar Pradesh is escalating, shocking details have emerged. It has now come to light that the disqualifications of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and party member Ram Gopal Yadav were never taken back on papers. Sources said, revoking the duo’s disqualification was conditional.
It was decided that both Akhilesh and Ram Gopal won’t conduct the party’s national convention. But they went ahead and hence their disqualification was not revoked.
Their case in the Election Commission is strong as only party president can call convention and not disqualified members. Ram Gopal was sacked earlier on January 1 for the third time by party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav after he declared Akhilesh as the new national president of the Samajwadi Party at a special national convention.
Mulayam termed the national convention as ‘unconstitutional’ and dismissed the proposals passed in it as ‘illegal’. A letter issued by Mulayam blamed Ram Gopal for “conspiring’ to harm the party.
On December 30, the feud-riddled Samajwadi Party hurtled towards a split after Mulayam had expelled Akhilesh and Ram Gopal from the party for six years.
The shock move came a day after Akhilesh the party patriarch’s son, came up with his own list of 235 candidates for assembly polls. As the crisis within the Samajwadi Party refuses to die down, Ram Gopal is schedule to meet with the officials of Election Commission on Tuesday to stake claim for the party symbol ‘Cycle’.
Mulayam, and senior leaders Amar Singh, Shivpal Singh Yadav and Jaya Prada met the Election Commission yesterday over the same issue. Mulayam on Monday postponed the January 5 emergency convention. No fresh date has been announced for the convention.
10:29 Anshu Jain joins Cantor Fitzgerald as president: Cantor Fitzgerald, LP (CFLP, Cantor, or the Firm) a leading financial services company, today announced that Anshu Jain has joined the Firm as President. Working with Howard W. Lutnick, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CFLP, Jain will build on Cantor Fitzgeralds strong client-focused business foundation and drive the Firms momentum as it enters the next phase of growth.
Jain is the former Co-Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank and has been a leader in the financial services industry for over three decades.
Also read: The story of Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm which lost the maximum employees in 9/11
10:20 Celebrating Savitribai Phule: The Google doodle today, commemorates the 186th birth anniversary of social reformer and poet Savitribai Phule. Savitribai who was married to freedom fighter, educationist and reformer Jyotirao Phule, stood up for the rights of women and fought against the injustice faced by them.
10:13 Bollywood celebs to perform at Trump’s inauguration ceremony: Republican Hindu Coalition India Ambassador and Trump supporter Manasvi Mamgai said on Monday that many Bollywood celebrities will be performing at the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump swearing in as the 45th president of the United States on January 20.
“You will see Bollywood biggies, Bollywood entertainment and all the ‘Jhatkas’ & ‘Matkas’ at the inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20,” actress and Former Miss India, Manasvi told ANI.
She added that Trump is going to be the best USA President for India so far as he has shown vocal support.
The president-elect will officially take the oath of office at noon, January 20 at the west front terrace of the U.S. Capitol.
Trump’s inaugural committee released an initial list of groups that have accepted an invitation to take part in the inaugural parade following the swearing in.
There will be more than 8,000 participants from 40 organizations, the committee said in a statement.
The 30-share index rose 43.46 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 26,638.91, with sectoral indices consumer durables, power, metal, oil and gas, healthcare and realty advancing by up to 1.93 per cent. The gauge had lost 31.01 points in the first trading session of 2017 yesterday. The NSE Nifty also moved up by 17.20 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 8,196.70.
United States President-elect Donald Trump has taken to Twitter to promise North Korea would not develop a nuclear missile capable of reaching US territory.
His comments come a day after the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, appeared to try to put pressure on Trump by announcing his country is in the “final stages” of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile.
“North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the US,” Trump tweeted. “It won’t happen!”
09:27 Kareena Kapoor’s income tax account hacker arrested by Mumbai cops:
An employee of the Central paramilitary forces was arrested by the cyber police in Mumbai for accessing Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor’s Income Tax e- filing account, police said.
The accused wanted to get Kareena’s personal mobile number so he hacked her IT account, they said.
Kareena’s chartered accountant had last year approached the police with the complaint that somebody had hacked her IT e-filing account and tampered with it.
Cyber-police tracked down the culprit today.
The accused files income tax returns for people as a part-time job while working with paramilitary forces.
09:10 In the fight for cycle, Ram Gopal Yadav to approach EC today:
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will send his mentor and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav to the Election Commission to stake claim over Samajwadi Party election symbol “cycle”.
SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, flanked with his brother Shivpal Yadav, Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh and actress-turned politician Jaya Prada, met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi yesterday in the national capital to stake claim on the symbol.
“I am still the president of Samajwadi Party and the decision of the rival camp to appoint CM Akhilesh Yadav as the party chief is against party’s constitution,” Mulayam told the full Election Commission.
Claiming to have the backing of the SP Parliamentary Board, he said the party symbol ‘cycle’ belongs to him as he is the party president, sources said.
Interestingly, Mulayam was deposed from the post of party president by the group headed by his son Akhilesh Yadav.
According to constitutional experts, in all likelihood, the poll panel could freeze the party symbol and allot new symbols to both the factions to contest the assembly elections scheduled this year.
This might come as a blow to both sides as the symbol “cycle” is a well established brand.
08:53 Obama to deliver farewell address on January 10 in Chicago:
US President Barack Obama will deliver a farewell address on January 10 to reflect on his time in office and say thank you to his supporters, he said in an email statement.
Obama, noting that the first president of the United States, George Washington, had penned a farewell address in 1796, said he would deliver his speech in his hometown of Chicago.
“I’m thinking about (the remarks) as a chance to say thank you for this amazing journey, to celebrate the ways you’ve changed this country for the better these past eight years, and to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here,” he said.
Those who missed depositing scrapped notes+ with banks before December 30 are finding out that the Reserve Bank of India too has firmly shut its doors to everybody except those who were abroad from November 10 to December 30, 2016.
Several citizens who were turned away at RBI offices in different cities on Monday recalled that in his November 8 speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that there may be some who were unable to deposit their old 500 or 1,000 rupee notes by December 30, 2016. “They can go to specified offices of the Reserve Bank of India up to March 31, 2017 and deposit the notes after submitting a declaration form,” the prime minister had said on television.
However, when depositors turned up at the RBI’s offices in Kolkata, Ahmedabad and other parts of the country to exchange some notes that were left behind, they were told there was no grace period. “This policy is in the government’s ordinance and notification. The grace period is only for those who were abroad during November and December and did not have an opportunity to deposit,” said an RBI official.
07:51 Encounter breaks out in Baramullah district, 1 terrorist killed:
One terrorist was killed in an encounter between security forces and terrorists in the early hours of Tuesday in the Haritar Tarzoo area in Baramullah district in Jammu and Kashmir. According to reports from news agency ANI, two terrorists were believed to be hiding.
The operation is still underway and efforts are on to neutralise the other terrorist.
This comes less than a week after a similar encounter happened in Shahgund Hajin in Bandipora district in the state.
00:11 Pope tells bishops to have zero tolerance for sexual abuse:
Pope Francis has told bishops around the world they must adhere to a policy of zero tolerance for clergy who sexually abuse children and begged forgiveness for “a sin that shames us”.
In a letter sent on Dec. 28 but released by the Vatican only on Monday, Francis said: “I would like us to renew our complete commitment to ensuring that these atrocities will no longer take place in our midst.”
Since his election in 2013, Francis has taken some steps to root out sexual abuse in the Church and to put in place practices to protect children. But victims’ groups say he has not done enough, particularly to hold to account bishops who tolerated sexual abuse or covered it up.
00:09 Israeli police question Netanyahu over alleged gifts: Reports:
Police investigators began questioning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his official residence in Jerusalem on Monday on suspicion of receiving gifts from businessmen in breach of his role as a public servant, Israeli media said.
The move was authorised by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who decided after a preliminary inquiry that there was enough evidence to open a criminal investigation, Haaretz newspaper reported.
Israeli media said the questioning by senior police investigators began on Monday evening, was expected last several hours and would almost certainly be followed by more interrogation.
Netanyahu told his ruling Likud faction in parliament that those hoping for his downfall would have to “wait with the celebrations, don’t rush. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it once again: there will be nothing because there is nothing.”
Source: Rediff