Month: January 2021

By Pragya Kaushika

With the eighth-round of meeting between farmers’ unions and the Central government scheduled to take place on Monday, the ‘clause by clause’ discussion on three farm laws is expected to take place between the two if farmers remain adamant on their demand to repeal the laws.

Sources in the government said that with two demands of farmers’ unions — Repeal of the three farm laws and legalisation of Minimum Support Price (MSP) — left unresolved, the Centre is likely to discuss farm laws clause by clause as it did initially before the MSP issue. The exercise was done by the government earlier to understand the objections of farmers against the laws.

“While the government is ready to work with farmers on the issue of MSP, it needs to ask farmers about their demand for the repeal of three farm laws. MSP will be relevant only when the government can discuss laws with farmers and convince them of these being in their well-being,” stated the source.

Sources in the know of the matter also informed that the unions too have differences on the priority of these demands.

“There are few who believe if MSP is legalised, laws can be discussed. However, there are also those who only talk of the repeal of these laws,” stated the source.

It is also informed that the government is willing to work on MSP only when unions give up the demand for the repeal of these laws.

With the government acceding to the demands of farmers in the previous meeting on excluding penalties of stubble burning ordinance and Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020, there are two demands left to be discussed to resolve the issue of farmers agitation.

With concerns that farm laws would weaken the MSP and mandi systems and leave the farmers at the mercy of big corporates, farmers have been protesting at different borders of the national capital for over a month against the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. (ANI)

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), through its subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, in a petition mentioned to be filed in Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday, has sought urgent intervention of Government authorities to bring a complete stop to illegal acts of vandalism by miscreants, said RIL.

These acts of violence have endangered the lives of thousands of its employees and caused damage and disruption to the vital communications infrastructure, sales and service outlets run by its subsidiaries in the two states, RIL said in a media statement.

The miscreants indulging in vandalism have been instigated and aided by vested interests and our business rivals. Taking advantage of the ongoing farmers’ agitation near the national capital, these vested interests have launched an incessant, malicious and motivated vilification campaign against Reliance, which has absolutely no basis in truth, it said.

The falsehood of the campaign becomes crystal clear from the following irrefutable facts, which we have placed before the Honourable High Court. These facts establish that Reliance has nothing whatsoever to do with the three farm laws currently debated in the country, and in no way benefits from them. As such, the sole nefarious purpose of linking the name of Reliance to these laws is to harm our businesses and damage our reputation, said RIL.

“Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), or any other affiliate of our parent company, i.e., Reliance Industries Limited have not done any ‘corporate’ or ‘contract’ farming in the past, and have absolutely no plans to enter this business,” RIL said in its statement.

Neither Reliance nor any of our subsidiaries has purchased any agricultural land, directly or indirectly, in Punjab/Haryana or anywhere else in India, for the purpose of “corporate” or “contract” farming. We have absolutely no plans to do so, it added.

Reliance Retail is an unmatched leader in organised retail business in India. It retailsproducts of all categories including food grains and staples, fruits and vegetables, items of daily use, apparels, medicines, electronic products of various brands belonging to independent manufacturers and suppliers in the country. It does not purchase any food grains directly from farmers, according to RIL.

It has never entered into long-term procurement contracts to gain unfair advantage over farmers or sought that its suppliers buy from farmers at less than remunerative prices, nor will it ever do so.

“We at Reliance have immense gratitude and the greatest respect for India’s kisans, who are the ‘ANNA DATA’ of 1.3 billion Indians. Reliance and its affiliates are committed to doing everything to enrich and empower them. As customers of their services, we believe in building a strong and equal partnership with Indian farmers on the basis of shared prosperity, inclusive development and an equitable New India,” said RIL.

Therefore, Reliance and its affiliates fully share and support the aspiration of Indianfarmers to get a fair and profitable price on a predictable basis for what they produce with exemplary hard work, innovation and dedication. Reliance seeks significant augmentation of their incomes on a sustainable basis, and pledges to work towards this goal.

Indeed, we shall insist on our suppliers to strictly abide by the Minimum Support Price(MSP) mechanism, and/or any other mechanism for a remunerative price for farmproduce, as may be determined and implemented by the government, RIL added.

Far from hurting the interests of Indian farmers, the businesses of Reliance have actually benefited them and the Indian public at large. (ANI)

In the last two months, over 180 people including managing directors of companies and chartered accountants have been arrested for tax evasion, said Union Finance Secretary Dr Ajay Bhushan Pandey on Monday.

Speaking to ANI, Pandey said, “Now we have a software tool via which we have taken action against people with discrepancies in the record, after 2017. In the last 1.5 to 2 months, we have arrested over 180 people including managing directors of companies and chartered accountants for tax evasion.”

They have not been able to get bails because of the seriousness of their tax frauds, the Finance Secretary stated.

“We have data from different agencies which is brought together and analyzed, using artificial intelligence. Earlier we used to take action against those having discrepancies in their record, based on the complaint which was not even true at times but now everything is information-based,” he added.

Pandey further said that the GST collection hit record-high of over Rs 1.15 lakh crore in the month of December is because our economy is on the path of recovery.

“Record-high GST collection of over Rs 1.15 lakh crore in December is because our economy is on the path of recovery. We have brought many changes at the system level for better compliance,” said Pandey.

“We are taking targeted action against those who have discrepancies in their record,” he added.

Another reason being the changes made on system level, in the past few months, Pandey stated.

“We are trying that the honest taxpayer should not face any kind of issue while we are taking action against the people who are misusing our system, through a systematic process and data analytics. This might be another reason for record-high GST collection,” said Pandey.

The Finance Secretary yesterday explained that higher GST collection is also the result of higher collection efficiency and the trend should continue in the coming months too.

He further said that in the nationwide drive, investigating agencies have unearthed about 7,000 companies indulged in GST evasion, besides arresting 187 unscrupulous persons which include managing directors, directors, proprietors, partners of firms, and five chartered accountants, and a company secretary. (ANI)

Actor Kangana Ranaut on Monday revealed that the makers of her upcoming flick ‘Dhaakad,’ have roped in Japanese cinematographer Tetsuo Nagata who is based in France.

The ‘Queen’ actor shared the information about her latest film through a tweet which also included some of her pictures with the ‘Dhaakad’ team from their New Year brunch party.

“For #Dhaakad we have legendary french director of photography Tetsuo Nagata, his academy award winning work like La Vie en Rose has been an inspiration for whole world,” she tweeted.

“Along with highly acclaimed international action crew @RazyGhai hoping to make world class spy thriller,” her tweet further read.

Nagata who is a Cesar award-winning cinematographer will be serving as the director of photography (DOP) for Ranaut starrer ‘Dhaakad.’

Some of his works can be seen in films like ‘La Vie En Rose,’ ‘Paris,’ ‘Narco’ among others.

‘Dhaakad’ is being helmed by Razneesh Ghai and is being produced by Sohail Maklai. (ANI)

As President Xi Jinping prioritizes security goals and repression over reforms, China is unlikely to achieve economic and social development target by 2035 promised by the Chinese leader, a foreign affairs expert said.

In an opinion piece in Foreign Policy magazine, Salvatore Babones, an adjunct scholar at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, wrote that economic growth is certainly still a high priority for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), but domestic repression now ranks higher and Xi’s preference for security goals over economic ones extends beyond China’s borders.

“He (Xi) first floated his goals for 2035 in a party congress speech three years ago and has now enshrined them in doctrine. In Xi’s vision, China’s economy will reach a “new level”–but so will the government’s capacity to monitor and control it. And that marks a crucial change in priorities: Although Xi cares about growth as his predecessors did, he cares about control much, much more,” he wrote.

“His new brand of ‘wolf warrior’ diplomacy is costing China its foreign markets for products and services. Take India: Chinese technology giants such as Huawei, Alibaba, and TikTok were well on their way to market dominance in the world’s second-most populous market until Chinese border troops killed 20 Indian soldiers in hand-to-hand fighting in Ladakh in June. In the ensuing backlash, Chinese smartphone makers faced consumer boycotts. Chinese apps have been almost entirely banned in the Indian market,” he added.

Babones said that Xi has thrown more than a million Uyghurs into forced labour camps and has imposed a draconian National Security Law in Hong Kong and reactivated dormant party committees in private companies.

Babones mentioned the actions taken by the Chinese regime against billionaire Jack Ma after the latter criticised regulators.

“Beijing announced it was investigating Alibaba Group, the online retail giant also founded by Ma, and last week ordered him to essentially break up Ant. Advocacy for economic reform, tolerated by previous CCP leaders as necessary for nudging the country in the right direction, is now considered tantamount to treason,” he wrote.

The scholar also said that China’s “frosty” relations with other countries are hurting China’s economic growth in those countries.

“China has clashed with Indonesia–another important Asian market–over control of the South China Sea, prompting Jakarta to turn to Japan for help with a flagship high-speed rail project. Also in the South China Sea, Chinese vessels have harassed Malaysian oil exploration efforts, accelerating a deterioration in relations that began when former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad returned to power in 2018 on a promise to renegotiate lucrative Chinese development contracts. China has even picked a fight with Australia, once its closest partner outside Asia, refusing to unload Australian coal and slashing other imports in retaliation for Australian moves to limit Chinese interference in its internal politics,” he said.

Xi’s prioritization of domestic and foreign security goals over economic ones will make it much more difficult for China to meet its 2035 targets, he added, adding that Xi insists he can still deliver on the GDP target he agreed to eight years ago.

“If it meets expectations, growth during the first half of 2021 will be sufficient to push the Chinese economy over the arbitrary “moderately prosperous society” line. (And if actual growth falls short, the numbers can always be massaged into compliance.) Either way, China’s first-half GDP figures will be released just in time to headline the centenary celebrations on July 23,” he further wrote. (ANI)

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday lashed out at Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for calling his party “B team of BJP” and said that she is responsible for the BJP winning 18 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 general elections in the state.

Owaisi, who was on his first visit to the state after announcing that AIMIM will contest Assembly polls in the state, arrived at the Furfura Sharif in Hooghly district and held discussions with Muslim leader Abbas Siddiqui in view of the upcoming elections.

Speaking to ANI, the Hyderabad MP confirmed that AIMIM will be contesting the 2021 Assembly polls in West Bengal and added that candidates will be announced in the near future.

“I met Abbas Siddiqui. Our party will contest the West Bengal Assembly polls. AIMIM will stand by Siddiqui’s decision. In near future, we will be able to tell from which seats our party will field candidates,” he said.

On Banerjee calling AIMIM “B team of BJP”, he said: “This is their arrogance. Mamata Banerjee is speaking rubbish.”

“Are there only Muslims in Bengal and no upper-caste Hindus and backward classes? We will reach out to all voters of the state and will talk about them,” he added.

The AIMIM chief took a dig at Banerjee stating that several leaders from her party are joining the BJP.

“She is not able to able to tell people why BJP won 18 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Mamata Banerjee is responsible for it. AIMIM had not contested polls here. MPs and big leaders from her party are joining BJP,” he said.

They are not taking my permission before joining BJP, he added.

Speaking further, Owaisi said: “She is weak in Mathematics. In Bihar Assembly polls, we won 5 seats out of 20 seats we contested.” (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday morning, enquired about his health and wished him a speedy recovery. He also spoke to Saurav’s wife Dona Ganguly.

Sourav was hospitalised at 1 pm on Saturday with “chest discomfort, heaviness of head, vomiting and a spell of dizziness” while performing physical exercise in the home gymnasium at around 11 am. Following this, doctors had conducted angioplasty on him.

Earlier today, the Woodlands Hospital said in a medical bulletin that Sourav had an “uneventful last night” and the medical board will meet on Monday to discuss the further treatment plan.

It also said that the treating doctors are keeping “constant vigil” on his health situation and taking appropriate measures from time to time.

On Saturday, Ganguly was tested for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which turned out to be negative. Prior to this, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Woodlands Hospital on Saturday evening.

Interacting with the media while leaving the hospital, Banerjee had said, “He (Ganguly) is fine now. He even spoke to me. I thank the doctors and hospital authorities that they have taken the right decision of conducting an angioplasty.”

“I did not have an idea that international sportspersons like him do not undergo check-ups. I asked Avishek Dalmiya to conduct medical check-ups of cricketers before games,” she had said.

On Wednesday, Ganguly had visited Eden Gardens and discussed preparations for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Avishek Dalmia. (ANI)

For the purchase of the ancestral houses of legendary Indian actors Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor located in the walled city of Peshawar, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister has approved an amount of PKR 23.56 million, The Express Tribune reported.

The amount will soon be released to the Deputy Commissioner (DC) for payment to the landowners.

The Raj Kapoor’s ancestral haveli at Ander Shaher Bazaar will be bought for Rs 15 million and Dilip Kumar’s house in Mohalla Khudadad will be acquired for Rs 8.56 million.

To turn the havelis into museums to attract tourism, the government has planned to acquire the properties and renovate them, as both are in bad shape.

As the once magnificent haveli of Kapoor family is in ruins and not inhabited due to the depleted condition, the local inhabitants of Peshawar were demanding the acquisition of both houses for a long time.

The Express Tribune reported that for a long time the owners were not willing to sell these houses as the government was reportedly not willing to pay the market prices.

On the other hand, the government claimed that the owners were demanding exorbitantly higher prices and blackmailing the authorities due to the importance of these houses in the eyes of local residents.

Now, the government has fixed a price on its own and it remains to be seen whether it will be acceptable for the owners as the landlord of the Kapoor’s haveli was planning to build a shopping mall and demolish the building when he failed to reach a consensus with the authorities over the pricing.

While on the one side, the government was offering a very small sum for both the houses in the past. For a long time, the prices of the houses remained a bone of contention as the landowners were also demanding billions and a far higher price than that of the market average.

Director Archaeology Department Dr Abdul Sumad said they were trying to estimate the cost of renovation of both the buildings as the department has declared these houses national assets, reported The Express Tribune.

Philanthropist and veteran actor Dilip Kumar also known as ‘The Tragedy King’ has been credited for bringing the Method acting technique to Indian cinema. Kumar, whose career spans over five decades, has worked in over 65 films. The legendary star is known for roles in films such as the romantic ‘Andaz’, the swashbuckling ‘Aan’, the social drama ‘Daag’, the dramatic ‘Devdas’, ‘ Azaad’, the epic historical ‘Mughal-e-Azam’, ‘Gunga Jamuna’ and the comedy ‘Ram Aur Shyam’.

Actor, producer and director of Indian cinema, Raj Kapoor is widely regarded as the greatest showman in the history of Indian cinema and entertainment. During his lifetime, the actor was two-time nominee for the Palme d’Or grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his films Awaara and ‘Boot Polish’. His hit films including ‘Awaara’, ‘Shree 420′,’Jagte Raho’, ‘Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai’ and ‘Mera Naam Joker’ are loved by audience till date. (ANI)

In the 50th year of Indian victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war, a Bangladesh Army delegation would be taking part in this year’s Republic Day parade on January 26, said Defence officials.

In one of the fastest and shortest campaigns of military history, a new nation was born as a result of the swift campaign undertaken by the Indian Army.

After facing defeat in the 1971 war, the then Army Chief of Pakistan General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, along with his 93,000 troops, surrendered to allied forces, which also comprised Indian Army personnel.

The government is likely to scale down the number of visitors at the Republic Day parade 2021 to avoid overcrowding and ensure social distancing amid the COVID-19 outbreak and concerns over the new virus strains.

India will celebrate its 72nd Republic Day on January 26 this year, honouring the historic date when the country completed its transition towards becoming an independent republic after the Constitution came into effect. (ANI)