Month: April 2022

The much-awaited initial public offering (IPO) of the Life Insurance Corporation of India is likely to open on May 4, sources privy to the development told ANI.

The government, which wholly owns the insurance behemoth, plans to sell a 3.5 per cent instead of 5 per cent as mentioned in the previous Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP), said sources.

LIC has cut the size of IPO from 5 per cent to 3.5 per cent due to the market condition. A proposal to reduce the size of LIC’s IPO to 3.5 per cent from 5 per cent proposed in its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) was tabled and approved at a board meeting held on Saturday.

Last month, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved the initial public offering proposal of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

The company has filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

It has time until May 12 to launch the IPO. If it is not done by May 12, the company would be required to file fresh papers with the market regulator.

The government had initially wanted to list LIC in the last financial year that ended March 31 but had to delay the sale after the Russia-Ukraine war triggered a market rout. (ANI)

Bad weather conditions, paired with strong wind, have affected flight operations at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday night.

According to Delhi airport sources, Flight UK940 (Air Vistara) from Mumbai to Delhi has been diverted to Lucknow due to bad weather at the Delhi airport for a safe landing.

“Few flights have been diverted for safe landing and other delayed. The regular flight operations will be commenced as strong winds settle down,” he added.

Earlier, SpiceJet tweeted: “Due to bad weather in Delhi (DEL), all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights might get affected. Passengers are requested to keep a check on their flight status.”

All airlines have messaged or updated passengers via social media regarding delay in flight operations due to bad weather at Delhi airport.

The India Meteorological Department, in a tweet, had predicted rain and thunderstorm accompanied by lightning and gusty winds “likely to continue over Northeast India.” (ANI)

TRS working president and Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao on Monday termed the Congress as “a redundant institution” and said the party along with the BJP has let the country down in the last 75 years while adding that the grand old party has no future.

Speaking to ANI, KTR said, “We do not have any relation with Congress. It is a redundant institution. The people of India gave them a chance to rule for more than 50 years in the last 75 years. The country has been let down by Congress and the BJP. Congress particularly is a party that has been tried, tested and dusted. I don’t see any future in Congress.”

The TRS leader denied the Congress and BJP were a “national party” and said that every party should put forward their agenda in front of the people and let the people decide “which party is big or small”.

“There is no party in the country today which can call itself a national party because if you look at the BJP, it has its presence in only one state in South India. If you consider Congress a national party, its condition is known in Uttar Pradesh and other states. Probably we are a regional party at a small level. There is no party in India that is a national party, according to me,” he said.

“BJP is a north-Indian party, and Congress is limited to one or two states. So every political party should keep its agenda in front of the country, then the people will decide which party is big or small,” KTR added.

Asked about Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s support to Rahul Gandhi in a press conference over Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s remark on the Congress leader, KTR said that he did not support anybody, but condemned the person who made the derogatory remark.

“He did not support anybody, but condemned the person who insulted another politician using very derogatory words. This is the minimum decency that one should have. Even the Prime Minister should have acted, he did not, but he should have,” he said.

Notably, the TRS has hired I-PAC, once led by poll strategist Prashant Kishor, ahead of the Assembly elections in the state next year.

When asked if Kishor would facilitate an alliance between TRS and Congress in the future, KTR said that the Sonia Gandhi-led party “does not have a future”.

“I believe that Congress does not have a future. That party was part of history and will remain history. It has no future. If it has no future, then how can I say that we would work with them. What happens in the future, we will see,” he said.

Chief Minister KCR has time and again called for a third front against the BJP to oust the ruling party at the Centre in the 2024 general elections. KCR has also expressed his national ambitions in the past on various occasions.

KTR, when asked about the failure to stitch any third front till now, said that the efforts to bring the anti-BJP parties will continue and they will provide a “credible alternative” in the country.

“The efforts would continue to be made. We will make efforts to provide a credible alternative in the country. PM Modi had said that the farmers’ income would be doubled by 2022, but their problems have doubled. He had also promised a house to every Indian by 2022, but nobody got it. But nothing has happened. The people of India should think about what Congress and the BJP did in the last 75 years,” he said. (ANI)

Afghan diaspora in the United States, under the banner of “Free Afghanistan”, organized a protest in front of the White House against the Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan.

Days after the April 16 airstrikes in Afghanistan by neighboring Pakistan, the protests were organized on Saturday. Airstrikes by the Pakistan military in the Khost and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan killed a number of civilians and escalated the already simmering tensions between the two countries.
Speakers included prominent diaspora members Nisar Ahmad and Sharifullah Sharafat, a prominent Afghan social worker in DC. They condemned Pakistan’s ‘direct invasion’ of Afghanistan in form of airstrikes in Khost and Kunar.

They also condemned fomenting of Hazara Genocide by Pakistan and its mercenaries. Speakers appealed to US Administration and the world community to intervene at the earliest and stop supporting the ‘terrorist state’ of Pakistan.

While sporadic cross-border shelling has killed Afghan civilians for years, the casualties due to the strikes mark a significant exacerbation in violence and the use of military force by Pakistani authorities as the strikes drew immediate criticism from Taliban officials, who said that Pakistani military aircraft carried out the airstrikes.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns Pakistan’s attacks on refugees in Khost and Kunar. IEA calls on the Pakistani side not to test the patience of Afghans on such issues and not repeat the same mistake again otherwise it will have bad consequences,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement on Twitter.

Mujahid added that the problems between the two countries should be resolved through political means.

According to a statement from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Taliban also summoned Pakistan’s ambassador in Kabul to express their disapproval of the attacks and give him a diplomatic demarche to deliver to Islamabad.

However, Pakistani officials have not yet confirmed the strikes and instead urged the Taliban to curb increasing cross-border attacks from Afghanistan on their security forces.

“Pakistan has repeatedly requested Afghan Government in last few months to secure Pak-Afghan border region. Terrorists are using Afghan soil with impunity to carry out activities inside Pakistan,” the media outlet quoted Pakistan’s foreign office as saying in a statement earlier.

Notably, since the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan last year, the country’s eastern border with Pakistan has been a source of increasing tension between the two countries as Pakistani officials have claimed frequent attacks in Pakistan by militants harbored on Afghan soil. However, Taliban officials have refuted such reports of sheltering militants. (ANI)

World No 3 Sukant Kadam settled for silver in the SL4 category and Pramod Bhagat bagged 2 bronze medals at the recently concluded Brazil Para-Badminton International 2022.

In the men’s semi-finals, Sukant Kadam defeated Germany’s Marcel Adam in straight sets 21-19 and 21-13 and in the finals, he went down to a fellow Indian Tarun but not without giving a tough fight. The 53 minutes match was a close game and it was very difficult who will win it. The final scoreline read 21-17, 20-22, 21-18.
Commenting on the same, Sukant Kadam said, “I am disappointed by the result a little as I had given my everything in the game. I think Tarun played really well and held nerves at crucial points. Every tournament I am playing, my game is improving and I am happy with the progress.”

On the other hand, World No 1 Pramod Bhagat went down to Indian Kumar Nitesh in a closely fought match. The 50 minutes match was a close battle but Kumar Nitesh managed to pip the world champion and the final scoreline read 7-21, 21-19, 19-21.

In the mixed doubles, Pramod and Palak Kohli went down fighting to Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara and Akiko Sugino in 3 sets. (ANI)

The Afghan Ministry of Finance has shut down all markets in border areas to prevent the illegal import of commodities into the country, local media reported.

According to the Afghanistan Chamber of Industry and Mines (ACIM), the closure of the border markets will put an end to the import of goods, especially commodities, illegally to Afghanistan, reported The Frontier Post, as cited by Tolo News.
Ahmad Wali Haqmal, a finance ministry spokesperson also agreed to the decision of the MoF cabinet stating that some people were taking advantage of the border markets to import commodities illegally.

According to Frontier Post, the deputy head of the ACIM, Sakhi Ahmad Payman said that “The closure of the border markets is a good step and will benefit Afghanistan because previously commodities were imported illegally through these markets and there was no quality control on them.”

But, on the contrary, a member of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) expressed his disappointment, saying that there were almost 400 people working in the markets and that the closure of these markets would cause further problems to the people residing in the bordering regions.

As per Khan Jan Alokozai, a member of the ACCI, “These markets were established for the people living alongside borders because they cannot travel to cities to do shopping.” The items in the border markets had no tax or tariff imposed upon them. (ANI)

Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani on Monday was re-arrested by Barpeta Police in connection with another case, soon after he was granted bail in the matter connected to his tweet about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, informed Mevani’s lawyer Anghsuman Bora.

“Barpeta Police re-arrests Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani in connection with another case, right after he was granted bail in the matter connected to his tweet,” said Bora.
An hour ago, the Assam court granted bail to Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani who was arrested in connection with his purported tweets against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Earlier on Wednesday night, Mevani was arrested by an Assam police team from Palanpur town in Gujarat over a couple of his tweets.

An FIR was filed against him after a complaint was filed by an Assam BJP leader, Arup Kumar Dey.

A case was lodged against Mevani under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), section 153(A) (promoting enmity between two communities), 295(A), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and sections of the IT Act.

A couple of tweets on Mevani’s Twitter handle are not visible on his feed with a message displaying that the tweets have been withheld in India based on a “legal demand”.

In the controversial tweet, Mevani had reportedly requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure communal harmony during his recent visit to Gujarat.

Mevani claimed that he was arrested out of a political vendetta against him.

The Assam state Congress unit had protested the arrest of the Gujarat legislator.

Elected as an independent MLA, Mevani had extended his support to Congress in September 2019. (ANI)

With the uptick in Delhi COVID-19 cases, Dr Suresh Kumar, Medical Director, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital said precautions dose will help curb the transmission chain in the ongoing surge and urged citizens to take the jabs on priority.

“It (precaution dose) will have a huge impact on the surge. Precaution doses are available for free in the Delhi government hospitals and it will be important for breaking covid transmission chain. We have seen after 9 months immunity veins so precaution dose will be helpful to boost immunity,” Dr Kumar told ANI.
LNJP MD also mentioned that patients who are admitted now are those who are having incomplete vaccination schedules.

“We have seen that after two doses, hospitalisation has reduced, those who are admitted are those whose vaccination schedule is incomplete. The third dose is important to protect the family and society,” he added.

Talking about the dominant variant in the present surge, Kumar mentions that the omicron sub-variant has been prevalent and ruled out the XE variant present in the incoming patients.

He highlighted that surge has been witnessed for the past 5 days and positivity has increased to 4-5 PC.

“For the past one week, we have seen this trend. We have 12 patients admitted, 2 children and 10 adults. One child is sick and we have kept him on oxygen support,” the LNJP chief said.

Delhi has reported 1,083 fresh cases of Covid-19 and one death due to the virus on Sunday. Delhi’s active caseload has now reached 3,975. (ANI)

A team of 12 senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders met on Monday to plan a big outreach programme to mark the eighth year of the Modi government, said sources.

The meeting included Union Minister Anurag Thakur, BJP general secretaries Arun Singh, C T Ravi and D Purandareswari, among others.
On the completion of 8 years of the Modi government, grand programmes will be organized all over the country and a plan of action will be prepared by May 5.

The committee members also included Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar, MPs Vinay Rajdeep Roy, Raju Bista, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Aparajita Sarangi besides other organisation leaders like Shiv Prakash and Lal Singh Arya.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken oath for a second term on May 30, 2019, after leading the BJP to an unprecedented 303 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. (ANI)