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October 05, 2017 The Reserve Bank of India’s Study Group to review the marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) system has proposed that one of the three instruments — Treasury Bill rate, the Certificate of Deposit (CD) rate and the policy repo rate — can be selected as the external benchmark rate in order to ensure that borrowers, especially home loan customers, get the benefit of rate cuts by the central bank. The Study Group, in its report, said the main challenge in using either T-Bill rates or CD rates as the benchmark is that the current level of market depth in the T-Bill and CD markets can make such benchmarks potentially susceptible to manipulation. Also, T-Bill rates may at times reflect fiscal risks which will automatically get transmitted to the credit market when used as a benchmark. CD rates also have their own limitations — high sensitivity to liquidity conditions, credit cycles and seasonality. The policy repo rate has the primary advantage that it is ro...

Dinakar Peri, NEW DELHI,  OCTOBER 04, 2017 A conclave of Army Commanders next week is set to discuss military preparedness along the China border, amid indications that the Chinese may have beefed up their presence near the Doklam standoff site since the disengagement more than a month ago. According to sources in the Indian security establishment, the Chinese have 1,500 to 1,700 troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) stationed a few hundred metres from the standoff site on their side. New bunkers found In the locality, Indian surveillance has also detected new bunkers. The sources said road construction stores that were moved to the area during the Doklam standoff also remain in the area, and some road re-laying has been done on the Chinese side not very far from the standoff point. At least a couple of official sources admitted that they were uncomfortable about the Chinese presence and activities on the plateau. “It is not status quo ante,” an officia...

BY THE WIRE STAFF ON 04/10/2017 Days after a International Labour Organization (ILO) and Walk Free Foundation (WFF) report said India is home to the highest number of slaves in the world, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has sent sent a note to the Central government, warning that India is being “targeted” and suggesting that the government launch a campaign to counter and “discredit” the data. The IB submitted its note to the prime minister’s office, the national security advisor, the external affairs and labour ministries and R&AW last week. The note says, “global documentation on slavery is increasingly targeting India as home to the highest number of slaves in the world,” reported the Indian Express. The note also says that the report could potentially harm India’s image and efforts towards achieving goal 8.7 in the Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 8.7 deals with the eradication of forced labour, child labour, modern day slavery and human trafficking. Reports since...

Mohul Ghosh ,October 05, 2017 Since last couple of years, the usage of While Space technology by Microsoft to spread low cost, almost-free Internet in rural hinterland gained immense momentum. This usage of new age technology was seen as a  savior for millions of rural Indians , who are still untouched with Digital India and high speed Internet. However, as per latest reports coming in, it has been discovered that White Space technology can become a national threat; and this is the reason Microsoft may be asked to stop its usage and implementation in Maharashtra. If this happens, then White Space may witness an early exit from India. When it comes to National Security, nothing is debatable. Security Agencies: White Space Is a National Threat! There exists massive unused spectrum, which lies within the frequencies which TV channels use for their broadcasting. This is called as White Space, and Microsoft was determined to use this unused spectrum to provide Internet...

October 4, 2017 | Vinson Kurian, Farm loan waivers are a paradox in a year of normal monsoon and could increase the pressure on the already stretched fisc of concerned states. A Crisil Research Insight report on the just concluded monsoon sought to depict a sordid fiscal picture if more states were to latch on to the idea of loan waiver.Collective costs Doing an encore on what Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Punjab have done would set back the exchequer by Rs 2.5 lakh crore in collective costs. This would amount to or 0.5 per cent of GDP per year, assuming the waiver gets equally staggered over three years, the report said. The cost could be significantly high for Tamil Nadu, which has the highest outstanding agricultural loans among states. Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, too, could feel some pressure. Farm incomes remain stressed, given the volatility in prices and declining realisations. Good monsoon and bumper crop of last year had lowered...

October 04, 2017 The implementation of GST had an adverse impact on manufacturing and may delay investment revival, the Reserve Bank said today while hoping that there will be simplification of the new indirect tax regime to the ease business process. In its fourth bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2017- 18, RBI forecast economic growth to slow to 6.7 per cent in the current fiscal, from 7.3 per cent projected earlier. It said that the "teething problems" linked to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and bandwidth constraints may get resolved "relatively soon", allowing growth to accelerate in the second half. "The implementation of the GST so far also appears to have had an adverse impact, rendering prospects for the manufacturing sector uncertain in the short term. This may further delay the revival of investment activity, which is already hampered by stressed balance sheets of banks and corporates," RBI said Industrial production gr...

Varghese K. George, WASHINGTON:,  OCTOBER 04, 2017 Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI has connections with terrorist groups and runs its own foreign policy, General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday. Responding to a question from Senator Joe Donnelly, at a congressional hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Gen. Dunford said: “I think it’s clear to me that the ISI has connections with terrorist groups.” His views were later echoed by Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, who said: “We have seen the government of Pakistan come down on terrorism, while ISI appears to run its own foreign policy.” Working with Pakistan Mr. Mattis added that the U.S. would try to work with Pakistan “one more time”. “We need to try one more time to make this strategy work with them, by, with and through the Pakistanis, and if our best efforts fail, the President is prepared to take whatever steps are necessary,” he said. Referring to...

October 04, 2017 Pakistan has raked up the Kashmir issue again at the UN with its envoy Maleeha Lodhi accusing India of spreading terrorism in the Valley, drawing a sharp reaction from India which described her diatribe as a "lonely voice from the wilderness". Pakistan's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Lodhi, during a debate of the General Assembly, also alleged that India made a "false claim" of conducting surgical strike across the LoC to provoke conflict with Pakistan. She warned New Delhi that "any aggression" by it would receive a "matching and effective response". "This claim, and India's repeated threats to conduct such strikes across the LoC, constitute flagrant violations of the UN Charter's injunction against the use or threat of use of force," Lodhi said during the debate on the Report of the Secretary General on the work of the world body. She said that the UN should not "ignore t...

Jay Mazoomdaar | Updated: October 5, 2017 Who are the world’s “modern slaves”? Men, women and children who are forced to work against their will, or who are living in forced marriages. The first category covers domestic workers, construction labourers, factory workers, farmhands etc., working under threat or coercion. In many cases, the products (food, clothes, etc.) that they make, or the services (housekeeping etc.) that they provide, end up in seemingly legitimate commercial channels. The second category consists of individuals — an overwhelming number of whom are women — who are in marriages to which they had not consented. They have lost their sexual autonomy, and often provide labour under the guise of ‘marriage’. How does India look at forced labour? Article 23 of the Constitution prohibits and criminalises human trafficking and forced labour. Parliament passed The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act in 1976 and The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Ac...

October 4, 2017 23:00 IST | Venkatesh Ganesh Shareholder advisory firm SES has alleged violation of corporate governance practices by the Infosys board in the appointment of Nandan Nilekani as Chairman. “Decisions at the board level are taken after due deliberations in the board meetings and this has been given a go-by,” said SES in a report. Further, it said that the decision to appoint Nilekani was taken outside the board meeting, even before the Directors met. “It was decided to make him the Chairman, otherwise how is it possible that Nilekani was present in the board meeting as soon as a resolution was passed to appoint him,” said JN Gupta, MD, SES. Nilekani’s appointment was officially announced late on August 24 and this was followed by meetings with key Infosys executives. Gupta, a former Director of SEBI, also questioned how all the four outgoing members of the Infosys board would agree to Nilekani’s appointment and resign thereafter. He was referring to resignations of...

October 04, 2017 NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the CBI if it was ready to share with Karti Chidambaram, son of senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram, the documents the agency submitted to the court in a sealed cover in the lookout circular case.  Karti Chidambram is facing a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for his alleged role in facilitating the 2007 Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance for INX Media Ltd when his father P. Chidambaram was the Union Minister. Asking the CBI to come back with its response on October 9, the court said Karti Chidambram could move the designated court for permission to travel abroad.  The court's directions came in the course of hearing of a CBI challenge to a Madras High Court order that stayed its lookout circular against Karti Chidambaram which the agency issued to ensure that he did not leave the country.  "You have to satisfy the court on the evidence collecte...

Vidya Ram, LONDON,  OCTOBER 04, 2017, India should not be pulled into the US’s approach to Afghanistan — which he warned was part of a "bigger strategic game" that would not bring peace to the region — but should maintain an independent approach based on the shared interests of India and Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, the former President said. Mr. Karzai, who spent nearly 10 years as president up till 2014, said he had expressed his own reservations to India about the new alliance between India and the US in the region. "India is a friend and an ally and a traditional civilizational friend of our country but I want India to continue its traditional wise man approach to the region. It’s too deep a civilization to be taken away by an American design…too big a nation to be in any temporary arrangement with this or that country," he said during a meeting with a small group of journalists in London on Wednesday. US President Donald Trump outlined the U.S. new approach...