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Anju Srivas, Feb 27, 2018 The Modi government has for the last two years delayed in launching a full-fledged appeal against a special CBI court order in late 2015 that discharged the accused in the 2002 additional telecom spectrum allocation case. The delay, according to court documents, has curiously occurred even though the special public prosecutor (SPP) and senior CBI officials unanimously agreed as long ago as January 2016 that a revision petition challenging the merits of the discharge order ought to be filed. A short note filed by senior advocate and SPP Anand Grover in January 2018 before the Supreme Court indicates that the decision to refer the matter to the law ministry and any refusal to go ahead with a full-fledged appeal could be in violation of the apex court’s order that mandated the insulation of “government intervention in 2G matters”. With the imminent exit of Grover as SPP – and the consequent appointment of additional solicitor general Tushar Meht...

PTI Updated:February 27, 2018, 5:53 PM IST The Centre on Tuesday sought to downplay the issue of presence of dreaded terror group IS in Jammu and Kashmir saying it has no existence in the Valley. There is no physical infrastructure or manpower of the IS in the Valley. It does not exist in the Valley, a Home Ministry spokesperson said in New Delhi. The central government's assertion came after the terrorist group claimed responsibility for the killing of a policeman, Farooq Ahmad Yatoo, in Jammu-Kashmir on Sunday. Another official said Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba could be behind the attack on the policeman, and Esha Fazali, a local militant who first joined the Hizbul Mujahideen and later shifted his allegiance to LeT, has emerged as the prime suspect. However, Jammu and Kashmir DGP SP Vaid has said in Srinagar that it was now clear that ISIS had carried out the attack and it is "indeed a worrying sign". In November 2017, there were reports tha...

Written by Khushboo Narayan | Mumbai | Updated: February 28, 2018 7:19 am A preliminary investigation by probe agencies into firms associated with Gitanjali Gems promoter Mehul Choksi has found that a consortium of 31 banks lent Rs 5,280 crore to his firms between November 2010 and April 2014 against a collateral of only about Rs 100 crore, sources familiar with the development said. Allbank Finance Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Allahabad Bank, is the custodian of securities in this case. Sources said probe agencies have told officials of Allahabad Bank and Allbank Finance to share details of the outstanding loans to Choksi’s firms and explain the reasons for the inadequate collateral against the loans. Email, phone calls and text messages to Allahabad Bank and Choksi for comments did not elicit any response. Choksi took loans from Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Canara Bank, Corporation B...

By: PTI | Washington | Published: February 28, 2018 6:58 am India and Pakistan need to sit and talk about their ongoing border tension, the Trump Administration said on Wednesday. “We think that both sides would certainly have to sit down and have talks about that,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters at her daily news conference. She was responding to a question on what role the US can play to ease down the tensions between the two neighbouring countries. The India and Pakistan issue was also raked up by a top American general at the US Congress. “The enduring tension between the nuclear powers of India and Pakistan remains unreconciled,” General Joseph Votel, Commander of the US Central Command, said in his testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Reference http://indianexpress.com/article/world/india-pakistan-would-have-to-sit-and-talk-on-border-tension-us-5080982/

By: ENS Economic Bureau | New Delhi | Published: February 28, 2018 1:47 am Backed by higher production of winter-grown crops, India’s foodgrains output is estimated to reach a record 277.49 million tonne in 2017-18 while the crucial wheat harvest might see a marginal decline. According to the second advance estimate released by the agriculture ministry on Tuesday, wheat production may slip to 97.11 million tonne in 2017-18 crop year (July-June) compared with 98.51 million tonne in the previous year. The fall in wheat production is mainly due to 4.27 per cent drop in acreage at 30.42 million hectare this season as many farmers in Madhya Pradesh shifted to chana crop. The foodgrains production in rabi season is seen at an all-time high of 139.02 million tonne and kharif grown cereals and pulses at 138.46 million tonne this year. Last year, the country had produced a total 275.11 million tonne foodgrains comprising rice, wheat, pulses and coarse cereals. The record produ...

Harsh V Pant, Feb 28, 2018 The four countries will have to show that their infrastructure development plans are a match to Chinese ambitions Last November on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Manila, the Quadrilateral arrangement involving Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. saw a revival as officials exchanged notes on regional and global security. It has been a remarkable turnaround in the prospects of an arrangement which had collapsed a decade ago under the weight of Chinese démarches. In 2017 it was an assertive Beijing that brought the four Indo-Pacific powers together to manage the externalities arising out of the scale and scope of China’s rise. Challenging China Despite an initial meeting, there has been a range of questions on the viability of the Quad arrangement, and specifically on its agenda given that the grouping has often been wary of explicitly annoying the Chinese. But there are signs of emerging priority areas. Last week it was revealed...

Updated February 27, 2018 China came out in support of Pakistan's anti-terror financing regime on Tuesday, days after it withdrew opposition against a US-led move to place Pakistan on the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) watchlist. "In recent years, Pakistan has made important progress in actively strengthening financial regulations to combat terror financing," China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang said at a press briefing in Beijing. The 37-nation FATF held its plenary meeting in Paris last week where it placed Pakistan on a so-called 'grey list' of the countries where terrorist outfits are still allowed to raise funds. The plenary held its first meeting on Pakistan on February 20 where China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which was representing the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), opposed the move to place Pakistan on the watchlist. But the US pushed for an unprecedented second discussion on Pakistan, held on February 22. By t...

Baqir Sajjad Syed, February 28, 2018 The Natio­nal Security Commit­tee (NSC) on Tuesday endorsed ‘recalibration of foreign policy’ for making it more regionally focused and said the fight against terrorism would be dictated by national interests. “The committee agreed on the importance of recalibrating the foreign policy framework to bring more focus on countries of the region,” said a statement issued by PM Office following the meeting that was held to review international and regional situation. The meeting took place after a US-led move — which also involved Britain, France and Germany — got Pakistan included in the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list, although the decision would take effect from June. During this period Pakistan and the FATF would negotiate the action plan that the former would pursue after being put on grey list. Presided over by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the NSC meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Defence Minist...