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Business Standard August 06, 2018 By Abhijit Lele Public Sector  Banks  (PSBs) have recovered over Rs 222 billion through one-time settlement (OTS) in 2.44 million accounts over the last three years as a part of cleaning up balance sheet.  Banks  seemed to have stepped up efforts the most in 2017-18 to get about Rs 90 billion from close to one million accounts. This assumes significance in the light of Sashakt panel’s advice for  banks  to resort to recoveries through schemes akin to OTS to settle dues of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) up to Rs 500 million. The information presented in the Lok Sabha covers 19 nationalised banks. It does not cover State Bank of India group and IDBI Bank. In 2015-16, state-owned banks were able to arrive at a settlement in case of 0.69 million accounts and recovered Rs 64.6 billion. In the following year, 2016-17, they got Rs 67.8 billion from 740,000 accounts. In 2017-18, Punjab National Bank (PNB) recove...

Financial Express August 06, 2018 By Pragya Srivastava Contrary to the common belief that the world has not become a better place, data show that extreme poverty has dropped by almost 90% in the last 100 years. In 1910, 82.4% of people were living in extreme poverty, which shrank to a mere 9.6% in 2015. Presently, the World Bank’s poverty line is $1.90 per day. “In 1950 three-quarters of the world were living in extreme poverty; in 1981 it was still 44%. For 2015 – the last year for which we currently have data – research suggests that the share in extreme poverty has fallen below 10%,” Our World in Data, an Oxford University project said, adding that it’s a huge achievement. The research pointed out that people make the general mistake of thinking that the world is static and nothing much is changing. However, if looked from the long-term perspective, the world has made remarkable progress in eradicating extreme poverty. “To see where we are coming from we mus...

Dawn August 07, 2018 OVER the past three decades, the struggle for freedom and rights in India-held Kashmir has gone through many phases, sometimes manifesting itself through armed struggle, sometimes through the political process. However, despite the passage of 30 years, the Kashmiris’ disenchantment with Indian rule has grown, and today, one can say with certainty that there is immense public support for fighters taking on New Delhi’s law enforcers in the disputed territory. The reason for this is not hard to fathom; the Indian government over the years, especially under the BJP’s watch, has adopted a heavy-handed approach towards dissent in Kashmir, and some half a million troops are stationed in the occupied territory. This militarised approach to resolving a political problem has completely failed — protests are increasing as Indian troops and paramilitaries attempt to subdue Kashmiri citizens, smothering them and using brutal tactics to silence them. As media reports hav...

Financial Express August 06, 2018 Urging Niti Aayog to formulate a policy for waste recycling, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said converting waste into wealth offers a more than Rs 5 lakh crore opportunity in the country. Gadkari said the policy can create huge employment potential and can bolster the country’s economic growth. “Economy of this waste recycling is of more than Rs 5 lakh crore. It has huge potential…NITI Aayog can formulate a waste recycling policy. This policy will see economic transformation of the country and create huge employment potential,” Gadkari said addressing an international conference on ‘Sustainable Growth through Material Recycling’ at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra here. The Road Transport, Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister said efforts should be made to convert waste into wealth. He said there are 12 thermal power plants along the sides of the Ganga river and the power ministry has iss...

The Asian Age, August 07, 2018 By Yusuf Jameel Reacting to Supreme Court’s adjourning the hearing on pleas challenging Constitutional validity of Article 35A, Kashmiri political parties and leaders have said that it does not put an end to the uncertainty over the issue which is a matter of life and death for the people of the State. Former chief minister and president of Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti was the first to react to the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra’s announcement that the petitions on Article 35A will now be heard in week commencing August 27. She tweeted, “Even though the deferment of hearing on Article 35A is not a solution. It has brought interim relief to the people of JK. But with uncertainty looming over its status, it has unleashed a wave of anxiety and panic amongst the people of J&K.” In identical view, National Conference (NC) spokesman Junaid Azim Mattu wrote on micro-blogging site, “The deferment of the hearing on petition ...

First Post August 07, 2018 The government will set up a group of ministers (GoM) to look into issues related to the proposed mega free trade agreement Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), official sources said. The GoM will deliberate upon the issues being raised by the industry as well as government departments, they said.  The first meeting of this group is expected to be held on 10 August. The RCEP bloc comprises 10 ASEAN group members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and  their six FTA partners — India , China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The development assumes significance as the domestic industry has raised apprehensions about the presence of China in the bloc, with which India has a huge trade deficit. India had trade deficit with as many as 10 member countries, including China, South Korea and Australia, of the RCEP grouping of 16 nations which have ...

First Post August 07, 2018 Britain's left-wing Green Party on Tuesday threw its support behind the pro-Khalistan rally planned at Trafalgar Square in London on Sunday, an event opposed by India. The co-leader of the political party, which campaigns for environmentally friendly policies, spoke out in favour of the so-called "London Declaration" for a "Referendum 2020” campaign seeking a "sovereign state of Khalistan", being organised by US-based group Sikhs for Justice. "Sikh people have a right to determine for themselves whether they want to establish an independent Punjabi state,” said Caroline Lucas, the party's only elected MP in the House of Commons. "I stand in solidarity with all those joining the London Declaration, and those fighting discrimination and campaigning for a referendum around the world," she said.India has registered its formal opposition to the event through a demarche when news of the rally emerged in ...

Hindustan Times  August 07, 2018 LGBT campaigners urged India’s state governments on Monday to “learn a lesson” from Kerala after authorities in the southern state said they would cover the cost of gender reassignment surgeries.  Kerala’s chief minister said his government would pay Rs 2,00,000 rupees to allow people to have the procedure, the second Indian state to do so after neighbouring Tamil Nadu. “If more money is required, it will be made available,” Jaffar Malik, director of the state’s social justice department, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Monday.  Maya Urmi Aher, a transgender woman and rights activist, called it a “welcome step”. “Other states must learn a lesson from Kerala,” she said. “Being a community that is so stigmatised and discriminated against, most do not have an education or jobs, meaning they do not have much money,” she said.  Kerala has assigned three hospitals for gender reassignment surgery and said it woul...

Hindustan Times August 06, 2018 By Rajesh Ahuja A member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group was arrested at Delhi airport after Saudi Arabia deported him, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Monday. Habibur Rahaman, who once lived Kendrapara district in Odisha, was the handler of Laskhar terrorist Shaikh Abdul Naeem, who was arrested in 2007 for trying to infiltrate terrorists into India and escaped in August 2014. He was again arrested in November 2017, said a spokesperson for the NIA. Habibur, aka Habib, Naeem and eight other people were formally charged before a court on terrorism charges in November 2017. Habibur will be produced before Delhi’s Patiala House Court. Reference: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/lashkar-e-taiba-terrorist-handler-arrested-at-delhi-airport-after-being-deported-from-saudi-arabia/story-drVaf43jwCqv3vpAviDjdL.html

Hindustan Times August 06 2018 Saudi Arabia suspended diplomatic ties and new trade dealings with Canada in response to Canada’s call for the release of women’s rights activists — a dramatic escalation that highlights the kingdom’s increasingly assertive foreign policy under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Ottawa and ordered the Canadian envoy to Riyadh to leave within 24 hours, according to a foreign ministry statement. Canada is “seeking greater clarity” about the matter, a spokeswoman for foreign minister Chrystia Freeland said. The Saudi foreign ministry cited remarks last week by Freeland and the Canadian embassy in Riyadh, criticizing the arrests of women’s rights activists including Samar Badawi, whose brother Raif Badawi, a blogger who was critical of the government, was already in jail in the kingdom. Canada’s remarks are “an affront to the kingdom that requires a sharp response to prevent any party from attempting to med...

Hindustan Times August 06, 2018 China has operationalised the prototype of a new generation supercomputer that can execute a quintillion calculations per second as part of its efforts to lead as the most prolific producer of computing technology. The Sunway exascale computer prototype was put in operation on Sunday.  It has been jointly developed by the National Research Center of Parallel Computer Engineering and Technology (NRCPC), the National Supercomputing Centre in Jinan, east China’s Shandong Province and the Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao). The prototype refers to the first or preliminary version of a device. The machine can execute a quintillion (a billion or a thousand raised to the power of six) calculations per second . “The Sunway exascale computer prototype is very much like a concept car that can run on road,” Yang Meihong, director of the National Supercomputing Centre in Jinan said. “We expect to build the exascal...

Indian Express August 07, 2018 Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel warned that trade wars among various countries may lead to a currency war. What does this expression mean, what leads to a currency war, and what are its implications on economies around the world, including India’s? When did the world first hear of a currency war? In the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis that started with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the US in September 2008, fears of a global contagion followed. The biggest concern of countries then was to avert a sharp slide in their respective economic growth curves; decelerating growth means job losses, and slow growth means no new jobs. In view of the enormity of the situation, then US President George W Bush announced the G20 (Group of 20) Summit, the first to be held, in Washington DC in November 2008. India, the 13th largest economy then, was a member of the G20, a grouping that represented almost four-fifths of the world econ...