Happy Media

The Caravan August 04, 2018 By Anup Surendranath In December 2015, at an election rally in Bathinda, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh swore by the “Gutka”—the Sikh holy book—that he would wipe out the  “ drug menace ” in the state within four weeks if elected. After nearly 17 months in power, it is clear that he underestimated this challenge. In June, news of over  20 drug-related deaths   provoked fear and outrage in Punjab.  Videos of parents  grieving over their dead children went viral on social media, and spurred, to a large extent, protests in various districts in the state. In an  interview  to the  Hindustan Times  in July, Singh seemed unfazed by this mobilisation. He suggested that it was the duty of the public to tackle the menace: “It has started becoming a movement, and that’s the only way it can be sorted out. Police can only bring pressure.” He also suggested that it was a good thing that people in certain villages were taking the law into their own hands

Business Standard. August 07, 2018 The  Comptroller and Auditor General  (CAG) said the Defence Ministry should seek legal advice in a matter related to payment to a Russian missile firm that led to liquidated damage worth several millions of dollars.  The   Ministry of Defence  (MoD) had signed a contract with a Russian firm for supply of missiles in November 2012 at a cost of $232,570,000.  Payment up to 85 per cent -- $197,684,500 -- had to be made to the firm through an irrevocable revolving Letter of Credit (LC). This was to be opened for an initial amount of $59,305,350.  In case of delay in the opening of LC, the ministry had to pay liquidated damages (LD) at the rate of 0.07 per cent to the firm for each day of delay.   The ministry opened the LC after a delay of 81 days and calculated LD of $9,884,225 payable to the supplier based on the entire amount of LC payment, that is $197,684,500, and not on the initial amount of LC, which was $59,305,350, that would hav

Business standard August 08, 2018 By Mihir S Sharma Nobody pretends the People's Republic of China is an entirely benign power, least of all its leaders in  Beijing. Yet, even by the standards of what continues to be a remarkably repressive state, the stories that are emerging from behind the Great Firewall about the crackdown on Xinjiang’s Uighur Muslim population are deeply disturbing and deserve more of the world’s attention. The one country on earth which should best understand the danger and futility of such efforts has reportedly set up “re-education centres” across the length and breadth of its largest province, where political prisoners are instructed to repeat mantras about the greatness of the Chinese state and of President Xi Jinping. They write self-criticisms late into the night. Observant Muslims are forced to drink alcohol. Persistent dissenters are allegedly subject to torture, including in a terrifying device known as a “tiger chair.” One recent a

Dawn August 08, 2018 By Zahid Hussain THE 2018 elections have proved to be a mixed bag for the religious right. While the vote bank of the mainstream Islamic parties has shrunk, the strong showing of a newly formed radical group has led to jitters. Although it has failed to win even a single seat in the newly elected National Assembly, the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) has  emerged as the fifth largest group  in terms of vote share, and is nominally behind the MMA which itself is an alliance of the mainstream Islamic parties. Indeed, the growing electoral support for the extremist outfit whose politics is based on animus against other religious groups and that justifies violence in the name of faith is worrisome; yet it is not likely to change the power matrix in the country. The rout of the top leadership of the MMA came as a huge surprise in the elections, and so has the expansion of the TLP’s popular base. There may or may not be any correlation between those two deve

The Tribune August 07, 2018 The UN Security Council on Monday approved US-drafted measures aimed at ensuring that tough sanctions on North Korea do not impede deliveries of humanitarian aid to the isolated country.  Nearly half of North Korea’s population – 10 million people – are undernourished, according to UN officials, who have reported a drop in food production last year. UN resolutions specify that sanctions should not affect humanitarian aid, but relief organisations argue that strict trade and banking measures are creating bureaucratic obstacles and slowing down the flow of vital supplies. The United States last month proposed new guidelines to allow aid groups and UN agencies to quickly obtain exemptions from the council committee that oversees implementation of sanctions.  After weeks of negotiations, the proposal was approved on Monday. Dutch Deputy UN Ambassador Lise Gregoire-van Haaren, whose country chairs the sanctions committee, said the guidelines will hope

Hindustan Times  August 08, 2018 In the year 2017, more than 21,000 Indians who were supposed to leave the country at the end of their permissible limits overstayed their visas, as per the latest official report. While the percentage of Indians overstaying and not leaving the US after the expiry of their visas is not very high compared to some other nations, but in sheer number India ranks among the top 10 countries whose citizens come to the US legally and continue to stay illegally. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in its latest annual report released on Wednesday said in 2017, more than 10.7 lakh Indians visited the United States on the popular B-1, B-2 visas, which is issued to those who come to the US for business, visit or tourism purposes. Of these, 14,204 overstayed in the country. According to the report, 1,708 of these Indians left the US later after the expiry of their visas, while there is no record of 12,498 Indians leaving the country. This could be

Business standard August 08, 2018 By Indivjal Dhasmana The  International Monetary Fund  (IMF) has cautioned India against  macro-financial risks  which emerged from the government ownership of the  public sector banks  and suggested to the country that it should consider  privatisation  of these lenders. In its review of India under Article IV,  IMF  also flagged external vulnerabilities on rising import bill, particularly from increasing oil prices and global protectionist measures. The review done by executive directors of  IMF  said systemic  macro-financial risks  persist, as the weak credit cycle could impair growth and the sovereign-bank nexus has created vulnerabilities. IMF  underscored the importance of a comprehensive plan to improve the governance, internal controls, and operations of public sector banks, including by considering more rapid withdrawal of public ownership. Persistently-high household  inflation  expectations and large general government

Financial Express August 08, 2018 By Devanjana Nag In a bid to enhance digital transactions, many steps have been taken by  Indian Railways . Recently, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State of Railways Rajen Gohain stated that the percentage of tickets booked through digital modes of payment has been increasing particularly in the case of reserved ticket booking. He said that as compared to around 60 per cent in 2016-17, the reserved tickets booked through digital modes of payment constituted around 66 per cent of total reserved tickets booked in 2017-18. Moreover, in the current year 2018-19, up to June, 2018, around 68 per cent of total reserved tickets were booked through digital means. Here are the key measures taken by the national transporter to increase digital transactions: 1) For the tickets booked through the IRCTC website, payment is made through various cashless modes like net banking, through credit cards or debit cards, cash cards,

Hindustan Times August 07, 2018 The unprecedented protests by the students demanding better road safety laws in Bangladesh on Tuesday fizzled out, with thousands of agitators returning to their classes after a  nine-day-long stir  that paralysed the country and left over 150 people injured in clashes with riot police. The agitation prompted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet to approve a tougher transport law and launch a crackdown on reckless driving. At the height of the protest, students were seen managing Dhaka’s notorious traffic and checking whether drivers of the cars and buses have valid licences and proof of roadworthiness of their vehicles. Thousands of students of schools, colleges and universities took to the street on July 29, demanding strict implementation of road safety rules, following the death of two teenage students - a boy and a girl - by a speeding bus. The accident took place when two buses were racing to pick up passengers on Dhaka’