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Deepshikha Sikarwa/Mihir Mishra/ Aug 13, 2018 The government is considering yet another  giant rescue package to make state-owned Air India commercially viable following the  failure of its disinvestment plan earlier this year. This will include a Rs 30,000 crore loan  write-off and a cash infusion of Rs 10,000- 11,000 crore, said people with knowledge of  the matter. Accumulated losses will also be written off as  part of the package that’s being considered by the finance ministry, allowing the company to  clean up its balance sheet, said the people cited above. “Small cash infusions are not  making any dent. We want to put the airline in a commercially viable situation,” said one of  the officials cited above. Sources in the y  aviation ministr said that a decision to work on another bailout for Air India was taken at a meeting in the Prime Minister's Office with an intent to improve the financial and operational situation of the national carrier. Avia

 FE Online | New Delhi | August 13, 2018  The central government has raised customs duty on a whopping 400 items in last two years, according to Indian Express report. The items like mobile phones, almonds, cell phone parts, apple, solar panels etc. However, the centre’s move has marked clear cut departure from the policy of lowering import duty that has been followed by previous governments. Prior to this, customs duty on non-agriculture products had decreased from 150 per cent in 1991-92 to 40 per cent in 1997-98 and subsequently, to 20 per cent in 2004-05 and 10 per cent in 2007-08, the report says. While allegations were raised that tariff hike is “protectionist” in nature, the Union Ministry of Commerce has rejected all charges. The government had reportedly imposed customs duty on 29 US products on June 20 this year but later postponed. Experts say this would have a bearing on the WTO-mandated “bound rates”. Bound rates are the customs duty rates committed by a country

 Rahul Tripathi | New Delhi |  August 13, 2018   India last week notified an extradition arrangement with Antigua and Barbuda, where fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, an accused along with his nephew Nirav Modi in the Rs 13,600-crore PNB scam, has acquired citizenship. There have been other Indian businessmen who, wanted by law, have obtained citizenship of countries with which either there is no extradition treaty or the legal process is so tedious that the fugitive cannot be extradited after acquiring citizenship. To what extent does such citizenship protect a fugitive from Indian law? What options does India have in getting the fugitive back? What is attractive about an Antigua and Barbuda passport? Citizenship there can be easily obtained by investment, either in the country’s National Development Fund with a contribution of $100,000, or in real estate and approved business projects. The applicant cannot change his/her name, according to a 2014 decision by the countr

THE ALL India Jat Aarakshan Sanghrash Samiti (AIJASS) led by Yashpal Malik Sunday announced another phase of protests from August 16 to press for their demands of reservation for Jats in government jobs and the withdrawal of cases lodged during the February 2016 violence that erupted following the quota stir. Initially, the stir will be launched in nine districts of Haryana that have considerable presence of Jats. These are Rohtak, Jhajjar, Bhiwani, Hisar, Kaithal, Jind, Panipat and Sonipat. The AIJASS also said dharnas will be staged wherever Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu go to address public meetings in rural areas from August 16. Reference https://indianexpress.com/article/india/fresh-phase-of-jat-quota-stir-from-august-16-aijass-leader-5303581/

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 12 The 2019 general elections seem to have cast a shadow over the much-talked-about new scrapping policy for commercial vehicles. The proposal, which was to be sent to the Union Cabinet, is seeing fresh round of discussions. The Road Ministry is engaging with States to make the policy more effective, sources in the know said adding that the Ministry is also considering offering interest rate subvention for buying new vehicles. “Bringing such a policy in an election year is difficult,” a senior official told BusinessLine. The government can ill afford to face the wrath of transporters at this juncture as the policy involves fresh investments in buying lakhs of trucks and other heavy vehicles, which will lead to higher expenditure for transporters. Earlier, in April-May, the Road Ministry did prepare the Cabinet note. However, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) advised the Ministry to hold further discussions with the States to make the draft more

 Deeptiman Tiwary , Sreenivas Janyala | Hyderabad, New Delhi |  August 13, 2018  A 24-year-old man, who had tried twice earlier to reach Syria to fight for the Islamic State (IS), was among two persons arrested Sunday by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Hyderabad for allegedly planning to carry out the terror group’s activities in India, including recruitment. NIA officials identified the two as Abdullah Basith, who was caught in 2014 and 2015 before he could leave India for Syria (see page 9), and his associate Mohammed Abdul Qhadeer, 19. Basith was nabbed for “conspiring to further the activities of IS (and) carry out terrorist acts in India”. Both are part of a group of eight men from Hyderabad who are being questioned by NIA on suspicion of planning to carry out subversive activities at the behest of IS handlers, officials said. The Indian Express had reported on August 9 that NIA had raided seven locations in Hyderabad and apprehended the eight on the bas

 Bijay Sankar Bora Aug 12, 2018  The publication of the final NRC draft in Assam has once again brought to fore how sensitive the Northeastern states of India are to the problem of illegal migration, and that they consider migration a grave threat to the identity and political rights of the ethnic groups residing in the region. The news of over 40 lakh applicants (out of the total 3.29 crore) being left out of the final draft of NRC spread like wildfire in the region. Contrary to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s high-decibel rhetoric that the NRC update was a ploy of the BJP government in Assam to drive the Bengalis out of the state, indigenous apolitical and political organisations in neighbouring Northeastern states of Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur which share boundaries with Assam, raised the alarm that those left out of the final NRC draft would flock to their states to avoid detection and deportation in Assam. People whose names were

By Our Correspondent/ August 12, 2018 Caretaker finance minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar has hinted Pakistan is in contact with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for possible technical assistance and capacity building. Dr Akhtar, who has served the Manila-based financial institution in various positions during 1990-2011, said she is also playing an active role in connecting the new government with the ADB. She said this during a meeting with the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) board of directors on Saturday. ADB confident of continued growth in Asia “The minister apprised that she is in contact with the finance minister-designate of the newly-elected government, as well as ADB for possible support in the areas of technical assistance and capacity-building,” stated the PSX in a press statement. At present, Pakistan is in contact with multiple international financial institutions and friendly countries, including the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), China and Saudi Arabi

Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty /11/AUG/2018 Manipur/Mizoram: International entry and exit checkpoints in two states bordering Myanmar opened The government of Myanmar officially opened its border in two northeastern states by installing international entry and exit checkpoints on August 8. This action of the neighbouring country has taken India government’s Act East Policy a step closer to reality. R.K. Shivchandra, convener of Act East Policy Committee, soon after the inauguration of the two land border points, reportedly said that they were the last to officially open in entire Southeast Asia, meaning ease of crossing land borders between various countries on that route. As per the new modalities, the special land entry permission, which visitors entering Myanmar via land routes in the Northeast had required to fetch till now, would be replaced by visas, making them official international entry and exit points. While one such entry/exit point was opened at Tamu, the Myanmar

Aditi Goyal 12/AUG/2018 “After a prolonged decline, world hunger appears to be on the rise again”, claims  a report titled ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (2017)’ by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN. Nowhere is this more true than in India, which is home to 190.7 million undernourished people, the most in any country. While this may seem like a fantastic claim in the context of the fastest growing economy in the world, here are some statistics from the report: –14.5% of the Indian population is under-nourished –47.5 million Indian children under five years of age are stunted – again, the most in any country in the world –51.4% of Indian women of reproductive age (15-49 years) suffer from anaemia –64.9% of Indian women (the highest proportion in the world) rely exclusively on breastfeeding for feeding infants between 0-5 months of age These numbers certainly tell a story – but numbers are, by definition, abstract concepts.

 Olga Robert /Friday, August 10, 2018  According to a recent report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and PWC presented at the CII Health Insurance Summit in Delhi, India only spends 1.25 percent of its GDP on healthcare. It further said that for a country that has an underperforming public health care system, it could benefit greatly if the government managed to effectively implement the Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM). What is Ayushman Bharat? It is a National Health Protection Scheme announced in the 2018 Union Budget. It aims to cover around 50 crore beneficiaries from over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families with an insurance coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary medical care. Ayushman Bharat will subsume Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS). Salient Features Rs. 5 lakh per family per year health insurance benefit cover (irre

 Shubhangi Khapre | Mumbai |  August 12, 2018   After the Marathas, it is now the turn of the Dhangar (shepherd) community to launch an agitation seeking quota in jobs and educational institutes under the Schedule Tribe (ST) category. Under the banner of Dhangar Sangharsh Samiti Maharashtra Rajya (DSSMR), the community leaders in Maharashtra plan to hold a statewide agitation from 10 am to 6 pm on Monday. At a DSSMR meeting held in Mumbai on Saturday, local leaders across western and northern Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha regions were directed to mobilise the community and identify strategic locations in their respective districts and villages for the stir. While it was emphasised that no one should resort to violence during the agitation, a clear directive was also issued that the Dhangars should go all out to display their might. DSSMR leader and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Vikas Mahatme said, “The Dhanger protest is to highlight the long-pending demand of the communit

  Ritika Chopra | New Delhi |  August 12, 2018 THE ELECTION Commission (EC) has decided to enhance its reserve of voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines by 10 per cent for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, in the wake of rising incidents of failure reported in the recent elections. On June 20, the Commission ordered an additional 1.3 lakh paper trail units costing Rs 250.16 crore, which would effectively increase its VVPAT reserve from 25 per cent to 35 per cent. This is apart from the order for 16.15 lakh VVPATs, already placed with the two manufacturing PSUs, to cover all polling stations during the general elections next year. As first reported by The Indian Express on July 25, the poll panel is already struggling to meet the September 2018 deadline it has committed to the Supreme Court for procuring the 16.15 lakh VVPAT machines for the Lok Sabha elections. The Commission is now expecting deliveries of the paper trail units by the end of November. Out o