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The Hindu G. Sampath September 24, 2018 In a move that took many by surprise, the  Uttar Pradesh   government recently released Chandrasekhar Azad, the founder of the Bhim Army Bharat Ekta Mission, from jail. It was unexpected for many reasons. For starters, he had been arrested last year following clashes between Dalits and Thakurs in Saharanpur in western U.P. In November 2017, when the Allahabad High Court granted him bail, it observed that the charges against him seemed “politically motivated”. Why now? Notwithstanding the bail order, the U.P. government had invoked the National Security Act (NSA) to  arrest   him again. It kept him in jail — without trial and without any charge sheet being filed — for more than 15 months. He was not due for release until November 2. So why did the Yogi Adityanath government suddenly change its mind and release him two months early? The official explanation is that the decision was taken in response to a request from...

The Dawn Anwarullah Khan September 23, 2018 Security forces on Saturday claimed to have foiled a terrorism bid in Bajaur tribal district by killing two terrorists, including one would-be suicide bomber, during an intelligence-based operation in Mamond tehsil. Security sources said that both terrorists, including a deputy operational ‘commander’ of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Bajaur chapter, were killed during a special operation conducted in the hilly Gat Agra area The sources stated that the operation was conducted following the information that the terrorists were attempting to carry out terrorism activities in the region. Soon after receiving the information, a contingent of security forces was dispatched to the area which killed the terrorists before they carried out their activities. They claimed that the deceased deputy operational commander of the TTP Bajaur, who was wearing a suicide jacket, was among the most wanted militants in the district. He said the militant ...

The Dawn Agencies September 22, 2018 In India-held Kashmir, Indian troops launched a massive cordon and search operation in several villages of south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Saturday. According to the  Kashmir Media Service , the troops cordoned off Lassipora, Armula, Alaipora, Batnur, Garbug, Naupora Payeen, Hajdarpora and Acchan areas of the district and launched door-to-door searches. The operation comes following the   killing of three Indian police personnel  posted in India-held Kashmir reportedly by armed Kashmiris, who have been waging a struggle for the Kashmiris' right to self-determination. The three were taken hostage when Kashmiri fighters raided over a dozen homes of police officers in two southern Kashmir villages, Indian officials said, adding that bullet-riddled bodies of the kidnapped policemen were recovered on Friday. The killings came days after the region's largest group fighting for Kashmir's independence asked officers to quit...

The Economic Times AFP September 21, 2018 Moscow said Friday Washington's latest raft of anti-Russian sanctions that also target China undermined global stability, warning the United States against "playing with fire."  "It would be good for them to remember there is such a concept as global stability which they are thoughtlessly undermining by whipping up tensions in Russian-American ties," deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a statement.  "Playing with fire is silly, it can become dangerous," he added.    "We recommend that Washington's operators of the sanctions machine at least superficially acquaint themselves with our history to stop going round in circles."  On Thursday, the United States expanded its sanctions war against Russia to China, for the first time announcing punitive measures against a Chinese military organisation for buying Russian fighter jets and missiles.  The State Department also announced it was ...

The Indian Express Express News Services September 22, 2018 THE gathering war within the CBI, between Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana, came to a head on Friday after the agency said that it was probing Asthana in as many as six cases of alleged corruption. And that Asthana was maligning the Director’s image and trying to “intimidate” officials by sending a “frivolous” complaint to the Central Vigilance Commission against Verma. The six instances against Asthana were placed on record in June as part of the appraisal process and communicated to the Directorate of Personnel and Training (DoPT) which comes under Prime Minister  Narendra Modi . Reacting to this, Asthana wrote to the government with a complaint against Verma, saying that the Director had sought to impede his functioning, interfere in investigations and malign his reputation. As reported by The Indian Express on July 16, Verma had written to the CVC that Asthana is himself “under (the) sc...

The Indian Express Express News Services September 22, 2018 In the decade between 2005-06 and 2015-16, India has halved its Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) — an index that looks beyond income poverty to take into account deprivations in health, education, and living standards — 54.7 per cent to 27.5 per cent. According to MPI 2018 released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, there are 271 million fewer poor people in India in this period. The report adds, “despite the massive gains made in reducing multidimensional poverty, 364 million Indians continue to experience acute deprivations in health, nutrition, schooling and sanitation. Just over one in four multidimensionally poor people in India are under ten years of age.” It notes that traditionally disadvantaged groups, in terms of castes, religions etc, continue to be the poorest though they have experienced the biggest decadal reduction in MPI. This,...

The Indian Express ENS Economic Bureau September 22, 2018 The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday unveiled revised KYC norms for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). In what could be a big relief to FPIs , Sebi has accepted some of the key recommendations of the HR Khan Committee on FPIs. According to the new norms, certain categories of FPIs such as trusts, banks, mutual funds, investment managers among others will be required to maintain a list of beneficial owners and report it to the regulator. “Category II and III FPIs registered prior to this circular (existing FPIs) should provide the list of beneficial ownerships (BOs) and applicable KYC (know-your-client) documentation within six months,” said Sebi said in the circular. C The norms said that contributions from a single NRI/OCI/Resident Investor should be below 25 per cent and their aggregate contribution should be below 50 per cent of FPI corpus. Apart from this, investment managers owned by NRIs, OC...

The Indian Express ENS Economic Bureau September 22, 2018 About one in every four cases admitted under the Corporate Insolvency and Resolution Process (CIRP) since the implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in 2016 have been closed till June 2018. While that is a positive, what is worrying for policymakers is the fact that a majority of the cases that have been closed involves liquidation of the corporate debtor, resulting in lower value realisation for stakeholders alongside payment uncertainties. Significantly, given the average duration of resolution of about 280 days (for all resolved cases till the first quarter of FY19) from date of admission points to a higher chance of cases facing liquidation under the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) route going forward. Also, haircut on all resolved cases was around 45 per cent for financial creditors on the admitted claims. Of the 977 companies admitted under the Corporate Insolvency and Resolution Process ...

The Indian Express Srinath Rao September 22, 2018 H C Agrawal is a 1988-batch India Postal Service officer currently serving as the Chief Postmaster General, Maharashtra Circle. Prior to this, he served as the Director of the Mumbai GPO and the Deputy Director General ( Aadhaar  Enrolment) at the Unique Identification Authority of India, New Delhi. In an interview to Indian Express, Agrawal talks about India Post stepping into banking space and changing roles of postmen and post offices. What was the rationale for India Post entering the payments bank space? So far, we have been concentrating on savings banks, collecting deposits that can be used by the Government of India. But the focus of the Indian Post Payments Bank (IPPB) is not on collection of funds from the public but on giving them a platform for digital payments and to facilitate different types of payments. Apart from that, we have made more than three lakh postmen and Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDSs) available for doo...