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The Indian Express April 03, 2019 The Act, which gives sweeping powers to security forces, was partially withdrawn from three of the state’s nine districts, but would remain in force in the areas bordering Myanmar, the MHA order said. AFSPA must not be politicised, says Retd ColMaj Gen Rajeeva Kumar moves Supreme Court: Make me also party to plea on AFSPA In a first, Assam extends AFSPA term on its own  afspa arunachal pradesh, afspa partially removed arunachal pradesh, afspa withdrwan arunachal pradesh, indian express news The Act, which gives sweeping powers to security forces, was partially withdrawn from three of the state’s nine districts, but would remain in force in the areas bordering Myanmar, the MHA order said. (Representational) The controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was partially removed from Arunachal Pradesh, 32 years after it was imposed, a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) order said on Tuesday. The Act, which gives sweeping power

The Indian Express April 03, 2019 The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside a Delhi High Court order granting bail to Jammu and Kashmir businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on charges of terror funding. Watali’s bail plea was rejected by the Special Court (NIA), New Delhi on June 8, 2018, but on appeal, the Delhi HC reversed this on September 13, 2018. Disagreeing with the HC order, the Supreme Court bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Ajay Rastogi ruled that the trial court “had rightly rejected the bail application after adverting to the relevant material/evidence indicative of the fact that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against the respondent is prima facie true”. The Designated Court, it pointed out, had opined that “there are serious allegations against…Watali of being involved in unlawful acts and terror funding in conspiracy with other accused persons; that he had acted as a c

CNBC NEWS April 02, 2019  The circular had imposed a one-day default rule. Banks have to treat a company as a defaulter even if it misses repayment schedule by a day. The February 12 circular had directed lenders to refer any loan account over Rs 2,000 crore under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) if it is not resolved within 180 days of default. This translates the RBI allowed 180 days for debt resolution. In a big win for power, sugar and infrastructure companies, the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) February 12 circular on the resolution of stressed assets and declared it unconstitutional and ultra vires. A two-judge bench of justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and justice Vineet Saran has pronounced the judgement. Ultra Vires means when a body or an individual is acting beyond its legal power or authority. "This judgment will lead to a revival of schemes such as CDR, SDR, S4A," Mahesh Agarwal, advocate for

Reuters April 02, 2019  Drazen jogic, Alasdair Pal Pakistani social media campaigner Hanzala Tayyab leads about 300 ultra-nationalist cyber warriors fighting an internet war with arch-foe India, in a battle that is increasingly sucking in global tech giants such as Twitter and Facebook. Tayyab, 24, spends his days on Facebook and encrypted WhatsApp chatrooms organizing members of his Pakistan Cyber Force group to promote anti-India content and make it go viral, including on Twitter where he has more than 50,000 followers. That ranges from highlighting alleged Indian human rights abuses to lionizing insurgents battling Indian security forces in Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan region at the heart of historic tensions between Pakistan and India. Tayyab’s job became harder on Monday when the Pakistan Cyber Force’s Facebook account was taken down, one of 103 Pakistani accounts the social media giant said it had deleted because of “inauthentic behavior” and spamming. So

Business Today April 02, 2019 Chitranjan Kumar "Congress will respect the autonomy of the RBI in matters reserved to the RBI under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1939, including the formulation of monetary policy," said the manifesto. Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday released its Lok Sabha election manifesto that promises to "reverse the unwarranted and illegal interference by the BJP government" into the functioning of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). "Congress will respect the autonomy of the RBI in matters reserved to the RBI under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1939, including the formulation of monetary policy," said the manifesto. However, the RBI Governor shall periodically render an account to a committee of Parliament, the Congress mentioned in its manifesto. It promises that the government will work closely with the RBI to ensure that fiscal policy and monetary policy are aligned to achieve the common goal of grow

The Hindu April 03, 2019 PTI Pakistan could be blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) due to “lobbying by India”, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said as he estimated that the country could suffer $10 billion loss annually if it remains in the watchdog’s grey list. In June last year, the Paris-based FATF had placed Pakistan on the ‘grey list’ of countries whose domestic laws are considered weak to tackle the challenges of money laundering and terrorism financing. The FATF is working to curb terrorism financing and money laundering and has asked Pakistan to reassess the operation of banned terrorist outfits in the country. Pakistan is under intense international pressure to rein in terror groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) after the Pulwama terror attack. “The Foreign Office is calculating the annual loss if Pakistan is pushed in the blacklist by the FATF as India is lobbying for this,” Foreign Minister Qureshi told reporters at the Governor’s House h

The Economic Times March 31, 2019 As many as 34 power companies have accumulated Rs 1.4 lakh crore of NPA for Indian banks while 41 corporates across sectors, including those from infrastructure, textile, telecom, sugar, steel, energy, power and fertilisers have Rs 84,000 crore piled up NPAs which have taken the bad loan total to astronomical Rs 2.24 lakh crore, petitioners opposing RBI's February 12 circular on resolutions of debts have submitted to theSupreme Court.   Quoting a report of the 37th Standing Committee on energy giving NPA details of 34 power plants, the petitioners said these plants which have number of banks ranging from 2-19, have accumulated over Rs 1.40 lakh crore . The power companies are seeking Supreme Court intervention in setting aside or quashing an RBI order of February 12 last year where the apex bank laid down strict norms for NPA resolutions within 180-days among other rules.   "75 companies have a debt of Rs 2.24 lakh crore",

Scroll.in April 03, 2019 Mallya’s counsel Amit Desai said confiscating his assets will not solve the problems of banks and creditors.  Vijay Mallya claims confiscating his properties under Fugitive Economic Offenders Act is draconian Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya on Monday told the Bombay High Court that confiscation of his properties under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act is draconian, and will not help his creditors, PTI reported. Mallya, who owes Indian banks over Rs 9,000 crore, fled to the United Kingdom in 2016. Mallya’s counsel Amit Desai told a division bench of Justices IA Mahanty and AM Badar the move was draconian. “The need of the hour is to deal with the banks and creditors,” he said. “Mallya does not want the properties to be returned to him. We are only saying that confiscation by the government is not going to solve the problems of the banks and creditors.”  The Enforcement Directorate opposed the petition. The investigation agency said that t

Scroll.in April 02, 2019 Tamil Nadu’s Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo on Tuesday said that an inquiry has been ordered into reports that an Election Commission flying squad in Chennai had thwarted the launch of a book on the Rafale defence deal. Sahoo said the Election Commission had not issued any orders blocking the book’s release, The Hindu reported. Publishers Bharati Puthakalayam are expected to go ahead with the launch of the Tamil book authored by S Vijayan, the title of which translates to Rafale: A Scam That Rocked the Nation. The Hindu Chairman N Ram is reportedly the chief guest of the event.  Earlier on Tuesday, a team of election commission and police officials had reportedly seized about 150 copies of the book from the publishers in Chennai. The team was led by S Ganesh, Assistant Executive Engineer of the Thousands Lights Constituency, who told the publisher that the book launch went against the model code of conduct for elections, said The Hindu

The Economic Times April 02, 2019 The dogfight over Kashmir that almost sent two nuclear-armed nations to war had a ramification beyond the obvious — it suddenly brought home what a lucrative market India was for defence manufacturers big and small.  American defence giant Boeing has just offered to bring its 21st-century aerospace ecosystem to India for co-developing F/A-18 Super Hornet upgrades, a PTI story has revealed.  Boeing — who has long been eyeing India's multi-billion dollar fighter jet pie — said it intended its cutting-edge ecosystem to be part of the country's advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA) programme.  "What we're talking about is a complete ecosystem of capability – it's building up supply chain, it's building up engineering capacity, technical mechanical capacity. It is bringing the build, not the kit, to India," PTI quoted Marc Allen, president of Boeing International and a of the Boeing Executive Council, as sa

The Economic Times April 02, 2019 AFP Global growth in 2019 should be even slower than previously expected but a "precarious" rebound later this year is likely, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday.  In a speech ahead of next week's spring meetings with the World Bank, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said the world economy was vulnerable to shocks from Brexit, high debt levels and trade tensions, as well as unease on financial markets. "The expected rebound in global growth this year is precarious," she said in prepared remarks at the US Chamber of Commerce. "This is a delicate moment that requires us to handle with care."  Lagarde said the IMF next week was due to cut its global growth forecasts even further than it had in January, with more than two thirds of the world economy likely to see slowing growth.  At the start of the year, the fund had already lowered its expectations several notches from a prior outlook,

Hindustan Times April 02, 2019 Reuters The European Union has launched two World Trade Organization disputes against India over import duties on IT products and against Turkey over measures affecting pharmaceutical producers. The European Commission, which oversees trade policy for the 28-member European Union, said in a statement on Tuesday that the total value of affected EU exports was more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) per year. In the case against India, the EU is challenging the introduction of import duties of between 7.5 and 20 percent for a wide range of IT products, such as mobile phones and components, as well as integrated circuits, the Commission said. In the case against Turkey, the Commission said the bloc is challenging measures that force foreign pharmaceutical producers to move their production to Turkey. The first step of WTO dispute settlement is a 60-day consultation period. The EU can request a WTO panel ruling on the cases if the c

Hindustan Times April 02, 2019 PTI The Supreme Court order quashing a Reserve Bank of India circular on resolving bad debt will provide relief to power companies and lenders as well as flexibility to restructure debts but will slowdown bankruptcy proceedings, experts said Tuesday. The Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed RBI’s February 12 circular, which prescribed rules for recognizing one-day defaults by large corporates and initiating insolvency action as a remedy. Vishrov Mukerjee, Partner, J Sagar Associates said after the Supreme Court judgment, the RBI may have to issue revised guidelines/circulars for the restructuring of stressed assets. “There is also a question mark over existing processes which may have been completed/nearing completion,” he said. “However, with the threat of IBC proceedings mitigated, it will give some breathing space to power companies and lenders as well as flexibility to restructure debts in a manner which ensures continuity and value

Times of India April 03, 2019 Surendra Singh and Chidanand Rajghattta Indian space and missile experts have rubbished the claims of Nasa's   chief, who on Monday called India's anti-satellite (A-Sat) test a "terrible, terrible thing" and said debris from the test could endanger astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). In arguments reminiscent of the American reaction to India's nuclear test, the US space agency bore down on India with a vehemence not reflected in the more measured response from the Trump administration. "That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris at an apogee that goes above the International Space Station," Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a townhall meeting of the agency's employees. Former DRDO director general V K Saraswat said the statement was a typical American response to India's progress. "Pieces of debris from the missile-satellite collisi