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Business Line October 10, 2019 By Our Bureau The government saved about $1.54 billion (around ₹10,934 crore) in fertiliser subsidy payout by rolling out direct bank transfer (DBT-F) in fertiliser, apart from improving supply and easing record-keeping, said an independent agency engaged to assess the impact. Three out of every four farmers and nearly 60 per cent of fertiliser retailers approached by global consulting firm MicroSave Consulting (MSC), commissioned by policy think-tank NITI Aayog, said they preferred DBT-F as it improved transparency, brought efficiency in delivery and reduced instances of overcharging, among other things. The consulting agency also said the government claimed a saving of $1.54 billion because of various fertiliser-related initiatives, including DBT-F. MSC, which conducted interviews with 11,281 farmers and 1,182 retailers across 54 districts in 18 States over four rounds of evaluation, found that instances of manual sales without Aadhaar and “ad...

The Hindu October 11, 2019 By Abdus Samad The NRC process has an Assam-specific history. Extending it to the rest of the country is bizarre After rolling out the National Register of Citizens in Assam, the BJP-led government at the Centre has said it will conduct a similar exercise in the rest of the country. Political Studies professor Sanjib Baruah and Supreme Court senior advocate Colin Gonsalves examine the implications of such an exercise in a conversation moderated by Abdus Salam. Edited excerpts: What’s your verdict on the NRC exercise in Assam? Would you categorise it as one that met its objectives? Sanjib Baruah: Of course not. It was an unprecedented bureaucratic exercise, which has a particular history. But the fact that in a democracy 1.9 million people are excluded from it can’t be a simple matter. Even if it is a transparent and technology-driven process, as [NRC State Coordinator] Prateek Hajela puts it, the people who are excluded are mostly the poor...

Hindustan Times October 11, 2019 By Yashwant Raj Talks are currently underway towards an “interim” deal in the near-term and an FTA over a longer term, with India agreeing to open up portions of its agricultural sector in exchange for partial restoration of its benefits under a zero-tariff preferential US trade programme Squabbling among US private sector entities is understood to be one of the the key factors holding up an India-US trade deal that could lead to the opening up of the agriculture sectors of the two countries on a reciprocal basis and an ambitious Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between them, according to people familiar with the discussions. Talks are currently underway towards an “interim” deal in the near-term and an FTA over a longer term, with India agreeing to open up portions of its agricultural sector in exchange for partial restoration of its benefits under a zero-tariff preferential US trade programme. As part of these negotiations the United States is a...

The Polluters October 09, 2019 Compare details about the fossil fuel firms behind a third of carbon emissions since 1965 1. Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia Ownership: State HQ: Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Sign up to the Green Light email to get the planet's most important stories CEO: Amin H Nasser CEO pay: Undisclosed Revenue: $355.9bn in 2018 Fossil fuel production: 13.6m barrels of oil equivalent a day Investment in renewables: $1.51bn worth of renewable energy projects tendered in 2019 Global emissions 1965-2017: 59,262m tonnes of CO2, 4.38% of global total Projected increase in production 2018-30: 7.2% Projected emissions 2018-30: 27,035m tonnes of CO2 Future projects: $18bn investment in extending Marjan and Berri oilfields off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia to extract another 550,000 barrels per day Q&A What is the polluters project? Show 2. Chevron, US Ownership: Shareholder Advertisement HQ: San Ramon, California, US CEO: Michael Wir...

Indian Express October 11, 2019 By Harish Damodaran It is the industry that is lobbying the hardest to keep its products out of the free trade agreement currently under negotiation among16 countries to India’s east and north. Why is this so? What makes milk and milk products such a big deal for India? Milk is the country’s largest “crop”. In 2018-19, the estimated production of milk, at 187.75 million tonnes (mt), was more than that of paddy (174.63 mt) or wheat (102.19 mt). The value of milk output (Rs 5,63,250 crore at an average farm-gate rate of Rs 30/kg) far exceeded paddy’s (Rs 3,05,602 crore at a minimum support price of Rs 1,750/quintal) and wheat’s (Rs 1,88,030 crore at Rs 1,840/quintal). Milk is, moreover, a source of liquidity for farmers, as it is sold daily and generates cash to take care of routine household expenses, unlike other crops that are marketed only once or twice a year. But milk matters equally to consumers in India, because it meets the animal...

Financial Express October 11, 2019 By FE Bureau The merger proposal came at a time when LVB was saddled with high non-performing assets and unable to raise capital to stay afloat. A day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) turned down its move to merge with Indiabulls Housing Finance and lndiabulls Commercial Credit, Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) on Thursday put up a brave front, saying it will continue to work towards raising capital as per permitted modes in compliance with all applicable Acts and regulations. The merger proposal came at a time when LVB was saddled with high non-performing assets and unable to raise capital to stay afloat. LVB, in a disclosure to the stock exchanges on Wednesday evening, said the RBI had informed that the bank’s application for voluntary amalgamation of Indiabulls Housing Finance and lndiabulls Commercial Credit with it can not be approved. The RBI did not cite any reason for its disapproval, according to the disclosure. The RBI move ca...

Business Standard October 11, 2019 By Sanjeev Mukherjee The government is pushing for direct cash transfer (DBT) as fertiliser subsidy, but a study commissioned by NITI Aayog shows that almost 64 per cent of farmers don’t prefer that because of financial burden. Almost 93.5 per cent of farmers purchase fertilisers in cash. The survey showed that they would incur an upfront expenditure of more than Rs 900 for a 45-kilogram bag of urea, up from Rs 245 a bag, if prices are decontrolled and the subsidy incurred is directly transferred into their banks accounts instead of being routed through companies. The survey showed that almost 76 per cent of farmers prefer the current form of DBT being used just to identify beneficiaries. The survey was conducted among 11,289 farmers between July and October 2018, and it was fourth in a series done by MicroSave Consulting for the government. It was MicroSave's first pan-India study. The survey found that in peak fer...

FirstPost PTI October 10, 2019 The government is in the process of forming a task force to draw a blueprint for handing over operations of 150 trains and 50 railway stations to private operators in a "time-bound manner". A letter from NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant to Chairman Railway Board VK Yadav said an empowered group will be constituted to "drive the process". Besides Yadav and Kant, Secretary, department of economic Affairs and Secretary, ministry of housing and urban affairs will be part of the empowered group. Kant said while the railways was required to take up 400 railway stations for development into world-class stations, very few have been upgraded so far. "I had a detailed discussion with the Minister of Railways wherein it was decided that there is a necessity to take up the matter on priority for at least 50 stations. Considering the recent experience in the privatisation of six airports a similar process for setting up an e...

Business Line PTI Singapore October 11, 2019 India’s negotiating position has emerged as a challenge to concluding the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), particularly due to its stance that it has witnessed limited benefits from the earlier trade agreements, as per a report. According to DBS Bank’s report, India’s reticence to participate in trade agreements has been on various grounds. For RCEP, it already runs a trade deficit with all the member countries. Besides, previous FTAs have not materially improved India’s trade math, and certain unfavourable provisions have turned to be sticking points. While being a part of RCEP carries challenges, it will also open India and rest of the proposed members to numerous opportunities, the report noted. “The early phase of adjustment will be an uphill task as few import tariffs will have to be dismantled, leading to higher competition from imports and in turn hurting export competitiveness,” it said. Opp...

Hindustan Times HT Correspondent October 11, 2019 The government on Thursday appointed a committee to recommend measures to augment  Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections , check evasion and make the new regime simpler for ease of compliance that would eventually help in expanding the tax base. “With the approval of the competent authority, it has been decided that a committee of officers be constituted to suggest measures to augment GST revenue,” an order issued by the GST Council secretariat said. The  GST collection  in September fell 2.67% to Rs 91,916 crore compared to the same period last year, driven by the ongoing consumption slowdown. September’s GST collections are the lowest since February 2018. The tax collection in August 2019 was Rs 98,202 crore. “The committee should consider a wide range of reforms so that a comprehensive list of suggestions may emerge,” the order said. The committee has also been asked to look into systemic changes, inc...

Business Standard PTI  October 11, 2019 Amid the crisis at Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC), HDFC chairman  Deepak Parekh   said it is "brutally unfair" that we have regular loan waivers and corporate loan write-offs but no financial system to protect the common man's savings. The scam at PMC Bank has affected thousands of its depositors as their money is stuck with the urban cooperative bank's after RBI had put a withdrawal limits at Rs 25,000 per accounts last month. The restrictions from the RBI came in after it found the bank's exposure to real estate developer HDIL was in too much in excess of what the regulations require and also as the lender hid the NPAs of HDIL. PMC's exposure to HDIL is around Rs 6,500 crore, which is 73 percent of its loan book of Rs 8,880 crore, as per bank's own admission. "To my mind, there is no greater cardinal sin in finance than misuse of the common man's hard earned savings. ...

NDTV Neeta Sharma October 10, 2019 The "state actors" of Pakistan were behind the 10-odd weapons drop by drones across Punjab that took place in September, intelligence agencies have informed the home ministry. In a report to the ministry, the agencies have also questioned why the Air Force or the Border Security Forces were unable to detect the drone activity, sources told NDTV. The ministry has asked the National Investigation Agency to investigate the role of Pakistan's "state actors", the sources said. It has also asked the National Technical Research Organisation to work on a frequency on which these drones have been operating along the border. The NTRO (National Technical Research Organisation) is already working on detecting the frequency, which will help sever the contact between the drones and their base stations. Sources in the Punjab Police earlier  told NDTV that a large number of AK-47 assault rifles and grenades were dropped in Amr...

International The News Murtaza Ali Shah Oct 08, 2019 A report published by British government funded Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE) says that many Sikhs feel angered by claims made by India's government of growing British and Canadian Sikh terrorism and that “Khalistani” movement has the backing of Pakistan - without any evidence. The report for the UK government’s independent adviser on extremism found that Sikhs are angry that campaigns to highlight human rights abuses are labeled “Khalistani terrorism” with accusations they are Pakistani funded - without evidence ever presented publicly by the Indian government. Dr Jagbir Jhutti-Johal, Senior Lecturer in Sikh Studies, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham, and Sunny Hundal, journalist and writer has written the report titled “The Changing Nature of Activism among Sikhs in the UK”. The report, based on research and interviews, found that tensions between Sikhs and Hindus in...