Black ink thrown on farmer leader Tikait in Bengaluru, triggers clashes

 Reacting to the incident, Tikait alleged that the ink attack on him was in connivance with the state government.

Miscreants on Monday threw ink on farmer leader Rakesh Tikait during an event organised by a farmers’ organisation at the Gandhi Bhavan here. Soon after the incident, clashes took place between the organisers and the miscreants leading to both sides attacking each other with plastic chairs.

Reacting to the incident, Tikait alleged that the ink attack on him was in connivance with the state government. “The local police is responsible for it and it happened due to the connivance of the government,” Tikait told reporters. Black ink was seen on his turban, face, Kurta, and green shawl around his neck…Read More

Punjab job crisis: Note ban haunts as labour pleads for work at 1/3rd wages

Most end up consenting to compensation as low as Rs 150-Rs 200 while the official the lowest pay permitted by law is Rs 311.12 for an untalented worker and Rs 375.62 for a talented worker

Stress had put profound wrinkles on Balkara Singh’s temple however he was only 32 years of age. The day by day wage specialist, wearing a blurred blue sweater and pants, has gone to the Gol Diggi work center in southern Punjab’s Bathinda city each and every day throughout the previous five years to search for employments. Since the finish of 2016, he has returned home frustrated generally days. As well as could be expected trust in were around 10 days of work in a month, he said.

Neediness drove Balkara out of school when he was in Class 2 and his solitary dream was to see his kids – matured four and six- – complete their training. His little house in Amargarh town where he lives with his significant other, kids and guardians, is around 14 km from Gol Diggi. It takes two transport changes and Rs 30 to achieve the center point.

When we met Balkara toward the beginning of April 2019, he was never again beyond any doubt if his fantasy could ever worked out as expected. The move by the Narendra Modi government in November 2016 to pull back 86% of India’s money, by esteem, had thumped the scrape the bottom of the easygoing employments division which kept running on money installments – farming, little scale material units, chaotic retail organizations, and the travel industry as IndiaSpend has announced.

ALSO READ: When getting a new line of work turned into a bad dream in Bengaluru after note boycott, GST

Five million men, for the most part from the chaotic segment, lost their employments over the two years following demonetisation, said another report ‘Territory of Working India 2019’. This most recent gauge of occupation misfortunes was distributed by the Center for Sustainable Employment (CSE), Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, and discharged on April 16, 2019. The numbers would have spiraled if ladies somehow managed to be incorporated into the examination. As Punjab cast a ballot on May 19 in the progressing general races to the Lok Sabha, we investigate the state’s casual occupations emergency.

The joblessness rate in Punjab in November 2016- – when demonetisation was reported – was 4.9%, which expanded to 6.1% in December 2016 as indicated by the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, a consultancy. This joblessness rate achieved 8.9% in June 2017 and further expanded to 9.2% on the main commemoration of demonetisation in November 2017. In October 2018, the figure achieved 11.7%, and by February 2019, recorded 12.4%…

Gurugram sees biggest drop in house prices: Report

Bengaluru was followed by Kolkata, a 44 per cent decrease, and Ahmedabad, a 42 per cent decline

 

 

Gurgram drops house prices: A year after demonetisation, Gurugram saw an 18 per cent decline in house prices in the first eight months of 2017, the biggest year-on-year drop among top 10 residential markets, said a new study.

“Almost all the cities witnessed a drop (5-10 per cent) in weighted average absorbed price after demonetisation as many developers reduced rates and offered freebies during the period worth five to seven per cent, resulting in a discount or correction of up to 15 per cent,” said the report by data analytics firm PropEquity.

Cities such as Gurugram, Kolkata and Chennai witnessed a considerable dip in weighted average absorbed price (month-wise year-over-year comparison) while Gurugram witnessed the launch of lottery projects impacting the price to a considerable extent, it said. It said in the resale market, prices witnessed a dip of 10-15 per cent immediately after the demonetisation. Gurugram witnessed a 10 per cent drop in prices in the resale market in the first eight months of 2017, the highest among top markets.

economy policy 

“Price corrections happened after implementation of goods and services tax, particularly for ready-to-move-in properties and properties nearing completion. Some (four to five per cent) recovery has been witnessed in the past two to three months,” it said.

The country’s information technology hub, Bengaluru, saw a 45 per cent dip in residential sales in the first eight months of this year, the biggest among the top 10 residential markets in the country.

Bengaluru saw absorption of 20,505 units between January and September as compared to 37,200 units a year ago, said PropEquity. The average sales drop in the top 10 cities is about 36 per cent, PropEquity said.

Rising food cost may push August retail inflation to 5-month high: Reuters poll

 But rising price to complicate RBI's policy path as economic growth cooled to a three-year low in Q2

 

India's retail inflation is expected to have picked up to a five-month high in August, largely driven by higher food costs, a Reuters poll showed, easing pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut interest rates again after poor growth data.

Consumer prices were forecast up at 3.20 per cent in August from a year ago, jumping from July's 2.36 per cent, according to the poll taken September 5-8 of nearly 40 economists.

Forecasts for the data, scheduled to be released on September 12 at 1200 GMT, ranged from 2.50 per cent to 3.55 per cent.(economy news)

If the consensus is met, it would be the highest since April, but below the RBI's medium-term target of 4.0 per cent for the tenth consecutive month.

Tushar Arora, economist at HDFC Bank, said food prices continue to rise in August, mainly driven up by "unfavorable weather conditions and supply chain constraints."

Food and beverage inflation, which accounts for nearly 50 per cent of the consumer price index basket was expected to have rebounded in August after prices fell in the three previous months .

Monsoon rains this year have caused damages to crops of some perishable food items and hindered movement of goods.

The resulting hit from a shortage of production and supply of vegetables such as tomatoes and onions - which are basic ingredients in Indian kitchens - suggests inflation will be elevated in coming months....READ MORE

Rupee set to shed gains, weaken to 65 if dollar revives: Reuters poll

Chinese yuan is forecast to weaken to 6.90 per dollar a year

In 12 month's time the Chinese yuan will have erased most of its gains made this year, provided the US Federal Reserve sticks to its tightening path, boosting the greenback, a Reuters poll showed.

Having strengthened more than 3 per cent since the start of 2017, the yuan is forecast to weaken to 6.90 per US dollar in a year, according to the poll of over 60 foreign exchange analysts taken July 27-Aug 2.

It was trading around 6.72 on Wednesday.

While the US dollar should benefit when the Fed starts shrinking its balance sheet, which it has said it expected to do "relatively soon", it could falter again if the central bank fails to follow through with a rate hike later this year. 

At the start of the year, traders had expected faster rate hikes from the Fed and some form of stimulus from the new Trump administration would drive the dollar up strongly against emerging currencies.(economy policy)

But, the greenback has instead taken a beating on fading hopes that President Trump will be able to push through deep tax cuts and massive infrastructure spending.

That has brightened the outlook for Asian currencies.

Strong Chinese economic data over recent months has cooled worries over the yuan's weakening, leaving further scope for the People's Bank of China (PBOC) to tighten the country's domestic liquidity conditions.

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July factory activity contracts to 9-yr low on confusion over GST implementation

July brought the biggest month-on-month decline since November 2008, just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered a financial crisis

Factory activity plunged last month and had its deepest contraction in more than nine years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new tax policy severely hurt output and demand, a survey showed on Tuesday.

The Nikkei/IHS Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 47.9 in July from June's 50.9, its first reading below the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction since December and its lowest reading since February 2009.

A Reuters poll predicted a modest July dip to 50.8. But July brought the biggest month-on-month decline since November 2008, just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered a financial crisis and brought on a global recession.

An output sub-index fell to 46.3, its lowest since early 2009, from 51.7 in June, while contractions were reported across all major sub-indexes in the survey, including new orders, purchasing activity and employment.

"The introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) weighed heavily on the Indian manufacturing industry in July," said Pollyanna De Lima, economist at IHS Markit.

"New orders and output decreased for the first time since the demonetisation-related downturn."

On Nov. 8, Modi stunned the country by ordering the removal of 500-rupee and 1,000-rupee notes, which removed about 86 percent of the currency in circulation and put activity on the skids in a predominantly cash-reliant economy.

Another huge change in India has been implementation of a national GST, which took effect on July 1. While the near-term impact is expected to be negative, the economy should reap benefits in the medium to longer-term, many analysts say.

(Economy news)

In July, a lack of clarity among producers on the new tax system hurt output even though factories cuts prices for their goods.

Even though input costs rose, firms cut prices to try and stimulate weak demand, suggesting retail inflation - which fell to a five-year low in June - is likely to remain subdued in coming months, adding pressure on the Reserve Bank of India to cut rates on Wednesday.

"The weakening trend for demand, relatively muted cost inflationary pressures and discounted factory gate charges provide powerful tools for monetary policy easing," said De Lima.

7-year-jail to Chhota Rajan, 3 others in fake passport case

Other persons who have been convicted are 3 retired government servants

A special court on Tuesday awarded seven-year jail term to gangster Chhota Rajan and three retired public servants in a fake passport case.

Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal awarded the sentence to Rajan and others for offences including forgery of valuable security under the IPC which entails a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

Besides him, the other persons who have been convicted are three retired government servants — Jayashree Dattatray Rahate, Deepak Natvarlal Shah and Lalitha Lakshmanan.

Rajan is lodged in Tihar Jail here. The other three persons, who were out on bail, were taken into custody on Monday after the verdict was announced.

The court had on March 28 reserved its judgement in the case in which Rajan allegedly procured a fake passport in the name of Mohan Kumar with the help of the three government officials.

Lakshmanan had approached the high court to transfer to Bengaluru her trial in the case but the petition was rejected on January 9 on the ground that a district court here could also hear the matter.

During pendency of the plea, the high court had ordered a stay on pronouncement of verdict in the case by trial court. However, the high court later rejected the plea.| READ MORE

 

Indian navy spurns homemade warplane, latest blow to push for self reliance

It is hunting for a new fighter jet after rejecting an indigenously made aircraft as too heavy

India's navy is in the hunt for a new foreign fighter jet after rejecting an indigenously made aircraft as too heavy, the latest sign of the struggle to get Asian militaries to buy locally to grow their defence industries. | TODAY HOT NEWS

The navy last month invited manufacturers to pitch for 57 planes for its aircraft carriers, a multi-billion dollar order the government had hoped would go to the state-run producers of India's Tejas, a combat aircraft 33 years in the making.

India, South Korea, Taiwan and other Asian buyers are expected to intensify efforts this year to develop indigenous warplanes, military officials said, due to anxieties that the United States may be less engaged in the region under President Donald Trump.

But their hopes of manufacturing state-of-the-art warplanes could still be decades away as countries need more time to master the technology, experts said.

"It's been long on ambition short on success," Richard A. Bitzinger, senior fellow at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said of the drive.

"These things are being done because of techno-nationalism. They are done because these countries perceive of themselves as rising powers."

As part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make-in-India" campaign, scientists will showcase the Tejas warplane at an air show opening in Bengaluru on Tuesday. But the jet remains a work in progress, with only three in service with the air force.

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