From the left and right: Protests planned today against govt policies

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the trade union arm of the RSS, said it will hold protests across the country to oppose the Centre’s plan to privatize public sector undertakings

Trade unions and farmers’ outfits affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) will hold separate protests against the Centre’s economic and agriculture policies today. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the trade union arm of the RSS, said it will hold protests across the country to oppose the Centre’s plan to privatize public sector undertakings (PSUs) and anti-worker “unjust decisions”.

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), the farmers’ outfit of the CPI(M), said it will protest the Centre’s recent ordinances relating to the farm sector. It said farmers will burn copies of the ordinances the Centre promulgated on Friday. It said the new laws will pave the way for “corporates to loot peasants and endanger food security of the people”.

In Delhi, BMS general secretary Virjesh Upadhyay will address several protest meetings. These protests will be held at Delhi cantonment to oppose privatisation of ordinance factory boards and outside the office the divisional railway manager at the New Delhi railway station to oppose privatisation in the Indian Railways. BMS zonal organizing secretary Pawan Kumar said Upadhyay will also address protests organized by employees of MTNL and public sector banks. The BMS slogan for the protest is, “Save public sector, save India”…Read More

Global investors bet $45 bn on Modi’s India. Now they are reversing it

International money managers are starting to fall out of love with Narendra Modi

After pouring $45 billion into India’s stock market over the past six years on hopes that Modi would unleash the country’s economic potential, international money managers are now unwinding those wagers at the fastest pace on record. They’ve sold $4.5 billion of Indian shares since June, on course for the biggest quarterly exodus since at least 1999.

“The euphoria around Narendra Modi before 2014 has tapered off,” said Salman Ahmed, the London-based chief investment strategist at Lombard Odier Investment Managers, which oversees about $52 billion.

It’s hard to fault investors for losing faith. India’s economic growth has decelerated for five straight quarters to the weakest level since early 2013, one year before Modi became prime minister. And the 5% headline number for the second quarter may actually understate how painful the slowdown has become. Car sales are sinking at the fastest pace on record, capital investment has plunged, the unemployment rate has surged to a 45-year-high and the nation’s banking system is hamstrung by the world’s worst bad-loan ratio. Monday’s oil-price spike adds yet another headwind for a country that imports most of its crude….

Govt likely to set October deadline for cash-strapped Air India sale

The Centre is planning to liberalise the terms and conditions for the sale of Air India

The development to Air India privatization has taken off going full bore with the Union Budget reporting it as the focal point of divestment this year. The administration is focusing on October as the due date for reporting the arrangement.

Not leaving anything to risk after a bombed endeavor before, the legislature has shortlisted the potential bidders, with the Tata bunch on top for its enthusiasm for aeronautics. Sources aware of everything said the administration would start converses with organizations, including Tatas, in no time for stripping its stake in the national transporter.

Also like : Budget 2019: Air India sale on cards, govt hikes divestment target for FY20

The proposed exchange with potential purchasers will harmonize with the administration method of issuing offer records for articulation of intrigue at some point this month. “Since the money clergyman has submitted in the Budget, we will begin moving toward imminent bidders,” said a source near the advancement. While calling attention to that the Tatas will be moved toward first, he stated, “They have a history with flight and they realize how to run a carrier.”

“In perspective on the current macroeconomic parameters, the legislature would not just reinitiate the procedure of key disinvestment of Air India, yet would offer increasingly focal open area undertakings for key investment by the private segment,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in her Budget discourse on Friday. The administration will before long reconstitute the Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM), following which another offer record will be issued. The AISAM is accused of giving endorsements at each progression of the Air India divestment process, with just the sweeping endorsement given by the Union Cabinet.

Will leave no stone unturned to fulfil ‘housing for all’ dream: PM Modi

Modi had launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to provide affordable housing to the urban poor

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said his government is committed to further improving urban infrastructure and will leave no stone unturned to fulfil the dream of housing for all.

Taking to Twitter, Modi said, “Four years ago, today we started important initiatives PM Awas Yojana (U), AMRUT, Smart Cities with the aim of #TransformingUrbanLandscape in India. These initiatives have not only helped usher in a new paradigm of urban development but have also transformed crores of lives.”

In another tweet, he said, “These initiatives have seen record investment, speed, use of technology and public participation. We are committed to further improving urban infrastructure. No stone will be left unturned to fulfil the dream of Housing for All, which will give wings to crores of aspirations.”

Modi had launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to provide affordable housing to the urban poor. The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) aims at giving basic civic amenities such as water supply, sewerage, urban transport, parks to improve the quality of life for all especially the poor and the disadvantaged.

Rahul is president of ‘corrupt’ party, will never be PM: Assam CM Sonowal

‘Rahul Gandhi is president of a corrupt party. He will never be prime minister, however much he may dream’

Politics news: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday dubbed the Lok Sabha polls as a battle between an “honest, hardworking and committed” leader in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the head of a “corrupt” political party in Rahul Gandhi.

He claimed at a BJP press conference that the Congress president Rahul gandhi will never become the country’s prime minister, however much “he may dream”. Citing the BJP’s win in the recent local polls in the north eastern state and also the loss of Congress in Mizoram assembly elections, Sonowal said the region has expressed a vote of no confidence in the Congress which, he alleged, “looted it for 60 years”.

No prime minister has done as much for the region as Modi has,he asserted,adding that it will soon become a main centre of business activities in India. “Rahul Gandhi is president of a corrupt party. He will never be prime minister, however much he may dream, ” he said.|Click Here: BUSINESS STANDARD OR BS)

Under the Modi government, more bridges have been built than earlier,he said,noting that Modi will also inaugurate the country’s largest rail cum road bridge in Assam on December 25. Since the BJP dispensation came to power in the state in 2016, it has detected 4 lakh bogus cards under the employment guarantee scheme, 2.63 lakh fake ration card, he said, alleging that the previous Congress government used them for corruption…

Supreme Court dismisses PILs seeking probe into Rafale aircraft deal

Giving a clean chit of sorts to the Modi government in the Rafale deal, the court said there was no reason for it to interfere in the procurement process for 36 Rafale fighter jets from France

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed public interest suits seeking a probe into alleged irregularities in the Rafale aircraft deal between the Indian government and France’s Dassault Aviation. “There is no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in Rafale deal,” the Court said.

The Rafale deal relates to the purchase of 36 fighter aircraft for an estimated Rs 580 billion by the defence ministry. Saying there had been necessity of fighter aircraft and the country could not remain without fighter jets, the apex court mentioned that dealing with the pricing details of Rafale fighter jets was not its job.

Giving a clean chit of sorts to the Narendra Modi government in the Rafale deal, the court said: “We find no reasons to interfere in procurement process for 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.”

Explained in 9 charts: How India got thousands of railway passengers to fly

A mix of clever railway ticket pricing and fortunate global conditions pushed thousands of Indians to start flying

 

There are a few things about the Indian railways’ performance and the boom in India’s aviation sector under the Narendra Modi government that catch the eye.

For one, in an unprecedented development, the number of rail passengers travelling in 2nd AC compartments in 2016-17 saw a steep decline from a year earlier. Secondly, fewer people have been using the Indian Railways services than during the last few years of the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Thirdly, the exponential growth seen in the number of India’s air travellers lately has as much to do with the pricing of railway tickets as with rising incomes and falling jet fuel prices leading to air tickets being more affordably priced.

And, finally, if India’s per capita income continues to increase at the pace it has over the past decade, and airlines continue to price tickets within the levels of decency – in addition to Indian Railways aiding airlines by providing poor services on trains despite rail tickets costing almost the same as air fares – there is little doubt that more Indians will pay a bit more and fly.

So, how were Indians forced to abandon railway tracks and take to the skies in greater numbers? The following nine charts will answer this question in greater detail:

India is flying, and so are Indians

There was a considerable dip in railway ridership on the broad gauge across all divisions during the first year of the Modi government. Even though the dip was reversed the following the year, the number of railway passengers in 2016-17 was still lower than in recent past. At the same time the number of air passengers in India rose quite sharply. The chart shows that at least a part of lost ridership of the railways could have potentially migrated to airlines.

No train. No cry. Just fly

One of the most striking aspects of the stagnating ridership of Indian railways is the fall in not just the number of 2nd class (sleeper) passengers in ordinary trains – the most used class of travel – but also a decline in the number of 2nd AC passengers in 2016-17. This indicates that at least some passengers preferred to book air tickets rather than similarly priced railway tickets in 2nd AC. The decline is also prominently visible in the second sleeper class of travel in ordinary trains. The chart captures these trends along with a significant rise in the number of 3rd AC passengers over the past few years...Read More