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Former minister Gurudas Kamat quits Congress, politics

June 7, 2016

Mumbai, Jun 7: In a setback to the Congress, former union minister and five-time lawmaker Gurudas Kamat on Monday announced he was quitting the party and politics.

Gurudas"I met Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) about 10 days ago and expressed a desire to resign. For several months now, I have felt I need to take a backseat to enable others to get the opportunity," Mr Kamat said in a statement late this evening.

With Congress for over 44 years, he said he felt the need to make way for other younger leaders.

He said besides meeting Mrs Gandhi, he wrote to her and vice president Rahul Gandhi expressing his desire to quit.

"Since there was no reply, I have formally informed that I would like to retire from politics," said Mr Kamat, who lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 to BJP's Kirit Somaiya.

Currently, general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan, Mr Kamat - who enjoys enormous support base among the south Indians in Mumbai - has declared he will not enter the electoral fray for either the Congress or any other party.

His abrupt decision to quit could demoralize the state party unit which is already grappling under various crises in the past couple of years since its rout in the 2014 Lok Sabha and assembly elections.

A lawyer by qualification, the 61-year-old Mr Kamat has represented Mumbai North East Lok Sabha seat five times - 1984, 1991, 1998, 2004, 2009 - and served as Minister of Communications and IT in the Manmohan Singh government.

A former Mumbai Congress president for two terms, he has a deep knowledge of the city politics and his absence could prove detrimental for the party which is hoping to capture next year's critical elections to BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation.

Starting his political career as a student leader, he rose on to become the president of National Students Union of India, of the Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress, the Indian Youth Congress, as well as the vice president of the party's Maharashtra unit, besides serving in the union cabinet.

He had shot into headlines in July 2011 when he suddenly quit the cabinet, but took pains to cite "personal reasons" for his decision.

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News Network
June 5,2020

Jun 5: Meerut Police on Thursday claimed that around 13,500 mobile phones in the country are running on the same IMEI, the number used to identify the device.

A case of fraud has been registered against the mobile phone manufacturing company and its service center, the police said.

The matter surfaced, after police personnel gave his mobile phone to the staff at cybercrime cell for examination, as the new phone was not working properly despite being repaired, Meerut SP (city) Akhilesh N Singh said.

The cyber cell found that around 13,500 other mobile phones are also running on the same International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) as that of the police personnel's phone, the superintendent of police said.

He said the matter is a serious security issue.

Prima facie it appears to be negligence on part of the mobile phone company and criminals can use it to their advantage, Singh said.

He said a case has been registered under relevant sections of the law at a Medical police station and a team of experts has been called to look into the matter.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: India's gold demand in 2020 is expected to fall to the lowest level in 26 years with domestic bullion prices hitting a record high and as falling disposable incomes could curtail retail purchases, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.

Lower demand by the world's second-biggest bullion consumer could limit a rally in global prices, which hit a record high earlier this month, although it could also reduce India's trade deficit and support the ailing rupee.

"Fast rising gold prices could act as headwinds," said Somasundaram PR, the managing director of WGC's Indian operations.

Local gold futures have jumped 35% so far this year after rising a quarter in 2019.

India's gold consumption in the first half of 2020 plunged 56% on-year to 165.6 tonnes. Meanwhile, the coronavirus-triggered lockdown also slashed demand by 70% in the June quarter to 63.7 tonnes, the lowest in more than a decade, the WGC said in a report published on Thursday.

Millions of Indians have lost their jobs or taken a pay cut after the country imposed a lockdown on its 1.3 billion people to curb the spread of the virus that has infected more than 1.5 million Indians.

Consumption is generally high during the June quarter due to weddings and key festivals such as Akshaya Tritiya, but lockdown restrictions kept shoppers indoors this year.

The weak demand in the first half could drag down India's gold consumption in 2020 to the lowest since 1994, when demand stood at 415 tonnes, Somasundaram said, adding that it is still difficult to provide an estimate for full-year demand as the coronavirus crisis is still unfolding.

"Indian demand has previously jumped as much as 300 tonnes in a quarter. Latent demand could come out in the second half," Somasundaram said.

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News Network
February 18,2020

New Delhi, Feb 18: Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot is the richest minister in the AAP government, according to a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Monday.

In a statement, the NGO said, Delhi Election Watch and ADR have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all the seven-party leaders including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

According to the statement, the minister with the lowest declared total assets is Gopal Rai with assets worth Rs 90.01 lakh.

"The minister with the highest declared total assets is Kailash Gahlot from Najafgarh constituency with assets worth Rs 46.07 crore," it stated.

The report by ADR comes on the day Kejriwal and his six ministers took charge after the formation of the new AAP government.

Chief Minister Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues took charge of their respective offices on Monday and asserted that they would work to fulfil the promises made in the "guarantee card", released during the poll campaign, including reduction in pollution and expansion of metro network.

Members of his Cabinet are -- Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Rajendra Pal Gautam, Imran Hussain, Gopal Rai and Kailash Gahlot.

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