India will boycyott CPU meeting in Pakistan

August 7, 2015

New Delhi, Aug 7: India will boycott a Commonwealth Parliamentary Union meeting in Islamabad next month in protest against Pakistan not inviting the Speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, a decision that comes in the midst of tensions over two terror attacks in Punjab and J and K. MAHAJAN

"A meeting of Speakers of all states here today unanimously decided that India will boycott the meeting of the CPU if the Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is not invited," Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan told reporters after the meeting.

This follows Pakistan not sending an invitation to J and Kashmir Speaker to the Inter Parliamentary Union meeting to be held from Sept 30 to Oct 8 in Islamabad while invitations have been sent to all the other Speakers in India.

The decision of the Speakers come against the backdrop of simmering tensions between the two countries over the recent terror attacks in Gurdaspur in Punjab and near Udhampur in J and K by terrorists, perpetrated by terrorists who had infiltrated from Pakistan.

Mahajan said this was against a rule in the CPU in which all the Speakers, who are members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), have to be extended an invitation to the CPU meeting.

"It is wrong (on the part of Pakistan). They cited an old rule of 1951-57 regarding their having raised an issue in the UN Security Council for not inviting J and K Speaker," she said adding it had lost relevance.

The Speaker said Pakistan gave this reply when India took up the matter strongly with the CPA Chairperson and Secretary General against leaving out J and K Speaker.

"We (31 Speakers) reviewed this issue and felt this was wrong. We reject this decision (of Pakistan). We are writing to the CPA Chairperson that if I and K Speaker is not invited then India will not attend the meeting or change the venue (for us to attend)," she said.

Welcoming the decision J and K Speaker Ravindra Gupta, who attended the meeting, thanked the Speakers for the decision saying it was a question of unity and integrity of the country. He called Pakistan a terrorist state.

Gupta said Pakistan has done this (not inviting J and K Speaker) "deliberately" and added today's decision is a strong message to that country.

Mahajan made it clear that to ensure participation of the Speaker of Lok Sabha and those of Indian Assemblies, J and K Speaker will have to be invited or the venue should be changed to some other country.

She said Pakistan had expressed "constraint" in inviting Jammu and Kashmir Speaker citing an old rule which was "irrelevant" now as the state had participated in such a conference in 2007.

Describing Pakistan's decision as "wrong", she said she had called today's meeting to consult Speakers of the Assemblies before taking a decision.

The meeting noted that since Speakers of all the state Assemblies are members of the 'India Region of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA)', it was wrong to single out Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and not invite its Speaker.

After detailed discussions at the meeting attended by Speakers of 31 Assemblies, a resolution was adopted "unanimously", condemning the unilateral decision of Pakistan for not inviting Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Speaker to the 61st Conference.

The resolution said Pakistani decisions violates the "provisions of the CPA Constitution, keeping the Executive Committee and the General Assembly of CPA in the dark while acting against the century-old tradition of CPA which is a membership organisation that has constitutionally been bound to invite all its member branches to the CPA annual conference so long as a Branch is in good financial standing with the Association."

"The meeting resolved to call upon Dr Shirin Chaudhury, Speaker of Bangladesh Parliament and Chairperson of the CPA Executive Committee to use her good offices to immediately resolve the matter and ensure issue of invitation to the Jammu and Kashmir 'CPA Branch' failing which 'CPA India Region' including the Union and State Branches' (will) boycott the 61st Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Islamabad, Pakistan from September 30 to October 8...," the resolution said.

India's Parliament and Assemblies are treated as 'India region' and all the Assemblies are the members of the CPA.

The resolution underlined that Jammu and Kashmir "fulfills all conditions" of CPA membership. "The meeting further resolved that Chairperson and members of the Executive Committee of CPA view this matter in all seriousness and insist that Pakistan CPA Branch forfeit its right to host the 61st CP conference for not inviting Jammu and Kashmir CPA Branch to the conference in violation of Article 8 of the CPA Constitution and that the venue of the conference be shifted to another country," it said.

Article 8 of the CPA Constitution says that each 'Branch' (meaning Parliament and State Assemblies) "shall be entitled to send prescribed number of delegates and officials to each plenary conference and accordingly Jammu and Kashmir Branch is entitled to send one delegate to the Conference."

The meeting authorised Lok Sabha Speaker, who is the chairperson of CPA India Region, to take "such further action as may be deemed necessary in the matter".

The Speaker said India took up the issue with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Secretariat after Jammu and Kashmir was not invited while all other states of India received the invitations.

He said Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and thanked the Lok Sabha Speaker and Speakers of other Assemblies on taking the stand.

Gupta added that "Pakistan is a terrorist state and many countries do not want to go there" to attend the Conference. PTI AKK "The meeting resolved to call upon Dr Shirin Chaudhury, Speaker of Bangladesh Parliament and Chairperson of the CPA Executive Committee to use her good offices to immediately resolve the matter and ensure issue of invitation to the Jammu and Kashmir 'CPA Branch' failing which 'CPA India Region' including the Union and State Branches' (will) boycott the 61st Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Islamabad, Pakistan from September 30 to October 8...," the resolution said.

India's Parliament and Assemblies are treated as 'India region' and all the Assemblies are the members of the CPA.

The resolution underlined that Jammu and Kashmir "fulfils all conditions" of CPA membership. "The meeting further resolved that Chairperson and members of the Executive Committee of CPA view this matter in all seriousness and insist that Pakistan CPA Branch forfeit its right to host the 61st CP conference for not inviting Jammu and Kashmir CPA Branch to the conference in violation of Article 8 of the CPA Constitution and that the venue of the conference be shifted to another country," it said.

The meeting authorised Lok Sabha Speaker, who is the chairperson of CPA India Region, to take "such further action as may be deemed necessary in the matter".

The Speaker said India took up the issue with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Secretariat after Jammu and Kashmir was not invited while all other states of India received the invitations.

The CPA Secretariat talked to Pakistan Assembly Speaker who expressed "constraint" in inviting Jammu and Kashmir. Invitations for the conference are sent by the host country. Gupta said Pakistan deliberately wanted to keep his state away from the conference to "humiliate" India. He said Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and thanked the Lok Sabha Speaker and Speakers of other Assemblies on taking the stand.

Gupta added that "Pakistan is a terrorist state and many countries do not want to go there" to attend the Conference.

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BSNL orders compulsory retirement to Rehana Fathima who entered Sabarimala shrine in 2018

News Network

May 15,2020

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala activist Rehana Fathima has been asked to take compulsory retirement from BSNL after she was embroiled in Sabarimala row.

Stating that her attempt to enter the shrine of celibate god in 2018 had spoiled the reputation of the company among customers, the BSNL, in its order asked her to take compulsory retirement, further claiming that her acts were “subversive of discipline and amount to misconduct”.

She was suspended from service following her arrest in November 2018 over Facebook posts.

Fathima, who is a technician with the state-run communications company, said she will explore legal remedies against the order sent by her employer.

The Fathima hit headlines when she attempted to enter the Sabarimala shrine, which has traditionally been closed to women in the age group of 10-50 years.

She did after the Supreme Court order allowing entry of women in the age group of 10-50.

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Fitch revises outlook on nine Indian banks to negative

Agencies

June 22,2020

Mumbai, Jun 22: After downgrading India's outlook to negative from stable, Fitch Ratings on Monday revised the outlook on nine Indian banks to negative.

The outlook on the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) was revised to negative from stable due to the banks' high dependence on the Centre to re-capitalise them.

Accordingly, the IDR outlook of the Export-Import Bank of India, the State Bank of India, the Bank of Baroda, the Bank of Baroda (New Zealand), the Bank of India, the Canara Bank, the Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank Ltd have been downgraded to negative.

"At the same time, Fitch has affirmed IDBI Bank Limited's (IDBI) IDR while maintaining the outlook at negative," Fitch said in a statement.

The rating actions follow Fitch's revision of the outlook on the 'BBB-' rating on India to negative from stable on June 18, due to the impact of the escalating coronavirus pandemic on India's economy.

"The IDRs for all the above Indian banks are support-driven and anchored to their respective SRFs," the statement said.

"They are based on Fitch's assessment of high to moderate probability of extraordinary state support for these banks, which takes into account our assessment of the sovereign's ability and propensity to provide extraordinary support."

According to the statement, the negative outlook on India's sovereign rating reflects an increasing strain on the state's ability to provide extraordinary support, due to the sovereign's limited fiscal space and the significant deterioration in fiscal metrics due to challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The rating action does not affect the banks' Viability Rating (VR). EXIM does not have a VR as its role as a policy bank makes an assessment of its standalone credit profile less meaningful."

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System cleaning done by BJP govt after 2014 unbelievable, says Nirmala Sitharaman

News Network

January 20,2020

New Delhi, Jan 20: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the kind of cleaning in the system that the BJP-led government had to carry out after coming to power in 2014 was "unbelievable" and it undertook the exercise without any grudge or worry.

Between 2014-16, there were a lot of questions as to why reforms did not come fast and there were comments that the government was incapable of bringing them, she said delivering the Nani Palkhivala Memorial lecture on "Road Map to $5 Trillion Economy" here.

Pointing out that there were allegations and criticism that the government wants to do something but it did not, Sitharaman said, "I am fully willing to buy that." She recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi often said he did not believe in incremental changes and the country needed good transformational change. The stage in which India is today, it cannot have little marginal increments, but good transformational change.

"But still one might say in the last five years the government never did. That can be a critical analysis and I am fully willing to buy that. Because post-2014 the kind of cleaning up the government had to do was unbelievable and we undertook that exercise without a grudge without a worry.. we had to do it and it is part of the game," she said. Elaborating, Sitharaman said states have their own views on Land Acquisition Bill and the government could not have done anything because land, after all, is with them.

Commenting on the topic 'Road Map to $5 trillion economy,' she said quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments, the government would take the route "Sarkar ka abhaav nahi hona chahiye, prabhaav hona chahiye aur dabaav nahi hona chahiye."

"Abhaav and dabaav both of which are not desirable, abhaav is the inadequacy or lack of adequate presence or shortfall. You do not need a shortfall. You need a government where it should be present, where it is expected to function.", she said.

"So there should not be abhaav. Dabaav (meaning pressure) is not something you want from the government. So, you want Prabhaav. It is broadly an influence, facilitation, broadly the philosophy with which it is mandated, she said.

Noting that the government has got the mandate through the election, she said, "The mandate was spelt out in so many different ways in its manifesto. So the route towards $5 trillion is this."

"We have to be there to facilitate. We have to be there to make it easy. We have to be where you need us, where there is no policy (reforms from the government)," she said.

On the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) implemented by the government, the union minister said the approach of the IBC was not to shut business. "IBC takes on the approach in having some kind of resolution where all people who exploited the company do not come back through the "back door," she said.

IBC was done through better management so that the institution is alive and kicking. It is something which she wanted to carry forward from Modi 1.0 to 2.0. "The point I am trying to make on this road to $5 trillion economy is that it is not just an abstraction, this is not how I want India to be. But in micro-level too, we are coming in response to every stakeholder," she said.

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LOL. Do not say anything, else she will get angry.