Mallikarjun Kharge to be on CIC selection panel

November 4, 2014

New Delhi, Nov 4: Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has been inducted into the three-member selection committee which will select the Chief Information Commissioner.

Mallikarjun Kharge As per file notings, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who heads the panel, has nominated Defence Minister Arun Jaitely besides Kharge to the committee.The decision to include Kharge has been taken on the advice of Law Ministry as there was lack of clarity on the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.

The RTI Act requires that selection of the Chief Information Commissioner be done by a three-member panel comprising the Prime Minister, who shall be the Chairperson of the committee, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and a Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister.

"For the purposes of removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that where the Leader of Opposition in the House of the People has not been recognised as such, the Leader of the single largest group in opposition of the Government in the House of the People shall be deemed to be the Leader of Opposition," the Act says.

The file notings accessed by activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra show that the Lok Sabha Secretariat had conveyed to DoPT on June 19, 2014, that "as on date, there is no Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. Indian National Congress with a strength of 44 mmbers is, however, the single largest party in opposition to the Government in Lok Sabha.

"As per the information received from the party, Mallikarjun Kharge is the Leader of Indian National Congress in Lok Sabha which is the single largest party in opposition in Lok Sabha."

After receiving the response, DoPT had referred the matter to Law Ministry seeking to know whether leader of single largest party can be "treated" as leader of "single largest group" in the Lok Sabha for the purpose of the RTI Act?

"Our answer to the query is in the affirmative. We, however, clarify that this answer is only for the limited purpose of the RTI Act [explanation below Section 12(3)] and not for any other purpose," the Law Ministry said in its advice to Department of Personnel and Training.

The Law Ministry had also made it clear that the term "single largest group in opposition", as mentioned in the RTI Act, is not defined either in the RTI Act, Acts pertaining to functioning of MPs and Parliament and compilations of "Directions by the Speaker of Lok Sabha".

It said it relied on the response of the Lok Sabha Secretariat saying Kharge was the leader of Congress which was the single largest party in opposition.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the nodal ministry for RTI matters, has invited applications from the people in a given format before November 24.

According to the Act, the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) shall be a person of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass-media or administration and governance.

All the CICs appointed so far have been retired bureaucrats. The position has been lying vacant after Rajiv Mathur, former Chief of Intelligence Bureau, retired on August 22.

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India's 2020 gold demand may hit 26-year low as prices rally: WGC

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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Gangster Vikas Dubey killed in police 'encounter'

Agencies

July 10,2020

Kanpur, Jul 10: Kanpur encounter main accused Vikas Dubey, who was injured in an encounter with the police, died on Friday, the police said.

"Gangster Vikas Dubey arrested for killing eight policemen is dead," confirmed the police.

According to SP Kanpur West Anil Kumar, gangster Vikas Dubey attempted to flee after the car overturned. Dubey attempted to flee by snatching pistol of the injured policemen. However, he was shot in the retaliatory firing.

"Vikas Dubey attempted to flee by snatching pistol of the injured policemen after the car overturned. Police tried to make him surrender, during which he fired at the policemen. He was injured in retaliatory firing by police. He was later rushed to the hospital," SP Kanpur West told reporters here.

Dubey, the main accused in the Kanpur encounter was arrested by the police in Ujjain on Thursday morning. He was on the run for the last six days and had come to Ujjain to offer prayers at Temple, where he was identified by a security guard at the shrine.

The gangster is the main accused in the encounter that took place in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur last week, in which a group of assailants allegedly opened fire on a police team, which had gone to arrest Dubey. Eight police personnel were killed in the encounter.

Dubey managed to escape after the killing. The Uttar Pradesh police launched a hunt for him and raised the bounty on him to Rs 5 lakh.

Bahua Dubey and Prabhat Mishra, close aides of the main accused, were killed in separate encounters in Etawah and Kanpur respectively, on Thursday.

The main accused's other aide Shyamu Bajpai was arrested by the Chaubeypur police following an encounter. He carried a reward of Rs 25,000, the police informed on Wednesday. Earlier the same day, Uttar Pradesh's Special Task Force (STF) gunned down Vikas Dubey's close aide Amar Dubey in Hamirpur district.

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No one fool other than ghobar society will believe on this news. Totally a goonda raj by yogiraaj. He tried to offer 1crore to all killed policemen. But locals obligation now this is the new drama. One way this is a lesson to his and his chaddi society's followers that party can take their own soldiers life for the self benefit.

Long Live India

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PM Modi interacts with Indian envoys abroad, urges them to be alert to developments in fight against COVID-19

News Network

March 30,2020

New Delhi, Mar 30: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday interacted with Indian ambassadors and high commissioners abroad and urged them to remain alert to developments in global efforts against COVID-19 including breakthroughs to help the country's fight against the coronavirus.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla were also present during the interaction through video-conferencing.

"Coming together for India PM interacted with Indian Ambassadors/High Commissioners abroad and urged them to remain alert to developments in global efforts against COVID-19 including breakthroughs to help our national efforts to fight COVID19," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet.

"PM appreciated the efforts of our missions in helping Indians abroad, in particular, students and workers," he added.

The number of positive coronavirus cases in the country stood at 1,071 on Monday. It includes 29 deaths and 99 people, who have been cured of the highly contagious virus.

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