Sonia Gandhi loses cool on LK Advani's 'illegitimate' remark on UPA

New Delhi, Mar 6: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday will move the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha.

In December last year, the Union Cabinet had approved a proposal to promulgate an ordinance to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016.

The amendments will remove certain ambiguities in the IBC 2016 and ensure smooth implementation of the code, an official statement said.

The move is aimed at easing the insolvency resolution process and promoting the ease of doing business. Aimed at streamlining of the insolvency resolution process, the amendments seek to protect last-mile funding and boost investment in financially-distressed sectors.

Under the amendments, the liability of a corporate debtor for an offence committed before the corporate insolvency resolution process will cease.

The debtor will not be prosecuted for an offence from the date the resolution plan has been approved by the adjudicating authority if a resolution plan results in change in the management or control of the corporate debtor to a person who was not a promoter or in the management or control of the corporate debtor or a related party of such a person.

The amendments are aimed at providing more protection to bidders participating in the recovery proceedings and in turn boosting investor confidence in the country's financial system.

New Delhi, Feb 25: Condemning the violence in Delhi, the Congress on Tuesday demanded that the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Chief Minister of Delhi come forward to ensure peace and maintain brotherhood while rising above partisan politics.

"This is Gandhi, Nehru, Patel's India, can any Indian accept this mindless violence? Congress appeals to the people of Delhi to maintain communal harmony and thwart all attempts of the forces dividing the country on the basis of religion," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told reporters.

Unabated violence and incidents of stone-pelting and murder in the national capital have shattered the nation, he said, while referring to the riots in northeast Delhi over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act that continued for the third day, and demanded stern action against the culprits.

"Our appeal to the prime minister, the home minister and the Delhi chief minister is, can you rise to the occasion, leave aside your political partisanship and views, and become really not leaders of your parties but leaders of the society so that harmony, peace, and non-violence prevail," he said.

The Congress party will stand with the Centre and the Delhi government in every way to maintain brotherhood and harmony in the society, he said.

"Do not fail this country because you belong to different political parties," Surjewala said, adding this was a sincere appeal "on behalf of people of Delhi and the country" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

"There is no place for violence in Gandhi ji's India... Today there is a need to establish peace on the ground and maintain brotherhood," he said.

Surjewala said the party also prays for the speedy recovery of DCP Amit Sharma and the hundreds of other people who have been injured in the violence.

"We also condemn the firing at three journalists Arvind Gunasekar, Saurabh Shukla and Akash and pray for their good health," he said.

"We strongly condemn these brutal riots and demand that the culprits are identified and stern action is taken against the real culprits and miscreants. The Congress mourns the death of Head Constable Ratan Lal and others in the violence," Surjewala said.

United Nations, Jun 6: The COVID-19 pandemic, which has presented challenges for several nations, could be an “opportunity” for India to speed up the health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat, especially with a focus on primary healthcare, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.

WHO Director-General Ghebreyesus was responding to a question on the COVID-19 situation in India, where the number of coronavirus cases are increasing rapidly. India went past Italy on Friday to become the sixth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic.

India saw a record single-day jump of 9,887 coronavirus cases and 294 deaths on Saturday, pushing the nationwide infection tally to 2,36,657 and the death toll to 6,642, according to the health ministry.

"Of course COVID is very unfortunate and it's challenging for many nations but we need to look for opportunities too. For instance for India, this could be an opportunity to speed up Ayushman Bharat, especially with a focus on primary health care. I know there is a very strong commitment from the government to speed up the implementation of Ayushman Bharat and with primary healthcare and community engagement, I think we can really turn the tide,” Ghebreyesus said during a press briefing in Geneva on Friday.

Ayushman Bharat is the world’s largest health insurance scheme and was launched by the Narendra Modi government in 2018. Last month, Modi had said that the number of people who have benefited from the scheme crossed the one crore-mark.

The scheme aims to cover more than 500 million beneficiaries and provide coverage of Rs 500,000 per family per year.

Referring to the Ayushman Bharat scheme, Ghebreyesus added that “using and speeding up what has started could actually help in India and that's what WHO was very appreciative by the way when Ayushman Bharat started. And this could be a very good opportunity actually to test that and speed up and use it to really fight this pandemic.”