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Russia set to turn screws on India

August 14, 2012

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New Delhi, August 14: If the government decides to bring Kudankulam's third and fourth units under the purview of the nuclear liability law, which makes suppliers liable for compensation in case of accidents, Russia will mount double pressure on India.

Russia will not only increase the cost of the reactors, but also seek a change in the conditions for the credit line being provided by it to build them. Russian officials have warned that any "negative influence" on the 1988 agreement for the first and second unit and the 2008 civil nuclear cooperation agreement could jeopardize collaboration for nuclear power plants between the two countries. "We are still hopeful that a way out will be found for implementation of the roadmap of civil nuclear cooperation between the two countries as per these agreements as that is what PM Manmohan Singh had assured Russian deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin when he called on him recently," a Russian government source said.

"There is some concern though about what is happening and if indeed nuclear liability law comes into play, not just the cost of the reactors will shoot up significantly but the terms and conditions for the credit line being extended for the reactors too will have to be changed," he added. The two nations recently signed a protocol for financing the third and fourth units under which Russia will offer an export credit line of close to $3.5 billion for the two pressurized water reactors. The amount is payable in 14 years, from the start of power generation, at 4% interest per annum.

With Russia insisting all along that work on the third and fourth units, too, be carried out under the 1988 agreement between the two nations, which has ensured immunity for Kudankulam 1 and 2 from the liability law, the government has been in a bind over how to move ahead on the "third-generation" nuclear plants being built by the Russian-owned AtomstroyExport.

The government now seems to have made up its mind with PM Manmohan Singh himself said to be not keen to waive off the right to recourse for Kudankulam's third and fourth units.

Now, matters seem to have reached a head, but the Russian ambassador to India, Alexander Kadakin, had warned in March that Russia and India entered into nuclear cooperation only on the basis of deals signed in 1988 and 2008. "We have tried to accommodate India's interests with same terms of credit and we expect that the same conditions will be applicable," he had said.

Singh recently sought to know from DAE who would pay in case of any accident at the new plants at Kudankulam. Not satisfied with the DAE explanation that India's international agreement with Russia would take care of liability issues, he then sought the views of the law ministry.


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News Network
May 14,2020

London, May 14: Vijay Mallya on Thursday lost his application seeking leave to appeal in the UK Supreme Court, in a setback for the embattled liquor tycoon who last month lost his High Court appeal against an extradition order to India on charges of fraud and money laundering related to unrecovered loans to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

The 64-year-old businessman had 14 days to file this application to seek permission to move the higher court on the High Court judgment from April 20, which dismissed his appeal against a Westminster Magistrates' Court's extradition order certified by the UK Home Secretary.

The latest ruling will now go back for re-certification and the process of extradition should be triggered within 28 days.

The UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Mallya's appeal to certify a point of law was rejected on all three counts, of hearing oral submissions, grant a certificate on the questions as drafted, and grant permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Indian government's response to the appeal application had been submitted earlier this week.

The leave to appeal to the Supreme Court is on a point of law of general public importance, which according to experts is a very high threshold that is not often met.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

Mumbai, Aug 6: Former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday that overly focusing on what sovereign rating agencies think can take one's eyes off what needs to be done for the economy.

"It is also important to convince both domestic and international investors that after the crisis associated with the pandemic is over, we will return to fiscal responsibility over the medium term, and the government should do more to convince them of that," Rajan told the Global Markets Forum.

India was placed under one of the strictest lockdowns in the world in late March for more than two months to stem the spread of the coronavirus, but cases have continued to rise steadily since the government eased restrictions in June, stymieing hopes of an economic recovery.

The government has announced several initiatives to help the poor and small- and medium-size businesses, but actual cash outgo from the government's measures has been estimated at just about 1% of GDP.

Several attribute the fiscal prudence to fear of a downgrade after Moody's cut India's rating and outlook in early June followed closely by a change in outlook from Fitch.

The central bank on its part too has reduced the key lending rate by 115 basis points on top of the 135 bps last year and is widely expected to cut rates by another 25 bps later on Thursday.

"The RBI and government have certainly been cooperating, but it seems like it is elsewhere, the ball is in the government's court to do more," Rajan said.

He said the RBI needs to focus on whether credit is reaching the stressed areas of the economy and also if the viable firms were able to access credit and not the unviable ones.

"And I think that's where it has to focus its attentions, because resources, as you well know, are limited in India today."

Recently analysts, however, have cited the growing possibility the RBI may prefer to pause and cut rates only at its October meeting.

Government officials too have suggested the possibility of any more fiscal stimulus being announced, would only come in the second half of the fiscal year, once a recovery has taken root and coronavirus cases have peaked.

"What India should focus on at this point is protecting its economic capabilities, so that when it has dealt with the virus it can go resume activity in a reasonable way. That should be the focus," Rajan said.

"And if it does that, there is no reason why the rating agencies will not see that as an appropriate policy".

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News Network
March 3,2020

New Delhi, Mar 3: Delhi's Tihar Prison authorities had made all necessary preparations for the hanging of four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape-and-murder case which was scheduled for Tuesday, officials said Monday.

However, on Monday evening, a city court deferred the hanging till further orders.

Postponing the execution, Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana said the hanging cannot be carried out pending disposal of Pawan Gupta's mercy plea before the President, observing any condemned convict must not meet his "Creator" with grievance against courts for not acting fairly on the opportunity to exhaust legal remedies.

"We had made all the necessary arrangements for the execution of the four convicts which was scheduled for Tuesday at 6 AM. Now, the execution has been postponed and we are waiting for the further order by the court," a senior jail official said.

The hanging of the four men -- Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan -- who are lodged in Tihar jail, was fixed for March 3 in Tihar jail on a court order.

"We had checked the ropes. Hangman was called and dummy executions were carried out," another senior jail official said.

Barring Pawan, the other three had in the previous weeks moved curative petitions and mercy pleas which were all dismissed.

The first date of execution -- January 22 -- fixed on January 7 was postponed by the court to February 1. But on January 31, the court indefinitely postponed the hanging. On February 17, the court again issued fresh date for execution of death warrants for March 3 at 6 AM.

The court in its orders observed that the four convicts cannot be hanged since a mercy plea of one or the other convict was pending.

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