Wal-Mart lobbying issue rocks Parliament for second day

[email protected] (CD Network)
December 11, 2012

parliament

New Delhi, December 11: The Wal-Mart lobbying issue rocked Parliament for the second day today, prompting government to declare that it had no hesitation in ordering a probe into reports that the retail giant had spent money to further its case in India.

 

"We have no hesitation in having an inquiry to get to the facts of the matter. We will announce further steps in the House today," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said in the Lok Sabha seeking to douse the Opposition ire on the issue.

 

The government "views the reports (on Wal-Mart) with the utmost concern," Nath said.

 

His statement came close on the heels of senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha demanding a time-bound judicial inquiry into the reports that Wal-Mart engaged lobbying firms to get entry into India and "spent money here".

 

The inquiry should be completed within 60 days and people should know who has been bribed and how much has he got, Sinha said amid cries of 'shame, shame' from the Opposition benches.

 

Noting that there have been "gross financial irregularities" in Wal-Mart leading to suspension of its Chief Financial Officer in India and seven other officers and a probe is on against them in the US, Sinha said "this has sullied the dignity of our country."

 

"These disclosures have made it clear that they have given money to people here to gain entry in India. An inquiry is going on in the US on this issue. But there is no inquiry in India. People have taken money and are sitting tight," the BJP leader said.

 

Trouble broke out when Speaker Meira Kumar asked members to associate themselves with Sinha and called Kamal Nath to respond. This led to Left and Trinamool Congress members, who had submitted adjournment notices on the issue, to storm the Well demanding that they too be allowed to speak.

 

The issue created uproar in the Rajya Sabha too which saw two adjournments with BJP members, supported by members of the Left parties and Trinamool Congress, raising the issue.

 

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was seen nudging Leader of the Lok Sabha Sushilkumar Shinde to make an announcement that Kamal Nath would be making a statement on the Wal-Mart issue.

 

Nath said, "We have learnt from press reports of the reported disclosure by Wal-Mart under US laws on amounts spent by them on lobbying in various countries, including India.

 

"The government views this with utmost concern and has no hesitation in ordering an enquiry on this in as much as it concerns payments made in India," the Minister said.

 

Making an almost identical statement in the Rajya Sabha, Nath said, "We too have learnt about the disclosures by Wal- Mart. The government views this with concern and have no hesitation in having an inquiry. We want to get to the facts of the matter.

 

"Government is not running away on this concern. We are open for a discussion. This is not a matter of concern for the Opposition, it is also a matter of concern for the government. It is for all of us. We are open for a probe."

 

He said he would come out with a detailed statement later in the day.

 

The matter was raised in the Upper House by BJP member M Venkaiah Naidu who demanded an independent probe into the issue and the matter be discussed in the House.

 

"It is a question of our nation's sovereignty. It is a shameful act. We have to have a detailed discussion," Naidu said, adding the matter was even more serious if the money was spent in the US for lobbying in India.

 

Demanding a probe, senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said this was "a serious matter. This is something unacceptable" and announced that he would move a notice for a short-duration discussion on the issue.

 

As the din continued, Ansari adjourned the House for 30 minutes and again adjourned it till noon as similar scenes continued.

 

Earlier in the Lok Sabha, as soon as Speaker Meira Kumar took up the Question Hour, members of Left parties and Trinamool Congress trooped into the Well raising slogans.

They demanded inquiry into reports of lobbying by Wal-Mart, while BSP members sought a status report on a probe in the coal block allocation in Uttar Pradesh.

 

At another point, when the BSP members again stormed the Well, BJP members were heard remarking that they were helping the government after bailing it out on the FDI issue.

 

The uproar continued even as Kumar made repeated appeals for allowing the Question Hour to continue.

 

The Speaker then adjourned the House till noon.

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News Network
July 25,2020

Bhopal, Jul 25: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Saturday he has tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Chouhan made the announcement in a series of tweets.

“My dear countrymen, I had symptoms of COVID-19 and after the test, my report has come back positive. I appeal to all my colleagues that whoever came in contact with me, must get their corona test done. And my close contacts should quarantine themselves,” Chouhan said in a tweet in Hindi.

“If COVID19 is treated on time, a person is completely cured. I have been reviewing the status of corona infection every evening since March 25. I will try to review corona situation through video conferencing as much as possible now,” he added.

The chief minister said the review meeting will now be held by home minister Narottam Mishra, urban development and administration minister Bhuppendra Singh, health education minister Vishvas Sarang and health minister Dr Prabhuram Choudhary in his absence.

“I will also continue to do everything possible to help control COVID19 in the state during treatment,” he said.

One of Chouhan’s ministerial colleagues tested positive for Covid-19 late on July 22.

The chief minister along with the minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s state unit president VD Sharma and state unit general secretary (organisation) Suhas Bhagat had visited Lucknow in a government plane on July 21 to attend the funeral of MP governor Lalji Tandon who died away in the Uttar Pradesh capital, his hometown. during hospitalisation.

The minister is admitted to a private medical college’s teaching hospital in Bhopal.

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Kannadiga
 - 
Saturday, 25 Jul 2020

Why so priority for him. There are so many  better person here in our State and District Talk and Right about them.

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Agencies
March 6,2020

New Delhi, Mar 6: After Yes Bank was placed under moratorium, digital payments were impacted as PhonePe, which depends on the cash-strapped lender for its transactions, could not operate.

It can be noted that the bank's own net banking facilities have not been operational since last evening. Other fintech operators who rely on Yes Bank to settle their transactions are also down.  “We sincerely regret the long outage. Our partner bank (Yes Bank) was placed under moratorium by RBI. Entire team's been working all night to get services back up asap (as soon as possible),” the app's chief executive Sameer Nigam tweeted early in the morning.

PhonePe, one of the country's largest digital payment platforms, is dependent on Yes Bank to process its transactions.

He added that the app hopes to be live in a “few hours”.

Yes Bank placed under a moratorium Thursday evening, with the RBI capping deposit withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account for a month and superseding its board.

Yes Bank will not be able to grant or renew any loan or advance, make any investment, incur any liability or agree to disburse any payment.

For the next month, Yes Bank will led by the RBI-appointed administrator Prashant Kumar, an ex-chief financial officer of SBI.

He added that the app - one of the most popular interfaces for UPI transactions - hopes to be live in a “few hours”.

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News Network
May 27,2020

Mumbai, May 27: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday ordered re investigation by the CID into the suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer and his mother, allegedly over non-payment of dues by TV journalist Arnab Goswami and two others.

State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said he ordered re investigation after Adnya Naik, daughter of interior designer Anvay Naik, claimed that Alibag Police in neighbouring Raigad district did not probe the non-payment of dues which had driven her father and grandmother to suicide.

"Adnya Naik had complained to me that #AlibaugPolice had not investigated non-payment of dues from #ArnabGoswami's @republic which drove her entrepreneur father & grandmom to suicide in May 2018," Deshmukh tweeted.

"I've ordered a CID re-investigation of the case," the minister, an NCP leader, added.

He also used the hashtag "Maharashtra government cares" while sharing the tweet. Earlier this month, the police registered an abetment of suicide case against Republic TV editor-in-chief Goswami and two others.

The suicide note purportedly written by Anvay Naik, managing director of Concorde Designs Private Limited, said he was forced to take his life as he was not paid dues of Rs 5.40 crore by the three accused.

Republic TV denied the allegation and said that certain vested interest groups were running "a false and malicious campaign and making false statements and innuendos against the company by exploiting the tragic event".

Mumbai Police are also conducting a probe against Goswami over his statements about the Palghar lynching case of April this year.

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