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Over 2 lakh people, 8 CMs to attend Nitish's swearing-in

November 20, 2015

Patna, Nov 20: A staggering 200,000 people, including nine chief ministers and a galaxy of national leaders ranged against the BJP, will attend on Friday the swearing-in ceremony of Nitish Kumar as Bihar's chief minister for a fifth term in office here.

nkUnprecedented security cover has been put in place in Bihar capital for the swearing-in ceremony of Nitish Kumar, who will head the first JD-U-RJD-Congress coalition to rule Bihar.

An estimated two lakh people, mostly workers, supporters and leaders of the Grand Alliance parties Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress are expected throng at the historic Gandhi Maidan to witness the event, police said.

Bihar Police chief P.K. Thakur told the media that security cover is unprecedented in view of a number of political leaders across the country attending the function. "We are taking no chances due to threat perception to several leaders."

According to police officials, many leaders having Z plus and Z cover security are attending the oath-taking ceremony, including Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

Besides the elite security agencies like Special Protection Group (SPG), personnel of central para-military security forces and state police have been deployed.

"More than 3,000 additional security personnel including 30 DSPs and SP rank officers have been deployed in Gandhi Maidan to manage the two lakh crowd expected to gather here for the show," Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Vikas Vaibhav said.

He said 20 watch towers have been set up and 40 CCTV cameras installed in and around the venue.

Patna Divisional Commissioner Anand Kishore said two huge canopy shaped daises (70x40 feet) are ready for top leaders. "Only Chief Minister designate Nitish Kumar, his new cabinet colleagues and VVIPs would be accommodated on the main dais."

According to him, there is a separate gallery dais for others.

A senior police official told IANS that a team of intelligence officials and SPG personnel has been deployed to keep a close watch during the function. "Bomb detection and disposal squads along with dog squads are carrying regular checks of the site."

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi declining to attend the event, he and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which badly lost the Bihar assembly polls, would be represented by party leaders and central ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu and Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

The ceremony will be attended by nine chief ministers, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda and leaders of several other political parties.

The chief ministers are Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Tarun Gogoi (Assam), P.K. Chamling (Sikkim), O. Ibobi Singh (Manipur), Nabam Tuki (Arunachal Pradesh), Virbhadra Singh (Himachal Pradesh), and S. Siddaramaiah (Karnataka).

Other political veterans expected to join in include CPI-M general secreatry Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D. Raja, Indian National Lok Dal's Abhay Chautala, DMK's M.K. Stalin and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah.

There will also be former chief ministers Omar Abdullah (Jammu and Kashmir), Sheila Dikshit (Delhi), Bhupinder Hooda (Haryana), Shankarsinh Vaghela (Gujarat), Babulal Marandi and Hemant Soren (Jharkhand) and Ajit Jogi (Chhattisgarh).

The Grand Alliance of Nitish Kumar swept 178 of the 243 Bihar assembly seats, leaving 53 to the BJP and five to its three allies in an election outcome that Lalu Prasad said would have major political repercussion.

According to JD-U leaders, Nitish Kumar will take oath at the head of a 36-member council of ministers.

The RJD is the single largest party in the house with 80 seats followed by the JD-U (71) and the Congress (27 seats). There will be 16 RJD ministers, 15 from the JD-U and five from the Congress in the government. Lalu Prasad's younger son Tejaswi Yadav is expected to get a plum post.

Supporters of the JD-U, RJD and Congress from across Bihar are pouring in at the Gandhi Maidan. Hundreds of security personnel are geared to protect the venue and the VVIPs.

JD-U state president Vashisht Narain Singh told the media that it was the first time such a large number of top politicians would attend the oath-taking of Nitish Kumar.

"Such a thing has never happened. It is the beginning of opposition unity in the country," he said.

Friday's gathering would be the first major show of anti-BJP unity since Modi became the prime minister in May 2014.

Also expected to attend the event are B.R. Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar and Supreme court lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who along with Mamata Banerjee and Kejriwal repeatedly urged voters in Bihar to defeat the BJP.

Nitish Kumar personally telephoned and invited Modi to the swearing-in ceremony but the prime minister expressed his inability to attend because of his previous engagements, officials said.

Earlier, Nitish Kumar invited BJP veteran L.K. Advani and estranged BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha to the event.

Lalu Prasad and JD-U president Sharad Yadav will be the main guests at the event.

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News Network
June 4,2020

New Delhi, Jun 4: India's Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, following which the defence ministry carried out a massive contact-tracing exercise, official sources said.

Kumar's condition is stable and he is currently under home-quarantine, they said.

At least 35 officials working at the ministry's headquarters in South Block in the Raisina Hills have been sent on home quarantine after reports of Kumar testing positive for the infection emerged on Wednesday morning.

There was no official comment on Kumar's health condition. The defence ministry spokesperson refused to comment on the issue.

It is learnt that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh did not attend office as part of a precautionary measure.

The offices of the defence minister, the defence secretary, the Army Chief and the Navy Chief are on the first floor of the South Block.

The sources said all laid down protocols on contact-tracing and quarantining of people are being scrupulously followed.

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News Network
January 27,2020

New Delhi, Jan 27: The government on Monday issued the preliminary information memorandum for 100 per cent stake sale in national carrier Air India. As part of the strategic disinvestment, Air India would also sell 100 per cent stake in low cost airline Air India Express and 50 per cent shareholding in joint venture AISATS, as per the bid document issued on Monday.

Management control of the airline would also be transferred to the successful bidder.

The government has set March 17 as the deadline for submitting the Expression of Interest (EoI).

EY is the transaction adviser for Air India disinvestment process.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Jan 6: India’s Finance Ministry has delivered a challenge to its revenue collectors: meet tax targets despite $20 billion of corporate tax cuts.

Through a video conference on Dec. 16, officials were exhorted to meet the direct tax mop-up target of 13.4 trillion rupees ($187 billion), a government official told reporters. Collection in the eight months to November grew at 5% from a year earlier, against the desired 17%.

The missive shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s urgent need to buoy public finances in a slowing economy where April-November tax collections were half the amount budgeted. Authorities withheld some payments to states and have capped ministries’ expenditure as the fiscal deficit ballooned beyond the target.

The government’s efforts to maintain its deficit goal goes against advice from some quarters, including central bank Governor Shaktikanta Das, who urged more spending to spur economic growth.

It’s uncertain though how much room Modi’s administration has to boost expenditure, given that it may already be borrowing as much as 540 billion rupees through state-run companies, a figure that isn’t reflected on the federal balance sheet. Uncertainty about public finances pushed up sovereign yields in November and December, compelling Das to announce unconventional policies to keep costs in check.

“This is not a time to conceal the fiscal deficit by off-budget borrowing or deferring payments,” said Indira Rajaraman, an economist and a former member of the Reserve Bank of India’s board. “If they were to stick to the target, that would be catastrophic because there is so much pump-priming that is needed right now.”

GDP grew 4.5% in the quarter ended September, the slowest pace in more than six years as both consumption and investments cooled in Asia’s third-largest economy. Only government spending supported the expansion, piling pressure on Modi to keep stimulating.

S&P Global Ratings warned in December it may downgrade India’s sovereign ratings if economic growth doesn’t recover. Government support seems to be waning now, with ministries asked to cap spending in the final quarter of the financial year at 25% of the amount budgeted rather than 33% allowed earlier. This new rule will hamstring sectors including agriculture, aviation and coal, where not even half of annual targets have been disbursed.

As the federal government runs short of money, it’s been delaying payouts to state administrations.

Private hospitals have threatened to suspend cash-less services to government employees over non-payment of dues, while a builder informed the stock exchange about delayed rental payments from no less than the tax office itself.

India is considering a litigation-settlement plan that will allow companies to exit lingering tax disputes by paying a portion of the money demanded by the government, the Economic Times newspaper reported Saturday.

The move will help improve the ease of doing business besides unlocking a part of the almost 8 trillion rupees ($111 billion) caught up in these disputes. The step, which is being considered as part of the annual budget, could also bridge India’s fiscal gap.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has refused to comment on the deficit goal before the official budget presentation due Feb. 1.

A deviation from target, if any, “will need to be balanced with a credible consolidation plan further-out,” said Radhika Rao, an economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd. in Singapore.

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