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PM dedicates India's largest blast furnace plant to nation

May 10, 2015

Burnpur (West Bengal), May 10: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday dedicated to the nation the upgraded IISCO Steel Plant (ISP), that houses the country's largest blast furnace and has been modernised by the central government at a cost of Rs.16,000 crore.India blast furnace

After modernisation, the plant's production capacity has increased from 0.85 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 2.9 mtpa.

"With immense joy I dedicate to the nation the modernised and expanded IISCO steel plant in Burnpur," Modi said at the function, attended by West Bengal Governor K.N.

Tripathi, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, union Minister of State for Steel Narendra Singh Tomar, union Minister of State for Urban Development Babul Supriyo, senior bureaucrats and eminent persons.

Describing the prime minister together with all the chief ministers as "Team India", Modi said the plant showcased that centre and states together can solve all issues.

"This modern plant is an example of how Team India will take the country forward. This plant which was sick, is now standing powerfully on its feet. If the chief minister (Banerjee), the state (West Bengal) government had created hurdles, this wouldn't have been possible.

"This is the effort of team India that we are dedicating this plant to the country," said Modi at the function held at Asansol Polo Ground in Burdwan district.

Tomar said ISP has been reborn.

"(It) has the nation's largest blast furnace with a capacity to produce 2.9 million tonnes of steel. In times to come, the capacity of this steel plant will be increased," he said, adding India plans to attain a capacity to produce 300 million tonnes of steel by 2025 to meet industry demand.

"SAIL has set a target to achieve a production capacity of 50 million tonnes. As its capacity increases, West Bengal will benefit from it," he said.

The minister said the Durgapur steel plant of SAIL in the same district is also very old. "When the expansion and modernisation phase of the Durgapur plant starts, there will be an investment of Rs.35,000 crore in West Bengal."

Banerjee urged the central government to speed up the process of expanding SAIL's operations in Durgapur.

She recalled that there were talks of privatising IISCO in the past."This made the IISCO workers very downcast. In 1998, when we were supporting from outside the first NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, we had asked for a Bengal package. There we demanded that IISCO be modernised. It was then that the project was approved. The work that began in 2006-7 has now been completed."

Banerjee's Trinamool Congress said on its official Twitter handle that the state government has given 3,000 acres of land for the modernisation of the IISCO plant and another project by SAIL.

Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) was taken over by the central government in 1972 as part of a nationalisation drive and made a fully-owned subsidiary of SAIL in 1978. It was thereafter renamed ISP.

The revamped plant in Burnpur is spread across 953 acres. It is the fifth integrated steel plant of SAIL.

A statement from SAIL said: "The modernised and expanded plant would produce high quality steel rebars including earthquake-resistant grades, wire rods and universal sections, including parallel flanged beams, for fulfilling the need of India's growing infrastructure and construction sector."

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Agencies
March 8,2020

Mumbai, Mar 8: A day after the Enforcement Directorate registered a money laundering case against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor and raided his premises, he was taken to the agency's office in Mumbai on Saturday for further questioning.

Kapoor, who was grilled by central agency's officials on Friday night at his Samudra Mahal residence in Mumbai, was shifted to the ED office in the metropolis around 12.30 pm.

ED officials said Kapoor was questioned throughout the night, with some rest time.

A senior ED official connected with the probe told IANS: "Kapoor will be questioned about Yes Bank loans to Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL)."

The official said that during searches a lot of incriminating documents were found and the agency wanted to grill him on his links with DHFL promoters and other companies.

Kapoor's alleged role in the disbursal of loan to a corporate entity and kickbacks reportedly received in his wife's bank account are also under probe.

The ED had filed the money laundering case against Kapoor and raided his residence, apart from issuing a look-out circular so that he does not flee the country.

The ED registered a money laundering case against Kapoor as a continuation of its probe against the DHFL wherein it was allegedly found that Rs 12,500 crore was diverted to 80 shell companies using one lakh fake borrowers. The transactions with these shell companies date back to 2015.

An ED official in New Delhi told IANS that the DHFL probe revealed that funds diverted by the DHFL originated from Yes Bank.

He said that the searches at Kapoor's residence on Friday night were meant to find out any irregularity in grant of loans to the DHFL by the Yes Bank.

The ED has accused Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan of DHFL of purchasing shares in five firms -- Faith Realtors, Marvel Township, Abe Realty, Poseidon Realty, and Random Realtors -- after which they were amalgamated with Sunblink.

The outstanding loans of these five firms, totalling around Rs 2,186 crore till July 2019, were allegedly appropriated onto the books of Sunblink to cover up the diversion of loans acquired from DHFL.

The ED's action comes after the RBI superseded Yes Bank Board for 30 days and appointed an administrator, putting a cap of Rs 50,000 on withdrawals by account holders for a month.

The RBI said that the bank's board was superseded "owing to serious deterioration in the financial position of the bank".

Former SBI CFO Prashant Kumar was appointed as administrator of Yes Bank, which has over 1,000 branches and 1,800-plus ATMs across the country.

On Thursday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the bank was on watch since 2017 and developments relating to it were monitored on a day-to-day basis.

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News Network
July 17,2020

Lukung, Jul 17: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday assured that not an inch of our land can be taken by any power in the world while he interacted with the Indian Army and ITBP personnel at Lukung.

Referring to the India-China border standoff, he said, "Talks are underway to resolve the border dispute but to what extent it can be resolved I cannot guarantee. I can assure you, not one inch of our land can be taken by any power in the world."

Emphasising on finding a diplomatic solution to the standoff, he further said, "If a solution can be found by talks, there is nothing better."
"Recently what happened between troops of India and China at PP14, how some of our personnel sacrificed their lives protecting our border. I am happy to meet you all but also saddened because of their loss. I pay my tributes to them," he added.

Singh interacted with the Army and Paramilitary troops here along with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane.

Earlier today, the Defence Minister witnessed para dropping and scoping weapons here. He also inspected a Pika machine gun.

Indian Army T-90 tanks and BMP infantry combat vehicles carried out the exercise at Stakna, Leh in presence of Singh, Chief of Defence Staff and Army Chief.

Defence Minister is on a two-day visit to Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. He will take stock of the situation at both the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the Line of Control (LOC).

While Pakistan constantly violates ceasefire from across the LoC, China has continued to intrude into Indian territory in Ladakh region in recent past, escalating tensions between India and its eastern neighbour.

On June 15, twenty Indian soldiers laid out their lives during combat with Chinese forces in Galwan valley, leading to tensions between both nations. Chinese soldiers subsequently started moving back following dialogues between two countries through the military level and diplomatic level.

Singh was accompanied by the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: Even as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in various parts of India, more than 1 million people have recovered and discharged till now, informed Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health, here on Thursday.

"More than 1 million people have recovered from COVID-19 in the country. This landmark recovery has been achieved because of the selfless work and dedication of our doctors, nurses and frontline workers," Bhushan said at a press conference.

Giving the number of cured persons, Bhushan said, "More than 1,020,000 patients have recovered. They have been discharged. It is a great achievement."

He said, "The recovery rate has shown positive trends. It was 7.85 per cent in April and today it is 64.4 per cent, which is another heartening news which tells us that whatever battle is put by the Union government in collaboration with state governments is showing results."

"Sixteen states of the country have a recovery rate that is more than the national average. Of these, Delhi has a recovery rate of 88 per cent, Ladakh 80 per cent, Haryana 78 per cent, Assam 76 per cent, Telangana 74 per cent, Tamil Nadu & Gujarat 73 per cent, Rajasthan 70 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 69 per cent and Goa 68 per cent," Bhushan said.

He said effective clinical management lead to a decrease in case fatality rate. In June it was 3.33 per cent and now 2.21 per cent.

Bhushan said the case fatality rate in India today is 2.21 per cent and it's among the lowest in the world. Twenty-four states and Union Territories have lesser fatality rate than that of the country.

Herd immunity in a country of the size and population of India can not be a strategic option. It can only be achieved through immunisation.

"Over 18,190,000 tests have been conducted in the country including RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests. There has been a week-on-week increase in average tests per day. India is conducting 324 test per 10 lakhs population per day," Bhushan said.

He added, three vaccine candidates, are in phase 3 clinical trial. These three are in the US, UK and China. In India, two indigenously developed vaccine candidates are in phase I and II of clinical trials. 

Trial of the first vaccine involves 1,150 subjects at eight sites, second on 1,000 subjects at five sites.

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