Chennai: A few days after Kamal Haasan predicted that the DMK-Congress alliance will break, the Makkal Needhi Maiam chief today said, “I can’t comment on forging an alliance with the Congress now. It is too early.”
Speaking to reporters at Chennai airport, Kamal said, “It is not the time to speak about an alliance with the Congress.”
The actor, a few months ago, floated his own party – Makkal Needhi Maiam – and has been touring Tamilnadu to reach out to people.
Mumbai, Mar 27: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday lowered the key repo rate by 75 basis points to 4.4 per cent in a bid to arrest the economic slowdown amid coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
The reverse repo rate now stands at 4 per cent, down by 90 basis points, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das adding this has been done to make it unattractive for banks to passively deposit funds with the central bank and instead lend it to the productive sectors.
The six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) met on March 24, 25 and 27 and voted 4:2 in favour of the repo rate reduction. The MPC also decided to continue with the accommodative stance as long as it is necessary to revive growth and mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy while ensuring that inflation remains within the target.
"The need of the hour is to shield the economy from the pandemic," said Das. "We need to mitigate the impact of coronavirus, revive economic growth and provide financial stability."
Repo rate is the rate at which a country's central bank lends money to commercial banks, and the reverse repo rate is the rate at which it borrows from them.
The RBI Governor further said that the economic growth and inflation projection will be highly contingent depending on the duration, spread and intensity of the pandemic.
"Global economic activity has come to a near standstill as COVID-19 related lockdowns and social distancing are imposed across a widening swathe of affected countries. Expectations of a shallow recovery in 2020 from 2019's decade low in global growth have been dashed," said Das.
"The outlook is now heavily contingent upon the intensity, spread and duration of the pandemic. There is a rising probability that large parts of the global economy will slip into recession," he said.
However, the RBI has injected liquidity of Rs 2.8 lakh crore via various instruments equal to 1.4 per cent of GDP. "Along with today's measures, liquidity measures equal to 3.2 per cent of GDP. The RBI will take continuous measures to ensure liquidity in the system."
The RBI governor has said that all banking institutions can offer a three-month moratorium on all loans for a period of three months. The RBI has also allowed banks to restructure the working capital cycle for companies without worrying that these will have to be classified as a non-performing asset (NPA).
The three-month moratorium will permit banks to avoid a large onset of NPAs during the 21-day lockdown and keep their books healthy.
Das said banks and other financial institutions should do all they can to keep credit flowing to economic agents facing financial stress on account of the isolation that the virus has imposed.
"Market participants should work with regulators like the RBI and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to ensure the orderly functioning of markets in their role of price discovery and financial intermediation," he said.
Kozhikode, Aug 8: Minister of State (Mos) for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Saturday reached Kozhikode where Air India Express flight (IX-1344) crash-landed yesterday.
He is likely to meet those injured in the crash and their family members.
At least 17 people including two pilots have lost their lives in the incident. However, the four-cabin crew members are safe, said the Air India Express in a statement.
The injured are admitted to hospitals in Malappuram and Kozhikode, as per the state government officials.
Informing about his visit to Kozhikode, Muraleedharan tweeted: "Taking off to #Calicut by @airindiain
special flight. Hope to visit the crash site at the Calicut Airport and also meet those injured in the crash and their family members."
Muraleedharan on Friday expressed grief after an Air India Express plane carrying 190 passengers including 10 infants skidded while landing at Karipur Airport in Kozhikode.
"Deeply anguished to hear about the mishap in Calicut airport involving the flight from Dubai to Calicut. Was informed that the plane overshot the runway and seemingly nosedived," the Minister tweeted.
Kanpur, Feb 20: Inspector general, Kanpur range, has ordered a probe into a woman's allegation that the cops misbehaved with her at Raipurwa police station when she went there with her father to lodge a complaint of harassment and eve-teasing.
The woman posted her complaint on the Twitter handle of Kanpur police.
The woman, 21, alleged that instead of listening to her complaint, Raipurwa cops asked her, "Zyada padh gayi ho, itna advance kisne bana dia hai, tumhare Papa ne?" (You are too educated. Who made you so advanced - your father?)
She further said that instead of taking necessary action on her complaint, the police forced her father to compromise with the accused, the son of her landlord, who harassed her on Monday.
The woman also stated that there were no female cops at the police station and she had to wait for several hours.
"Throughout my presence at the police station, I had to interact with male cops," she tweeted.
Inspector, Raipurwa, Sunil Kumar, however, has denied allegations.
"Her allegations are not true. Both the parties settled the dispute on their own," he said.
IG Range, Mohit Agarwal, meanwhile, said, "I have asked the SSP to initiate a probe in this regard and take action against guilty cops."
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