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‘Aren’t you ashamed to visit Andhra Pradesh with empty hands?’: Naidu writes to Modi

Agencies
March 1, 2019

Amravati, Mar 1: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu Thursday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi if he was not ashamed to visit the state with ‘empty hands’ and said he owed an explanation to ‘five crore people’ over unfulfilled promises,vis-a-vis the AP Reorganisation Act,2014.

In a letter to the Prime Minister on the eve of his scheduled visit to the port city of Visakhapatnam on Friday, the Chief Minister said the Reorganisation Act came into being 59 months ago while Modi assumed the high office 57 months ago.

About five years had elapsed, but no promise made to Andhra Pradesh has been fulfilled, he said.

“I personally visited New Delhi 29 times and made numerous pleas to you, but to no avail,” the Chief Minister noted.

Chandrababu Naidu said the people of Andhra Pradesh were seething over ‘your betrayal, injustice and cheating’ in the last five years. Though the entire country responded to the ‘dharma poratam’ (just fight) of Andhra Pradesh seeking its rights, neither the Prime Minister nor the BJP reacted, he added.

“On the eve of your visit to Visakhapatnam, I would like to remind you how angry people of Andhra Pradesh are. As a representative of five crore people, I am questioning you on your betrayal and reminding you of our responsibility as public representatives to understand the sentiments of people,” the Chief Minister said.

In the letter, a copy of which was released to the media, the Chief Minister raised issues like Special Category Status, funds for the Polavaram project, Amaravati city, bridging of revenue deficit, metro rail for Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada cities and increasing number of seats in the Legislative Assembly

“Are you not ashamed to visit Andhra Pradesh with empty hands, by not implementing the promises made by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and also those enlisted in the Reorganisation Act? As a person holding a high office, you owe an explanation on all these issues.

I am demanding that you answer the five crore people of the state on these,” the Chief Minister said.

Referring to the Railways’ announcement of establishment of a new South Coast Railway zone at Visakhapatnam, he said the Centre once again ‘cheated’ the state by giving away the Rs 6,500 crore revenue earning KK Line to Raigada Division, leaving only the ‘paltry income earning region’ to the state.

Meanwhile, addressing a meeting of senior TDP leaders, the chief minister directed them to stage protests state-wide on Friday against the Prime Ministers visit.

“I will wear a black shirt. Everyone should wear a black shirt and protest with black flags,” he said.

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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
April 13,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 13: Three more people in Kerala tested positive for novel coronavirus disease on Monday, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

"With 3 new COVID-19 cases, the total number of cases in the state has reached 378," said Vijayan at a press conference.

Giving a break-up of the three confirmed COVID-19 cases, he said, "Of the 3 cases, 2 are from Kannur and 1 is from Palakkad."

He further said, "Till date, 15,683 samples tested, out of which 14,829 tested negative."

However, the total number of positive cases is decreasing, the Chief Minister added.

According to a recent update by the Ministery of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of cases in the country has reached 9352.

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News Network
February 28,2020

Feb 28: National oil marketer Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Friday said it is ready to supply low emission BS-VI fuels from April 1 and that there will be a marginal increase in retail prices.

The largest oil supplier has spent over Rs 17,000 crore to upgrade its refineries to produce the low-sulfur diesel and petrol, the company's chairman Sanjiv Singh told reporters here.

Without disclosing the quantum of price increase, Singh said, “there will definitely be a marginal increase in retail prices of the fuels from April 1 when the whole country will be run on new fuels, which will have a sulphur content of only 10 parts per million (ppm) as against the present 50 ppm.

“But let me assure you, we will not be burdening the consumers with a steep hike,” Singh said.

He said, state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) have invested Rs 35,000 crore to upgrade their refineries, of which Rs 17,000 crore have been spent by IOC alone.

Earlier this week, the sell-off bound BPCL said it had invested around Rs 7,000 crore for the same. ONGC-run HPCL has not so far disclosed its readiness for BS-VI supplies or its capex on the same.

HPCL had said from February 26-27 it was ready with BS-VI fuels and that it would sell only the new fuels from March 1.

IOC switched to BS-VI fuel production a fortnight ago and all its depots and containers are ready now, Singh said.

However, he said some remote locations, where the intake is very low, will take some more time to switch. But the company is planning to drain out the entire BS-IV stock and replenish the new fuels at such locations, he added.

Further, it has been reported that the companies will have to increase prices by 70-120 paise a litre, but Singh said, to arrive such a weighted average is not possible given the complexities of each refinery.

He, however, asserted that the price hike will not be a burden on consumers.

We are not looking at this investment from a pure return on investment basis, but this is a national mandate and we have done it.

Having said that, all those countries that moved to low emission fuels are charging higher prices; and from April 1, our prices will also be benchmarked against Euro VI prices as against the present practice of the cost-plus model, Singh concluded.

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