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Still with UPA but disagree on govt functioning: NCP

July 20, 2012

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New Delhi, July 20: The NCP’s stand-off with the Congress leadership continued on Friday with the party saying it has “serious issues” over the functioning of the government and the coalition but remained vague on reports of resignation by Union Ministers Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel.

After a meeting between Mr. Pawar and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday morning and with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday night, the party, however, said it continues to be an “integral” part of the UPA.

Rejecting as “absurd” that Mr. Pawar was upset over the denial of No. 2 slot in the Cabinet, Mr. Patel said the party has raised “completely different” issues with the Prime Minister in a communication and with Sonia Gandhi and what ultimately the party decides will be communicated after its meeting on Monday.

“We are unhappy with some aspects, which have been raised by Mr. Pawar in personal meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi,” Mr. Patel said after Mr. Pawar held confabulations with senior party colleagues.

Asked whether Mr. Pawar and he have resigned, Heavy Industries Minister Patel said, “Till such time we have not given any formal resignation...the issue is not resignation...till it is not accepted...we have sent a communication.”

Without disclosing the specific aspects of discord, he said, “Our issues are: functioning of the government, functioning of UPA and functioning of the larger coalition.”

Mr. Patel said the UPA-II was entering the last two years of its term and NCP wanted the government to be “more decisive” and “more committed” to the issues before the people of the country. “We do have certain issues on which we want some new direction,” he said.

Mr. Patel accused some sections in the Congress of fuelling speculation that Mr. Pawar was upset over denial of No. 2 slot.

Even today they are spreading stories in the media that some of the demands of Mr. Pawar have been met and some cannot be met and that he cannot be given the No. 2 slot as NCP does not have the numbers.

“Unreasonable and unnecessary comments are being made by sections in the Congress party to create a wedge. These issues should be addressed in the larger interest of the coalition,” he said.

Mr. Patel said, “Mr. Pawar is not such a petty leader who will raise such a petty issue himself. Our issues are larger. The issue of No. 2 has been blown out of proportion...By virtue of his stature Mr. Pawar sits next to Ms. Sonia (in Parliament) and used to sit next to Pranab Mukherjee (in Cabinet meetings).

“He (Pawar) had not asked for it. That he was not given by virtue of numbers. If that is the logic, NCP had less even in UPA-I. The UPA and the Congress leadership realise that by his stature he brings much more to the table.”

“In fact, those raising this issue are petty themselves. NCP is not petty to make this an issue on whether we will continue in government or not.”

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: Petrol price on Saturday was hiked by 59 paise per litre and diesel by 58 paise as oil companies for the seventh day in a row adjusted retail rates in line with costs since ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 75.16 per litre from Rs 74.57, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 73.39 a litre from Rs 72.81, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

This is the seventh daily increase in rates in a row since oil companies on Sunday restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

In seven hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 3.9 per litre and diesel by Rs 4.

The freeze in rates was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers, adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of a decline in international oil prices.

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Agencies
February 5,2020

New Delhi, Feb 5: Days after a gunman opened fire in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of anti-CAA movement, YouTuber Gunja Kapoor was detained at the protest site on Wednesday after she was caught covertly filming the protests in a burqa.

Kapoor runs the channel ‘Right Narrative’ on YouTube and her pinned tweet on Twitter says she is followed on the microblogging site by PM Narendra Modi.

According to police, the protesters turned suspicious after Kapoor asked them "too many questions". She was caught by some of the women protesters after they identified her as the popular YouTuber. The incident led to a commotion at Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a senior police official said.

She was taken to Sarita Vihar police station where her identity was ascertained, police said.

The incident sparked outrage on social media. Many took to Twitter to question why Kapoor was at the protest in disguise. Others expressed concern about her motives at secretly filming the protests.

Meanwhile, praises flew in for the women of Shaheen Bagh who can be seen defending Kapoor from angry protesters after she was caught.

This is not the first time that a right wing social media activist has landed in trouble in Shaheen Bagh where residents and other women and children have been sitting in protest for nearly two months since the passing of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 in December last year.

In January, Deepa Sharma had posted videos online about the "traumatic" experience she had when she was allegedly heckled and harassed by Shaheen Bagh protesters. While the woman's claim could never be verified, other pieces of rampant fake news aimed at delegitimising and villainising protesters has taken social media by storm.

From doctored videos of women protesters allegedly accepting they were paid Rs 500 to attend protests to alleged fights over biriyani and anti-India sloganeering, trolls on social media seem to be working overtime to taint the ongoing protests.

The latter, however, show no signs of giving up. In fact, as Delhi nears elections on February 8, protesters have arranged for music performances by eminent artists, including pop celebrity Prateek Kuhad, till February 7.

Sit in protests take place 24x7 with women showing up in thousands to spend the night and sing songs of protest. And with polls around the corner, the protests have become an active part of political discourse with Aam Aadmi Party's Manish Sisodia expressing his support for the protesters at a recent press conference.

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Agencies
June 22,2020

Mumbai, Jun 22: After downgrading India's outlook to negative from stable, Fitch Ratings on Monday revised the outlook on nine Indian banks to negative.

The outlook on the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) was revised to negative from stable due to the banks' high dependence on the Centre to re-capitalise them.

Accordingly, the IDR outlook of the Export-Import Bank of India, the State Bank of India, the Bank of Baroda, the Bank of Baroda (New Zealand), the Bank of India, the Canara Bank, the Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank Ltd have been downgraded to negative.

"At the same time, Fitch has affirmed IDBI Bank Limited's (IDBI) IDR while maintaining the outlook at negative," Fitch said in a statement.

The rating actions follow Fitch's revision of the outlook on the 'BBB-' rating on India to negative from stable on June 18, due to the impact of the escalating coronavirus pandemic on India's economy.

"The IDRs for all the above Indian banks are support-driven and anchored to their respective SRFs," the statement said.

"They are based on Fitch's assessment of high to moderate probability of extraordinary state support for these banks, which takes into account our assessment of the sovereign's ability and propensity to provide extraordinary support."

According to the statement, the negative outlook on India's sovereign rating reflects an increasing strain on the state's ability to provide extraordinary support, due to the sovereign's limited fiscal space and the significant deterioration in fiscal metrics due to challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The rating action does not affect the banks' Viability Rating (VR). EXIM does not have a VR as its role as a policy bank makes an assessment of its standalone credit profile less meaningful."

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