(LiveMint) Surjit Bhalla quit the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month, he said on microblogging website Twitter on Tuesday.Bhalla did not mention reasons for his leaving, but a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the economist wanted to join the media industry. In the same Twitter post about an election forecast article published in the Indian Express, Bhalla described his credentials as contributing editor, Indian Express, and consultant at Network18 Group. “I resigned as part-time member PMEAC on 1 December,” said his post. The unnamed official quoted above said Bhalla’s resignation had…
Author: Aruna Sharma
(LiveMint) Buoyed by Congress’ resurgence, party president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the assembly election results is a “clear message” to the Modi government that people are not happy with it and time has come for a change while asserting that his party will also win in 2019. Prime Minister Narender Modi got a massive mandate but refused to listen to “heartbeat of the country”, Gandhi noted, and said there are serious questions being asked about the future of country’s youngsters as there was a sense of discontentment and inability to see the future. Thanking people and party workers for…
(LiveMint) The government on Tuesday appointed Shaktikanta Das, a member of India’s Fifteenth Finance Commission, as the new RBI governor replacing Urjit Patel, who resigned abruptly on Monday citing personal reasons. Das has been appointed the governor of the Reserve Bank of India for a period of three years. The appointments committee of the cabinet has cleared Das’ appointment for a period of three years, said an official order issued by the department of personnel and training. Das, who is believed to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was the economic affairs secretary when the prime minister announced demonetisation…
(LiveMint) The Election Commission of India is declaring the Chhattisgarh election results today, which the exit polls have predicted as a close call between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Counting of votes that begins at 8am in the 90 assembly constituencies will decide the fate of 1269 candidates, including that of BJP CM Raman Singh. Track live updates on assembly election results here. Around 76.35% turnout was recorded in the two phase polls held on November 12 and 20. It was a little less than the previous 2013 polls when 77.40% of voters had exercised their franchise. In the last Chhattisgarh elections, the BJP had won 49,…
(LiveMint) The Election Commission of India will begin counting of votes for Madhya Pradesh election results at 8 am. The exit polls have predicted a neck-and-neck battle between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress for the 230-member house. Track live updates on assembly election results here. The election was held in the state on November 28 and 75% of the 5.03 crore voters exercised their franchise. At least 2,716 candidates are contesting for the 200 seats. The Congress and BJP poll campaign was led by party president Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, respectively. The Congress had appointed veteran Kamal Nath as the Madhya Pradesh party…
(ET) Citing personal reasons, Urjit Patel has resigned as the Reserve Bank of India. His resignation comes against the backdrop of increasing tensions between the Finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India. Urjit Patel, 55, who took over as the 24th Governor of the central bank on September 5, 2016, had the shortest tenure since the year 1992. He was hand-picked by the BJP-led government after his predecessor Raghuram Rajan was denied a second-term. In recent months, the government and the RBI have been at loggerheads over whether the RBI has been too hawkish in its stance towards lenders and…
(ET) India has declared the trajectory of bidding 60 gigawatt (GW) capacity of solar energy and 20 GW capacity of wind energy by March 2020, leaving two years time for execution of projects, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said today. A total of about 73.35 GW renewable energy capacity has been installed in the country as of October, 2018, from all renewable energy sources. This includes about 34.98 GW from wind, 24.33 GW from solar, 4.5 GW from small hydro power, and 9.54 GW from bio-power. Further, projects worth 46.75 GW capacity have been bid out under installation. According to the Paris accord on climate…
(LiveMint) A liquidity crunch and concerns over asset quality is expected to weigh on the second attempt by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to privatize operations on toll roads. Industry experts said response to the second round of toll-operate-transfer (TOT) auctions will be subdued compared to the robust first round. The number of bidders is expected to far fewer than the last round, and bid amounts will be a lot less enthusiastic, said the experts, requesting anonymity. In the second round, private investors can bid for more than 586 kilometres of national highways in Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal and Bihar. The base bid…
(The Hindu) After looking to sell oilfields of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has sought a whitepaper on status and future strategy for the state-owned firm’s overseas arm ONGC Videsh Ltd, sources with knowledge of the development said. The government had on previous occasions looked at hiving off the highly successful OVL from its parent and monetising it by listing the firm on domestic or international bourses. Sources said at the meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the oil and gas sector on October 12, the Oil Ministry was asked to prepare…
(Hindustan) लोकसभा चुनाव के सेमीफाइनल माने जा रहे पांच राज्यों के विधानसभा चुनाव परिणाम से ठीक एक दिन पहले सोमवार को विपक्षी दलों की अहम बैठक होगी। संसद के शीतकालीन सत्र में रणनीति तय करने के लिए होने वाली विपक्षी दलों की बैठक में लोकसभा गठबंधन का खाका भी तैयार किया जाएगा ताकि लोकसभा में एकजुट होकर भाजपा को शिकस्त दी जा सके। विपक्षी दलों की अहम बैठक में कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष सहित तमाम बड़े नेताओं के हिस्सा लेने की उम्मीद है। पश्चिम बंगाल की मुख्यमंत्री ममता बनर्जी और आंध्र प्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री चन्द्रबाबू नायडू बैठक में हिस्सा लेने के लिए…