Author: Aruna Sharma

(Tribune) Following the assurance of Mandi MP Ramswaroop Sharma, the 11-day stalemate between Rohtang tunnel workers and company officials ended on Friday.As many as 700 construction workers had stalled work, accusing the company of violationg the labour rights. They alleged that they were being forced to work overtime, that too on a fixed amount. Hygiene eluded the place where they lived, they lamented.Since the first day of the strike, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), the nodal agency of the Rohtang tunnel project, and construction company AFCONS officials have been pacifying the protesting workers, but the latter did not relent. The…

Read More

(Tribune) Uttarakhand Cabinet on Friday gave its nod for introducing amendments in the excise policy that included increasing the license fee and reducing the turnover limit for departmental stores required for selling foreign liquor in the state.Briefing media persons on Friday, Minister for Urban Development and government spokesperson Madan Kaushik said that the amendments were proposed by the Department of Excise in the existing excise policy and the Cabinet gave its nod. “The department felt that the turnover limit fixed at Rs 5 crore for departmental stores in order to sell foreign liquor along with groceries and other utility articles…

Read More

(PTI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was today admitted to AIIMS and is scheduled to undergo a kidney transplant operation tomorrow, sources said. Jaitley, 65, has been suffering from a kidney ailment and skipped office since Monday. He has not even taken oath of office after being re-elected to the Rajya Sabha. Sources said the minister, who was confined to a ‘controlled environment’ at home, was shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) this evening. A kidney transplant operation is scheduled for tomorrow, they said, adding all formalities for a donor kidney have been completed. The minister, who cancelled his scheduled…

Read More

(LiveMint) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Friday said he “sincerely wishes that the Shiv Sena stays with the BJP” for the next elections. Shah was addressing a press conference in Mumbai after the BJP’s 38th foundation day convention. The party president also ruled out simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra assembly. When asked about criticism by some allies including the Shiv Sena and former ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) that the BJP did not treat its allies well, Shah said the Shiv Sena was still a part of the BJP-led government in Maharashtra. “Only TDP has left.…

Read More

(ET) In the latest development in a 1998 poaching case that has put Salman Khan behind bars, the Jodhpur District and Sessions Court Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi, who was expected to pronounce the order on the actor’s bail plea, has been transferred to Sirohi. Judge Dev Kumar Khatri, who gave the verdict on the case, sentencing Khan to 5 years in jail, and acquitting his ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ co-stars, has also been transferred. Judges in Rajasthan are usually transferred between April 15 and 30 every year. This move is part of the annual reshuffle by the Rajasthan High Court. 87…

Read More

(FE) Electricity tariffs discovered in the latest reverse auctions conducted by the state-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for 2,000 MW of wind power have brought relief to the industry. The lowest price quoted in the bidding which concluded late Thursday was Rs 2.51/unit, 16% higher than the previous low of Rs 2.44/unit discovered under any central government scheme. The latest bidding marks a reversal of the trend where tariffs discovered in every SECI auction was lower than the previous one. Srijan Energy Systems, Sprng Energy, BLP Energy, Betam Wind, Inox Wind and Adani Green Energy bid for 250…

Read More

(FE) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday raised the debt investment limits for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) across all segments, including central government securities (G-secs), allowing cumulative increase of over Rs 1 lakh crore through FY19. Though the hike in limit for G-secs — 0.5% each year to 5.5% of the outstanding stock in FY19 and 6% of the stock in FY20 — was a bit lower than market expectations, analysts felt the move would help bring down the yields further at least in the short term. The RBI’s decision could also ease pressure on local banks to…

Read More
PSU

(PTI) State-run HPCL today received the environment clearance for setting up of a new LPG plant with bottling and storage facilities in East Champaran, Bihar that will entail an investment of Rs 136.4 crore. This will be the third LPG plant in the state. Currently, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has only two LPG plants in Bihar at Patna and Purnia with a bottling capacity of 50,000 cylinders per day. As per the proposal, the HPCL wants to construct mounded storage vessels with a capacity of 1,050 tonnes and bottling capacity of 120 tonnes per annum in an area of 30 acres in Panapur and Kubeya villages in East Champaran…

Read More

(Tribune) Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday said the government would take all possible steps to curb crime, not just against women, but everyone, so that faith of the people in law-enforcing agencies was restored after the unfortunate rape and murder of a minor girl in Kotkhai.Replying to a query raised by Rakesh Singha during Question Hour in the Vidhan Sabha, the Chief Minister said the fact that there were 18 cases of murder and 214 of missing women, which were lying untraced, was a matter of grave concern for everyone.“Gudiya helpline is just one of the multi-pronged strategy…

Read More

(Hindustan) रिजर्व बैंक (आरबीआई) अपनी डिजिटल करेंसी (आभासी मुद्रा) लाने पर विचार कर रहा है। साथ ही गुरुवार को आरबीआई ने बिटक्वाइन (bitcoin) तथा अन्य आभासी मुद्राओं में कारोबार करने वाले बैंकों, गैर-बैंकिंग वित्तीय कंपनियों आदि को तत्काल प्रभाव से आभासी मुद्राओं में कारोबार नहीं करने की हिदायत दी है। समिति जल्द देगी रिपोर्ट केंद्रीय बैंक की मौद्रिक नीति समिति की दो दिवसीय बैठक के बाद आयोजित संवाददाता सम्मेलन में आरबीआई के डिप्टी गवर्नर बी.पी. कानूनगो ने बताया कि केंद्रीय बैंक अपनी डिजिटल करेंसी लाने पर विचार कर रहा है। उन्होंने कहा  कि भुगतान उद्योग के तेजी से बदलते परिदृश्य,…

Read More