by Editor | Aug 28, 2024 | News, Politics
Kolkata: Asserting that her government has zero tolerance to incidents of rape, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapists.
Banerjee said that she would sit for dharna outside Raj Bhavan if the governor delays in giving assent to the amended bill or forwards it to the President for ratification.
The chief minister also said that the TMC will launch a movement from Saturday at the state’s grassroots to create pressure on the Centre to pass legislation for capital punishment of convicted rapists.
“We will pass the amended bill in a special session of the assembly next week. We will then send it to the governor for his nod. We will stage dharna outside Raj Bhavan if he sits on the bill,” she thundered from the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad foundation day rally here.
Banerjee also urged the agitating junior doctors of Bengal, who have struck work for 20 days now to urgently consider returning to duty.
“I have remained sympathetic towards the cause of the doctors from the very beginning since they were seeking justice for their colleague. We did not take any action against them although so many days have passed since the incident. We understand your pain. But please come back to work now since patients are suffering,” she appealed.
by Editor | Aug 28, 2024 | News, Politics
Mysuru: A police complaint was filed on Wednesday against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi and his close associate M. Laxman, who is the spokesperson of the Congress, in connection with the “fabrication” of a crucial document related to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case.
The development assumes significance as the Karnataka High Court is scheduled to take up CM Siddaramaiah’s writ petition challenging Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s prosecution order against him on Thursday.
The complaint was filed by Snehamayi Krishna, who is one of the three petitioners against CM Siddaramaiah in the MUDA case, at the Laxmipuram police station in Mysuru.
“To conceal the fact that CM’s wife wrote a letter demanding the allotment of land in the upscale Vijayanagara layout, and to create an impression that she had requested allotment in Devanuru Third Stage or another area, a document was fabricated after destroying the original document, which served as the basis for my complaint,” Krishna said.
He alleged that Parvathi and Laxman conspired to create the new document.
“The application submitted by Parvathi on June 23, 2014, demanding land allotment, was destroyed, and a new one was recently included in the MUDA file. Following this, a video was made and circulated,” Krishna said.
by Editor | Aug 28, 2024 | Business, News, Politics
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday that a total of 53.13 crore Jan Dhan accounts for the poor have been opened in the last 10 years with deposits worth Rs 2.3 lakh crore.
Talking to reporters on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Sitharaman said, “Our target is to open more than 3 crore PMJDY accounts during the current financial year.”
She said that the PMJDY is one of the biggest financial inclusion initiatives in the world.
The Finance Minister said that the average bank balance per account in March 2015 was Rs 1,065, which has now increased to Rs 4,352. Around 80 per cent of the accounts are active, she added.
As many as 66.6 per cent of Jan Dhan accounts are opened in rural and semi-urban areas 29.56 crore (55.6 per cent) belong to women account holders.
Sitharaman said: “PMJDY accounts are used on a large scale. People also deposit money in it. However, this scheme allows zero balance accounts and only 8.4 per cent of the accounts have zero balance.”
When the Modi government first came to power about 10 years ago, it had set a target of providing financial and banking services to every citizen. For this, zero-balance bank accounts were opened in the banks of the poorest of the poor under ‘Pradhanmantri Jan Dhan Yojana’ launched on August 28, 2014.
From MNREGA salaries to Ujjwala scheme subsidy and providing money to common people during COVID-19, this scheme has played a major role in the success of the Modi government. Today, after 10 years, billions of rupees of common people have been deposited in these accounts, she added.
The Finance Minister said as of August 14, 2024, there were more than 173 crore operative CASA (current and savings) accounts in the country, including over 53 crore operative PMJDY accounts.
by Editor | Aug 28, 2024 | Business, Economy, News
Mumbai: Indian frontline line indices extended gains in mid-session on Wednesday due to a rally in the IT stocks.
Due to the uptrend, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) benchmark Nifty made a new all-time high of 25,114, previously it was 25,078.
At 1.23 p.m., Sensex was up 233 points or 0.28 per cent at 81,943 and Nifty was up 84 points or 0.34 per cent at 25,102.
The rally was driven by IT stocks as the Nifty IT index also made a new lifetime high of 42,712.
Weakness was seen in the midcap and smallcap stocks compared to largecap stocks. Nifty midcap 100 index was up 42 points or 0.07 per cent at 59,263 and Nifty smallcap 100 index was up 56 points or 0.29 per cent at 19,389.
Among the sectoral indices, Nifty IT (2.28 per cent), Nifty Pharma (0.82 per cent), Nifty Healthcare (0.93 per cent) and Nifty Service Sector (0.58 per cent) were the major gainers. Nifty Media (0.49 per cent), Nifty PSU Bank (0.25 per cent) and Nifty FMCG (0.11 per cent) were the major losers.
In the Sensex pack, Wipro, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma and M&M contributed the most. Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, Asian Paints, Nestlem ITC, Ultratech Cement, Kotak Mahindra Bank and L&T fell the most.
Shrey Jain, the Founder and CEO of SAS Online said, “Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty began today’s trading session with a muted tone, opening flat to slightly positive. The Nifty index is expected to remain range-bound between 24,950 and 25,100 for the day. A breakout from this range could pave the way for a new directional trend.”
“Overall, the market appears to be in a consolidation phase characterised by low volatility and this trend is likely to continue in the near term,” he added.
by Editor | Aug 28, 2024 | Business, Economy, News
Mumbai: India equity indices were trading flat following negative global cues from Asian peers.
At 9.40 a.m., Sensex was down 45 points or 0.05 per cent at 81,667 and Nifty was down 21 points or 0.10 per cent at 24,996.
The all-time high of Nifty is 25,078.
The market trend remains positive. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,470 shares are in the green and 620 shares in the red.
There is a buying trend in midcaps and smallcaps compared to largecaps. The Nifty Midcap 100 index is up 108 points or 0.18 per cent at 59,316 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index is up 93 points at 19,426.
Among the sectoral indices, Auto, IT, pharma, FMCG, media, energy and infra are the major gainers. Fin service, metal and private bank are the major laggards.
In the Sensex pack, M&M, Tata Motors, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, Titan, Wipro, Reliance, ITC, UltraTech Cement, Bharti Airtel, ITC and HDFC Bank are the top gainers. Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki, TCS, HCL Tech and ICICI Bank are the top losers.
Most Asian markets are trading in the red. Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong are the major losers. The US market closed with marginal gains on Tuesday.
According to the market experts, “The market has entered a consolidation phase with low volatility and this trend is likely to continue in the near term. Falling bond yields in the US have restrained FII selling and even turned marginal buyers.”
