by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Mumbai : The Shiv Sena pounced on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday, seeking to know “what action the (current) Finance Minister Piyush Goyal has taken against the RBI governor and chiefs of banks” which have been defrauded by big industrialists who have fled the country.
“How many bank chairmen who gave fraudulent loans have been sent to jail? Even the BJP President Amit Shah is the Director of Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank… It collected Rs 745.59 crore of spiked (Rs 500 – Rs 1,000) notes within five days after demonetisation,” the Sena asked.
It said that a Gujarat cabinet minister Jayesh V. Radadia is a Chairman (of Rajkot DCB), which also secured the second highest amount in the country after ADCB – Rs 693.19 crore deposits of the old currency notes.
“How could so much money be deposited in just one (ADCB) bank? This is a serious issue and must be probed in depth,” the Sena said in sharp edits in the party mouthpieces ‘Saamana’ and ‘Dopahar Ka Saamana’.
Accusing Goyal of not viewing the issue with the seriousness it deserves, the BJP’s ally said that there was discrimination among the cooperative banks and different sets of rules were applied while dealing with various DCCBs in the country.
The Maharashtra DCCBs were debarred from exchanging/accepting the old notes, which was subsequently withdrawn, but it served to hit the banks’ economic position very badly, the Sena pointed out.
“For instance, the Nashik DCB’s deposits of Rs 341 crore was declared asuspicious’ and frozen in the bank. Other DCCBs also faced similar issues at that timea Demonetization triggered massive chaos in all sectors of the economy,” the Sena edit said.
“The country is today reeling under the impact of that demonetisation… The Reserve Bank of India Governor (Urjit Patel) is the biggest culprit for this mess and he should be prosecuted for it,” the Sena demanded.
Recalling the former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s observations on the issue, the Sena reiterated that “the country has paid a heavy price for demonetisation”, the unorganised sector is in complete disarray, unemployment has increased and many others lost their jobs.
The ruling ally reminded how the country was told that “terrorism would end in Jammu and Kashmir after demonetisation, but in reality, the very next day after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on November 8, 2016, bundles of fake Rs 2,000 currencies, newly introduced, were found in that state.”
The Sena said the country is experiencing an economic mess which is increasing, and even the government’s financial advisor Arvind Subramaniam has quit and left the country.
“Amidst all this, the government is displaying its power to the public sector Bank Of Maharashtra (whose top officials including the CMD and ED were arrested this week)a This is cheating since the big fish have already absconded. The BoM officials and the builder D.S. Kulkarni (an accused in the case) have been caught and will not go anywhere… Congratulations for your tough action,” the Sena added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
By Quaid Najmi,
Mumbai : A district cooperative bank, which has Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah as a director, netted the highest deposits among such banks of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that were abruptly demonetised on November 8, 2016, according to RTI replies received by a Mumbai activist.
The Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB) secured deposits of Rs 745.59 crore of the spiked notes — in just five days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the demonetisation announcement. All the district cooperative banks were banned from accepting deposits of the banned currency notes from the public after November 14, 2016, — five days after demonetisation — on fears that black money would be laundered through this route.
According to the bank’s website, Shah continues to be a director with the bank and has been in that position for several years. He was also the bank’s chairman in 2000. ADCB’s total deposits on March 31, 2017, were Rs 5,050 crore and its net profit for 2016-17 was Rs 14.31 crore.
Right behind ADCB, is the Rajkot District Cooperative Bank, whose chairman Jayeshbhai Vitthalbhai Radadiya is a cabinet minister in Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s government. It got deposits of old currencies worth Rs 693.19 crore.
Interestingly, Rajkot is the hub of Gujarat BJP politics — Prime Minister Modi was first elected from there as a legislator in 2001.
Incidentally, the figures of Ahmedabad-Rajkot DCCBs are much higher than the apex Gujarat State Cooperative Bank Ltd, which got deposits of a mere Rs 1.11 crore.
“The amount of deposits made in the State Cooperative Banks (SCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) — revealed under RTI for first time since demonetisation — are astounding,” Manoranjan S. Roy, the RTI activist who made the effort to get the information, told IANS.
The RTI information was given by the Chief General Manager and Appellate Authority, S. Saravanavel, of the National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD).
It has also come to light, through the RTI queries, that only seven public sector banks (PSBs), 32 SCBs, 370 DCCBs, and a little over three-dozen post offices across India collected Rs 7.91 lakh crore — more than half (52 per cent) of the total amount of old currencies of Rs 15.28 lakh crore deposited with the RBI.
The break-up of Rs 7.91 lakh crore mentioned in the RTI replies shows that the value of spiked notes deposited with the RBI by the seven PSBs was Rs 7.57 lakh crore, the 32 SCBs gave in Rs 6,407 crore and the 370 DCCBs brought in Rs 22,271 crore. Old notes deposited by 39 post offices were worth Rs 4,408 crore.
Information from all the SCBs and DCCBs across India were received through the replies. The seven PSBs account for around 29,000 branches — out of the over 92,500 branches of the 21 PSBs in India — according to data published by the RBI. The 14 other PSBs declined to gave information on one ground or the other. There are around 155,000 post offices in the country.
Fifteen months after demonetisation, the government had announced that Rs 15.28 Lakh crore — or 99 per cent of the cancelled notes worth Rs 15.44 lakh crore — were returned to the RBI treasury.
Roy said it was a serious matter if only a few banks and their branches and a handful post offices, apart from SCBs and DCCBs, accounted for over half the old currency notes.
“At this rate, serious questions arise about the actual collection of spiked notes through the remaining 14 mega-PSBs, besides rural-urban banks, private banks (like ICICI, HDFC and others), local cooperatives, Jankalyan Banks and credit cooperatives and other entities with banking licenses, the figures of which are not made available under RTI,” he said.
The SCBs were allowed to exchange or take deposits of banned notes till December 30, 2016 — for a little over seven weeks, in contrast to district cooperative banks which were allowed only five days of transactions.
The prime minister during his demonetisation speech had said that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes could be deposited in bank or post office accounts from November 10 till close of banking hours on December 30, 2016, without any limit. “Thus you will have 50 days to deposit your notes and there is no need for panic,” he had said.
After an uproar, mostly from BJP allies, the government also opened a small window in mid-2017, during the presidential elections, allowing the 32 SCBs and 370 DCCBs — largely owned, managed or controlled by politicians of various parties — to deposit their stocks of the spiked notes with the RBI. The move was strongly criticised by the Congress and other major Opposition parties.
Among the SCBs, the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank topped the list of depositors with Rs 1,128 crore from 55 branches and the smallest share of Rs 5.94 crore came from just five branches of Jharkhand State Cooperative Bank, according to the replies.
Surprisingly, the Andaman & Nicobar State Cooperative Bank’s share (from 29 branches) was Rs 85.76 crore.
While Maharashtra has a population of 12 crore, Jharkhand’s population is 3.6 crore. Andaman & Nicobar Islands have less than four lakh residents.
The poorest of all the cooperative banks in the country is Banki Central Cooperative Bank Ltd in Odisha, which admitted to receiving zero deposits of the spiked currency.
Of the total 21 PSBs, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank of India, Dena Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Punjab & Sindh Bank, Vijaya Bank, Andhra Bank, Syndicate Bank, UCO Bank, United Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce, and IDBI Bank (14 banks) — with over 63,500 branches amongst them — did not give any information on deposits.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav
New Delhi : BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on Wednesday said the decision of pulling out of ruling coalition with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir was a “difficult thing to digest” for him but it was taken in the “larger interest” of people of the state and India.
“I was one of the persons involved in bringing this alliance together. I worked for 40 days with (PDP leader) Haseeb Drabu on building this agenda agreement. It was very difficult thing for me to digest when I was communicated that I should take this step now,” Madhav told CNN-News18 channel.
The BJP on Tuesday suddenly exited the coalition it had formed with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015, prompting Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to resign and Governor’s rule imposed with Governor N.N. Vohra putting the state assembly in animated suspension.
Madhav also revealed that there was “enough progress” in bringing the Hurriyat leadership to the negotiating table.
“I won’t say beyond that but the developments in the last two weeks have pushed us back to square one,” he said.
About the strains in the BJP-PDP alliance, Madhav said that political activists in the Valley were not playing any role (towards normalisation) even after suspension of operations by the security forces.
“And then the insistence (by PDP) that you talk to Pakistan, extend suspension of operations even after broad daylight killing of journalist Shujaat Bukhari, we felt there was a growing mismatch and for us the larger interest of the state and national integrity (are more important),” he said.
Asked why Mehbooba Mufti — who was taken by surprise — was not intimated in advance of the BJP’s decision to pull out as per the coalition dharma, he said he tried to contact her but “could not reach her”.
“I did try to reach out to her before we actually sent out the fax message to the Governor. We could not talk before we sent out the fax. But it is not breaking any coalition dharma. We came together, we decided to part ways and sent this message to the Governor,” said Madhav, who is party in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir.
Responding to Mehbooba Mufti’s statement that a “muscular policy” cannot work in Jammu and Kashmir, he said that her political approach was different from that of the BJP’s.
“We disagree with her on the usage of this term (muscular policy). Innocent policemen being killed, a journalist like Shujaat Bukhari being killed and not controlling all this — if this is the soft approach, I am sorry we don’t want that kind of a soft approach,” he said.
Asked if the Ramadan ceasefire did not go down well with the people of Jammu, the core voter group of the BJP, Madhav said: “It’s not about the people of Jammu. When innocents get killed, when policemen get killed, when regular attacks happen on army and CRPF convoys and security forces are seen as to be not doing anything in retaliation, naturally a bad impression is created in the rest of the country.”
He said that the “risk” of suspending the operations was taken as a “goodwill gesture” but there was no reciprocation from the other side.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : More than three years after they formed an uneasy coalition, the BJP on Tuesday pulled out of the PDP-led Jammu and Kashmir government, citing growing terror activities and radicalization in the valley making its continuance “untenable”.
Announcing the party’s sudden decision at a hurriedly-called press conference, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Ram Madhav said that Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta and nine other ministers from the party have tendered their resignation to Governor N.N. Vohra and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. The state leaders were called to the national capital for urgent consultations.
The move came less than a year ahead of the 2019 general elections and a couple of months after the BJP had replaced its Deputy Chief Minister in the wake of outrage over Kathua rape incident.
It also came two days after the Centre decided not to continue with the ceasefire.
“After reviewing the work of the government in the last three years and after consultations with the Home Ministry and the agencies and after consultations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, we have come to the conclusion that it is difficult for the coalition to move forward in Jammu and Kashmir.
“It has become untenable for the BJP to continue the alliance in Jammu and Kashmir in the situation that has developed today. Terrorism and violence have increased in the valley and radicalization is fast spreading. Fundamental rights of citizens and right to free speech of people have come under threat in the valley as symbolized by the murder of senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari in broad daylight in Srinagar,” Madhav said.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the BJP formed a coalition more than two months after the December 2014 elections returned a hung verdict, in which the PDP got 28 seats and the BJP 25, while the National Conference with 15 and Congress managed to win 12 in a House of 89. The government came to power on March 1, 2015.
The BJP leader said that the coalition was formed with an intention of restoring peace in Kashmir and encouraging fast development in all the three regions of the state including Jammu and Ladakh.
“The BJP did its best to give a good government. The Centre had also given a package of Rs 80,000 crore. The Home Minister (Rajnath Singh) had made several visit to the state and the central government had also appointed a interlocutor in a sincere attempt to resolve issues in Kashmir. On the border also, we took steps to contain violence by erecting 4,000 bunkers. Whatever the state government wanted we were ready to give,” he said.
But, Madhav said, they were sad that the government failed to discharge its responsibilities and the feeling of discrimination towards Jammu and Ladakh regions continued.
“After three years, today we have come to the conclusion that in the interest of the entire nation of which Jammu and Kashmir is inalienable part and in the interest of integrity and sovereignty of the country, keeping in mind the larger interest of the security, in order to bring situation under control, we have decided that is it time the reins of power be handed to the Governor for a spell of Governor’s rule. After the situation is restored, we will consider what to do in the future and take the political process forward,” he said.
He said the ceasefire was announced by the Centre with the intention of bringing peace to the state and to give relief to the people of Kashmir during the holy month of Ramadan. “It was our hope that we will get a good response from terrorists and separatist forces like Hurriyat. We were under no compulsion. It was a goodwill gesture and we did it from a position of strength,” he said.
In any case after the killing of senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari, there was no question of extension of ceasefire. If terrorists can enter into the city and kill Bukhari in broad daylight in a high security area, there was no question of continuance of ceasefire, the BJP leader said.
Madhav also said that over 600 terrorists have been neutralized in the last three years to stop radicalization. “Our campaign against terrorist will continue and there is no doubt about it. That is why we are going out.”
Replying to questions, he said apart from the reasons given, there were no other reasons for the decision to pull out of the government. “We are not concerned about losing ground in the state.”
He said the coalition was formed to respect the mandate of the elections and two parties came together and tried to give governance.
He said that state has faced such situation in the past when there was rising violence and periods of it being controlled. “All we are saying now is we have come to the conclusion that in present scenario and in the present juncture, we find our continuance untenable.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar
By Vishav,
New Delhi : Even as the ruling BJP and its senior leaders have repeatedly attacked the Congress for leaving behind a legacy of “governance failure”, “policy paralysis” and “economy in shambles”, the Central government can no more use this as an excuse and will have to take ownership of not only its accomplishments but also its failures from now on, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said.
He said while it was necessary to look at the last four years of the Narendra Modi government in the context of the legacy it inherited from the UPA regime in 2014, the economy has now overcome those issues and henceforth, the government should be judged on its own merit.
“Now the economy has come out of those inheritance issues. No more should they be used as an excuse for anything. Whatever happens now is the government’s own (doing) completely,” Kumar told IANS in an interview.
“After all the government has done so much despite all of it (legacy issues). It took huge structural reforms like demonetisation, GST, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Benami Act, RERA and recapitalisation of banks to overcome those legacy issues. I think we have finally overcome those and henceforth, the government should be judged on its own merit,” he added.
Kumar’s remarks hold significance since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its senior leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Arun Jaitley have repeatedly ripped into the Congress for leaving behind an “economy in a shambles” which the government was still bringing on track.
Be it the crisis relating to non-performing assets, the Nirav Modi-linked PNB scam, the sorry state of the banking sector, the slow GDP growth rate, the fiscal deficit situation and even the rising oil prices, the BJP leaders have used every opportunity to blame it all on the legacy it inherited from the erstwhile UPA government.
Even the NITI Aayog Vice Chairman has often talked about the legacy inherited by the current government and how it has affected its performance.
“For a government which had inherited the most terrible economic situation and inherited a situation where there was a complete paralysis in governance and decision making, and also a situation where world economy was also not very good… given the legacy, given the world economy and given the breakdown of governance, I think this government has done very well,” Kumar said.
He added that when the BJP took over in 2014, the inflation had crossed the 9 per cent mark and growth rate had slumped to below six per cent.
“What (then Finance Miniser P.) Chidambaram had done was to allow the fiscal deficit to run from 2.8 at one time to as far as 6.4 per cent. From there to come to a situation where we have now achieved a growth rate of 6.7 per cent last year and 7.7 percent in the last quarter with inflation at 3.8 per cent, I think that’s just remarkable,” he said.
The fiscal deficit for 2017-18 was 3.5 per cent and the government has set the target of bringing it down to 3.3 per cent in the current fiscal.
The noted economist added the economy was much more balanced than it was before and had been pulled out of a crisis — a “crisis of complete private sector investment having been stopped because of the NPAs and the twin-balance sheet” problem.
“Not only has this government maintained the macro-economic balance and brought back growth on its track but along with it, it has made the economy far more cleaner and much more formalised, while also doing a lot to improve inclusion,” he said.
Asked if there are any areas where the government could have performed better, Kumar responded: “One clear role which the government has recognised is farmer’s income. I think this focus has now been brought into the budget. The agriculture sector remains a backward sector and it requires a lot of reforms.”
He added that performance in export sector was a cause of concern while the water sector, which was turning into a crisis situation, was another area which needed attention along with the quality of education.
“These are chronic issues. They take time to be figured out. But the credit should be given to the government that they have recognised these problems and is not trying to hide them or brush them under the carpet. Also they are trying new approaches to improve the performance like ranking states on education quality, water conservation, health,” Kumar said.
(Vishav can be reached at vishav@ians.in)
—IANS
