by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
P. Chidambaram
New Delhi : A special court here on Tuesday extended interim protection to former Union Minister P. Chidambaram from arrest till July 10 in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.
Special Judge O.P. Saini announced the order and directed him to join the investigation whenever required.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) sought more time to file response on Chidambaram’s anticipatory bail plea.
On May 30, the court granted interim protection to Chidambaram from arrest till June 5.
Earlier, the court had granted interim protection to Karti Chidambaram from arrest till July 10 in the same case.
The Central Bureau of Investigation and the ED are investigating how Karti Chidambaram allegedly managed to get a clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in the Aircel-Maxis deal when his father P. Chidambaram was the Finance Minister in 2006.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Karti Chidambaram
Chennai/New Delhi : Karti Chidambaram, son of former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI from Chennai in connection with its ongoing probe into the INX media case, an official said on Wednesday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation official said that he was arrested from the Chennai airport after he returned from London. He will be brought to Delhi later in the day.
On May 15, 2017, the CBI had registered an FIR against Karti Chidambaram on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, accepting gratification by corrupt or illegal means, influencing public servants and criminal misconduct.
Karti Chidambaram allegedly received Rs 3.5 crore from the Mumbai-based INX media, now 9X Media, for helping it get Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance, when it was run by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, both accused in the Sheena Bora murder case.
The FIR does not mention Chidambaram senior, though it said he cleared the FIPB approval for Rs 4.62 crore Foreign Direct Investment in the firm at an FIPB meeting on May 18, 2007.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, News, Politics
New Delhi : Senior Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Saturday that the Indian economy was going down and that the growth rate during the present NDA rule was lower than during the earlier UPA’s time.
In a series of tweets, he said while India’s growth rate during the first two quarters of this financial year was lower than the 30-year average, the average growth rate in four years of National Democratic Alliance rule was also lower than previous United Progressive Alliance’s 10-year average.
“Former World Bank Chief Economist Dr Kaushik Basu said India’s growth rate was lower than the 30-year average. (The) Finance Minister says that the growth rate is better,” the Congress leader tweeted.
Basu had in an interview to The Hindu newspaper said that India’s annual growth was 6.6 per cent over the last 30 years while during the first two quarters of this financial year, annual growth was 5.7 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.
Chidambaram added: “What is the average of four years of NDA? It is 7.3 (per cent) under new methodology and lower than UPA’s 10-year average.”
“What is the direction of NDA’s growth rate? Investments? Savings? Credit growth? All downward.”
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech had said that the Indian economy had performed really well since the BJP-led government took over in May 2014.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Employment, Government Jobs, News, Politics
P. Chidambaram
New Delhi : A kicking holes with the latest Economic Survey tabled in Parliament, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Tuesday said that the Narendra Modi government’s claim to be able to create 75 lakh jobs by March is “outrageous” as it is “simply not possible” in India’s context.
The Congress leader said if India can create 75 lakh jobs in the formal sector, it must have created another 75 lakh jobs in the informal and agriculture sector but it is not possible to achieve as India would need five times of its current GDP to create 150 lakh jobs in a fiscal.
“Take this new theory that we will create 75 lakh jobs by March in this country. I mean, you are exposed.
“Let’s look at the numbers. In 2014-15, the EPFO (Employees Provident Fund Organisation) numbers jumped by 23 lakh. It was when economy grew by 7.5 per cent.
“In 2015-16, EPFO numbers jumped by 25 lakh as the economy grew at 8 per cent. In 2016-17, it is expected to jump by 75 lakh. How can it jump by 75 lakh?” Chidambaram said during a panel discussion here at the release of his latest book “Speaking Truth to Power”, a collection of articles he wrote over the months in a leading English daily on economy, politics and various social issues.
“China’s GDP is five times India’s and it creates 150 lakh jobs. The argument is India’s non-farm payroll jobs contributed to 75 lakh jobs? Which means farm sector and informal sector, there would be another 75 lakh jobs, or we would be creating 150 lakh jobs?” the former Finance Minister demanded to know.
“The attempt to use payroll as a measure was a good one but to use it to extrapolate and make such outrageous claims that India’s economy created 75 lakh jobs, hark. We can only measure non-farm employment or what we call payroll jobs with fixed salary, wages etc. You can extrapolate from what you can measure and then extrapolate it over the entire economy,” he explained.
He said that jobs are the number one concern today.
“If we are creating 75 lakhs jobs, how come this is number one concern? It is the concern that led Hardik Patel, Jignesh Mewani and Alpesh Thakore to be able to mobilise their supporters (in Gujarat).
“You may dismiss it as caste mobilisation. Yes, caste is a convenient term to mobilise but the real driving force behind they mobilisation was jobs,” Chidambaram said.
The Congress leader also termed the ‘one nation, one election’ or the pitch for simultaneous elections by Prime Minister Modi as a “jumla”, saying simultaneous polls are not possible with the present Constitutional arrangement.
“The Constitution of India does not give fixed term to any government. Unless we amend the Constitution, simultaneous elections are not possible. May be you can artificially construct an appearance of simultaneous polls by preponing some, postponing some (assembly polls) but you can do it for five or six states along with Parliament elections. But how can you do it with 30 states?
“What if a state government falls after a year. Are you going to have Presidents rule for four years? There was this jumla of ‘one nation, one tax’, now this jumla of ‘one nation, one election’,” the Congress leader said in a panel discussion with Shashi Tharoor, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and journalist Shekhar Gupta.
Former President Pranab Mukherjee unveiled the book in the presence of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Vice President Hamid Ansari and a host of senior Congress leaders.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
P. Chidambaram
New Delhi : Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Saturday said “in a comedy of errors” the Enforcement Directorate searched his residence here in connection with a case against his son Karti but found “nothing” in the search, done to “cover up their tracks”.
He also claimed that the CBI and the ED had searched Karti’s residence in Chennai thrice so far but had found nothing there.
The former Finance Minister said the Supreme Court had issued notices to the ED in the cases filed by Karti on the ground that the agency had no jurisdiction over offences under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
“The main ground in the cases is that there is no FIR in respect of a scheduled crime registered by any police agency including the CBI or any other investigating agency. In the absence of a scheduled crime and there are no proceeds of the crime, the ED has no jurisdiction under PMLA.”
He said on Friday after the case was heard in the Supreme Court he had anticipated that in view of the notices issued, the ED may “do some drama to cover up their tracks”.
“I anticipated they will search the premises in Chennai again. but in a comedy of errors they came to search the premises in Jor Bagh (in Delhi) and officers told me that they believed Karti is an occupant of this house but he is not. He lives in Chennai.”
He said he had no objection to their conducting searches because they had warrants. “The ED has no jurisdiction to investigate under PMLA. I recorded that. Obviously they found nothing. They searched bedroom, kitchen. They found nothing. Since they have to justify, they came here.
“They took away papers related to a statement made by the government in 2012-13 in the case and the background papers related to the case. They took away 13 loose sheets of paper. I have recorded that. They are photocopies of the statement made in parliament.
“In Chennai also, they produced a statement after their searches. Three times so far the CBI and the ED have raided his (Karti’s) residence. They found nothing, they seized nothing. I can only compliment them.
“The officers were polite. But they were quite embarrassed and they were apologetic” as they found that Karti was not an occupant here.
—IANS
