Pragya hails ‘patriot’ Godse

BJP’s Bhopal candidate Pragya Thakur courted fresh controversy when she declared that Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse was a “deshbhakt (patriot)”, leading to the Election Commission seeking a report from the Madhya Pradesh chief electoral officer.

Dewas district election officer Ajay Gupta sent the report around 10 pm.

Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon bombing case, was responding to the media seeking her reaction to actor-politician Kamal Haasan’s comment that Godse was free India’s first Hindu terrorist. Her comments on Godse immediately set off a political storm with Congress claiming BJP had fostered a culture of violence and was denigrating freedom struggle icons.

Thakur has been in the midst of controversies ever since BJP nominated her against Congress’s Digvijay Singh. She called Mumbai cop and 26/11 martyr Hemant Karkare a traitor and claimed to have “cursed” him a month before he was shot dead by terrorists. She then said she was “very proud” of her role in the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992.

The furore over her latest remarks saw BJP condemning her statement and asking her to apologise and it was late evening when she did so, saying, “The party’s line is my line”.

After her remarks on Karkare, Thakur was banned from campaigning for three days by the Election Commission. BJP leaders warned her to watch her words, and she kept quiet until the Bhopal polls were over.

Now unleashed in Malwa-Nimar region to campaign for BJP, no senior leader was watching over her when a local reporter asked her in Dewas about Kamal Haasan’s remark that Godse was the “first Hindu terrorist”.

“Nathuram Godse was a ‘deshbhakt’ (patriot), is a ‘deshbhakt’ and will remain a ‘deshbhakt’. People calling him a terrorist should instead look within. Such people will be given a befitting reply in this election,” Thakur said.

Severe Drought in North Maharashtra

The drought situation in north Maharashtra is aggravating with the number of affected people increasing by over one lakh in just eight days.

According to the data provided by the Nashik divisional commissionerate, the population affected by the severe water scarcity in the five districts under it stood at 22.35 lakh on May 14, against 21.25 lakh on May 6. The government officials have not ruled out the possibility of the affected population increasing further as the monsoon is at least a month away. “The villages are facing severe water scarcity and the demand for water is constantly soaring, forcing us to increase the number of tankers during these eight days,” officials said. The number of villages facing water crisis has gone up to 4,785 from 4,500 during the period. Nashik, Ahmednagar and Jalgaon continue to be the worst affected districts of north Maharashtra.

“In Ahmednagar, the number of affected population has risen from 11.9 lakh on May 6 to 12.14 lakh on May 14. The local administration is constantly receiving demands for water tankers, especially in the southern parts of the district,” officials said.

The number of affected villages in the district has increased from 3,323 to 3,485. In Nashik, the affected population has soared to 5.58 lakh by May 14 from 5.1 lakh on May 6. And the number of tankers has swelled by 30 during the period.

“In Jalgaon district, the number of villages affected has increased from 172 on May 6 to 193 on May 14, while the number of tankers increased by 21,” officials said.

The status of Dhule and Nandurbar districts has remained unchanged during the period. The least number of affected villages are in Nandurbar. Officials said the local administration of the five districts were keeping a close tab on the drought scenario. “The administration is going all out to ensure that the affected villagers are provided water by tankers.”

National Clean Air Programme

Work related to the National Clean Air Programme will start in Pune by August.

Pune will be one of the four cities in the country, which will receive funding from the Swiss funding agency for the programme. Nashik, Kanpur and Lucknow are the other three cities. The programme, launched by Union government, aims to deal with issues related to air pollution in different parts of the country.

“Normally, vehicular population is considered the main reason for poor air quality. But other factors too play an important role in reducing air quality. The study is important for mitigation of the problem, so we have opted for this research,” mayor Mukta Tilak told reporters on Thursday.

She said that a meeting was held with various stake holders on Thursday. The PMC will work as the monitoring agency. Help will be sought from the Automotive Research Association of India and other agencies as well non-governmental organisations working to fight the problem of air pollution.

In Nashik, Delhi-based The Energy & Resources Institute will be the nodal agency for the project. TERI will study air pollution patterns in the city and suggest measures to improve air quality.

Representatives of various agencies met at Nashik on Wednesday to prepare a blueprint for the project. Sumit Sharma, director, TERI and Anand Shukla, senior thematic advisor from the Swiss embassy in India, held a meeting at Nashik with officials from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Nashik Municipal Corporation and other stake-holders.

The measures suggested to improve the air quality are to be implemented by the NMC in city areas and MPCB in industrial estates in Nashik.

Switzerland-based Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation will provide technical and financial support for the various measures to be taken to improve the air quality.

Other agencies which will participate in the project are Pune-based Automotive Research Association of India, Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne and International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. The project will be implemented in two phases - first up to August 2023 and second up to 2027. The agencies have started collecting the documents and information regarding air pollution in the city. TERI is expected to submit its first report on the city to the central government by August end.

RBI Releases Payments Systems Roadmap

A four-fold increase in digital payments, reduction in paper-based transactions, improved pricing, better customer grievance redressal mechanisms and establishment of new payment system operators are among the list of twelve objectives the Reserve Bank of India seeks to achieve in the next three years.

The Payments Systems Vision 2022 document published by the central bank has laid out a comprehensive roadmap of initiatives to be undertaken by all stakeholders and governing bodies to ensure the successful completion of these objectives in this time.

“While the pursuit towards a ‘less cash’ society continues, accompanied by the ambition to have a less card India as well, the endeavour is to also ensure increased efficiency, uninterrupted availability of safe, secure, accessible and affordable payment systems as also to serve segments of the population which are hitherto untouched by the payment systems,” the Reserve Bank said. The Reserve Bank has identified four broad areas for targeted policy intervention to improve the existing payments system — competition, cost, convenience and confidence.

The central bank noted that card based transactions will see a sixfold increase in the next three years propelling the Indian economy to a ‘cash-lite’ one.

It also expects the ‘cash-on-delivery’ method, which currently makes for the most significant transaction method by customers, to reduce in this time.

Further, the apex regulator also mulled on increasing the transaction limit and extending the duration window for NEFT and RTGS transactions. A universal payment solution for users without internet and smartphone will also be considered for future development.

“Though mobile internet speed has risen, connectivity issues remain unresolved in large areas. Therefore, providing an option of offline payments through mobile devices for furthering the adoption of digital payments shall be a focus area during this Vision period,” the Reserve Bank said.

The Reserve Bank reiterated that systematic regulatory changes and expected increase in competition would render payment services channels cheaper in the next three years, according to RBI.

“The pricing of such services to customers should, over the vision period, show reduction of at least a 100 bps from current levels…a shift from ad valorem rates to per transaction rates is envisaged, as usage of a system is irrespective of the value of a transaction,” according to the document.

Other initiatives customer protection and fraud management initiatives such as setting up of 24*7 helpline number, a more comprehensive ombudsman scheme and regulation of payment aggregators have been planned by the RBI as well.

India: Second-Biggest M-cap Loser Among EMs

India’s stock market has been one of the top losers among major emerging markets so far in May amid renewed concerns over the US-China trade war. Traders used the opportunity to cut bets ahead of the general election results, resulting in India losing 6.7% or $138 billion in market capitalisation. Brokers said the so-called hot money, which had started flowing into the country since early March, is being pulled out. India’s most valuable company Reliance Industries, which has been among the best performer on the bourses in the last year or so, has been the biggest loser, shedding ₹86,123 crore in market value since May 1. Tata Consultancy Services —the main competitor against RIL for the numero uno position in m-cap — too has lost ₹61,896 crore since May 1.

Navi Mumbai: Vashi bridge gets green nod

The Vashi bridge expansion project, which aims to facilitate smoother connectivity between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, has received a major environmental clearance. MSRDC, one of the stakeholders, has asked the contractor to mobilise machinery to commence work with the hope that the clearance, given by the Union ministry of environment and forests, is vetted by the Bombay high court.

The MoEF permission is for a 1.4-hectare forest clearance, which is needed to clear mangrove patches on both sides of the bridge towards its Mankhurd and Vashi ends. The patches had become a point of contention among several authorities. The state government notified the Thane Flamingo Sanctuary in May 2018. The Supreme Court in December directed MoEF to declare as eco-sensitive zones 10 km-radius areas around 21 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries across the country, including the Thane Flamingo Sanctuary. This necessitated project clearances from the National Wildlife Board and MoEF.

The last step for the project is a nod from the HC, which in a 2010 order directed that its permission be taken for proposals involving mangrove removal.

MSRDC’s managing director, Radheshyam Mopalwar, said, “L&T can carry out mobilisation work as per a letter of acceptance issued in August 2018. An agreement with L&T will be executed after the HC’s clearance. We will now approach the HC for the final nod.”

The project cost is pegged at Rs.775 crore, with a joint equity participation of Rs.200 crore each from MSRDC and Cidco. The expected deadline for completion is three years. “Soil testing work has already been done,” said Cidco MD Lokesh Chandra.

The bridge is expected to provide smoother connectivity between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, factoring in future growth of vehicular traffic, also on account of the upcoming Navi Mumbai international airport.

April 2019: Trade Deficit Widens to $15.3 billion

India’s merchandise export growth slowed down to a four month low in April with only 0.64% rise to $26.07 billion, while imports increased at a six-month high of 4.48% to $41.4 billion.

Trade deficit widened to a five month high in April 2019 to $15.33 billion, as against $13.72 billion a year ago, on the back of higher oil imports at $11.38 billion, a jump of 9.26%, and a 53.99% jump in gold imports to $3.9 billion.

Only 14 out of 30 major export product groups were in positive territory during April 2019, including petroleum, organic and inorganic chemicals, drugs and pharma, ready made garments of all textiles, electronic goods and ceramic products.

FIEO is of the view that the global trade scenario may worsen further on the back of rising trade tensions between the US and China, putting more pressure on Indian exports in the months to come.

Services export growth in April is estimated at $17.98 billion, a rise of 2.39%, while services import was up 4.73% at $11.43 billion, resulting in $6.55 billion in net of services. Overall exports, including merchandise and services, went up 1.34% to $44.06 billion, while imports grew 4.53% to $52.83 billion, resulting in an overall trade deficit of $8.78 billion.