1)Modi must break silence on gas pricing: Kejriwal
A day after resigning as Delhi Chief Minister, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday attacked “crony capitalism” and said if his party won even five seats in the Lok Sabha elections, it would be enough to “make life difficult” for parliamentarians who represent “communal, corrupt, criminal and dynastic politics.”Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Kejriwal also questioned the BJP’s silence on the hike in gas price for Reliance Industries Limited from April 1 and challenged its prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, to spell out his stand on the issue.He claimed that Mukesh Ambani and the Adani Group had been backing the Gujarat Chief Minister for the past year and said he would write to Mr. Modi in the next two or three days in this regard.The AAP leader repeated his allegation that RIL chief Mr. Ambani was “ruling” the UPA government.Mr. Kejriwal said he wondered what the future of India would be under Mr. Modi if the BJP were to come to power and asserted that the country needed to discuss the issue.Freed from running a government, Mr. Kejriwal will launch the party’s Lok Sabha campaign from Rohtak on February 23. But he sought to dispel speculation that he may contest against Mr. Modi, saying he had “not given it a thought” as he was more committed to Delhi right now.
2)Union Cabinet approves President’s Rule in Delhi
For the first time in its history, President’s Rule is likely to be imposed in Delhi. The Union Cabinet on Saturday approved the recommendation of Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung for keeping the Assembly under suspended animation. The President’s Rule will come into effect with the promulgation of a notification which is a formal requirement.On a day of high drama, Mr. Jung had earlier submitted a report to the President on the political situation in Delhi arising in the wake of the resignation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday.Though Mr. Kejriwal had recommended that the Delhi Assembly be dissolved, Mr. Jung is understood to have sent a “factual report” to President Pranab Mukherjee on the situation.It, however, remained unclear if he had mentioned that President’s Rule be imposed by keeping the legislature under suspended animation or called for dissolution of the House. The L-G has also sent, along with his report, the resignation letter of Mr. Kejriwal.
3)Barbie stirs up social media frenzy with swimsuit edition debut
4)30 years on, Rs. 265 bribe draws a fine of Rs.50,000
The Supreme Court on Saturday granted relief from jail sentence after 30 years to a 76-year-old government servant who demanded and accepted a bribe of Rs. 265 in a trap case from a contractor in 1984, but imposed a hefty fine of Rs. 50,000 in lieu of imprisonment. The sessions court in April 2003 convicted V.K. Verma and sentenced him to one-and-a-half years and fined him Rs. 50,000. The Delhi High Court declined to interfere with the conviction and sentence and dismissed the appeal in July 2013.
5)RIL plans to take Kejriwal to court
Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) is planning legal action against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly defaming the company and its chairman, Mukesh Ambani.The conglomerate is reportedly readying a case against Mr. Kejriwal, who resigned as Chief Minister of Delhi on Friday, and others for levelling “baseless allegations” against it and Mr. Ambani and hurting corporate interests. But Reliance officials remained tight-lipped about when the case would be filed.“We will do whatever is required legally to safeguard our interests and reputation,” RIL officials said.Reliance officials did not issue an official statement on Saturday, a day after Mr. Kejriwal spoke out against Mr. Ambani again when resigning as Chief Minister.“We deny these irresponsible allegations and propose to resort to the available legal remedies to protect our reputation and preserve the pioneering efforts and investment made by Reliance so far,” the company said on Tuesday.Mr. Kejriwal, as Chief Minister, ordered the registration of an FIR against Mr. Ambani and others for alleged irregularities in the pricing of gas from the KG Basin.The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has taken a political decision to attack big corporates and has alleged that the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are hand in glove with such interests.Soon after Mr. Kejriwal ordered filing of the FIR on Tuesday, RIL stock witnessed selling pressure.But Deven Choksey, market analyst and managing director, KR Choksey Shares & Securities, does not believe so. “The market knows the calculations. Now that the allegations have been made, they should establish the charges.The dust will settle soon,” Mr. Choksey said.Power tariffs are also a major topic of debate in Delhi, the epicentre of AAP’s political movement, as the party makes a bid to come to power on its own in the State.The power utility companies of Mr. Mukesh Ambani’s brother, Anil Ambani, and a Tata company are facing the wrath of AAP in Delhi. These companies have challenged the Delhi government’s move to audit their accounts.
6)SBI lowers retail deposit rates by up to 50 basis points
SBI CUTS RETAILDEPOSIT RATESState Bank of India, on Saturday, cut the deposit rates by up to 50 basis points, starting February 18. While deposit rates for maturities of 3-5 years have been lowered by 0.25 percentage point, those for five years and above have been cut by 0.50 percentage point. The bank, at present, offers 8.75 per cent interest for 3-5 year deposits and 8.5 per cent annually for deposits exceeding five years.
7)Google working on offering 10 gigabits/per second Internet speed.
No comments:
Post a Comment