1)CB CID to re-examine IPL scam suspects
The Crime Branch CID of the Tamil Nadu Police has decided to summon and re-examine a few suspects in the IPL betting scandal in light of new evidence emerging, and question IPS officer G. Sampath Kumar on the basis of his statement to the Mudgal Committee.A top official in the investigating agency told The Hindu that Chennai Super Kings’ Gurunath Meiyappan, hotelier Vikram Agarwal, Kitty alias Utham Jain, the alleged bookie, and others would be examined again. Mr. Kumar had told the Mudgal Committee that Kitty, during interrogation by the ‘Q’ Branch CID, revealed specific details of match fixing involving Mr. Meiyappan, Mr. Agarwal and others.“This input has to be probed before the charge sheet is laid. We will confront the suspects with the evidence put before the Mudgal Committee. No agency of the State police has the interrogation report of Kitty,” he said.He said the question of re-investigation would not arise as the probe was still on.“We are yet to lay the charge sheet, and the accused have to appear before the investigation officer when summoned. We will also question Mr. Kumar on the basis of his statement and about what happened to the report of Kitty’s interrogation,” the official added.
2)Expert panel to identify new capital: Jairam Ramesh
Union Minister Jairam Ramesh has said that an expert committee would be constituted to identify the new capital for Andhra Prdesh after the President notifies the creation of separate Telangana State.“The expert committee will be given six months to hold consultations and come up with suitable suggestion for establishment of the new capital for Andhra Pradesh,” Mr. Ramesh said at an informal chat with reporters in New Delhi on Friday.
3)Rahul chairs CWC meet in Sonia’s absence
Marking an incremental transition in the Congress, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi held an informal meeting with Congress Working Committee members on Friday evening.Neither party president Sonia Gandhi nor Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attended the meeting.Party sources said the agenda was open and the conversation revolved around the manifesto for the general elections.
4)Odisha Minister shot at, injured
Odisha Tourism and Culture Minister Maheshwar Mohanty was injured on Friday night when two unidentified men opened fire at him near his house here, the police said.Mr. Mohanty, 59, was returning home on a two-wheeler after attending a function when two miscreants, who were apparently following him, opened fire at him in a narrow lane near Amala Club in the heart of the town around 8p.m., sources said. The Minister sustained a bullet injury on his left arm and suffered head injuries after he fell from the two-wheeler.He was taken to a local hospital and subsequently shifted to Bhubaneswar. - PTI
5)United Bank CMD Archana Bhargava quits
A little less than a year ago, Archana Bhargava, the then Chairman and Managing Director of the Kolkata-based United Bank of India (UBI), was chalking out her plans on overseas foray through branches in locations such as South Africa and the BRIC countries. A few weeks into her job then, she was also talking about her plans on boosting business and making fresh recruitments.In a sharp reversal of fortunes, UBI was left rudderless on Friday as the Union Finance Ministry accepted Ms. Bhargava’s application for a voluntary retirement, effective February 20, saying that two executive directors would jointly run the bank till a new incumbent took over.Caught in a vortex of sticky loans, UBI, which was in the black till the first quarter of 2013-14, reported a Rs.489.5-crore loss in the second quarter, which ballooned to Rs.1,238.1 crore by the December quarter.At a time when the entire Indian banking system is stressed, UBI is no odd man out. But its losses are to be seen in the context of its size. The bank’s total income during the quarter was Rs.2,986 crore while its interest earning stood at Rs.2,765.5 crore. Listed in 2010, UBI has a paid-up capital of Rs.554.8 crore.UBI, which is the lead bank in four eastern and north eastern states, is among the biggest lenders to the tea industry. It also has exposure in some big industries in the iron and steel sector.Its problems are traced to its mounting bad loans much of which went unreported. Most of these non-performing assets were in the sub-Rs.10 lakh category but officials said that several big loans, which turned sticky, also contributed to the poor balance-sheet. The state of affairs came to light following a review by the banking regulator the Reserve Bank of India in mid-2013. The RBI, along with Deloitte, launched forensic audit of UBI’s books.The results of those audits showed up in UBI’s third quarter results. Its capital adequacy ratio plummeted from 10.2 per cent a year ago to 9 per cent while its return on assets turned negative. Gross NPA increased to Rs.8,546 crore from Rs.2,902 crore a year ago.Even as the top management went into a huddle last week saying that a drive would be launched to recover/upgrade the sticky loans, a dichotomy of opinion surfaced among the top brass on the reasons behind the current state of affairs. While a section blamed the “inherent deficiencies” of the Finacle software used by banks for NPA recognition, the IT major, Infosys, issued a media statement to refute it.Haragopal M., Global Head, Infosys Finacle, said: “No bank has raised any issues regarding the performance of Finacle’s NPA module”. Infosys backed its statement by a quote from Deepak Narang, UBI Executive Director, who denied any inherent deficiencies in Finacle. “The version of the NPA tool currently used at UBI needed certain additional customisations to meet our feasible needs, which are being addressed now,” he said on Thursday.
6)Aadhaar not required to buy LPG cylinders
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M. Veerappa Moily said here on Friday that people without an Aadhaar number would also be able to buy subsidised cooking gas cylinders since the government had decided to suspend the scheme for direct benefit transfer for LPG consumer .
7)Nilekani to quit UIDAI, may contest from Bangalore South
Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), on Friday said he would quit the organisation by March-end to contest the Lok Sabha election on Congress ticket.The co-founder of Infosys, who joined the UIDAI on July 23, 2009 as its Chairman with the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister for a five-year tenure, exuded confidence that the Authority was now in a position where anybody could take its work forward. “I will be there for a few more weeks,” Mr. Nilekani told journalists here.
8)Come clean on Ambani links, Kejriwal tells Modi
Raising the pitch on the BJP’s silence on the gas pricing issue, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Friday asked the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to come clean on his connections with Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani.“Helicopters and private jets are being used whenever you and Rahul Gandhi travel within the country and abroad. As per the news reports, the aircraft services you and Rahul Gandhi use are free of cost. Spending in your election rallies are worth crores of rupees. Some people say Mukesh Ambani funds you. Is that true?”The former Delhi Chief Minister also questioned Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s silence in the matter. He said he would write a similar letter to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. “We want him to speak on the issue as the decision to increase gas price was taken by the UPA government.”In an open letter to Mr. Modi, Mr. Kejriwal said the nation wanted to know whether he would supply gas at the current price or at $8 per unit from April 1, proposed by the UPA government, if his party forms the government at the Centre.Mr. Ambani would gain Rs.54,000 crore from the hiked price, “which is higher than the annual budget for Delhi,” he said.Mr. Kejriwal claimed that “Parimal Nathani, the group president of Mukesh Ambani companies, was recently elected to the Rajya Sabha with his [Mr. Modi’s] help.”Mr. Kejriwal said the party would not accept a single penny from RIL chief Mukesh Ambani as election fund. Asked if he was not playing politics over the gas pricing issue, he said: “One should do politics on gas pricing, land and order and rape issues, not on caste and religion.”Rajmohan joins AAPMahatma Gandhi’s grandson Rajmohan Gandhi joined the Aam Aadmi Party on Friday. “The AAP’s fearless focus on corruption and the idea that power should belong to the grassroot is a very powerful Gandhian thought,” he said, adding that he would contest the Lok Sabha elections if the party desired.
9)‘T.N. government’s decision not correct’
Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday criticised the Tamil Nadu government for releasing three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, saying it was “not correct.”Answering questions at a press conference after releasing a letter he wrot to BJP leader Narendra Modi on gas pricing, Mr. Kejriwal said that “releasing those convicted to Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination would send a wrong message.”On the party’s petition in the Supreme Court challenging President’s rule in Delhi, he said by keeping the Assembly in suspended animation the Centre wanted to keep it an open season for “horse-trading” after the Lok Sabha polls.
10)Maharashtra to get nation’s first real estate regulator
In 2009, Avadhesh Agarwal, 35, paid Rs. 2.8 lakh as instalment towards a flat in a project coming up near suburban Kalyan. Three years later, the project was grounded because the developer could not get clearances.“I got the money back, but could not invest elsewhere. By then, real estate prices there had doubled,” Mr. Agarwal, who works for a private firm, says.In a city where real estate prices are among the highest in the world, many like him are hoping the country’s first real estate regulator will control the powerful builders’ lobby. Maharashtra will be the first State to appoint one as the Maharashtra Housing (Regulation and Development) Act, 2012, received Presidential assent this week.The Act makes it mandatory for developers to disclose property title and layout and completion plans to buyers. The project details have to be registered with the regulatory authority and will be displayed on its website.Refund for delayDevelopers will be responsible for fixing major defects that crop up in the building during the first five years and may have to refund buyers for delayed projects. The regulator has the powers of a civil court and can impose fines of up to Rs. 1 crore and prison terms up to three years.“This is a landmark Act for boosting transparency and protecting buyers,” Minister of State for Housing Sachin Ahir says. The Centre is mulling over similar legislation, which will take precedence, if passed.“Pricing issuenot addressed”Critics say that unlike the telecom and power regulators, the housing regulator does not address the critical issue of pricing. “The main problem in Mumbai is the lack of affordable housing. How does this law change that?” housing activist Chandrashekhar Prabhu asks.Activists feel the new law does not improve on the existing Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, 1963, much. “The earlier legislation allowed for criminal complaints against developers. The new Act allows for imprisonment only if the orders of the regulator are not complied with. This weakens the consumer’s position,” Shirish Deshpande of Mumbai Grahak Panchayat says.The Act excludes large housing stock from its purview: houses built by the State-run Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority (MHADA) and City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO). Also, the rehabilitation component of redevelopment projects, which form the bulk of construction in the city.Builder groups are unhappy with additional regulation. They say this will delay projects and raise costs.
11)Young male registered voters still outnumber females
Despite a steady improvement in the sex ratio of India’s electorate, there are still more male voters being registered than female voters, newly released election data show.Women formed just 41 per cent of first-time voters aged 18-19, though they make up 47 per cent of the population in that age group.Summary election data released by the Election Commission on Friday show 96 lakh women aged 18-19 have been registered to vote, compared with 1.4 crore male voters. Nagaland is the only State where the newly registered female voters aged 18-19 outnumber male voters. Haryana has the most adverse sex ratio in this segment (just 28.3 per cent of the registered 18-19 year olds are female), followed by Maharashtra (35.5 per cent) and Punjab, Chandigarh and Gujarat (36.2 per cent).
12)Mahila bank, New India Assurance sign pact
Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), on Friday, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with New India Assurance Company to deliver three unique innovative health insurance policies for women account holders of the bank.The policies — BMB-Sakhee, BMB-Nirbhaya and BMB-Parivar Suraksha — provide customised health insurance package for women.While Sakhee, aimed at rural women and those in the unorganised sector, offers a cover up to Rs.50,000 a year; the Nirbhaya scheme offers cover limit up to Rs.5 lakh, and will include insurance for accidental situations unique to women, particularly working women.Parivar Suraksha covers the family of the woman account holder of the bank.Speaking after signing the MoU, bank Chairperson-cum-Managing Director Usha Ananthasubramanian said the time had come to cater to women as a segment.“These are the times when we can talk to women about insurance,’’ she said adding that the three policies would broadly cover all women whether in the unorganised sector with no maternity benefits, or working and even their families. Customisation is the order of the day,’’ she said.New India Assurance CMD G. Srinivasan said the three products would be available soon on the portals of the branches of the bank and mobile applications as part of the women empowerment process.Bharatiya Mahila Bank was launched on November 19, 2013.
13)Forex reserves rise to $293.79 billions
Foreign exchange reserves surged by $1.46 billion to $293.79 billion in the week ended February 14 on account of increase in the currency assets, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the reserves had increased by $1.26 billion to $292.33 billion. — PTI
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