Ø The Centre and the Reserve Bank of India signed an agreement last month
under which the central bank will prioritise controlling price rise above the
other objectives of the monetary policy — interest rates and the foreign
exchange rate. The agreement formalised a policy the Reserve Bank had been
following since January 2014, which is a significant development in monetary
policy formulation championed by Governor Raghuram Rajan. The Reserve Bank is
committed to bringing inflation below 6 per cent by January 2016. The consumer
inflation target has been set at 4 per cent, with a band of plus or minus 2
percentage points, for the financial year 2016-17.
Ø Jagmohan Dalmiya was elected unopposed president of the Board of Control
for Cricket in India at its annual general meeting.
Ø A day after Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was sworn in as Chief Minister of
Jammu and Kashmir at the head of a PDP-BJP government, his remark that
Pakistan, the Hurriyat and militants had created a conducive atmosphere for
elections in the State, rocked both Houses of Parliament, with Opposition
parties demanding an explanation from an embarrassed Centre. In the Lok
Sabha, the Opposition stormed out of the House, expressing dissatisfaction with
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s response to a Congress-sponsored
adjournment motion on the subject. The Opposition demanded that Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, who met Mr. Sayeed just before the BJP and the PDP struck a
final deal to form a government, must reveal the contents of their conversation.
Ø Ola Cabs has acquired its rival TaxiForSure in a cash-and-equity deal
worth $200 million. They will continue to operate as separate entities.
Ø Visiting Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar discussed a wide range
of topics including SAARC, Bimstec and other bilateral issues with his
Bangladesh counterpart, M. Shahidul Haque. He parried a question on
whether they discussed Teesta, on which a bilateral deal was stalled in 2011
because of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s opposition. Briefing
presspersons, Mr. Haque said the main message of his counterpart was that India
wanted a deeper friendship with Bangladesh. Mr. Jaishankar arrived here
on Monday from Thimpu. He will fly to Islamabad on Tuesday and then to Kabul
the following day. Issues like power generation and distribution,
infrastructure development like road, housing and port and investment in
prospective areas also reportedly came up during his interaction with
Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.H. Mahmood Ali.
Ø Days after police clashed with protesters in Kathmandu, leader of the
opposition UCPN (Maoist) and former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai is in
Delhi for meetings with President Pranab Mukherjee, External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. The visit has
given rise to speculation that Nepali opposition leaders are reaching out to
India after efforts to formulate the new constitution collapsed last month. The
Maoist party and the rest of the 30-member opposition coalition walked out of
the talks over the government’s decision to go for a vote over disputed issues
in the constituent assembly rather than consensus, as the opposition demanded.
Ø An agreement between the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India last month
formalised a policy that the central bank had been following since January
2014, of prioritizing controlling price rise. Replying to a query, Mr.
Mehrishi said the budget announcement about proposed ‘strategic disinvestment’
in public sector units would enable the Centre to induct private strategic
partners.
Ø Gujarat cadre IPS officer Geetha Johri took up the investigations into
the Sohrabuddin Sheikh “fake” encounter case and exposed the purported role of
several police officers in the incident. However, after the Central
Bureau of Investigation took over the probe, Ms. Johri herself was accused of
destroying evidence.
Ø The Government on Monday appointed Baldev Bhai Sharma, former editor of
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s weekly magazine, Panchajanya, as the next Chairman of the National
Book Trust (NBT) cutting short the term of incumbent A. Sethumadhavan – better
known by his pen name ‘Sethu’ — by six months.
Ø Over the last 10 years, the declared expenditure by political parties
for the Lok Sabha elections grew over 400 per cent, according to the
Association for Democratic Reforms. Spending on publicity is driving most of
the increased expenditure. By law, the six national political parties
must submit a statement of election expenditures to the Election Commission
within 90 days of the completion of the election. This is supposed to include
all funds collected and spent by them in cash, cheque or through other means
between the date of the announcement of the election and the date of completion
of the election, which ranges from 30 to 90 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment