24 JANUARY 2016

Ø Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the first set of 100 declassified files pertaining to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at the National Archives of India here on Saturday in the presence of members of the Bose family. The government plans to release in the public domain 25 declassified files each month. The release of the first set coincides with the 119th birth anniversary of the eminent freedom fighter and comes months before West Bengal goes to the polls. Bose family members thanked the Prime Minister for declassifying the files. The files do not seem to throw up any new evidence suggesting the freedom fighter survived the plane crash in Taihoku, now in Taiwan, on August 18, 1945. A cabinet note of February 6, 1995, said that while the government accepted the plane crash theory on Bose’s death, it wasn’t advisable to bring back his ashes from Japan. The government went with the Intelligence Bureau’s view: “If the ashes are brought back to India, the people of West Bengal are likely to construe it as an imposition on them of the official version of Netaji’s death.” The theory that he died in the crash was the version of his Indian National Army associates and was also accepted by the Nehru government. However, this may not yet put to rest speculation that the freedom fighter outlived the crash. A section of the Bose family, and many in Bengal, have for decades held that the whole truth of Bose’s disappearance isn’t out yet. Politically, the declassification may earn the BJP some goodwill in the poll-bound State, where Bose is a legend.

Ø Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s name has never been on the British list of war criminals. He was regarded only as a traitor and political figure, according to the London-based Imperial War Museum. However, the Museum’s letter, dated November 25, 1998, to the High Commission of India in London adds that even if Netaji had been on any such list, his name would have been removed following his death after World War-II. The response was given by a senior historian of the Museum to the High Commission. The letter is part of the 100 files.

Ø Earlier this week, astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, U.S., reported in the peer-reviewed Astronomical Journal that a body as big as Neptune — but as yet unseen — orbits the Sun every 15,000 years. Mr. Brown was among those who played a pivotal role in downgrading Pluto from ‘planet’ to a mere ‘dwarf planet’ and so his championing for Planet Nine is being taken quite seriously by the astronomer community. Then again, unless there’s visual confirmation, we don’t have a new planet. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the Sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the Sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the Sun.

Ø Indian Railways, the world’s fourth largest network, is looking to cash in on India's booming $4 billion e-commerce industry to boost revenue from its freight operations.

Ø Binod Chaudhary, Nepal’s sole billionaire in the Forbes list, is planning to expand his company’s presence in India by foraying into quick service restaurant business. B Diversified CG Corp Global, the landlocked nation’s largest private business enterprise, has upgraded its headquarters in New Delhi and Mr Chaudhary’s youngest son Varun, an Executive Director in the group, has relocated to Delhi. The group which owns and operates more than 100 hotels in over dozens countries, including some in joint venture with the Taj Group in South Asia, also plans to further its presence in the fast moving consumer durables sector . The company's Wai Wai noodles brand competes with Nestlé's Maggi in India and controls 20 per cent market share currently. His family hails from India and the group recently acquired a 51 per cent stake in India's Fern hotel chain and is building new hotels there as well as in Africa and Dubai. His investments also include telecom and hydropower. His net worth as of Saturday was $1.31 billion. The group is in the process of developing a food and industrial park in Ajmer in Rajasthan. Named as Greentech Mega Food Park, the 100-acre park will have 40 different manufacturing plants including a plant for Wai Wai. CG’s hospitality operations with brands like Taj Safari, Zinc, and Fern have so far received an investment of over $400 million and the company is working on various expansion plans.

Ø The government on Saturday said it had netted a hefty 900 kg of idle household and temple gold under the monetisation scheme and is hopeful that the number would rise further in future. Gold Monetisation Scheme: More than 900 kgs gold mobilised so far. Scheme making steady progress. Expected to pick up in coming months. The Gold Monetisation Scheme, which had not picked up initially, was fine-tuned to make it more attractive and convenient to encourage entities holding idle gold to participate in the scheme.

Ø The government may substantially increase the outlay for the proposed industrial corridors in the forthcoming Budget for 2016-17 as it plans to approve a proposal to establish a National Industrial Corridor Authority (NICA). Official sources told The Hindu, after exhausting Rs.1,200 crore allocated in Budget 2015-16, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) had asked the finance ministry to provide Rs. 3,000 crore in the coming fiscal for the development of industrial corridors.