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Current Affairs - 13 February 2017

General Affairs 

Uttarakhand polls: PM Modi accuses Congress of lacking vision for growth
  • Hitting campaign trail in poll-bound Uttarakhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a blistering attack on the ruling Congress government in the state, accusing it of lacking vision for growth even though the state has great potential in tourism and allied sector. Drawing comparison with neighboring states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, Modi said, “Have you ever thought why despite having such great potential Uttarakhand has lagged behind Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand which were created together by Atal Bihari Vajpayee? In spite of the Maoist problem, Chattisgargh with a BJP government has established itself among the fastest growing states”.
    Addressing a poll rally at the GITI Maidan in Shrinagar, the Prime Minister urged the people to vote overwhelmingly in support of BJP this time to  drive it on the path of development. PM Modi also revealed that he has grand plans to tap the state’s tourism potential and herbal wealth to attract visitors from all over the world to its doorsteps.
    “New employment opportunities can be generated in tourism, yoga and herbal sectors and the exodus of young people from villages in the hills can be stopped thoroughly. It is not impossible. What is needed is a vision, a sense of purpose,” Modi said, while expressing his interest in laying a railway network in the hills.
    Slamming Chief Minister Harish Rawat, Modi said,  “The present chief minister had opposed creation of Uttarakhand. His party is in now alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh at whose behest women were raped and people shot dead at Rampur Tiraha during the statehood agitation. “Even in Uttarakhand Congress and SP have a secret alliance. Would you vote for them?” he asked.
    Hitting back at Congress for  criticising him for demonitisation, Modi said the step had robbed the party of its sleep.”It is three months since demonitisation happened but they are still abusing me. Don’t you think I should make those who have looted this country ruthlessly for the 70 years pay back.
    “I won’t sit relaxed until I have made them do so. I have waged a war against corruption and black money for the sake of the poor and nothing can make me step back. I am ready to face anything for the sake of the country’s poor,” he said.

    PM Modi asks ministers to furnish details of tours of three months
    • Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked his ministerial colleagues to give details of tours, if any, undertaken by them during the last three months, an exercise aimed at ascertaining whether they promoted demonetisation and other initiatives, sources said. The Prime Minister is learnt to have given the directive at a recent Cabinet meeting, the sources said.
      They have been asked to submit the details by Monday. Minister for Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar has been directed to coordinate with the Ministries for this task, the sources added.
      “All the ministers have been asked to submit details of their outstation tour programmes of the last three months. If not on tour, they should mention if they were in Delhi and attended office.
      “The idea is to know if the Ministers visited places beyond their respective constituencies to promote initiatives of government, particularly demonetisation. The exercise is also aimed at knowing if they were balancing office work and field duties,” a source said.

    None of our MLAs locked up, says Sasikala as AIADMK crisis deepens
    • Rejecting as ‘rumours’ the reports of AIADMK MLAs being locked up, party General Secretary VK Sasikala on Sunday said all the legislatures are living at Golden Bay resort as family members. “You can see truth that non of our MLAs have been forcibly kept here, we are living here as a family,” said Sasikala after her meeting with all the MLAs. “Opposition parties are spreading rumours. Party MLAs are not locked up,” she added.
      She also said that she is waiting for the Supreme Court’s verdict in the disproportionate asset case against her and maintained that her rivals will not succeed in their plan to topple her. “Let it (verdict) come, I will see. Party workers, and forces now opposing us will not succeed in their attempts, won’t let it happen. Please wait and see our next move,” said Sasikala in her first press conference after Panneerselvam’s rebel.
      Later, addressing the party MLAs, Sasikala urged his supporters to stay together to foil the evil attempts of the rivals. “You all are aware as to what extent our opponents have gone against us, we must stay together and foil their evil attempts,” said Sasikala.
      Earlier in the day, the AIADMK general secretary said that it was “very difficult” for a woman to survive in politics, which she had seen in the time of Jayalalithaa too, and asserted that the MLAs were with her. “As General Secretary, I can tell that the AIADMK government will certainly continue for the next four and a half years and serve people,” she said.
      She also denied writing any apology letter to Jayalalithaa after her expulsion from the party, as claimed by Pannerselvam.”There is a fake letter in my name doing the rounds in social media and a friend brought it to my notice. You (media) should also see it. It is very difficult for a woman to be in politics. Have seen that during purathchi thalaivi’s (Jayalalithaa) times also, but she overcame it,” Sasikala
      said.

    J&K: Three jawans, four militants killed in Kulgam encounter
    • Three army jawans were killed and two others injured in an encounter with militants in Jammu-Kashmir’s Kulgam district, news agency ANI reported on Sunday. Four militants have been neutralised in the encounter after security forces, in a joint operation with police, conducted searches in Frisal.
      Director General of Police S P Vaid told PTI that security forces have achieved a “major success” by gunning
      down the four militants. “However, it is unfortunate that two soldiers were martyred and son of the house owner got caught in the cross-fire and succumbed to injuries,” he said.
      The forces launched a cordon and search operation in Frisal area of Kulgam district around 4.30 am following information about presence of a large number of militants in the area, a police official told PTI. He said as the security forces were closing in on the position of the militants, the ultras opened firing resulting in injuries to five soldiers.
      Asked about the encounter, Minister of state Jitendra Singh told reporters in Delhi that terrorism on Indian soil is being sponsored by Islamabad. “There has been a series of evidences and it is now no longer a secret that the entire terrorism on Indian soil, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir, is being promoted, perpetuated and sponsored by Islamabad,” he said.
      The minister lauded the forces for working under difficult circumstances. “They (forces) are operating under most difficult circumstances and have beyond doubt proven themselves as one of the best forces in the world,” he said.
      Out of the four militants, three have been identified as Mudasir Ahmed Tantray, Farooq Ahmed Dar and Azhar Ahmed Clashes between protesters and law enforcing agencies broke out soon after the encounter ended, the police official said, adding further details were awaited.
      Earlier on February 4, the security forces shot dead two top Kashmiri militants while they were trying to enter politically sensitive Sopore town in Jammu and Kashmir’s north-western Baramulla district. Two police officials were injured in initial response from the duo during the encounter.

    Kailash Satyarthi house theft: Police recover stolen replica of Nobel Prize, arrest 3
    • Delhi Police on Sunday claimed to have solved the theft case at Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s house as it recovered the replica of the Nobel Peace Prize and its citation along with jewellery, stolen from his residence, news agency ANI reported. The police also arrested three people, Rajan, Sunil and Vinod, in connection with the case. On Saturday, police had identified the burglars who were involved in the theft at the Nobel laureate’s house. The thieves entered the house solely with the intention to rob jewellery and had also broke into the neighbouring houses. Police had earlier found a pair of shoes in Satyarthi’s house that were suspected to belong to the burglars, but they later turned out to be part of the items that were stolen from one of the other houses.
      “Earlier, Satyarthi’s son said the shoes belonged to his father but after his return, Satyarthi said the shoes don’t belong to him. We thought that the shoes belong to one of the burglars but later it turned out, that they had been left behind by them,” a senior police officer said. “The shoes had been stolen from one of the other houses that had been broken into and probably were left by the burglars since they didn’t have enough space in their bag,” he said.

      The thieves allegedly stole the replica of the Nobel Medal and the citation, along with a host of other mementos received by Satyarthi from around the world.

    Business Affairs 

    Reliance Mutual Fund beats demonetisation blues; AUM up 25%
    • Beating demonetisation blues, financial services major Reliance Capital saw its mutual fund business register 25 per cent surge in Assets Under Management to Rs 1.95 lakh crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal and said it is on track to list home finance unit by April.
      Reliance Mutual Fund also registered an 8 per cent growth in profit to Rs 151 crore with a 10 per cent increase in the total number of SIPs (Systematic Investment Plans) during the October-December quarter of 2016-17. Reliance Capital said that notwithstanding the slowdown in business that followed immediately after the demonetisation announcement by the government, the company has been able to register growth across all its businesses. All our businesses have shown positive growth despite the government announcing demonetisation and its consequential impact on markets and business in the quarter.
      “While our mutual fund business gained from demonetisation and registered a 25 per cent growth in AAUM, our General Insurance, Broking and Distribution have shown surge in profits during the quarter. Demonetisation did not have any impact on both our lending businesses that showed growth during the quarter,” Reliance Capital MD and CEO Sam Ghosh said.
      Reliance Home Finance, which recently raised over Rs 3,000 crore from investors by way of NCDs issue, registered profit of Rs 35 crore while the commercial finance business, which focuses on SME lending, registered profits of Rs 80 crore during the quarter. “We had announced listing of its Housing Finance Business – wherein Reliance Capital would retain 51 per cent shareholding and the 49 per cent stake would be offered to existing investors by offering one free share of RHF for every one share held in Reliance Capital.
      “We propose to complete this exercise by April 2017,” Ghosh said. He also said the company plans to demerge its Commercial Finance business into a separate subsidiary was on track and would be completed in this fiscal. “Our plans to demerge Commercial Finance business and convert Reliance Capital into a Core Investment Company are on track. We propose to complete this demerger and conversion by the end of current fiscal,” Ghosh said.
      Reliance Capital saw a turnaround in its General Insurance Business while broking and distribution business also registered a significant jump in its profit to Rs 14 crore during this quarter. Regarding mutual fund, the company said it will continue to focus on increasing participation from beyond top 15 cities with a healthy increase in SIPs, that registered a 10 per cent increase to 16 lakh during the quarter.
      It further said there was no impact of demonetisation on the two lending businesses – Commercial Finance and Housing Finance – as they continue to register healthy growth with no increase in NPAs. Home Finance registered Rs 35 crore profit while Commercial finance registered profit of Rs 80 crore during the quarter.

    Heavy Industry Ministry scouts for asset valuer for EPIL
    • Moving ahead with its proposal to disinvest Engineering Projects (India) Ltd through merger with a similarly placed CPSE, the government is roping in consultants to estimate the market value of assets of the PSU. The Heavy Industries Ministry, which has administrative control over Engineering Projects (India) Ltd (EPIL), floated a request for proposal last week to select an asset valuer for the mini-ratna unit. The move came days after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech outlined opportunities to strengthen CPSEs through consolidation, mergers and acquisitions. The asset valuer will carry out valuation of land & buildings, furniture & fixtures, civil infrastructure like roads, drains, compound wall, etc. and plant & machinery including electrical, stock inventory of spares in stores etc.

      “The valuation is to be done keeping in view the objective of disinvestment through merger with similarly placed CPSE,” the Department of Heavy Industries said. The government is considering strategic disinvestment of 100 per cent paid-up equity capital of the Engineering Projects (India) Limited through merger with similarly placed CPSEs.
      “We see opportunities to strengthen our CPSEs through consolidation, mergers and acquisitions. By these methods, the CPSEs can be integrated across the value chain of an industry. It will give them capacity to bear higher risks, avail economies of scale, take higher investment decisions and create more value for the stakeholders,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said while unveiling the Budget 2017-18 proposals.

    Equity MF inflow at Rs 4,900-cr in Jan; Rs 55,700-cr in FY17
    • Equity mutual funds saw an inflow of close to Rs 4,900 crore in January, taking the total fund infusion to about Rs 55,700 crore by ‘optimistic’ investors in the first 10 months of 2016-17 fiscal. This also marks the 10th straight month of inflows into equity schemes. Prior to that, such funds had witnessed a pullout of Rs 1,370 crore in March.
      “Healthy SIP (systematic investment plans) book continues to support fresh inflows in equity segment of mutual funds, despite a quarter of volatile markets,” Bajaj Capital National Head Mutual Funds Anjaneya Gautam said.
      “Traditionally, ELSS collections increase in peak tax savings period of January to March every year. But net inflows in ELSS in January 2017 are much higher than last 3-4 years, about Rs 1,166 crore fresh addition. It shows the confidence of investors in long-term savings through equity investments,” he added.
      Mutual funds have been witnessing a trend of increasing fresh investments through the route of SIP, balance Funds, other equity funds, and it is expected to reap benefits to the investors, Gautam said.
      SIP is an investment vehicle that allows investors to invest in small amounts periodically instead of lumpsums. The frequency of investment is usually weekly, monthly or quarterly.
      According to data from Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), equity funds, which also include equity-linked saving schemes (ELSS), registered a net inflow of Rs 4,880 crore in January against Rs 10,103 crore in the preceding month.
      With the latest inflow, total mobilisation in equity schemes has reached to Rs 55,689 crore in April-January period of the current financial year.
      The robust inflow has pushed up assets under management (AUM) of equity MFs to Rs 4.97 lakh crore at the end of January, from Rs 3.86 lakh crore in March-end.
      Growing participation from retail investors and huge inflow in equity schemes have also helped increase the folio count.
      Equity mutual funds witnessed an addition of 35.65 lakh investor accounts or folios in the current fiscal so far.
      Going forward, ELSS category will see higher inflows during February and March 2017 because investors will be looking forward to tax-saving options. ELSS, with attractive market valuations, is making a strong case for fresh investments.
      Mutual funds are investment vehicles made up of a pool of funds collected from a large number of investors. The funds are invested in stocks, bonds and money market instruments, among others.

    Coal India Q3 net profit dips 22% to Rs 2,884 crore
    • The world’s largest coal miner CIL on Saturday reported a 22 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,884.4 crore for the third quarter ended December 31. Net profit came in at Rs 3,718 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal, Coal India (CIL) said in a regulatory filing.
      However, the company’s total income rose to Rs 21,531.2 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 20,928.4 crore in the same period a year ago. Net sales during the reporting quarter rose to Rs 19,704 crore compared to Rs 18,971.5 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.
      At the same time, total expenses also increased to Rs 17,260 crore as compared Rs 15,407.5 crore. On a standalone basis, the company has posted a loss of Rs 39 crore as compared to a profit of Rs 672.6 crore in the same period a year ago. The total income declined to Rs 257.1 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 880 crore in the same period last fiscal.

    FPIs turn net buyers in Feb; pump in Rs 5,800 crore
    • After four months of intense selling, overseas investors turned net buyers in February and have so far pumped in over Rs 5,800 crore in the capital market, enthused by clarity on FPI taxation. The latest inflow followed a net pullout of Rs 80,310 crore from equity and debt together in the past four months (October-January). Prior to that, FPIs had invested over Rs 20,000 crore in the capital market in September 2016.
      According to depository data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) infused a net sum of Rs 2,088 crore in equities during February 1-10 and another Rs 3,739 crore in the debt segment, translating into a total inflow of Rs 5,827 crore (USD 865 million). “After being net sellers in January 2017, FPIs pumped in funds post-Budget, especially after they received clarity on capital gains taxation as well as tax on indirect transfers,” Vidya Bala Head Mutual Fund Research at Fundsindia.com said.
      “Also, the demonetisation fears did not reflect much in the earnings numbers which could also be one more reason for FPIs to repose faith in the Indian markets. A lesser than painful demonetisation impact and the confidence arising from digitisation and resulting transparency could see FPIs viewing Indian markets more seriously,” she added
      Besides, the no rate cut stance has caused some dips in the price of debt instruments (as yields moved up) offering opportunities for buyers, Bala said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his Budget speech, proposed that category I and II FPIs should be exempted from taxation on indirect transfers.
      “No change in long-term capital gains tax on equities has lightened investors’ fears on transaction cost,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services. Meanwhile, Nikkei Markit India Manufacturing PMI in January rebounded from the demonetisation downturn by increasing to 50.4, from 49.6 in December, amid rising order books, production as well as buying levels and expansion in the sector. Further, SIAM’s auto numbers have shown that passenger vehicle sales in India rose by 14 per cent in January.

    General Awareness

    2017 National Women’s Parliament held in Andhra Pradesh
    • In a first of its kind initiative, National Women’s Parliament was organized by the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in association with MAEER’s MIT School of Governance at Pavithra Sangamam in Amravati, Andhra Pradesh with an aim to empower women.
      • The three day conclave that began on February 10, 2017 was based on the theme: ‘Empowering Women — Strengthening Democracy’.
      • The conclave was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi via video conference in the presence of AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Speaker of Bangladesh Parliament, Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.
      • The vision of the conclave is to provide a platform to enable and encourage social, political and economic empowerment of women in all strata of the society.
      • The NWP is set to come out with the Amaravati Declaration on women empowerment at the end of the three-day deliberations on February 12, 2017
      About National Women’s Parliament
      The National Women’s Parliament saw over 10,000 higher secondary girls connecting with 401 women legislators, 91 women Members of Parliament and 300 social and corporate women leaders of India and overseas.
      • Through this interaction the conference aimed to make young girls realize their potential and enable them to take leadership roles in all sectors of life. Besides, it also aimed to sensitize the society about issues like malnutrition among women and children, sexual harassment, and sanitation among others.
      • The NWP focused to generate new ideas, concepts, theories and ideologies for women empowerment.
      • The conclave also had seven plenary sessions with discussions on subjects like Socio-political challenges in women empowerment, women’s status and decision making power, building own identity and vision for the future.
      • As a part of the NWP, an ‘International Woman Icon of the World’ award and 12 best young achievers awards for women in different fields were presented. Awards were also given to Best Student Speakers and each participants were awarded with the Certificates of Participation.
      • Women from diverse backgrounds like politics, arts and culture, sports, education, industry, media, cinema, judiciary and social sector participated in the NWP to share their knowledge and research in the area of women’s social, economic and political empowerment.
      • Further, the interaction among women from all backgrounds and girl students helped to sensitize the society on issues like malnutrition, social security, sexual harassment, sanitation, oppression and other gender-based problems.
      • Some of the eminent personalities present in the National Women parliament included Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama, Union Ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and P Ashok Gajapati Raju, AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi, Bangladesh Parliament Speaker Shirin Chaudhury, Gandhian Ela Bhatt, actress Manisha Koirala among other.
      Expected Outcome of the National Women’s Parliament
      Generation of new ideas, concepts, theories and ideologies pertaining to women empowerment.
      • Help in strengthening the sense of social responsibility among women of India.
      • Documentation of the views of experts and experienced speakers on women empowerment which can be used for policy making process.
      • The network between eminent women and girls students will enable them to take leadership roles in all sectors in future

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