Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee, who jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize with his wife Esther Duflo and Harvard's Michael Kremer, said on Monday that the Indian economy is 'doing very badly' even as the government is increasingly recognising that there is a problem.

"The economy is doing very badly in my view," he told a press conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after wining the prize.

When asked about his opinion on the state of the economy in India and its future, he said, "That's a statement not about what will work in the future but about what's going on now. That I'm entitled to have an opinion about."

Referring to the numbers put out by the National Sample Survey, that come out every 1.5 years that gives estimates about the average consumption in urban and rural areas in India, Banerjee said, "The fact that we see in that is that between 2014-15 and 2017-18, that number has slightly gone down.

"And that's the first time such a thing has happened in many many many many many years so that's a very glaring warning sign.

"There is enormous fight going on in India about which data is right and the government has a particular view of (that) all data that is inconvenient to it is wrong.

"But nonetheless, I think that this is something that I think even the government is increasingly recognising that there is a problem. So the economy slowing very very fast. How fast we don't know, there is this dispute about data but I think fast."

He added that he does not know exactly what to do.

"The government has a large deficit but right now it's sort of at least aiming to please everybody by pretending to hold to some budgetary targets and monetary targets," he said.

He said that in his view when the economy is going into a 'tailspin', is the time when 'you don't worry so much about monetary stability and you worry a little bit more about demand. I think demand is a huge problem right now in economy'.   -- PTI

Nobel winner Abhijit Banerjee went back to sleep after getting the news from Stockholm early Monday morning that he and his wife Esther Duflo and Harvard's Michael Kremer have been awarded the coveted prize 'for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty'.

"Yes. It was very early in the morning. I'm not an early morning person. I figured it would be assault to the system if I don't continue my sleep," Banerjee said in an interview with NobelPrize.org.

The trio won the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics, which was announced Monday around 6 am New York time.

He said that he couldn't get much sleep later as news of the honour spread from India to Europe and he started getting calls.

When asked about the rare honour for Banerjee and Duflo to be awarded the Nobel as a married couple, he termed it 'special'.

Only five other married couples have won the Nobel together in the prize's history.

"It's sort of been an entire family enterprise in the sense between JPAL and the research and working at MIT. There's lots of dimensions of the work that just becomes much more pleasant when you do it with your partner."

Banerjee is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 2003, he founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), along with Duflo and Sendhil Mullainathan, and he remains one of the lab's directors.   -- PTI

Indian-American MIT professor Abhijit Banerjee, who jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize with his wife Esther Duflo and Harvard professor Michael Kremer, on Monday said he is delighted that work focussed on the world's poorest people has been awarded the prestigious prize and it honours all the people working on the ground for poverty alleviation.

The prize 'reflects on the fact that somehow while we often pay lip service to the welfare of all, this is something that not always (is the) immediate focus of a prize like this,' Banerjee said in an interview to NobelPrize.org.

He said he is delighted that 'some attention was thrown this way'.

"Not that I think all the other things that they get prizes for aren't important. But it does make people who work in this area feel a little more enthused.

"Lots of people in this world, who do real things, not people like us, people who do real things, this is somewhat of a prize for all of them," he said.

Banerjee said he has learnt an 'enormous amount' from talking to people on the ground.

"The set of people I really owe enormous amount to is the people who are 'both the people with whom we work with, whose lives we study in many ways, but also the people who work with them."

Crediting NGOs like Pratham and Seva Mandir for the work they do at the grassroots level, he said he has learned a huge amount from these organisations.

"For example, my personal experience that these organisations that work on a very large scale with very poor people has certainly been very important for us."

He added that 'one should not have too much faith in one's own rationality and you should not have too much faith in the rationality of anybody else either'.   -- PTI

Retail inflation climbed to a 14-month high of 3.99 per cent in September due to costlier vegetables and pulses but still remained within the Reserve Bank of India's comfort zone, government data showed on Monday.

The Consumer Price Index-based inflation stood at 3.28 per cent in August and 3.70 per cent in the September 2018.

The previous high was 4.17 per cent in July 2018.

However, the wholesale inflation in September slipped to an over three-year low of 0.33 per cent.

The CPI data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed that the rate of price rise in the food basket in September 2019 was 5.11 per cent as against 2.99 per cent in the preceding month.

The inflation print for vegetables shot up to 15.40 per cent during the month from 6.9 per cent.

Besides, price rise in pulses and meat and fish baskets for the reported month was higher over August.

However, there was a decline in inflation in the fuel and light segment.

The RBI, which has been slashing the key interest rate (repo) since January 2019, mainly factors in CPI while arriving at its bi-monthly monetary policy.   -- PTI

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Monday said he was 'very very happy and delighted' over Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee jointly winning the Nobel in Economics.

Sen had won the same award in 1998 for his contribution to welfare economics.

Speaking to PTI from Boston, Sen said Im very very happy and delighted that Abhijit Banerjee along with others have been awarded with the Nobel for Economics, he told PTI.

58-year-old Banerjee bagged the coveted prize jointly with his wife Esther Duflo and another economist Michael Kremer for his 'experimental approach to alleviating global poverty'.

I think that the prize has been given to the most competent persons, Sen said.

Banerjee is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

86-year-old Sen currently serves as professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University, from where Banerjee received his PhD in 1988.  -- PTI

"Abhijit Banerjee's pathbreaking work has also benefitted lakhs of children studying in Delhi govt schools. One of Delhi govt's most imp education reform 'Chunauti' has transformed govt school classroom teaching. It is based on the model developed by him. 

"Big day for every Indian. Heartiest congratulations to eminent economist Abhijit Banerjee for being among the winners of this year's Nobel prize for Economics. Work on poverty alleviation gets highest endorsement (sic)," Kejriwal said in a series of tweets. 

The Delhi government had introduced the scheme in 2016 seeking to check dropout of the students and improve education quality with special focus on the weakest students. The government also announced a subsequent version of the scheme 'Chunauti 2018' under which students are mapped and the weakest among them are given "special focus" to enhance their learning levels from Class 6 to 8. 

Banerjee, his wife Esther Duflo and another economist Michael Kremer jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty".  -- PTI

Modi also targeted the Congress over Rafale, saying he was happy that despite its best efforts to stall the deal, the country had received first of the fighter jets, and stressed that the BJP was committed to strengthening security forces. 

Asserting that India is now taking big decisions like on Article 370 which were unthinkable earlier, the prime minister said the massive mandate from the people gave him the strength to take the step which, he asserted, has the backing of the entire country including Haryana. Some people whose interests have been affected are raising questions on this decision and seeking help in foreign nations, the prime minister said, while again targeting the opposition on the issue as he did in poll-bound Maharashtra on Sunday. Modi said the opposition parties in Haryana were crumbling and their attempts to come together are falling apart, while the BJP had a "strong team and a strong captain" in Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. "India is taking big decisions, which no one could think of earlier. Which decision am I talking about? This decision on Article 370," he said. 

Modi said there was feeling in Haryana and the entire country that J&K needs to be pulled out of spiral of violence and put on path of development. "J&K and Ladakh are moving on path of trust and development and credit for this does not go to Modi, but it goes to 130 crore people of this country and voters of this country. You gave us big mandate and I derive strength from you to realise your dreams," he said. -- PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee on winning the Nobel Prize for Economics, saying he has made notable contributions in the field of poverty alleviation. Banerjee shared the award with his French-American wife Esther Duflo and another American economist Michael Kremer for their "experimental approach to alleviating global poverty." 

 "Congratulations to Abhijit Banerjee on being conferred the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. He has made notable contributions in the field of poverty alleviation," Modi wrote on Twitter. He also congratulated Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for wining the Nobel.  

Speaking to India Today, Shah rejected the notion that he will remain the "super power" running the party from behind the scene, saying similar claims were made when he took over as the BJP chief in 2014 and once his replacement starts running the organisation such speculation will be put to rest. 

"This (BJP) is not the Congress party and nobody can run it from behind the scene," he said, stating that it will be run as per its constitution. He was asked that many believe he will remain the "super power" running the party's affairs even after he is no longer heading the organisation.

It is widely believed in the BJP circles that its working president J P Nadda will replace Shah at the helm. -- PTI

Image: JP Nadda with Amit Shah

Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative Bank, which is among the top 10 urban cooperative banks, was placed under an RBI administrator on September 23 for six months due to massive under-reporting of dud loans. The regulator also capped deposit withdrawals first at Rs 1,000, which was subsequently increased to Rs 10,000 and Rs 25,000. 

"The financial position of the bank has been substantially impaired due to fraud perpetrated on it by certain persons. As soon as the matter came to the notice of the Reserve Bank, action was taken in appointing an administrator and ensuring that the bank's available resources are protected and not misused or diverted," the RBI said. 

In a press statement, the central bank also said the move to increase the withdrawal cap to Rs 40,000 has been taken "after reviewing the bank's liquidity position and its ability to pay its depositors". With this move, about 77 percent of the depositors of the bank will be able to withdraw their entire account balance with the increase in the caps, it said. -- PTI

Professor Anjan Mukherjee, who taught Banerjee at the Centre For Economic Studies and Planning, said he has sent his former student a congratulatory email. "I have sent him an email. He was a very good student, among the best that we have taught. We always expected that he would go far and he did. "He has been at the forefront for many years. When his book came out in 2008, that is the time when we thought that he would get the Nobel. We were all hoping that he would get it," he told PTI. 

Banerjee pursued his Masters in Economics from the university. "There are not too many teachers in India who can say that they have produced a Nobel laureate. All of us at the Centre for Economics Studies and Planning can proudly say so," Mukherjee added. JNU vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar also expressed pride at Banerjee's achievement.

The book, titled "Good Economics for Hard Times - Better Answers to our Biggest Problems", will hit the stands on October 19. According to the publishers, the book, which deals with the most pressing issues of our time like employment, international trade and climate change, also helps in finding solutions to challenges facing the global economy today. "... It tries to find the answers to questions like: Do immigrants take away jobs from poor native workers? Does international trade increase inequality, which is at present growing alarmingly? How do we manage the trade-off between growth and climate change? Is economic growth over in the West?," Juggernaut said in a statement. 

Esther Duflo, Michael Kremer and Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee jointly won the 2019 Nobel Prize on Monday for their experimental approach to alleviate global poverty. Also, Duflo is the only second woman to receive the world's most prestigious award in Economics since 1969. 

"In the book the authors argue that we have the resources to solve these problems; what we lack are ideas that will help us jump the wall of disagreement and distrust that divides us. "Only if the best minds in the world work with governments and civil society to redesign our social programs for effectiveness and political viability will history remember our era with gratitude," it added. -- PTI

She said she is also happy as one of the joint winners of the prestigious award is her daughter-in-law Esther Duflo. Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee, his French-American wife Esther Duflo and another economist Michael Kremer were declared winners of the Nobel Prize for economics on Monday. 

Rahul Gandhi offers his congratulations saying, "Congratulations to #AbhijitBanerjee on winning the Nobel Prize in Economics. Abhijit helped conceptualise NYAY that had the power to destroy poverty and boost the Indian economy. Instead we now have Modinomics, that's destroying the economy and boosting poverty."

ReadBanerjee's interview on how NYAY could eradicate poverty. 

Born in Mumbai, the 58-year-old economist is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the MIT. Along with Harvard University economist Michael Kremer, Banerjee and Duflo, who is the second woman and the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel in economic sciences, were named co-winners of the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. 

In a press release, the MIT said the "work of Duflo and Banerjee has emphasised the use of field experiments in research, to bring the principles of laboratory-style randomised, controlled trials to empirical economics. "They have studied a wide range of topics implicated in global poverty, including health care provision, education, agriculture, and gender attitudes, while developing new antipoverty programs based on their research," the MIT said. 

Earlier in a tweet, the MIT congratulated the duo on winning one of the most prestigious award in the world. "The 2019 Economic Sciences Laureates' research findings have dramatically improved our ability to fight poverty in practice. As a result of one of their studies, more than 5 million Indian children have benefitted from programmes of remedial tutoring in schools," the MIT tweeted. "MIT's Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo have won the @NobelPrize in #economics, for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. Congratulations! They share the prize with Michael Kremer of Harvard,' the institute said in a tweet on Monday. 

The MIT said that in 2003, Duflo and Banerjee (along with Sendhil Mullainathan, now of the University of Chicago) co-founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a global network of antipoverty researchers that conducts field experiments. The MIT said J-PAL works to both discern which kinds of local interventions have the greatest impact on social problems, and to implement those programmes more broadly, in cooperation with governments and NGOs. 

Among J-PAL's notable interventions are deworming programmes that have been adopted widely. Duflo received her undergraduate degree from the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris in 1994, after studying both history and economics. She earned a master's degree in economics the next year, jointly through the Ecole Normale Superieure and the Ecole Polytechnique. Duflo then earned her PhD in economics from MIT in 1999. 

She joined the MIT faculty the same year, and has remained at MIT her entire career. She is currently the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics. 

The court listed the plea for hearing on Tuesday and asked the registry to place on record the additional status report once it is filed. Shivakumar, arrested in a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by the ED, has approached the high court challenging the trial court's order denying him bail. 

The high court had earlier issued notice to the probe agency, asking it to file a status report. In the high court, Shivakumar cited medical reason as one of the grounds for securing bail. The Congress leader has said in the plea that he is a seven-time MLA and not a flight risk. -- PTI

The letter on the security threat was written by Sriram Panchu, one of the mediators besides former apex court judge F M I Kalifulla and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. -- PTI

"Around 45-50 suicide bombers are training inside the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist camp in the Balakot town of Pakistan," top government sources told ANI.

Indian intelligence agencies are keeping a constant watch on the facility including technical surveillance to keep a track of the developments there.

A few of the terrorists, who have trained there, have even been sent to Kashmir for carrying out terror attacks on Indian security bases, the sources said.

Sources said the facility had remained closed for six months after the Indian Air Force attacked it on February this year.Last month, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat had revealed that Pakistan very recently "reactivated" the terror camp in Balakot.

Addressing a poll rally, his first for the October 21 assembly elections in Haryana, Gandhi also attacked Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar alleging that both the leaders do not talk about the poor. 

"Narendra Modi is the loudspeaker of Ambani and Adani as he only talks about them all day," Gandhi said. "Narendra Modi and Khattar are taking away your money and giving it to their 15 rich friends," he alleged, asking if they claim themselves to be true nationalists, "why are they selling away PSUs to their rich friends". 

He also targeted the BJP and RSS, accusing them of dividing the country and its people on the basis of caste, religion, and region, like the British, and said the Congress united people. 

The Congress leader also accused Modi of taking money of the poor and giving it away to the rich businessmen. He said to jump-start the economy, there is a need to put money in the pockets of the poor and farmers, and the Congress' 'Nyay scheme', proposed during the Lok Sabha election, was a step in this direction. 

 "You will see Narendra Modi only with Trump and Ambani, but you will never see him with farmers," Gandhi said addressing the rally. -- PTI

Presidency University feels happy that two of its alumni members, both stalwarts in Economics - Amartya Sen and now Banerjee have been chosen for the Nobel in Economics, University registrar Debajyoti Konar said.

"The entire Presidency family feels immensely proud for Banerjee who has jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize along with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer," he told PTI. 

"He had been a member of our mentor group and has always offered us valuable suggestions for the economics department," Konar said. 

Banerjee, he said, had visited Presidency in 2018. "Whenever he visits Kolkata he makes it a point to visit his alma mater with which he is still associated". 

He will be felicitated in a befitting manner when the institute reopens after Durga Puja vacation, Konar added. Banerjee, an Indian-American jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize along with two others - his wife Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer on Monday "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty."

Image: Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee work at MIT while the third Nobel winner Michael Kremer is at Harvard

Banerjee, born in 1961 in Mumbai, bagged the award for his "experimental approach to alleviating global poverty". 

The 58-year-old economist received his PhD in 1988 from Harvard University. He also studied at the University of Calcutta and Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. 

In 2003, he founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), along with his French-American wife Duflo, who is also a MIT professor, and Sendhil Mullainathan.

He remains one of the lab's directors, according to the MIT website. Banerjee is a past president of the Bureau for the Research in the Economic Analysis of Development, a Research Associate of the NBER, a CEPR research fellow, International Research Fellow of the Kiel Institute, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society, and has been a Guggenheim Fellow and an Alfred P Sloan Fellow and a winner of the Infosys prize. 

He is the author of a large number of articles and four books, including 'Poor Economics', which won the Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award in 2011. The 'Poor Economics' has been translated into more than 17 languages. 

"Why would a man in Morocco who doesn't have enough to eat buy a television? Why is it so hard for children in poor areas to learn, even when they attend school? Does having lots of children actually make you poorer? Answering questions like these is critical if we want to have a chance to really make a dent against global poverty," Banerjee wrote in the book 'Poor Economics'. 

He is the editor of three more books and has directed two documentary films. He also served on the UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the website said.

Pic courtesy: MIT

"To ensure liquidity for small businesses, banks have been asked to provide bill discounting facility to the MSME sector against payments due from the large corporates," she said while briefing reporters after meeting heads of state-run banks for measures to boost the economy.

Bill discounting is an arrangement under which a seller recovers an amount of sales bill from financial intermediaries before it is due. Such intermediaries charge a fee for the service.

On the merger of banks, everything is going smoothly, the bank boards have all been on board, they have taken the necessary steps to keep that process going smoothly, the minister said.

On the amalgamation of 10 public sector banks into four stronger lenders with countrywide networks and global reach, Sitharaman said their respective board of directors have taken steps to keep the process proceeding smoothly.

On the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank crisis, she said the Reserve Bank of India will ensure that the interests of customers are protected.

Last month, the RBI capped withdrawals at Rs 10,000 per account and asked the bank to not grant or renew any loans and advances, make any investment or incur any liability, including borrowal of funds and acceptance of fresh deposits.

The central bank's directions were necessitated on account of major financial irregularities, failure of internal control and systems of the bank and wrong or under-reporting of its exposures under various off-site surveillance reports.

Monday's review meeting with CEOs of public sector banks to discuss various issues, including progress on credit offtake, as part of efforts to prop up the economy.

The meeting review fund flow to stressed non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and MSMEs. The banks also presented their report card on partial credit guarantee scheme and fund raising from the market to enhance their capital base.

Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar said the public sector banks disbursed Rs 81,781 crore in the nine days of 'loan mela' from October 1 to 9.

He said that an amount of Rs 34,342 crore was disbursed to new entrepreneurs, adding that the lenders followed prudential norms while disbursing the loans. -- PTI

He was responding to Gandhi's charge that the BJP government was diverting public attention from real issues by invoking the nullification of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and India's moon mission.

The BJP leader said the Congress was a sinking ship and its leaders were jumping out of it.

"When a ship sinks, everyone runs away. India's space science and technology have immensely benefited the mankind by sending Chandrayaan to the Moon, but Rahul Gandhi won't understand this. It's better to ignore him," he said.

Deodhar also slammed Gandhi for taking up the Rafale fighter jet issue during his poll campaign in Maharashtra.

"Rafale after the Parliamentary election can be termed as Rahul-fail. It is a failure of Rahul. People are not ready to believe him. Malafide campaign against Prime Minister Modi was not at all accepted by the people of the country," he said.

The BJP leader said Gandhi raised the issue of Rafale during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the people of the country gave him the answer through their votes.

"He used foul languages against the Prime Minister, who has devoted his life to the country and its development. Rahul even called him 'Chowkidar Chor Hai', but the people have responded to him through EVMs. Despite that, Rahul Gandhi is not learning the lessons," he said. -- ANI

Abhijit Banerjee is the second India to win Amartya Sen the Nobel Prize for Economics.

The 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. 

In a statement, the Nobel committee said that "the research conducted by the 2019 Economic Sciences Laureates has considerably improved our ability to fight global poverty. In just two decades, their new experiment-based approach has transformed development economics, which is now a flourishing field of research".

"This year's Laureates have introduced a new approach to obtaining reliable answers about the best ways to fight global poverty. It divides this issue into smaller, more manageable questions -- for example, the most effective interventions for improving child health."

Economic Sciences Laureate Esther Duflo, born in 1972, is the second woman and the youngest person to be awarded the Prize in Economic Sciences.

The Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh was trying to spread its tentacles across India and a list of 125 suspects have been shared with different states, National Investigation Agency chief Y C Modi said on Monday.

 

Addressing a meeting of chiefs of the anti-terrorism squads, Modi said the JMB has spread its activities in states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala in the guise of Bangladeshi immigrants.

"The NIA has shared with states concerned a list of 125 suspected activists who have close links with the JMB leadership," he said.

Giving details of various operational theatres, Inspector General of the NIA, Alok Mittal however said the list, which was shared with the states, contains 130 suspects.

He said from 2014 to 2018, the JMB has set up 20-22 hideouts in Bengaluru and tried to spread its bases in South India.

"The JMB even conducted a trial of rocket launchers in the Krishnagiri hills along the Karnataka border," he said.

Mittal said the JMB was keen to attack Buddhists temples to take revenge for the plight of Rohingiya Muslims in Myanmar.

He said the JMB had started its activities first in 2007, initially in West Bengal and Assam, and then in other parts of the country.

"During the investigation, it was found that the 130 activists were in regular contact with the JMB leadership," he said. -- PTI

Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton, who will arrive in Pakistan on Monday amidst tight security, want to build a lasting friendship with the people of the country, the British envoy to Islamabad has said.

In a video message shared on Twitter, British High Commissioner Thomas Drew, said that during the visit, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will cover the "breadth and depth" of the country.

He said the royal visit, the first in 13 years, would largely focus on showcasing Pakistan as a dynamic, aspirational and forward-looking nation.

The visit comes 13 years after Charles and Camilla -- the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwell -- toured the country in 2006.

In their first visit to the country, the royal couple will visit Islamabad, Lahore and Chitral in the north-west Pakistan before flying back to London.

The high commissioner said that the couple hopes to meet as many Pakistanis as possible, particularly the youth who are shaping the future of the country.

He said the couple wanted to build a lasting friendship with the people of Pakistan.

Last week, Kensington Palace characterised the October 14-18 visit as the "most complex" the royal couple have been a part of due to the security considerations in the region.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that more than 1,000 police personnel will secure the tour as the couple begin the visit, which follows on the request of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office to strengthen the "extensive" links between Britain and Pakistan. -- PTI

India is a "heaven" for minorities while Pakistan has proved to be a "hell" for them, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Monday.

   

He also asserted that the government was working on a war-footing to provide quality education and employment oriented skills to the needy including minorities. 

Speaking at the 25th silver jubilee function and annual conference of State Channelising Agencies of National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation in New Delhi, Naqvi credited the PM for making India a "role model" for "inclusive growth and positive progress" globally. 

"India is a heaven for minorities while Pakistan has proved to be a hell for minorities. The Modi Government has been working on a war-footing to provide quality and affordable education, employment oriented skill development and basic infrastructure to every needy in society. 

"Priority of the government is to provide affordable and quality education to all the needy sections of society including minorities and their economic empowerment through employment oriented skill development," he said.

Naqvi said easy loans worth Rs 3000 crore have been provided in the last five years by NMDFC to more than 8.30 lakh beneficiaries for various economic activities.

He also said that from the first day of this government, the ministry of minority affairs has been working effectively for educational and economic empowerment of minorities.  -- PTI

Four fire tenders have rushed to the spot. 

More details are awaited.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's husband Parakala Prabhakar has advised the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government to "embrace" the economic model put forward by former prime ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh.

In a column for The Hindu, Prabhakar has argued that the current government should take a cue from the "Rao-Singh economic architecture", referring to the liberalisation of economy ushered in by the Congress government in 1991, when Rao was the prime minister and Manmohan held the finance ministry.

Prabhakar, in his column, opines that that the BJP, since its inception, has not been able to propose any economic framework of its own and has instead stayed occupied with critiquing Nehruvian socialism.

"The BJP's flirting with Gandhian socialism did not last for more than a few months after its founding. In economic policy, the party mainly adopted 'Neti Neti (Not this, Not this'), without articulating what was its own 'Niti (policy)," he said.

Prabhakar goes on to suggest that the economic performance of the Modi government made it choose 'a muscular political, nationalist, security platform' to make its re-election bid.

In his column, Prabhakar also puts forth the proposition that BJP could portray Narasimha Rao on the economic front, just as it has done for Sardar Patel, on the political front.

The BJP has not challenged or rejected Rao's 1991 architecture. A full-fledged embrace and an aggressive pursuit of it even now could provide the BJP and the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a lodestar to steer the economy out of the choppy waters it is in at present.

The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index, was at 5.22 per cent in September 2018. 

The rate of price rise for the food articles was at 7.47 per cent during the month, while that for non-food articles stood at 2.18 per cent, showed the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. -- PTI 

The workers of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited across its nine units in the country, began an indefinite strike on Monday, pressing various demands including wage revision.

All India HAL Trade Unions Coordination Committee had on Sunday announced the indefinite strike after talks with the management ended in failure.

"We are observing strike in all nine units of HAL all over India. More than 10,000 employees here are on strike and as a result work has come to a standstill," the AIHALTUCC chief convener Suryadevara Chandrashekhar told PTI.

The union leader also said the employees have hit the streets in protest.

In a statement on Sunday, the AIHALTUCC said during the wage revision negotiation meeting, the management had offered 11 per cent fitment benefit and 22 per cent perks for one to 10 Scale and 20 per cent perks for one scale.

The management told the union representatives that final offer will be given by Chairman and Managing Director provided all the nine unions come to an agreement on fitment benefit and perks and withdrew the indefinite strike.

The AIHALTUCC did not accept the management's conditional offer and decided to go on a strike seeking fair and early wage revision settlements.

The HAL management on Sunday said it had made all out efforts to find an amicable solution. -- PTI

Pakistan is under a lot of pressure at the Financial Action Task Force meeting, currently under way in Paris, to rein in terror groups operating from its soil, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval said on Monday.

 

Doval, who was addressing a meeting of the chiefs of the Anti Terrorism Squads, said the biggest pressure on Pakistan comes from the functionaries of the FATF.

In the present context no country can afford to go for a war as the financial and human costs are huge and no one is sure about victory, he said.

"Pakistan has been using terrorism as the instrument of state policy," he said. 

Terrorism is a low cost sustainable option which may damage enemies to a great extent, Doval said in a reference to Pakistan. 

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. 

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday took a dig at Sonia Gandhi's return as the interim president of the Congress party.

Addressing an election rally, Khattar said, "After losing the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi resigned as the Congress president and started saying that the party should get new president from outside Gandhi family," 

"We thought this was good to move away from nepotism (parivarvad)... But they spent three months moving around the country in search of a new party president. After three months who became the president? Sonia Gandhi. khoda pahad nikli chuiya, woh bhi mari hui. This is their condition," added Khattar.

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan is one happy man as he got an opportunity to meet his heroes, veteran actors Jackie Chan and Jean-Claude Van Damme. 

 

The 53-year-old actor, who is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to participate in Saudi Arabia film industry event Joy Forum, shared a picture with Chan and Van Damme on his Instagram and Twitter accounts.  

"Khan, Damme, Chan at the #JoyForum19. The joys all mine as I got to meet my heroes," Shah Rukh captioned the selfie he took with the two stars.

Another picture of the actor, Chan and Van Damme along with Aquaman star Jason Momoa from the event is doing the rounds on social media. 

Shah Rukh was last seen in Zero and made his Netflix debut as a producer last month with India Original series Bard of Blood. 

The actor, who went one a short break post the box office debacle of Zero, recently revealed during an online Q&A session with fans that he is "working on stuff" and hopes his next project will be a "hit". PTI 

After the 71-day lockdown in the Kashmir Valley, postpaid mobile services have been resumed.

However, over 20 lakh prepaid mobile phones, and mobile and other internet services will remain deactivated for now.

Restrictions were imposed after the Centre on August 5 abrogated the state's special status and bifurcated it into Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, which will come into being on October 31.

The indefinite strike by unions of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation continued for the tenth day on Monday even as a bandh was being observed in Khammam district following the death of a driver.

D Srinivas Reddy, 55, driver of TSRTC Khammam depot, who set himself ablaze on Saturday, succumbed to the burn injuries at a hospital in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Hours after Reddy's death, a conductor Surender Goud, aged around 50, allegedly committed suicide by hanging at his house in Hyderabad on Sunday night.

Another TSRTC driver, aged around 40, doused himself with petrol at Narsampet depot in Warangal district on Sunday, however, police immediately intervened and foiled his alleged self-immolation bid.

The Khammam bandh call was given by the Joint Action Committee of TSRTC and various political parties following Reddy's death.

The striking employees held demonstrations even as workers of different political parties and organisations also took out protest rallies in Khammam and Kothagudem districts.

Khammam Commissioner of Police Tafseer Iqubal told PTI over phone the bandh was going on peacefully and the situation was normal, though dharnas and rallies were being held by RTC employees and others, but shops were open.

Condolence meetings were also being held at depots and bus stands in the state by the striking employees and workers.

Shops and business establishments remained shut in some areas in Khammamand security was beefed upin view of the bandh. -- PTI

Shares of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation zoomed over 101 per cent in debut trade on Monday against its issue price of Rs 320.

   

It listed at Rs 644, reflecting a huge jump of 101.25 per cent as compared to the issue price on the BSE.

 

On the NSE, it skyrocketed 95.62 per cent to Rs 626 in opening trade.

 

The company's market valuation stood at Rs 10,972 crore in morning trade.

 

The initial public offering of IRCTC was a huge hit among investors, subscribed 111.91 times earlier this month.

 

The Rs 645-crore IPO was in a price range of Rs 315-320 per share.

 

IRCTC is the only entity authorised by Indian Railways to provide catering services to railways, online railway tickets and packaged drinking water at railway stations and trains in India. -- PTI  

The Kalyan unit of the Shiv Sena will oppose any plan of the Maharashtra government to rename Ulhasnagar township in Thane district as "Sindhu Nagar", a local leader said on Sunday.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had reportedly said at a rally in Ulhasnagar a couple of days ago that a metro line being built till Kalyan would be extended to Ulhasnagar and the metro station would be called Sindhu Nagar.

Ulhasnagar, a major hub of small industrial and business units, has a large Sindhi population and there have been demands earlier to name the township as Sindhu Nagar.

The town gets its name from Ulhas river, a westward flowing perennial water body which originates in the Sahyadari hill ranges of Ulhas valley near Udhewadi in Mawal taluka in Pune district. -- PTI

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday took a dig at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat over his remarks that Muslims in the country were happy, saying the Constitution and not "magnanimity of majority" determined it.

     

Referring to Bhagwat's speech on Saturday in Bhubaneswar, the AIMIM Hyderabad MP in a tweet said "...The measure of whether were happy or not is the Constitution, not the magnanimity of majority."

     

He also said: "No matter how hard Bhagwat tries to link us to foreign Muslims, it will not reduce my Indianness. Hindu Rashtra=Hindu Supremacy. That is unacceptable to us."    

"Bhagwat cannot erase my history in India by renaming it Hindu. It wont work. He cannot insist that our cultures, faiths, creeds & individual identities all be subsumed by Hinduism. Bharat na kabhi Hindu Rashtra tha, na hai, na hi kabhi banega Inshallah", he said in another tweet.

      

Addressing a meeting of intellectuals ahead of the meeting of Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal, the highest decision-making body of RSS,  Bhagwat had said "People of India consider themselves as one irrespective of diverse culture, languages, geographical locations."

      

Because of this unique feeling of oneness, people belonging to different faiths such as Muslims, Parsis and others feel safe in the country, Bhagawat said. 

"Parsis are well protected in India and Muslims are also happy," he said,-- PTI 

French energy giant Total on Monday announced acquisition of 37.4 per cent stake in Gautam Adani-led Adani Gas.

   

The gas marketing and distribution company, however, did not reveal the value of the deal.

 

The announcement comes a year after the two firms announced a 50:50 joint venture to import and retail natural gas.

 

"The partnership between Adani (50 per cent) and Total (50 per cent) includes several assets across the gas value chain notably two imports and regasification LNG terminals: Dhamra in East India and potentially Mundra in the west, as well as Adani Gas, one of the four main distributors of city gas in India of which Adani holds 74.8 per cent and of which Total will acquire 37.4 per cent," the French firm said in a statement.

 

To reach a 37.4 per cent shareholding in Adani Gas, Total will initially launch a tender offer to public shareholders to acquire up to 25.2 per cent of equity shares before buying the remaining shares from Adani, it said.

 

Total, the world's second-largest liquefied natural gas player, said it is expanding its partnership with the Adani Group -- the largest energy and infrastructure conglomerate in India, to contribute to the development of the Indian natural gas market.

 

The Indian natural gas market represents a substantial growth perspective. 

It is currently only 7 per cent of the energy consumption, but has grown over the last three years by more than 5 per cent per annum, supported by an active policy of the Indian government that aims to diversify its energy mix and develop domestic use of gas in cities and as fuel for vehicles. 

India has set the ambitious target of increasing the share of natural gas in its energy mix to 15 per cent by 2030. -- PTI

Kareena Kapoor Khan says whenever actor-couple Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt tie the knot, she would be the happiest girl in the world.

 

Ranbir and Alia have been dating for more than two years and rumours of their marriage keep surfacing.

At the Jio MAMI Movie Mela with Star, 2019, Alia was in conversation with Kareena and filmmaker Karan Johar.

When Johar asked Alia if she ever imagined there would be a day she might be Kareena's sister-in-law, the "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" star instead replied, "I'll be the happiest girl in the world!"

To which, Alia responded, "Honestly I never thought about it but I don't want to think about it now also. We will cross that bridge when we come to it."

Johar said whenever and if ever it has to happen, both Kareena and him "will be exceptionally happy and we will be standing there with a thali!"

"I do hope, eventually, whenever you do kind of get into that zone, you will actually handle and treat your career like Kareena has," he added.

To which, Alia said the way Kareena handled her career after marriage was a big learning.

"She has genuinely been an inspiration to me. Earlier there was this thing that if an actress gets married, her career slows down a bit but she totally broke that for all of us," she added. 

Both the actors will soon be seen together on screen in Takht, directed by Johar. -- PTI 

Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has said voting in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party will mean "dropping of a nuclear bomb on Pakistan".

He said the upcoming Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections are crucial as these will be the first polls in the country after the abrogation of Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

He was addressing a public gathering in support of BJP candidate Narendra Mehta from Mira Bhayander assembly segment in Maharashtra's Thane district on Sunday night.

"By pressing the lotus button (BJP's poll symbol), not only Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Narendra Mehta will be benefitted, but it will mean that a nuclear bomb will by itself get dropped on Pakistan," Maurya said.

The entire world will closely watch the upcoming assembly elections in these two states as it will indicate the real patriotism of Indians, the BJP leader said.

"These will be the first elections to be held in the country after the scrapping of Article 370, hence have immense importance. The results of these polls will reveal people's 'rashtra bhakti' (patriotism)," he said.

So, it is essential for every voter to exercise his/her franchise to make the "right choice", he said.

"The vote you cast will not be for Narendra Mehta alone, but it would be for the leadership of Prime Minister Modi and chief minister Fadnavis," Maurya told the gathering.

Taking a dig at the opposition, he said, "Goddess Laxmi does not sit on the palm of hand, bicycle or clock (in an apparent reference to poll symbols of Congress, Samajwadi Party and NCP respectively), but she sits on a lotus, which is a symbol of development." -- PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is known for his ability to connect with the masses through social media, has now 30 million followers on Instagram, in just over a month after the tech-savvy leader had crossed the 50 million follower mark on Twitter.

With this, Modi is now the most followed world leader on the photo-sharing app.

United States President Donald Trump currently has 14.9 million followers while his predecessor Barack Obama has 24.8 million followers on Instagram.

"PM @NarendraModi crosses 30 million followers on Instagram*. He is the most followed world leader on Instagram ahead of US President Trump as well as former US President Obama. This is yet another testament to his popularity and connect with the youth," BJP working president JP Nadda said in a tweet.

On Twitter, the prime minister currently has 50.7 million followers and now stands tall among the world leaders on the micro-blogging site, with his handle @narendramodi a little behind that of Trump, who has 65.7 million followers.

Obama remains on the first spot with over 109 million accounts following him.

Modi is very active on social media, including Instagram and Twitter and regularly puts out texts on everything -- from his speeches at various platforms to the places he went and the people he met. -- ANI

Tibetan leader in exile, Dalai Lama on Sunday said he "enjoys freedom by living in India".

"We already enjoy freedom living in India for over sixty years. In one way I'm a refugee but I enjoy India's freedom," he said. 

Asked about freedom of Tibet, Dalai Lama recalled that the former Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru had advised him that the United Nations cannot do much.

"Tibetan freedom...since 1974...before that, we appealed to the UN. Pandit Nehru advised that the United Nations cannot do much. Sooner or later, much better to approach the Chinese and talk to them," he said.

"In '74, we decided to not seek independence. Try to remain...while we remain within the People's Republic of China, we should have certain rights for the preservation of our own culture," he added.

In a witty remark, the Tibetan leader said they can teach the Chinese how to practice democracy.

"Since 2001, I completely retired. The elected political leadership carry all these responsibilities. I think eventually we can teach Chinese how to practice democracy," he said.

On October 6, it was reported that the Tibetan government-in-exile had passed a resolution reaffirming that the successor of Dalai Lama will be chosen by the spiritual leader himself and no nation has locus standi on the issue. -- ANI

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday discussed the situation in Kashmir with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani amidst tensions with India after New Delhi abrogated Jammu and Kashmir's special status.

 

Khan, who visited Tehran on Sunday to help mitigate tensions between bitter regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, held talks with President Rouhani at the presidential palace and later met with Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

 

Pakistan foreign office in a statement said Khan discussed the situation in Kashmir with Rouhani and expressed gratitude over "Iran's support" on the Kashmir issue.

 

Pakistan has been trying to internationalise the Kashmir issue after India withdrew the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, but New Delhi has asserted the abrogation of Article 370 was its "internal matter" and has asked Islamabad to accept the reality.

 

India has also said that there is no scope for any third party mediation on the Kashmir issue.

It was Prime Minister Khan's second visit to Iran this year. He also had a bilateral meeting with the Iranian President on the sidelines of the 74th UNGA Session in New York in September. -- PTI

After 71-day lockdown, the postpaid mobile services to resume in Kashmir from Monday noon.

However, over 20 lakh prepaid mobile phones, and mobile and other internet services will remain deactivated for now.

Restrictions were imposed after the Centre on August 5 abrogated the state's special status and bifurcated it into Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, which will come into being on October 31.

"Having reviewed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, a decision has been taken to restore mobile phone facilities in all the remaining areas of Jammu and Kashmir," Jammu and Kashmir principle secretary and spokesman Rohit Kansal said.

"More specifically, all postpaid mobile phones, irrespective of the telecom service provider, will stand restored and be functional from 12 noon on Monday, 14 October, 2019," he said while reading out from a statement at the conference.

Lack of mobile phone connectivity has caused immense hardship to the people and the announcement of its restoration is the most significant step towards ending the communication blockade.