Washington : India is on the verge of “astounding” itself and the world as it is passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship and is experiencing a “growing vibrancy”, a top American diplomat has said.
“India is on the verge of astounding itself and the world.
And the United States is ready to be a stakeholder and partner in that future,” Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Charles H Rivkin said here yesterday.
Rivkin had recently led a high-powered US delegation that included representations from corporate sector to India on the American Innovation Roadshow to promote economic growth.
The road show was on four Indian cities New Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.
“I was so impressed by what I saw,” Rivkin said in his remarks to Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a top American think-tank.
“In every incubator we visited, members of our delegation, especially the solar companies, identified tangible commercial and investment opportunities,” Rivkin said.
Special US Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs at the State Department Ziad Haider was also part of the delegation.
“In every meeting, I experienced in a very refreshing way exactly what binds our two countries together: a shared passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. In fact, Americans and Indian entrepreneurs have become part of a shared culture that reveres innovation,” Rivkin said.
“It’s critical that we continue to support these people-to-people ties between our countries, and this growing vibrancy, not only in the clean energy space but across all sectors,” Rivkin said adding that the Modi government has set a target to reach 175-gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022.
With 80 per cent of the required infrastructure yet to be built, this is a significant opportunity for American companies and research institutions to showcase innovative technological solutions to environmental challenges, Rivkin said.
Sharing his experience of meetings with the Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh as well as the Telangana Minister for Information Technology, Rivkin said that they were all eager for private investment.
Referring to the recent decisions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increasingly devolve federal funding to the States and encouraging them to actively compete with one another in a “race to the top” for foreign investment, Rivkin said this new dynamic was evident in their conversations with State leaders.
“They stressed their commitment to protecting intellectual property rights for investors and entrepreneurs. And they made it clear that they were eager to help steer India away from carbon fuels to a cleaner, sustainable future,” he said, adding that the stakes for these States were enormous.
Many of these States have populations that outnumber major countries and the large scale needs that go with that. They not only have the motivation, they have the autonomy to do something about it, Rivkin said.
@ Agency report.
Noida : In a veiled dig at large corporate defaulters like Vijay Mallya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said while poor people are generous and honest some rich borrowers look for ways to flee after taking loans.
Addressing a function to launch government’s financial inclusion programme Stand Up India, he said under the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana poor people were encouraged to zero balance account but they deposited Rs 35,000 crore.
“This nation has seen the generosity of poor. Rich borrowers look for ways to run away after borrowing money from banks. The poor people were required to open zero balance account under the Jan Dhan scheme.
“Look at their honesty, their self respect. They opted to put money into their accounts… Rs 50, 100, 200. The deposits exceeded Rs 35,000 crore. This is the generosity of our poor people,” Modi said.
He, however, did not name liquor baron Mallya whose group company owes over Rs 9,000 crore to 17 banks, had left the country on March 4 and currently is in the UK.
Mallya’s financial dealings are being probed by several investigative agencies, including CBI, Enforcement Directorate and tax department.
@ Agency report.
London : UK business minister Sajid Javid is rushing to Mumbai to hold crunch talks with Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry in an effort to save the British steel industry after the Indian steel giant decided to sell its loss making plants in the country.
But before he leaves today for the hurriedly planned India trip, Javid is also set to hold crucial talks with Indian-origin businessman Sanjeev Gupta, who has expressed an interest in acquiring Tata Steel’s embattled Port Talbot plant in South Wales.
“Many of them are loss making at the moment but we believe they can be turned around,” Gupta, founder & CEO of commodities firm Liberty House, told the BBC.
His firm is conducting due diligence of the Tata Steel operations and have held talks with the Tata Group over the prospect of acquiring the unit and saving thousands of jobs.
“If we get involved in Port Talbot we will only do so on the basis that we are confident there will not be any mass redundancies,” he said.
“We have an alternative suggestion which is to still make hot metal but to make it from local raw material rather than imported raw material, so it’s a change of technology rather than ending liquid steel making,” he added.
Gupta indicated Tata Steel s pension fund, with 130,000 members and liabilities of almost 15 billion pounds, could prove a barrier to rescue.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron has become personally involved in trying to work out a solution to the crisis triggered as a result of a combination of cheap imports from China, falling global demand, high energy prices and a tougher tax regime than many rival nations.
According to the ‘Financial Times’, Downing Street has indicated that under state aid rules, the UK could provide financial support for the steelmaking sites, which could include reducing pensions and energy costs.
But the government remains opposed to imposing higher tariffs on Chinese steel imports.
Cameron held a meeting with Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones to discuss how to attract potential buyers for sites such as Port Talbot. He said the UK was “doing everything it can to find a long-term, viable solution to save the Port Talbot steelworks”.
Tata Steel Europe had announced its plans to sell its UK steel business last week after a “strategic review” by its board, throwing the industry into chaos.
UK steel unions have called for state support as members of the Community, GMB and Unite trade unions held talks in London on Monday.
They urged the government to back a plan that involves 1.5 billion pounds being invested into Tata s operations over 10 years, with the government providing support for two to three years until the business is self-sufficient.
@ Agency report.
GORAKHPUR: Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik today said he has sought the sacking of cabinet minister Azam Khan for making comments against him in the state Assembly last month in which the latter had accused him of communally vitiating the atmosphere of the state at the behest of the Modi government.
“I have discussed with CM Akhilesh removal of Khan several times for his conduct and behaviour. When he returns from England we will talk again,” Naik told reporters here.
“The terminology used by Khan in the Assembly is condemnable. I’ve written to the CM for his removal from his ministry and informed Parliament. Doing this is my Constitutional right and duty also,” he said.
Earlier, the Governor had gone through the CD and script of Khan’s remarks on the floor of the House during discussions on March 8 and written to Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey.
@Agency report.
Uttarakhand High Court on Tuesday ordered a floor test in the Uttarakhand Assembly on 31 March to resolve the political crisis and determine which party has majority in the House.
News reports also said that all MLAs will take part in the floor test, including the nine disqualified MLAs who will be allowed to participate during the proceedings of the Assembly only during the floor test.
The court also appointed its Registrar to be an observer during the floor test.
Reports further said that the result of the floor test will not be revealed immediately. The result will be enclosed in a sealed envelope by the Speaker and sent to the court.
Directions have also been given to the Uttarakhand DGP to ensure the floor test takes place in a peaceful way.
Addressing reporters after the court’s order, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “The matter was argued extensively. The high court has passed an order which, according to us, accepts the point that despite President’s Rule, there is enough scope for judicial review to allow floor test. The floor test was asked on the basis of past precedents of the Supreme Court.”
He also said that the charges against Rawat do not justify President’s rule. “Mere horse trading allegations will not justify President’s Rule. The court has implemented what the Governor had thrice said and what the Chief Minister agreed to twice.
“The court has allowed, only for purposed of counting, voting by disqualified and non-disqualified MLAs. Votes of disqualified MLAs will ke kept separately for identification, subject to the outcome,” he said.
Congress on Monday had legally challenged the imposition of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand as it sparred with BJP, accusing the Centre of toppling its government when the Governor had given time to the Chief Minister to prove his majority in the Assembly.
The dislodged Chief Minister had moved the Uttarakhand High Court in Nainital, questioning the Centre’s decision bringing the hill state under President’s Rule.
Rawat’s petition had come up before the single bench of Justice UC Dhyani, who after hearing both sides, had said the matter would be taken up again on Tuesday. It was filed on Rawat’s behalf by senior Supreme Court counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
Singhvi had contended that circumstances were not suitable for invoking Article 356 of the Constitution under which the government was sacked and the Assembly kept under suspended animation.
@ AGENCY REPORT.
The Indian and the Pakistani probe teams on Monday began talks on the investigation into Pathankot airbase terror attack.
Led by Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department Additional Inspector-General Muhammad Tahir Rai, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) had left for India on a special plane from Allama Iqbal International Airport on Sunday morning from Lahore.
Intelligence Bureau’s Deputy Director-General Lahore Muhammed Azim Arshad, Military Intelligence’s Lieutenant- Colonel Irfan Mirza, Lieutenant-Colonel Tanvir Ahmad of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Inspector Shahid Tanveer, a Punjab police officer based in Gujranwala., are the other members of the JIT.
India had blamed JeM militants for the brazen attack.
India plans to provide the Pakistani probe team access to all witnesses in the Pathankot terror attack case but not security personnel from National Security Guard or the BSF.
@Agency report.
Lahore : At least 30 people including women and children, enjoying Easter holiday at a popular public park, were today killed and over 100 others injured in a powerful suicide blast in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, capital of Punjab province.
A large number of people including Christians were present in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park when the blast occurred in the evening, leaving many in a pool of blood.
“It was a powerful blast. It is suspected that suicide bomber blew himself up at the gate of the main gate of the park,” Deputy Inspector General Lahore Police Haider Asharaf said.
“Initial reports suggest that it was a suicide blast,” he added.
The park is located in a posh locality in the city, which is comparatively peaceful in violence-hit Pakistan.
Eyewitnesses said there were scattered body parts in the park, where a large number of families, especially women and children, were present on a Sunday evening. The crowd was “unusually large” because of Easter.
Punjab Emergency Services Rescue 1122 spokesperson Deeba Shahnaz told PTI that 30 people had been killed in the blast.
Earlier, the Dawn reported saying at least 53 people were killed from the blast.
“Still a good number of people are in critical condition,” she added.
Over 100 injured have been shifted to different hospitals of Lahore, she said.
Doctors said the death toll may rise.
Emergency has been declared in all city hospitals in Lahore. Appeals have also been made to people to donate blood for the injured.
Children and women are among the dead.
“My two children were on the swing when a powerful blast occurred. The children and I fell on the ground. I was semi-unconscious. When I fully regained consciousness, I ran to find my children. Thank God, they were alive and have injuries on their head,” one of the victims, Saleem Shahid, said at Mayo Hospital.
A heavy contingent of police has cordoned off the area.
@Agency report.
Washington: US forces killed the Islamic State group’s second-in-command this week, dealing a blow to the extremists’ ability to conduct operations in Iraq, Syria and abroad, Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said Friday.
“We are systematically eliminating ISIL’s cabinet,” Carter told reporters, referring also to the killing early in the month of Omar al-Shishani, the man known as “Omar the Chechen,” who was IS’s defense minister.
@Agency report.