The Central government has set up an Expert Committee to make an overall assessment in the matters relating to waiver of interest and waiver of interest on interest on the loans under moratoriumdue to Coronavirus lockdown. The decision to constitute the Committee was taken by the government after several concerns were raised before the Supreme Court in relation to these issues.
The Committee will be headed by Shri Rajiv Mehrishi, the former Comptroller Auditor General of India. Other members of the Committee are Dr. H Dholakia, former Professor at IIM Ahmedabad and former member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI, and Dr Shri B. Sriram, former MD of State of India and IDBI Bank.
The Committee is entrusted to measure the impact of waiver of interest and waiver of interest on interest on the national economy and financial stability. It will also suggest measures to be adopted to mitigate the financial constraints of various sections of society. The Committee can also make any other suggestions that it considers necessary in order to deal with the current situation. One week’s time has been given for the submission of the report by the Committee. Banks or other stakeholders can be consulted by the committees while preparing the report. The State of Bank of India will be providing secretarial support to the committee.
Today, the Supreme Court extended the moratorium on loan repayment till September 28 after the previous deadline ended on August 31. The court also directed the Banks not to declare any loan as Non-Performing Asset (NPA) on account of non-payment of the instalments during the COVID-19 pandemic period.
In the month of May this year, the RBI had announced various measures to deal with the slowdown in the economy due to lockdown. The measures included extending loan moratorium and reducing interest rates to boost the economy.
Rhea Chakraborty’s arrest by the Narcotic Control Bureau over the drug allegations in actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case sparked a ‘Patriarchy’ debate on social media. Soon after Sushant’s ex-girlfriend and co-star, Ankita Lokhande penned down her stand on Sushant’s death and Rhea Chakraborty’s arrest, the pseudo- feminists tore into Ankita, dubbing her as a “princess of patriarchy”.
Defending Rhea, her friend and actor Farhan Akhtar’s girl Shibani Dandekar took to her social media accounts to slam Ankita Lokhande for just jumping on the bandwagon and playing a “major role” in the “witch-hunt” against Rhea.
Taking to Instagram Shibani Dandekar wrote: “Such a grotesque letter by (Ankita). This princess of patriarchy who has never dealt with her own relationship issues with Sushant, clearly she wants her two seconds of fame and has capitalised on Rhea being targeted. She has played a major role in this ‘witch-hunt’ and she needs to be called out! She also just needs to shut the hell up. Enough Ankita! No one has more hate in their heart (?) than you”.
Instagram post by Shibani Dandekar
Interestingly Shibani Dandekar’s post was also liked by Bollywood entertainer Malaika Arora’s sister Amrita Arora.
Post liked by Amrita Arora
Shibani also took to Twitter to lash out at Ankita for “capitalising on Rhea being targeted.” In response to a tweet, directed at Ankita’s post, Shibani wrote, “This woman clearly wants her 2 seconds of fame and has capitalised on Rhea being targeted because she has had never dealt with her own relationship issues with Sushant.. she has been the driving force behind this and she needs to be called out!” (sic)
Responding to another user, who said it’s Rhea’s “intelligence and strength that scares her haters,” Shibani said, “Thank you for saying this… good to see people thinking about this and not being swayed by the media narrative as well as that of @anky1912 who only spews hate for her own fame.”
And then, the saga began. Many other, pseudo-feminists took to the microblogging site to launch a scathing attack on Ankita Lokhande. The Wire ‘journalist’ Rohini Singh too shared Ankita’s post and expressed sympathy for Rhea, who incidentally is the prime accused in Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case. While playing the usual victim card, Singh questioned how could Rhea be held accountable for the conduct and choices of a 34-year-old man? “Because everyone needs a woman to blame for the tragedy of a man”, lamented the ‘journalist’.
Another princess of patriarchy. A 28 year old woman is being held responsible for the conduct and choices of a 34 year old man because everyone needs a woman to blame for the tragedy of a man. https://t.co/AdDrD4uFbQ
Responding to Rohini’s Tweet, Times of India journalist Samina Shaikh also opinied that Rhea Chakraborty cannot not be blamed because the 34-year-old actor knew what he was consuming, no one was force feeding it to him, exclaimed Shaikh.
It’s not 2 seconds of fame but she’s talking about her ideology which will be against yours or mine or whosoever! Talking about what she wrote-SSR was 34 & knew what he was consuming, wasn’t forced fed, so cannot blame Rhea for him taking drugs! As simple as that!
Similarly, the Indian Express journalist Priyanka Sharma also slammed Ankita Lokhande by calling her “toxic to another level”. While Sharma lambasted at Ankita for character assasinating Rhea, the journalist probably forgot that Rhea had herself admitted to consuming hard drugs.
Man, you are toxic to another level! You can make personal comments on Rhea by saying “maybe she liked consuming it,” when even NCB didn’t say that but have audacity to lecture others on civility.
In her subsequent Tweet, the Indian Express journalist went into a tirade against the Narcotic Control Bureau, saying that it is the agency that must be called out because they are the ones who called Sushant a “drug consumer”.
NCB called him a drug consumer. Call out NCB, the agency justice-mongers are hanging on to. Ankita Lokhande is shaming a woman using “drug consumption” as a reason. Drug addiction or consumption is NOT A CHARACTER CERTIFICATE. But to understand this needs learning and unlearning.
Questions directed at Rhea by Ankita Lokhande unnerves the ‘pseudo-feminists’
Following Rhea Chakraborty’s arrest actor Ankita, who has vociferously sought justice for Sushant from the start, in her letter had questioned why Rhea, who openly claimed that Sushant was depressed, allowed him to consume drugs, knowing that his condition would deteriorate to a level that would make a man take the action that SSR has allegedly taken. “She was the closest person to him at that time. On one hand, she says she was coordinating with all the doctors for his betterment of health on request of SSR, and on the other hand, she was coordinating drug logistics for him,” wondered Ankita.
After three days of interrogation, the Narcotics Control Bureau on Tuesday arrested Rhea under various sections of NDPS.in a drug case linked to Sushant’s death, following which she was sent in judicial custody till September 22 by a local court. The hearing in her bail applications was held today. The orders on the bail plea will be pronounced on Friday.
A day after the Delhi High Court granted interim protection to Alt News cofounder in a case filed against him by the NCPCR, he has said that he will be taking action against the statutory body for ‘harassing and defaming’ him. Zubair’s colleague and co-founder of the Islamic propaganda site Alt news, Pratik Sinha, informed that they will be taking action against NCPCR Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo.
Pratik said that Zubair has sought costs amounting to Rs 50 lakh from National Commission for Protection of Child Rights for ‘harassing and defaming’ him. It may be noted that NCPCR has lodged a complaint against Md Zubair after he had doxed a minor girl on Twitter. Based on that complaint, the Delhi police had filed an FIR against him under PC Section 509B and IT Act section 67.
Priyank Kanoongo, the chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, had said in a tweet recently that according to the action taken report (ATR) received by the commission, an FIR was registered against Mohammad Zubair for doxxing a minor girl while arguing with a twitter user. The FIR also mentioned other Twitter users, who had posted derogatory tweets against the girl child in the pretext of supporting Zubair.
On August 8, the NCPCR had had taken cognizance of a matter where a minor girl child was threatened and abused by AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair on Twitter. Priyank Kanoongo had informed that Twitter India and the concerned law enforcement officials had been informed about the tweet, and they have been asked to take appropriate action. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had acted on a complaint filed by Forum for Indigenous Rights- North-East India.
NCPCR had also issued a summon to the senior manager policy of the Twitter India to personally appear it, after it found that Twitter India’s reply in the case was unsatisfactory.
It may be noted that NCPCR is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament, and it acted on a complaint received by it. But the so-called fact-checker now seeking compensation from the body for filing a complaint against him as part of its duties.
Tollywood actor and Jana Sena head Pawan Kalyan along with thousands of leaders and activists of the BJP sat on an 11-hour long hunger strike to protest against the alleged burning of the temple chariot in the Lakshminarasimha temple in Andhra Pradesh. The BJP and the Jana Sena collectively gave a call for the hunger strike in the name of ‘Dharma Parirakshana Deeksha’ (penance to protect Hindu dharma).
The parties demanded that stringent action should be taken against those responsible for setting ablaze the temple chariot. Kalyan who took deeksha at his house in the morning, claimed that the attacks on the Hindu temples have increased under the government of Jagan Mohan Reddy in the state. He demanded that a retired judge should be appointed by the government to investigate the temple chariot burning. Kalyan said that if the government did not take swift action, he will approach the central government and request a CBI investigation in the matter.
The hunger strike was also joined by former state BJP President Kanna Lakshminarayana at his residence in Guntur. He also made similar allegations against the Reddy government in the state and said that attacks on Hindu temples had increased under his regime. “The burning of chariot at Antarvedi was atrocious and it has hurt the sentiments of Hindus. Similar incidents had taken place at various temples in the past. Had the government acted in the past, such incidents would not have recurred”, he saidd
A 62-years old temple chariot which located inside the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha temple was gutted in fire on Sunday. The temple is located in the one of the most revered Vaishnavite religious centres in Antarvedi in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. The incident had created huge disturbance across the state.
TDP chief and the leader of opposition in the state N Chadrababu Naidu termed the incident ” a heinous attack carried out by some anti-social elements”. He demanded safety audit for the properties of Hindu temples.
As the residents of Beirut were still recovering from the massive explosion that took place about a month ago, a cloud of stark black smoke was seen emerging from the fumes at the Beirut port today.
#WATCH Lebanon: A fire at Beirut port sends up a large column of black smoke into the sky, a little more than a month since a massive blast devastated the port facilities and surrounding area. pic.twitter.com/x0uJzgiFGW
According to reports, the fire had broken out in the part of the port which is close to a major highway called the ‘free zone’. This is the area where companies store imported goods after clearing the customs. The interim general manager of the port, Bassem El-Kaissi informed that the fire apparently started in a warehouse of a private company that imported cooking oil. The fire then engulfed a stock of rubber tires. However, he said that the reason of the fire is not known yet.
Operations to extinguish the fire have already begun with the assistance of the Army helicopters. The fire has panicked the people across the city as it was not long ago that the Lebanon capital was rocked by a horrific explosion. The explosion had resulted in 163 deaths and loss of billions of dollars.
Various cabinet ministers including the Prime Minister had submitted resignation after the explosion. Huge protests had also broken out in the country further escalating the tension.
Retired Judge Ajay Kumar Sharma, who had given death sentence to the four terrorists convicted in the 2008 Jaipur serial blast case has written to DGP Bhupendra Singh saying that he fears his life is in danger. Quoting intelligence reports, the retired judge wrote that the terrorist groups to whom those 4 convicts belonged might be seeking to avenge their death. He urged the DGP to extend his security cover fearing threats to his family and him.
“Officials said that my security is being removed. I request you to continue the security cover given to me in the context,” he wrote.
In his letter, Sharma claimed that empty liquor bottles had been hurled at him and since many days, some motorcycle-borne suspects have been seen hovering around his house. “These terrorist groups are quite dangerous and can do anything. They have also been seen clicking pictures of my place,” said the retired Judge.
To make his point, Sharma quoted the case of Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo. Ganjoo was a high court judge in Kashmir who had, in the year 1984, pronounced the death sentence for JKLF founder and dreaded terrorist Maqbool Bhat in the murder of police inspector Amar Chand in 1966. The Judge was later killed by JKLF terrorists on October 2, 1989.
Sharma said these terrorists were related to the ISI and were working with sleeper cells of the organisation. Fearing that he would be penalised for bringing the terrorists to justice, Sharma wrote to the DGP that his only fault was that he had punished the terrorists with death sentences.
The 2008 Jaipur serial blast
On May 13, 2008, a series of nine synchronized bomb blasts had ripped through Rajasthan’s capital city, Jaipur leaving almost 71 people dead and over 250 injured. The ammonium nitrate-based bombs, which went off within a span of 20 minutes, were strapped to bicycles. They were packed with metal splinters or ball bearings to carry out heavy damage in the crowded areas.
Two days after the blasts, Islamic terror organisation Indian Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for the attacks. The trial in the case began in December 2008. In December 2019, Special Judge Ajay Kumar Sharma awarded the death penalty to Mohammed Saif (34), Mohammed Sarwar Azmi (36), Saifur Rehman (36) and Mohammed Salman (34), after convicting them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and the Explosives Act, in eight cases registered by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the police.
Amidst the ongoing tussle between Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut and the ruling Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, the actor’s mother Asha Ranaut has expressed her gratitude to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Home Minister Amit Shah and PM Narendra Modi for providing protection to her daughter.
Speaking to media Asha Ranaut said that despite the fact that their family were staunch Congress supports for decades and had no connections with the Bhartiya Janata Party, it was Home Minister Amit Shah who provided protection to her daughter. She would remain forever grateful to the Home Minister, for providing her daughter with the security cover, said Asha Ranaut.
Despite being associated with the Congress party, we did not get any support from them: Asha Ranaut
“We have from the beginning been associated with the Congress party, our grandfather, started his career with the Congress. Despite this, we did not get any support from them. Instead, HM Amit Shah came forward to help my daughter. Anything could have happened with her in Mumbai if the government had not provided security cover to my daughter, the actor’s mother said, furthering that she was proud of her daughter’s fight for the truth.
Kangana Ranaut thanked HM Amit Shah for providing her with Y+ security
Actress Kangana Ranaut had also taken to Twitter to thank Home Minister Amit Shah, for providing her with Y+ security cover after she spoke about the alleged drug use in Bollywood over the death of Bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput.
The Y+ category central cover entails deployment of about 10 armed commandos with the protectee.
Kangana in loggerheads with the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government
Kangana has been in loggerheads with the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government ever since the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajut in June. Besides ad-hominem attacks and threats of violence against Ranaut, even the state apparatus has been pushed into taking punitive action against the actor for her remarks that were at odds with the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has demolished her property in Mumbai, within just 24 hours of sticking a ‘stop work’ notice, in violation of an HC order that has prohibited such actions till September 30. Not to be deterred, the ‘Manikarnika’ star went on record warning Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the move, stating that soon, his tyranny will come to an end.
Fraudulent attempts have been made to withdraw money from two bank accounts of Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. The Fraudster managed to withdraw Rs. 6 lakh from the accounts using two bogus cheques on 1st and 3rd September. When the third cheque arrived for clearance, the bank officials called Trust Secretary Champat Rai for confirmation. Rai informed the bank that the trust had not issued anyone any cheque of that amount.
After that, the trust filed an FIR with Ayodhya Police against the fraudulent cheque. During the investigation, police found that two transactions were done using the same method. The first transaction took place on 1st September, in which Rs 2.5 lakh was withdrawn. In the second transaction on 3rd September, Rs 3.5 lakh was withdrawn. The third cheque was of Rs 9.86 lakh, which was stopped by the bank on Trust Secretary Champat Rai’s request.
OpIndia confirmed with Trust Secretary Champat Rai about the fraudulent withdrawal. He said that they have filed an FIR and police are investigating to determine who is behind it.
CO Ayodhya Rajesh Rai said that the cheques were cloned from a bank in Lucknow. When the third attempt was made to withdraw money from the Bank of Baroda branch, the officials called Champat Rai for confirmation. He further added that the Trust officials had filed an FIR at Ayodhya Police station. Police are trying to identify the fraudster. In the past several fake websites to collect donations on the Trust’s name also surfaced.
As the tension between India and China over dominance on territories along the LAC in Ladakh continues, India has now occupied new regions on the northern bank of the Pangong Tso lake. According to reports, India has occupied heights overlooking the finger 4 on the north bank of Pangong Tso.
Indian Army has occupied heights overlooking the Chinese Army positions at Finger 4 along the Pangong Tso lake. These operations were carried out along with the preemptive actions to occupy heights near the Southern bank of Pangong Tso lake around August end: Sources pic.twitter.com/RWLhGPZP1s
This is part of the multiple ‘readjustments’ that Indian forces have carried out along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, strengthening Indian positions against the Chinese military. Indian Army now has tactical advantage on the both north and south banks of the lake.
Multiple 'readjustments' in last 48 hrs by ??Army at LAC. Fresh 'readjustments' + strengthening of Aug 29-30 'readjustments' in Pangong north bank & Sub-Sector Chushul (south bank). Using the word 'readjustments' because that's the word the Army has used. #IndiaChinaFaceOff
With newly occupied heights on the north bank, Indian armed forced can overlook the Chinese positions on the ridges of the finger 4 area. China has been strengthening its position near the finger 4 over the last few weeks. Although China still maintains control over the main ridgeline of the finger 4, Indian army has taken positions over nearby heights, increasing pressure on Chinese side.
In the past few weeks, India had also occupied crucial heights on the south bank, consolidating its position. On the intervening night between the 29th and 30th of August, the Chinese PLA “carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo” but the Indian Armed Forces personnel thwarted their nefarious intentions by pre-empting their movements on the Southern Bank of the Pangong Tso lake and strengthened their positions to stop the unilateral Chinese expansionism. After that, Indian forces had moved to occupy heights along the LAC, taking a dominant position on the south bank.
There are eight ridgelines on the north bank of Pangong Tso, known as fingers. India claims that the LAC passes through finger 8, but China disagrees, and claims the area upto finger 4. India has a camp located to the west of finger 4.
With the escalation on both the banks of the lake over the last few weeks, Indian Army has consolidated its forces and defences. The Chinese troops have made multiple attempts to dislodge Indian troops from the mountain heights, which have been foiled by Indian forces. According to army sources, a status of “highest alert” have been maintained in the area, as the situation on the ground remains extremely fragile.
According to reports, China has deployed close to 50,000 personnel in the area, a number matched by the Indian side. While the current focus is at Pangong Tso, the situation remains tense at other conflict points along the LAC too.
The current deadlock between the two neighbouring countries continues despite several rounds talks between the two sides at various levels. China has been repeatedly trying to occupy Indian areas, resulting in conflicts.
A day after the Serum Institute of India (SII) was issued a notice by country’s pharma regulator Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), the pharma company said it was halting the Oxford coronavirus vaccine trials in the country.
According to the reports, Serum Institute of India has put on hold trials of AstraZeneca’s potential coronavirus vaccine in the country until the British drugmaker restarts the trails. The SII is manufacturing Oxford University’s ‘Covishield vaccine’ in collaboration with UK’s AstraZeneca.
We are reviewing the situation and pausing India trials till @AstraZeneca restarts them. We are following DCGI's instructions and will not be able to comment further on the same. You can connect with DCGI for more updates on this front.#SII#Latestnews#Covid_19pic.twitter.com/CUeFY5oLus
Serum said on Thursday that it was following the DCGI’s directions and added that they would not be able to comment further on the issue.
“We are reviewing the situation and pausing India trials till AstraZeneca restarts the trials. We are following Drug Controller General of India’s (DGCI) instructions and will not be able to comment further on trials,” the Serum institute said.
DGCI issues notice to Serum Institute
Earlier, the DGCI had issued a notice to the Serum institute for not informing them about AstraZeneca halting their clinical trials in other countries and for not submitting casualty analysis of the “reported serious adverse events”.
The regulator asked SII to demonstrate why its clinical trial license should not be suspended until the safety of the vaccine is established. AstraZeneca had paused its clinical trials worldwide after a participant had developed an unexplained illness during the study.
“We are going by DCGI’s direction and so far we’re not told to pause the trials. If DCGI has any safety concerns, we will follow their instructions and abide by the standard protocols,” the Serum institute had said after receiving the notice on Wednesday.
In June, the Pune-based vaccine major had got DCGI nod to conduct Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. The vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University had raised hopes in the country as it was considered as a possible preventive measure against the Chinese pandemic.
Along with AstraZeneca’s vaccine, trials are also going on for ICMR-Bharat Biotech’s ‘Covaxine‘ and Zydus Cadila’s ‘ZyCoV-D‘ for the country’s first coronavirus vaccine.
