Author: Samikhsya Bureau

South Korean Transport Ministry said in a statement on Monday that it intended to impose a 11.2 billion won ($9.9 million) fine on German automaker BMW AG for its attempts to conceal problems with its cars’ exhaust systems that caused dozens of vehicles to catch fire earlier this year.
“The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs of the Republic of Korea intends to submit the details of the BMW investigation to the prosecutor’s office on January 24 and impose a fine of 11.2 billion South Korean won based on the results of the investigation,” the statement read.
The ministry also considered that the company knew about the problem back in 2015 because in October that year, BMW had set up a special working group to study a defective element of the exhaust gas recirculation system, while the company itself claimed that it had not learned about the defects until July 2017.
Around 40 BMW cars have reportedly caught on fire in South Korea in 2018, with the largest number of incidents occurring during summer months. As a result, the company was forced to recall about 172,000 vehicles.(UNI)

(UNI) Amid protest from devotees, the two young women who began trekking from Pamba to Sannidanam to have darshan of Lord Ayyappa were stopped at Marakkuttam and sent back, on Monday.

The women, identified as Ms Bindu from Koilandy and Ms Kanga Durga from Angadippuram in Malappuram, were dropped their plan to visit the temple following stiff protection from devotees of other States including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

According to various reports, Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) President A Padmakumar spoke to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and DGP Loknath Behra over telephone on the volatile situation prevailing in the hillock temple.

The TDB President called the Chief Minister and the DGP after reaching a conclusion that a police action against the devotees would lead to a serious law and order problem in the State.

Later, a direction from the Chief Minister’s office was given to the police to arrest the two women or ask them to leave the place. However, the two women who were adamant to visit the temple have been evacuated by the police forcefully.

(UNI) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday complimented Indian Mission in Bahrain and also thanked the Bahraini authorities for their ‘help’ in rescuing an Indian citizen who was allegedly ‘enslaved’.

“Alok – I am proud of you. Please convey my gratitude to Bahraini authorities for their help in rescuing an Indian citizen,” Ms Swaraj tweeted marking it to Indian ambassador to Bahrain Alok Kumar Sinha.

The Indian Embassy in Bahrain on Sunday evening announced her rescue on Twitter.

(UNI) “Build Ram Mandir, or Stay at Home” – is the new jibe from Shiv Sena to its ally BJP on the long pending Ram Temple issue at Ayodhya.

“Action lena padega, Mandir banana padega….. nahi toh ghar baithna padega (You will have to construct the Ram Temple or else you will be forced to stay at home),” Shiv Sena spokesman and MP Sanjay Raut told a private TV channel at Pandharpur in Maharashtra on Monday.

Shiv Sena is launching a mega campaign at Pandharpur for the early construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya on Monday.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who had visited Ayodhya in November, will address a congregation of religious leaders and the public there, on Monday afternoon.

To mount pressure on BJP, the Sena will also formally give a push to its slogan – “Paheley Mandir Phir Sarkar (First the temple and then the government)”.

The pressure tactics from Sena comes at a time when there is no final word yet on whether BJP and Sena will continue to be partners in next year’s Lok Sabha polls.

The state assembly polls in Maharashtra are also due by October 2019.

Amid tight security, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Bhubaneswar today to launch a slew of projects worth Rs 14,523 crore related to various sectors. He was received  by Governor Ganeshi Lal, Chief Secretary AP Padhi, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram, State Finance Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera, Bhubaneswar Mayor Ananta Jena and other leaders .

Modi will  fly to IIT Bhubaneswar in a chopper to inaugurate the new campus in Aragul built at a cost of Rs 1660 crore, and then would lay foundation stone for Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) and unveil projects worth Rs 14,523 crore.

(UNI) Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday lashed out at the Congress for its continuous attack on the government over the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and said those who oppressed India with a 31 per cent indirect tax and “consistently belittled the GST, must seriously introspect”.

“Irresponsible politics and irresponsible economics is only a race to the bottom,” Mr Jaitley wrote in a blog piece, posted on Facebook.

Seeking to answer some of the questions on GST raised from time to time, prior to the GST regime, the Minister tweeted, “India had the worst indirect tax system anywhere in the world”.

“Both the Centre and the state government were entitled to levy a set of taxes. There were 17 taxes levied. An entrepreneur, therefore, faced 17 inspectors, 17 returns and 17 assessments. The rate of taxation were exorbitantly high,” he wrote.

He further said that on this backdrop, the assessees had only two options – either to pay a high rate of tax or evade it.

“Tax evasion was prevalent to a large extent. India comprised of multiple markets. Each state was a separate market because the rate of tax could be different. Interstate sales became inherently inefficient because trucks had to wait for hours and days at the state borders,” he said.

However, he said once the uniform taxation mechanism was introduced by the Modi government in 2017, the GST “changed the situation radically”.

(UNI) Continuing his attack on the Narendra Modi government on demonetisation, senior congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said demonetisation was a crime against the economy of the country

‘After Dr Gita Gopinath’s new report, what have the quacks who proposed or defended demonetisation got to say? Demonetisation was a crime against the economy of the country,’the former Finance Minister said in a tweet on Sunday night.

According to a research paper co-authored by eminent economist Gita Gopinath,’the government’s note ban decision shaved off economic growth by at least 2 percentage points for the October-December quarter of 2016 in which the Demonetization move was effected.’

The research paper by the India-born Harvard professor Gopinath, who is set to take charge as the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next month, said that districts experiencing more severe Demonetization had relative reductions in economic activity, faster adoption of alternative payment technologies and lower bank credit growth.

“Our results imply Demonetization lowered the growth rate of economic activity by at least 2 percentage points in the quarter of Demonetization,” said the research paper titled ‘Cash And The Economy: Evidence From India’s Demonetization’.

The paper is published by US-based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and its co-authors include economist Prachi Mishra, who had headed the strategic research unit at the RBI, Abhinav Narayanan, manager-research at RBI, and Harvard professor Gabriel Chodorow-Reich is the lead author.

According to the paper, note ban also led to a decline in nightlights-based economic activity and a 3 percentage points or more drop in employment generation in November and December of 2016 relative to

(UNI) BJP President Amit Shah said on Sunday that upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha polls would end the politics of caste, creed, appeasement and favoritism and would prove to be last nail in the coffin of those indulging in such politics.​

​​Addressing the booth level party workers and leaders in Delhi, Mr Shah said that there were countless reasons to vote Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power again. He said, the BJP’s victory in 2019 polls would ensure that the country’s politics was free from these negative practices in politics.​

​Mr Shah said, in Delhi, the contest would be mainly between three major players – BJP, AAP and Congress. He alleged that till date, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi​ spoke the highest number of lies in the history of politics.​

(UNI) Legendary actor Manoj Kumar on Sunday took side of renowned actor Anupam Kher in criticizing to veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah’s statement over ‘rising’ intolerance in the country.

In a post on social media, Mr Kumar said,’Agree with @AnupamPKher on Naseeruddin statement: There’s so much freedom in the country that you can abuse the army, badmouth the air chief and pelt stones at the soldiers. How much more freedom do you need in a country? He said what he felt like, it doesn’t mean it’s the truth.’

The reaction from Mr Kumar came a day after Mr Kher criticizing to Mr Shah’s statement.

“There is so much freedom in the country that you can abuse the army, badmouth the air chief and pelt stones at the soldiers. How much more freedom do you need in a country?” Mr Kher had questioned.

At least 281 people have been killed and 584 injured with more than 10000 rendered homeless when a Tsunami struck off the Sunda Strait of Western Indonesia between Java and Sumatra destroying 611 housing units, 69 hotels, 60 shops and completely damaging 420 boats.

Indonesia had not even recuperated from the recent havoc done by the earthquake, a major tragedy has again jolted the nation. As per Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency the tsunami occurred at 21:27 pm Jakarta time (2257 IST), on Saturday hitting coastal areas of Sunda Strait, including Pandeglang and Serang districts of Banten province and south Lampung of Lampung province.

Authorities said the wave was likely caused by an eruption of Anak Krakatau volcano, possibly due to underwater landslides.

‘The cause of the tsunami is still being investigated by BMKG to know for sure. Possible caused by underwater landslides due to eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau and tidal waves due to the full moon. The two combinations caused a sudden tsunami that hit the coast. BMKG is still coordinating with the Geology Agency to ascertain the causes’, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, Head PR, Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management said in a tweet adding that the toll of victims is likely to increase.(UNI)

(UNI) The Union Government has taken a number of initiatives for river development, rejuvenation and the work of development of Ganga river and its tributaries is undertaken by Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation under National Mission for Clean Ganga.

The average annual water availability of any region or country is largely dependent upon hydro-meteorological and geological factors and is generally constant.

The average annual water potential in the country has been assessed as 1869 billion cubic meters. Due to topographical and other factors, the utilisable water availability is limited to 1137 BCM per annum, comprising 690 BCM of surface water and 447 BCM of replenishable ground water, official sources here said.

(UNI) BJP President Amit Shah said on Sunday that upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha polls would end the politics of caste, creed, appeasement and favoritism and would prove to be last nail in the coffin of those indulging in such politics.​
​Addressing the booth level party workers and leaders in Delhi, Mr Shah said that there were countless reasons to vote Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power again. He said, the BJP’s victory in 2019 polls would ensure that the country’s politics was free from these negative practices in politics.​
Mr Shah said, in Delhi, the contest would be mainly between three major players – BJP, AAP and Congress. He alleged that till date, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi​ spoke the highest number of lies in the history of politics.​

(UNI) Odisha Government has decided to set up a High Performance Sports Academy which will have High Performance Sports Centers in nine different types of sports, Chief Secretary A P Padhi said here today.
Inaugurating the Forest Sports Meet-2018 here today at Kalinga Stadium, Mr Padhi said steps are being expedited to start the operation of the Centers from coming financial year in the state capital.
He said, Bhubaneswar has been designated as Sports Capital and Government is committed to promote various types of sports from Panchayat to International level events.
He said, sports and games promotes team spirit, healthy competitiveness and increases health consciousness.
Forest Secretary Suresh Mohapatra said, forest officials have excelled in various areas of sports and proved their excellence by wining one Gold, two Silver and seven Bronze medals in 23rd All India Forest Sports Meet (AIFSM) held at Hyderabad in 2017. Odisha Forest Officers also occupied 4th position in other 12 items.
He expressed the confidence that Odisha Forest officers would scale up their achievements in the coming AIFSM scheduled to be held at Raipur in January, 2019.

Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania will create a joint organizing committee to apply for hosting the European Football Championship in 2028 or the World Cup in 2030, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Saturday.
Earlier in the day, Belgrade hosted a meeting between the prime ministers of Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and the Serbian president. The delegations also included heads of national football associations and sports ministers.
“Today we decided to form an initiative organizing committee consisting of 16 people, with four people from each country, and expressed our hope that through it, our countries will submit a joint bid to become hosts of Euro-2028 or World Cup-2030,” Vucic told reporters.
He specified that all necessary documents were to be submitted by December 2021, and the decision on the tournaments’ host was expected in July 2022.(UNI)

(UNI) The India Greens, country’s first green party, has condemned the Modi Government’s notification giving mandate to intelligence, police and tax agencies to intercept messages on electronic devices like laptops, computer and mobile devices, etc.
Describing the notification draconian and violative of Article-21 of the Constitution, the India Greens said in a statement issued here on Sunday by its Vice-President Prashant Tandon that “the Modi Government is converting democratic India into an Orwellian state where citizens will have no privacy, freedom of expression and dignity”.
The party has demanded that the central government immediately withdraw the notification.
“India Greens is committed to preservation of civil and democratic rights of the people and will oppose the police state Mr Modi is trying to impose at the expense of fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution,” the press statement added.
According to the press statement, the issue will be discussed in the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the party which will take a decision for further action plan if notification was not withdrawn before 31st December this year.

(UNI) As per International Energy Agency (IEA), India is the third largest coal producer in the world during 2016-17 and there is no shortage of coal in the country.

As on April 1, 2018, the vendible stock of coal was 55.6 MT and as on December 15, 2018, coal stock was 22.93 MT with CIL, official sources said.

All India raw coal production has increased from 565.77 MT in 2013-14 to 676.48 MT in 2017-18. The all India coal production during April-November 2018 was 433.90 MT with a growth of 9.8 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous year 2017-18.

Under the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act 2015 and Rules made thereunder, so far 25 coal mines (24 to private companies and 1 to a Government Company) have been allocated through Electronic Auction till date.

As per the current import policy, coal is kept under Open General License (OGL) and consumers are free to import coal from the source of their choice as per their contractual prices on payment of applicable duty.

Industry body FICCI has welcomed GST Council’s decision of reducing the GST rates on 23 items and taking the landmark reform to the next level by indicating that the 28 per cent bracket is already moving towards a sunset, a statement here stated on Sunday.

The council’s meeting was held on Saturday.

With a reduction in the rates on more items in the offing in the next meeting of the GST Council next month and the indication that the remaining issues pertaining to GST application and administration will be resolved speedily, the tax reform is set to yield larger gains for the economy.

“The GST council has followed a pragmatic policy by bringing down the rates gradually taking into consideration the revenue realisation and affordability and this will stabilise and strengthen GST further. The Government has been proactively engaging with various sectors and I am confident that going forward the Council would continue to address issues,” said FICCI president Sandip Somany, said.(UNI)

Amid speculations on a Mahagathbandhan before the 2019 polls the chief minister of Telengana, K Chandrasekhar Rao has arrived in Bhubaneswar but no source from the KCR camp has lent credence to such possibility. KCR who arrived in Bhubaneswar as State Guest is scheduled to visit Puri for the Darshan of Lord Jagannath. From here he is to visit Kolkata and meet the Bangal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

His visit to Odisha to be followed by Kolkata has fueled speculations about a non-BJP front for the coming polls in 2019.

(UNI) Most journalists were murdered during BNP-Jamaat regime in Bangladesh, speakers at a discussion on Sunday said Twenty journalists have been killed in Bangladesh since 2000, of them 14 were killed between 2000 and 2006, said Prof Abu Jafar Md Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan of Dhaka
University, referring to the BNP-Jamaat regime.
But investigations into those murders did not progress much, he said while speaking at the discussion, here.
The period from 2002 to 2005 has been marked as the dark times for journalists in the southwestern region, said Gouranga Nandy, a journalist from Khulna.
He said many of the journalists also fled Khulna and took shelter in Dhaka. The much-talked-about incidents during that period were the murders of journalists Manik Saha, Humayun Kabir Balu, Goutam Das, Harun-or-Rashid, Shukur Hossain and Sheikh Belaluddin.

(UNI) The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has called for expediting the restructuring process within the Archaeological Survey of India and expeditious filling of its vacancies to facilitate the organisation to meet its challenges.
In its 118th report on the action taken by the government on the recommendations of the committee in their 39th report, the PAC also recommended an expeditious setting up of state-level coordination committees for removal of encroachments upon monuments at the earliest without any further loss of time.
It also recommended that the Culture ministry should set up an expert group to examine the feasibility for enhancing revenue generation through premium renting of well-known sites for social and family events with proper guidelines.
Stressing the urgent need for cadre restructuring of the ASI, the committee, in its report presented in Parliament earlier this week, felt that ”the ministry is not serious about it”.
”The committee feels that the Ministry is not serious about cadre restructuring of the ASI. The committee noted that the proposal for cadre restructuring of the ASI was submitted to the Ministry of culture in March 2017 and received back with direction to ‘re submit the same in line with directions issued by the Ministry of Finance.