Today's Hot Stories - April 07, 2014
10 Headlines for Today(1) BJP vows to improve economy, end policy paralysis
(2) First phase of Lok Sabha election begins in Assam, Tripura
(3) MH370: Signals ‘consistent’ with those from black boxes detected
(4) SBI General Insurance sets 60% premium growth
(5) EPFO told to hold clubbing of allowances for PF deduction
(6) GMR-Megawide lands $390 m Cebu airport deal
(7) Sri Lanka clinch maiden T20 World Cup
(8) Devvarman does it for India
(9) Australia bags women’s World T20 title
(10) Ace cinematographer V. K. Murthy passes away
5 Stories for Today
(1) Maoists still able to disrupt polls in north Telangana
(2) Afghans vote in historic elections amid reports of sporadic violence
(3) SBI to offload up to Rs.4,000 crore bad loans to ARCs
(4) Drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline investigates alleged bribery in Iraq
(5) Rs.8k cr service tax evasion in FY14
(1) Maoists still able to disrupt polls in north Telangana
The police and politicians in Andhra Pradesh may dismiss the Maoist threat to elections in the undivided State, but a sense of fear and insecurity permeates the constituencies bordering Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
Though the Maoists have suffered a setback in north Telangana, the red brigade still calls the shots in the border areas of Khammam, agency areas of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and East Godavari.
Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam, Visakhapatnam rural and Vizianagaram, on the radar of law-enforcement agencies, have 14 Assembly constituencies. They may not be a Maoist stronghold as they used to be a decade ago, but heavily armed squads keep darting across the border to strike and scoot before the police move in.
Despite the claims of the law-enforcement agencies that they are prepared to take on the Maoists and ensure peaceful elections, tension has been escalating with the rebels issuing a call for poll boycott.
“It is true there is some concern, but the situation is not out of control. There could be stray instances of arson or attacks, but they [Maoists] do not have cadres to extend logistical support. They fear getting hit if they venture into our area,” says a senior police officer coordinating anti-extremist operations.
“There will be some tension in the border areas,” says D. Sreedhar Babu, a former Minister in the fray in the Manthani constituency of Karimnagar district.
The completion of polling in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra on April 10 is a cause of concern and comfort for the police. The Telangana region will go to polls on April 30 and Seemandhra on May 7, providing ample time for movement of central forces into the border areas. But the Maoists also benefit from the time to regroup themselves in the interregnum, a police officer says.
Though the rebels received a severe drubbing in relentless attacks by the police on the top cadres of the rebel party, they have never ceased their efforts to re-establish their Telangana base.
With the bifurcation of the State, the Maoists have intensified efforts to regroup themselves. The North Telangana special zonal committee, which was trying to revive the rebel movement in Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam districts, has been scrapped and in its place a Telangana State committee has been formed, bringing the rest of the districts into its fold. The killing of nine important leaders of the Karimnagar-Khammam-Warangal divisional committee in the Bastar forests last year was a stunning blow dealt by the police to the Maoists.
But the police estimate that more than 120 armed cadres still form part of the new committee, led by Pulluri Prasada Rao, alias Chandranna. Similarly, the Andhra-Orissa border special zonal committee operates in the agency areas of Visakhapatnam Rural, Vizianagaram and East Godavari.
The Telangana State committee members are Bandi Prakash (DCS of Adilabad), Bade Chokka Rao (secretary of KKW divisional committee) and Yeruva Shivareddy (DCS of Khammam), the police believe.
Source: The Hindu
(2) Relief in Afghanistan after largely peaceful landmark poll
Afghan election race kicks off as nominations open
Afghanistan’s presidential election closed on Saturday amid relief that attacks by Taliban fighters were fewer than feared for a vote that will bring the first-ever democratic transfer of power in a country plagued by conflict for decades.
It will take six weeks for results to come in from across Afghanistan’s rugged terrain and a final result to be declared in the race to succeed President Hamid Karzai.
This could be the beginning of a potentially dangerous period for Afghanistan at a time when the war-ravaged country desperately needs a leader to stem rising violence as foreign troops prepare to leave.
“Today we proved to the world that this is a people driven country,” Karzai, wearing his trademark green robe and a lambskin hat, told his nation in televised remarks.
“On behalf of the people, I thank the security forces, election commission and people who exercised democracy and … turned another page in the glorious history of Afghanistan.”
One of the eight candidates will have to score over 50 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off with his nearest rival.
Thankfully, the Taliban threat to wreck the vote through bombings and assassination failed to materialise, and violent incidents were on a far smaller scale than feared.
Turnout was seven million out of 12 million eligible voters, or about 58 percent, according to preliminary estimates, election commission chief Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani told reporters.
That was well above the 4.5 million who voted at the last election in 2009 which was marred by widespread fraud.
“I am here to vote and I am not afraid of any attacks,” said Haji Ramazan as he stood in line at a polling station in rain-drenched Kabul. “This is my right, and no one can stop me.”
The United States could point to the advance of democracy in one of the world’s most violent countries as a success as it prepares to withdraw the bulk of its troops this year.
It has spent $90 billion on aid and security training since helping Afghan forces to topple a strict Islamist Taliban regime in 2001, but U.S. support for Afghanistan’s fight against the Taliban has faded.
When the last election was held, the Obama administration had viewed Afghanistan as the “good war” – unlike Iraq – ordering a ‘surge’ of over 60,000 additional soldiers to be deployed.
Yet as U.S. troops get ready to go home, the Taliban threat and uncertainty over neighbour Pakistan’s intentions leave the worry that Afghanistan could enter a fresh cycle of violence, and once again become a haven for groups like al Qaeda.
During Saturday’s election, there were dozens of reports of minor roadside bombs, attacks on polling stations, police and voters. In the eastern province of Kunar alone, two voters died and 14 were wounded, while 14 Taliban militants were killed.
Interior Minister Umer Daudzai said nine policemen, seven soldiers, 89 Taliban fighters were killed in the past 24 hours across the country, adding that four civilians were also killed.
Dozens died in a spate of attacks in the preceding weeks. A veteran Associated Press photographer was killed and a senior correspondent of the same news agency was wounded on Friday when a policeman opened fire on the two women in the east as they reported on preparations for the poll.
Kabul sealed off
Most people had expected the election to be better run than the chaotic 2009 vote that handed Karzai a second term.
The constitution barred Karzai from seeking another term. But, after 12 years in power, he is widely expected to retain influence through politicians loyal to him.
Former foreign ministers Abdullah Abdullah and Zalmay Rassoul, and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani were regarded as the favourites to succeed Karzai.
More than 350,000 Afghan troops were deployed, guarding against attacks on polling stations and voters. The capital, Kabul, was sealed off by rings of roadblocks and checkpoints.
In the city of Kandahar, cradle of the Taliban insurgency, the mood was tense. Vehicles were not allowed to move on the roads and checkpoints were set up at every intersection.
Hamida, a 20-year-old teacher working at a Kandahar polling station, said more than a dozen women turned up in the first two hours of voting and added that she expected more to come despite the threat of an attack by the Taliban.
“We are trying not to think about it,” she said, only her honey-brown eyes visible through her black niqab.
Raising questions about the legitimacy of the vote even before it began, the election commission announced that at least 10 percent of polling stations were expected to be shut due to security threats, and most foreign observers left Afghanistan in the wake of a deadly attack on a hotel in Kabul last month.
In some areas of the country voters complained that polling stations had run out of ballot papers. The interior ministry said six officials – including an intelligence agent – were detained for trying to rig the vote, and elsewhere several people were arrested for trying to use fake voter cards.
Risk of delay
If there is no outright winner, the two frontrunners would go into a run-off on May 28, spinning out the process into the holy month of Ramadan when life slows to a crawl.
A long delay would leave little time to complete a pact between Kabul and Washington to keep up to 10,000 U.S. troops in the country beyond 2014.
The election is a landmark after 13 years of struggle that has killed at least 16,000 Afghan civilians and thousands more soldiers. Nearly 3,500 members of the U.S.-led coalition force have died since deployment in the country over a decade ago.
Karzai’s relations with the United States became increasingly strained as Afghan casualties mounted. He also voiced frustration with Washington over a lack of pressure on Pakistan to do more to stop the Taliban based in the borderlands.
Although his departure marks a turning point, none of his would-be successors would bring radical change, diplomats say.
“Whether the election will be the great transformative event that everybody expects is, I think, delusional.” Sarah Chayes, a South Asia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told a media briefing on the eve of the vote.
Source: The Indian Express
(3) SBI to offload up to Rs.4,000 crore bad loans to ARCs
India's largest banker SBI is selling off its non-performing assets (NPA) of around Rs.3,500 – Rs.4,000 crore for the financial year 2013-14 to asset reconstruction companies (ARC).
"We are selling NPA between Rs. 3,500 – 4,000 crore of NPA," SBI chairman and managing director Arundhati Bhattacharya said last evening at IIM Calcutta.
SBI has total bad assets of Rs. 67,799 crore. It had reported 5.73% of its assets as bad loans in the October-December quarter.
It had said earlier that there were 14 ARCs functioning and many of them had been invited to pick up stressed loans.
Normally ARCs pay 5-10% of the total bad loans being bought in cash and the rest could be security receipts (SRs). This helps banks to take the equivalent NPA figure out of books and make an yearly provision for recovery or actual cash payment.
"We will make yearly provisions and adjust it on mark-to-market basis," Bhattacharya said.
She said that the first quarter outlook for 2014-15 would remain sluggish and there would not be much credit growth.
Regarding predictions of a poor monsoon because of the El Nino effect, she said "Let us keep our fingers crossed on the prospect of monsoon this year. But one thing is reassuring – the ground water levels stand sufficiently recharged by the last rains."
Source: Hindustan Times
(4) Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline investigates alleged bribery in Iraq
Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline , already facing corruption accusations in China, is now investigating allegations of bribery in Iraq, the British company said on Sunday.
The latest controversy centres on claims that the company hired government-employed physicians and pharmacists in Iraq as paid sales representatives to improperly boost use of its products.
"We are investigating allegations of improper conduct in our Iraq business. We have zero tolerance for unethical or illegal behaviour," a company spokesman said.
The investigations are ongoing.
GSK employs fewer than 60 people in its pharmaceuticals operation in Iraq and the allegations relate to a small number of individuals in the country, the spokesman added.
Britain's biggest drugmaker was accused by Chinese authorities in July of funneling up to 3 billion yuan ($483 million) to doctors and officials to encourage them to use its medicines in a case that rocked the pharmaceuticals industry.
GSK sales in China, where the company has a staff of around 7,000, plunged in the wake of the scandal and it has recently dismissed some employees in the country and withheld bonuses from others as it seeks to root out wrongdoing.
While a number of major drugmakers have faced investigations into their overseas practices under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), GSK's problems in China have been unusual in being spearheaded by local Chinese officials.
GSK has previously described the Chinese corruption allegations as "shameful" and the company recently took steps to tighten procedures, including a move to stop the practice of paying doctors to speak on its behalf.
The latest allegations concerning Iraq were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which said it had reviewed emails from a person familiar with GSK's Middle East operations citing alleged corrupt practices in Iraq, including continuing issues and alleged misconduct dating from last year and 2012.
One of the emails said the malpractices appeared to violate both the FCPA and the British Bribery Act, both of which prohibit bribery of foreign officials.
GSK said that operating in emerging markets was "challenging", given the issues that many countries face in funding their healthcare systems, but the spokesman said the firm remained committed to providing medicines in multiple markets.
Building up business in developing economies is an important plank of GSK's growth strategy and Chief Executive Andrew Witty has described himself as an "extreme bull" on emerging market prospects.
Last week, the drugmaker announced plans to invest up to 130 million pounds ($216 million) in Africa. It has also recently built up stakes in local operations in India and Indonesia.
Source: The Economic Times
(5) Rs.8k cr service tax evasion in FY14
With increased focus on revenue generation from service tax, officials have detected several cases of tax evasion amounting to about Rs 8,000 crore during 2013-14 fiscal which ended last month. Finance ministry officials said service tax was being evaded by a number of small and big service providers across the country through non-filing of mandatory returns, wrongful declaration of amounts collected by them and other means.
The Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) had registered 1,144 cases of service tax evasion during 2013-14. The amount involving the cases of service tax evasion was Rs 7,928 crore during the period, they said.
The service tax detection amount of about Rs 8,000 crore does not include cases registered at various service tax and excise commissiorates and other allied offices across the country, the officials said.
"Service tax has been an focus area for the government. A number of service tax evasion cases has been registered across the country during the last fiscal," a finance ministry official said.
Source: The Times of India
Disclaimer: All news stories and content sourced from freely available material on the internet. All sources are acknowledged.
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