Morning Brief: Modi Vows To Protect Honest Money; Sunjwan Terror Attack Toll Hits 10; RBI Still Counting DeMo Notes

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.

Modi Vows To Protect Hard Earned Honest Money

Addressing the Indian community in Muscat on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that his government had saved a total of about Rs 1.4 lakh crore in four schemes over the last three years. To the cheering crowd of mostly blue-collar Indian workers, he spoke directly, “the remittances you send, that money should be well spent… that’s your hard-earned, honest money, and should be honestly spent by the government.” Earlier, in his keynote address at the World Government Summit in Dubai, Modi said that India has saved Rs 56,000 crore through Aadhaar-enabled direct benefit transfer of about 400 government schemes. He said the government's e-market programme of GEM has witnessed transactions worth Rs 4,500 crore in a very short span of time. “With clear intent and transparent policy of the government, we have been able to save money… we have also needed technical help,” he said in Muscat.

Sunjwan Terror Attack Toll Hits 10

The death toll in the ongoing encounter between holed-up fidayeen (suicide) militants and security forces in Sunjwan, Jammu, reached 10 on Sunday, as the siege at the Army compound entered the second day. Five soldiers, four militants and a civilian have lost their lives so far in the operation which began at 4.55 am on Saturday after an unknown number of militants stormed an army camp in Sunjwan area on the outskirts of Jammu city. Eleven people, including Lt Col Rohit Solanki and Major Avijit Singh of 6th Mahar regiment, women and children, were also injured in the gun battle. Reports said the operation continued till late into Sunday night. No more gun shots were fired at the shootout site after the death of the fourth militant. Searches are now going on to sanitise the camp as it is still unclear whether any militants remain in the compound. This is also the second attack on the Sunjwan military station in 15 years. In 2003, terrorists had barged into its premises and killed nearly a dozen soldiers.

Gadkari Unveils Plans For Luxury Cruise On Ganga

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari said the government intends to have four or five-star cruise on Ganga, while underlining the urgent need for infrastructure development in the country and road map for 2018. In an interview to Moneycontrol, he said, “there is a good start in waterways but still, our ambition is very high. Within six to eight months, the picture will begin to change.” Union Budget 2018-19 has set aside Rs 5.97 lakh crore for infrastructure development, higher by 21 per cent over the previous year. He also said express highways are being planned next month with the first express highway for the country — the eastern bypass in Delhi, to be inaugurated. About 12 to 13 new express highways are being planned. Till now the ministry has hit 28 km per with the next year’s target put at 40 km per day and “I am confident that we will achieve that”, the Minister said.

Rs 1,487 Crore Sanctioned To Boost Security Of Army Camps

The Defence Ministry has approved Rs 1,487 crore to the Indian Army to improve the perimeter security of its bases. While clearing the long-awaited project, the ministry has set a 10-month deadline for the project's execution. The sanction to the project comes amid heightened hostilities between Indian and Pakistani armies along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and several terror attack targeting military installations. The Army headquarters will keep an eye on the quick implementation of the key programme that seeks to beef up the security of Army bases in six commands. The new financial sanction would be in addition to an earlier allocation of nearly 800 crore each to the vice chiefs of the Army, Air Force and Navy to improve the outside security of the military stations without any ministerial approval. This comes one and half years after a high-powered panel, headed by former Army Vice Chief Lt Gen Philip Campose looked into the loopholes of perimeter security of military stations and forward bases, and suggested improvements.

SBI Wrote Off Rs 20,000 Crore Bad Loans Last Fiscal

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, wrote off bad loans worth Rs 20,339 crore in 2016-17, the highest among all the public sector banks, which had a collective write off of Rs 81,683 crore for the fiscal. According to data from the Reserve Bank of India, nine public sector banks (PSBs), out of the total 21, had gross non-performing asset ratio of above 15 per cent (the percentage of bad loans in terms of total loans outstanding) as of 30 September 2017. Fourteen public sector banks have gross non-performing asset ratio of over 12 per cent. PSBs write-off stood at Rs 27,231 crore in 2012-13, government data showed. The figure has jumped nearly three-fold in five years. In 2013-14, the state-owned banks wrote off bad loans worth Rs 34,409 crore; Rs 49,018 crore in 2014-15; Rs 57,585 crore in 2015-16 and hitting Rs 81,683 in the fiscal ended March 2017. The data pertains to the period when the associate banks of SBI were not merged with it.

RBI Still Counting Demonetised High Value Notes, 15 Months On

Fifteen months after the government announced demonetisation on 8 November 2016, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, returned to banks, are still being "processed for their arithmetical accuracy and genuineness". This is being done in an "expedited manner", the central bank said. "Specific bank notes are being processed for their arithmetical accuracy and genuineness and the reconciliation for the same is ongoing. This information can, therefore, be shared on completion of the process and reconciliation," the RBI said in reply to a right to information application. Asked to provide the details of the deadline for finishing the counting of demonetised notes, the RBI said "specified bank notes are being processed in an expedited manner". In its annual report for 2016-17 released on August 30 last year, the RBI said Rs 15.28 lakh crore, or 99 per cent of the demonetised notes, had returned to the banking system. The central bank said in the report, for the year ended 30 June 2017, that only Rs 16,050 crore of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore in old high denomination notes had not returned.

Muslim Board Sacks Cleric Over Babri Masjid Remarks

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) sacked senior cleric and executive member Maulana Sayyed Salman Hussaini Nadvi on Sunday for suggesting that Muslims can shift the Babri Masjid away from the disputed site in Ayodhya. The decision came a day after Nadvi said in an interview said the board had been hijacked by "extremist elements". The board, after a two-day deliberation, reiterated its stand on Ayodhya, saying Babri Masjid was an essential part of faith in Islam and Muslims could never abdicate it or exchange the land. "Babri Masjid is a mosque and shall remain one till eternity," it said. Nadvi, who drew flak for his Babri remark after meeting Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on 8 February in Bengaluru, said in Lucknow that he would launch a parallel body. The Babri Masjid case is pending in the Supreme Court. On Thursday, the three-judge Supreme Court bench fixed 14 March as the next date of hearing in Ayodhya case as some of the documents and translations were yet to be filed before the apex court.

Russian Plane Crashes Near Moscow, Killing 71

A Russian passenger plane carrying 71 people crashed outside Moscow on Sunday after taking off from the capital's Domodedovo airport, killing all those on board. "Sixty-five passengers and six crew members were on board, and all of them died," Russia's office of transport investigations said. The plane was headed to the Russian city of Orsk, near the border with Kazakhstan. But it disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, Russian state news agency Tass reported. Russia has seen record high snowfall in recent days and visibility was reportedly poor with media reporting that the members of emergency services were unable to reach the crash site by road and that rescue workers walked to the scene on foot. The transport ministry said several causes for the crash were being considered, including weather conditions and human error. In March 2016, all 62 passengers died when a FlyDubai jet crashed in bad weather during an aborted landing at Rostov-on-Don airport.

MUST READ OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

A Pressing Need For A National Urban Policy: Urbanisation in the 21st century is a complex affair with many stakeholders — and it requires a holistic framework. States would have to take the lead in order to make cities vibrant economic centres.

Indian Bankers Set To Rewrite Corporate History: The insolvency law is the biggest reform in the banking sector that has changed the body language of both bankers as well as promoters of their borrowers.

Northeast Polls: It’s Advantage BJP: The Congress is going to be on the receiving end in Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura. While in Nagaland and Tripura it would be interesting to watch if it is able to hold on to being the largest opposition party or will concede even that to the BJP, in Meghalaya the stakes are bigger.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Why I Am A Hindu – Let Ursula K Le Guin Tell You: Ursula K Le Guin sees how a system like Dharma, if undefended, not just vanishes but vanishes with a tragic loss to humanity.

We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!

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