Current Affairs
Morning Brief: Karti Chidambaram Gets Anticipatory Bail In Black Money Case; SCO Summit: India Refuses To Endorse China’s BRI; Government Weighs Selling All Stake In IDBI Bank
Swarajya Staff
Jun 11, 2018, 09:04 AM | Updated 09:04 AM IST
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Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.
Karti Chidambaram Gets Anticipatory Bail In Black Money Case
Karti Chidambaram, son of former finance minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram, has been granted anticipatory bail in a late night hearing by the Madras High Court. The Income Tax Department had issued a warrant against him under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing foreign assets. Karti Chidambaram gave a written undertaking to appear before the Income Tax department on 28 June. During the hearing at the judge’s residence, the Income Tax department said it has already summoned Karti Chidambaram thrice to appear before it to record his statement in connection with the probe into alleged non-disclosure of assets abroad. As he failed to appear before the authorities, a warrant was issued, the department said. The judge directed the I-T department to keep the warrant in abeyance. Besides carrying a jail term of up to 10 years, the Black Money Act has provisions for a 120 per cent tax and penalty on undisclosed foreign assets and income.
India Refuses To Endorse China’s BRI In SCO Summit Statement
India on Sunday again refused to endorse the ambitious Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the 17-page joint document released at the end of the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Qingdao. More than a year after boycotting the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, New Delhi became the lone dissenting voice against the project in the joint declaration. All remaining seven members of the SCO, including Pakistan and Russia, supported the project which India says violates its territorial integrity. Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – an important part of the BRI – goes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. India, in the past, has said that connectivity projects should be transparent. and respect territorial sovereignty and integrity. The joint statement said that all member states strongly condemn terrorism in all forms and manifestations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, did not single out Pakistan as a source of terrorism during his speech.
Government Weighs Selling All Stake In IDBI Bank
The Modi government is considering selling its almost 86 per cent stake in the IDBI Bank to institutions such as state-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and the discussions are at an advanced stage. The government discussed the offer with senior bankers on Friday in Mumbai. If the government is successful in selling its stake, it will be relieved of the responsibility of recapitalising the struggling lender and the bank will have a professionally-run board. The LIC can’t own more than 15 per cent stake in a single entity. As of March, the state-run agency already holds 10.82 per cent stake in the bank. According to Mint, a clutch of private equity investors may buy up to 50 per cent stake in the bank. The government can divest control easily as the IDBI Bank is not governed by the Bank Nationalization Act.
SP Willing To Play Second Fiddle To BSP In 2019
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav has said that his party is willing to play second fiddle to Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party to make sure that the Bharatiya Janata Party is defeated in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In Mainpuri on Sunday, he said his party is willing “to sacrifice 2-4 seats”. Drawing attention to the opposition’s victory in the recent by-elections, he said the trend would continue in the future. Last month, Mayawati had said she would ally with other parties only if her party gets “a respectable number of seats”. This development comes at a time when the Congress has struck a note of caution saying it will not ignore the interests of its state leaders for the sake of regional tie-ups.
Army Guns Down Six Terrorists Along LoC
The army on Sunday gunned down six terrorists along the Line of Control in the Keran sector of Kupwara district in North Kashmir while they were trying to infiltrate into India. All six bodies of the infiltrators had been recovered, Army spokesperson Colonel Rajesh Kalia said in Srinagar. The search operations were continuing the area, the official said. This development comes just two days after a soldier was killed and another was injured in an ambush in the same sector. Terror attacks have continued despite Centre’s announcement of a Ramzan truce in the state.
Nirav Modi Flees To UK, Claims Political Asylum: Report
Nirav Modi, who is at the heart of a more than $2 billion fraud case in India, has fled to the United Kingdom and has sought political asylum in the country. In a case that came to light earlier this year, Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi had defrauded the Punjab National Bank (PNB) of about $2.2 billion. They had successfully raised credit from overseas branches of Indian banks using illegal guarantees issued allegedly by rogue PNB staff at a Mumbai branch over several years. According to the Financial Times, the billionaire jeweller is in London trying to claim asylum from what he calls “political persecution”.
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