New Delhi, Dec 28 : Billionaire Mukesh Ambani today stepped in to bail out younger brother Anil Ambani’s debt- ridden Reliance Communications by acquiring spectrum, tower, optical fiber network and other wireless assets.
While the two companies did not disclose the deal size, banking sources pegged the transaction value at Rs 24,000- 25,000 crore.
The announcement comes just two days after Reliance Communications – promoted by Anil Ambani – disclosed a new deal with the lenders under which nearly Rs 40,000 crore will be raised through sale of assets, averting an imminent takeover by the 35 local and foreign banks.
The mega deal also coincides with the 85th birth anniversary of Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani.
The deal will bring an immediate relief to Reliance Communications (RCom), which is reeling under Rs 45,000 crore debt, and the company hopes to use the entire proceeds to pare its debt.
“Reliance Communications Limited today announced it has signed definitive binding agreements with Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJio) for sale of wireless spectrum, tower, fiber and Media Convergence Node (MCN) assets,” RCom said in a statement.
A statement by Jio — which has 160 million customers just over a year into 4G operations — said these assets are strategic in nature and are expected to contribute significantly to its large scale roll out of Wireless and Fiber-to-Home and Enterprise services.
RCom said the deal packs in 122.4 MHz of 4G Spectrum in the 800/900/1800/2100 MHz bands, over 43,000 towers, 1,78,000 kilometres of fiber and 248 media convergence nodes.
The transaction, subject to approval from lenders and other authorities, is expected to be completed in a phased manner between January and March 2018.
“The RJio deal consideration comprises primarily of cash payment and includes transfer of deferred spectrum instalments payable to the Department of Telecommunication (DoT). The company will utilise the proceeds of the monetisation of this cash deal solely for pre-payment of debt to its lenders,” RCom said.
Reliance Jio will acquire all the assets without any previous liabilities attached to them.
“The acquisition is subject to receipt of requisite approvals from Governmental and regulatory authorities, consents from all lenders, release of all encumbrances on the said assets and other conditions precedent. The consideration is payable at completion and is subject to adjustments as specified in the agreement,” Jio said.
It further said process to acquire assets of RCom is supervised by an independent group of “distinguished industry experts” and that it emerged as the successful bidder in the two-stage bidding process.
“An asset monetisation process for RCom assets was mandated by the lenders of RCom, who appointed SBI Capital Markets Limited to run the process,” the Jio release said.
The parties are bound by confidentiality obligations and will make further disclosures at the appropriate time, Jio said without disclosing the value of the transaction.
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New Delhi, Dec 28 : The Lok Sabha today passed the contentious bill making instant triple illegal with up to three years in jail for the husband, a development hailed by the government as “historic”.
The bill was passed after the House rejected a string of amendments moved by various opposition members.
MPs from the RJD, AIMIM, BJD, AIADMK and All India Muslim League opposed the bill, calling it arbitrary in nature and a faulty proposal.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill would only be applicable on instant triple talaq or ‘talaq-e- biddat’. It gives power to the victim to approach a magistrate seeking “subsistence allowance” for herself and minor children. A victim can also seek the custody of her minor children from the magistrate.
Under the law, instant triple talaq in any form — spoken, in writing or by electronic means such as email, SMS and WhatsApp — would be illegal and void.
The bill will now be sent to the Rajya Sabha for passage before it is forwarded to the President for signing it into law.
The bill is likely to sail through the Rajya Sabha, where the government lacks majority, given the Congress’s stated support to the legislation.
New Delhi, Dec 28: The Congress today condemned Pakistan for harassing Kulbhushan Jadhav’s mother and wife, and said it was an “insult” to all Indians.
The opposition party said the matter was “important” enough to put an end to the impasse in the Rajya Sabha.
“We, as Indians, protest this strongly and condemn strongly this act of Pakistani government and we would like to discuss, show our displeasure tomorrow on the floor of the House. This was the single most important case, we did not want to continue the impasse,” Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters outside Parliament.
The Rajya Sabha has not functioned normally since the start of the winter session on December 15, due to disruptions by the opposition over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks against his predecessor Manmohan Singh.
He condemned Pakistan’s action of forcing Jadhav’s mother and wife change their clothes and remove “bindi” and “mangal sutra”, besides shoes.
“This is not just an insult to the mother and wife of Kulbhushan Jadhav but also an insult of India. This is an insult to 1.3 billion Indian people irrespective of religion and caste,” he said.
Azad said the way Jadhav’s wife and mother were harassed and treated by the Pakistani government, it is something which “simply we should not tolerate as Indians”.
“We may be in the opposition but we are Indian first…
Kulbhushan Jadhav is our fellow citizen. We will cooperate with the government…we would expect that he should get justice,” Azad said.
The Congress leader said Pakistan had to succumb to international pressure to allow Jadhav’s family members to meet him, but “we did not expect that his family members mother and wife will be separated by glass wall”.
“We could never think of that they will not allow to meet, hug and talk to each other face to face. They were allowed to talk through intercom. What is difference between intercom and telephone? His family members were watching him over television for the last so many years,” he said.
The Congress today ended the week-long impasse over Modi’s “conspiracy with Pakistan” remarks against Singh made during the Gujarat poll campaign.
Asked whether this was a climbdown or succumbing to any pressure, he said, “There is no question of succumbing under pressure and we shall never compromise with our commitment.
Our commitment is most important for us, commitment to the country, the people are very important to us.”
Azad said, “We did not want to continue this logjam for longer period. We have come to the conclusion that the government was feeling happier with this impasse in Parliament.”
“We decided that we should not confine ourselves to one issue and hammer in time and again for days and weeks together. That means to let up the government from these issues which come up every day. I think we could smell that the government and the ministers particularly those facing the question hour were very happy,” he said.
He said talks were on with the government to end the stalemate and that a committee had been formed by the Rajya Sabha chairman and both the sides concluded that other issues needed to be taken up in the Upper House.
New Delhi, Dec 27: A call by parliamentarians for introducing a two-child norm policy is “not appropriate” as India’s fertility rate has gone down in the last decade, says a coalition working on reproductive health and family planning.
The coalition, however, welcomed the opinion expressed by MPs on the need to revise the National Population Policy of 2000, saying there was an urgent need to define the country’s approach towards population stabilisation in line with its commitment to the global 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
“The call for introducing a policy with a two child norm in anticipation of a ‘demographic catastrophe’ is not appropriate, given the fact that in the last decade (2005-06 – 2015-16), India’s total fertility rate (TFR) has gone down from 2.7 to 2.2,” the Advocating Reproductive Choices (ARC) coalition said.
This, they said, was close to the desired replacement level fertility at 2.1.
A demand for revising the National Population Policy 2000 and introducing a new policy with a two-child norm was made in the Lok Sabha recently, with a BJP member expressing concern over an impending “demographic catastrophe”.
The demand was made by Raghav Lakhanpal Sharma as he moved a private resolution seeking implementation of a stringent population control policy to check the population explosion.
The coalition said that in the past, in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where law had debarred women with more than two children from benefits, there was a rise in sex-selective abortions, incidents of women being deserted, or giving their children up for adoption.
“With a skewed child sex ratio (0-6 years) of 919 girls per 1,000 boys, India can ill afford a restrictive two-child norm that would further discriminate against the girl child,” the coalition said.
It argued that institutionalising such a policy would “undo” decades of efforts undertaken to establish a rights-based approach to family planning, which was adopted as part of India’s commitment at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994.
“The proposed approach will not only tilt towards a coercive and target-driven policy, but will also impinge on individual freedom and imply that it was not the people, but the numbers that matter.
“Pushing for an ‘anti-natalist’ policy resting on coercion and disincentives is an unacceptable direction and has proven to be counterproductive on innumerable instances,” it said in the statement.
“At this moment there is need to reflect on how states such as Kerala, with a TFR of 1.6, reduced its fertility rates by investing in long-term measures like educating and empowering girls and women by ensuring equal rights and improving health care delivery,” it added.
New Delhi, Dec 27: State-run Rural Electricity Corp (REC) today said that Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) was launched in Madhya Pradesh to provide electricity connections to about 45 lakh families.
“Saubhagya was launched in Madhya Pradesh on December 22, 2017, by Power and New and Renewable Energy R K Singh and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan,” an REC statement said.
According to the statement, a total of approximately 45 lakh un-electrified households of Madhya Pradesh are proposed to be included under the present DDUGJY (Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana) and Saubhagya Schemes.
With the launch of the scheme, 5,000 new electricity connections were released in Rewa district.
The Saubhagya scheme was launched in September to achieve universal household electrification in all parts of the country at a cost of Rs 16,320 crore including Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of Rs 12,320 crore from Government of India.
All states and Union territories of the country are required to complete household electrification in their respective jurisdiction by March 31, 2019.
The REC has been appointed as the nodal agency for coordinating the implementation of the scheme.
The prospective beneficiary households for free electricity connections under the scheme will be identified using Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC), 2011 data.
LONDON, Dec 26 : India looks set to leapfrog Britain and France next year to become the world’s fifth-largest economy in dollar terms, a report showed on Tuesday.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) consultancy’s 2018 World Economic League Table painted an upbeat view of the global economy, boosted by cheap energy and technology prices.
India’s ascent is part of a trend that will see Asian economies increasingly dominate the top 10 largest economies over the next 15 years.
Mumbai, Dec 26: The Indian Railways on Monday flagged off the country’s first air-conditioned suburban local train for Mumbai commuters here, almost 150 years after the first suburban local was hauled by a steam engine in 1867.
The Christmas and pre-New Year bonanza saw the first AC local’s maiden run for the media, officials, anf some political party activists.
Mumbai, Dec 26: Media and marketing professionals across the globe are the most vacation deprived, saying they cannot afford to take a holiday, according to a survey.
Expedia ‘Vacation Deprivation Report 2017’ has revealed that 66 per cent respondents surveyed belonging to media and marketing sectors said they are vacation deprived because they cannot afford a holiday or cannot get out of work.
However, professionals in the government and education sectors are found to be least vacation deprived, it added.
This study was conducted online on behalf of Expedia by Northstar Research Partners from September 4-15, 2017, and surveyed 15,081 respondents across 30 countries.
It revealed that after media and marketing sector professionals, those in food and beverage sector (62 per cent respondents) said they don’t have enough holidays, followed by agriculture (56 per cent), transportation and travel (56 per cent), business and consulting (55 per cent) and finance and legal (55 per cent), it said.
Further, the study said, there are professionals in sectors, including the government (55 per cent), health (40 per cent), transportation and travel (39 per cent), real estate (37 per cent), business and consulting (36 per cent) and manufacturing and technology (34 per cent), who have not taken a holiday in the last six months.
The survey revealed that 35 per cent professionals in sectors like agriculture, media and marketing, food and beverage, retail and education said they are vacation deprived mainly because they cannot afford to take a holiday.
However, in sector like finance and legal, 28 per cent professionals said they feel vacation deprived because they cannot get time off from work, it added.
Tehran, Dec 226: Iran’s Supreme Court has approved the death sentence of an Iranian researcher accused of spying for Israel.
Ahmad Reza Jalali, who has been jailed since April 2016, was shown on state TV earlier this month confessing to providing information to Israel’s Mossad spy agency about Iranian military and nuclear scientists, including two who were assassinated in 2010.
It was not clear if he was speaking under duress. Rights groups say detainees in Iran are often denied due process.
The semi-official ISNA news agency reported the court’s decision today. It is not clear when the sentence will be carried out. The ruling is not subject to appeal.
New Delhi, Dec 25: India’s economic growth may touch 7 per cent next year as the government’s policies tilt towards the country’s stress-ridden rural landscape in the penultimate year before the 2019 general elections, according to a report.
“Against GDP growth of 6.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2017-18, the economic expansion may reach the crucial 7 per cent mark by the end of September 2018 quarter, while inflation may range between 4 to 5.5 per cent towards the second half of the next calendar year with the monsoon being a key imponderable,” said Assocham in its Year-Ahead Outlook.
The chamber said its projections for the 7 per cent GDP growth are based upon the assumption of stability in the government policies, good Monsoon, pick-up in industrial activity and credit growth and stable foreign exchange rates.
The coming budget is expected to be heavily tilted towards the farmers while the industrial focus will be on the sectors which create jobs, it added.
“A realisation seems to be dawning that growth per se is not enough, the benefits must be seen in the form of higher employment. The year 2018 would see policies in this direction,” it said, highlighting that the stress in the agriculture sector is traceable to lack of reforms in the rural economy.
Despite political promises, several states have not been able to reform the APMC (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act), which restricts farmers to sell their produce to a particular set of cartels. Besides, the import-export policies for the agri products need to be revisited to help growers realise better prices, the chamber said.
However, according to Assocham, while the underlying bullish sentiment should continue to prevail in the Indian stock market in 2018, the returns on equity may not be as robust as in 2017.
This is because the 2017 bull run has already factored in the return of growth steadiness in 2018 and the corporate earnings witnessing a pick-up, it added.
Weak base of corporate earnings in sync with the lowering of GDP (gross domestic product) growth in later part of 2017 would also help the revival in the year ahead.
As for pick up in investment, the scenario should turn positive only in the third and fourth quarter of 2018-19, till then the current capacity surplus has to be absorbed and debts reduced, Assocham said.
It observed that in the run-up to the state assembly elections in several politically important states like Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, after the high stake Gujarat polls, the political economy is set to tilt towards the farm sector which has been witnessing some stress.
According to the chamber, the external sector should continue to do well, with merchandise exports further gaining on the back of smart recovery being witnessed in the US and other important economies.
“Despite pressure on IT and ITeS exports, the services exports too should remain robust and the overall current account balance would remain well within the manageable limits with rupee continuing to remain steady. The current account deficit may remain well below 2 per cent,” it said.
London, Dec 24: At least 10,000 people were killed in the Chinese army crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, according to a newly released British secret diplomatic cable, reports BBC.
The casualty figure was given in a secret diplomatic cable from then British ambassador to China, Alan Donald.
The original source was a friend of a member of China’s State Council, the envoy said..
Ranchi, Dec 24: In a major setback to the RJD, a special CBI court today convicted former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and 15 others in a fodder scam case 21 years after it had surfaced, while acquitting six others including another former chief minister Jagannath Mishra.
Special judge Shivpal Singh pronounced the verdict in a packed courtroom in the case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury between 1991 and 1994.
The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on January 3.
The copy of the judgement was not immediately available.
Sixty-nine-year-old Lalu Prasad, who heads the RJD, and other convicts were taken into custody immediately after the pronouncement of the verdict. Lalu Prasad’s son Tejaswi Yadav, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, was present in the court.
Lalu Prasad and other convicted in the fodder scam case were then whisked off to Birsa Munda jail, where security has been tightened, CBI sources said.
The special court acquitted 80-year-old Jagannath Mishra and five others — former Public Accounts Committee chairman Druv Bhagat, former Indian Revenue Service officer A C Choudhary, fodder suppliers Saraswati Chandra and Sadhana Singh and former minister Vidya Sagar Nishad.
Besides Lalu Prasad, the court convicted political leaders Jagdish Sharma and R K Rana, IAS officers Beck Julius, Phoolchand Singh and Mahesh Prasad, and government officials Krishna Kumar and Subir Bhattacharya. The others are suppliers/transporters Tripurari Mohan Prasad, Sushil Kumar Sinha, Sunil Kumar Sinha, Raja Ram Joshi, Gopinath Das, Sanjay Agarwal, Jyoti Kumar Jha and Sunil Gandhi.
In 1996, the Patna High Court ordered an inquiry into the fodder scam cases and a charge sheet in the Deogarh treasury case was filed against 38 people on October 27, 1997. Eleven of them died and three turned approvers while two other accused confessed and were convicted in 2006-07, a CBI official said.
The accused faced charges under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The court had on December 13 reserved its on the matter.
Senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that the party would move the high court against the special CBI court order.
Soon after the verdict, a post on Lalu Prasad’s Twitter handle read, “Powerful people and powerful classes always managed to divide society into ruling and the ruled classes.
And whenever anyone from the lower hierarchy challenged this unjust order, they would be deliberately punished.”
“Had people like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Baba Saheb Ambedkar failed in their efforts, history would have treated them as villains. They still are villains for the biased, racist and casteist minds. No one should expect any different treatment,” added another tweet.
On September 30, 2013, Lalu Prasad, Jagannath Mishra and several others had been convicted in another case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa Treasury in the early 1990s. Today’s conviction is the second in the scam.
The Supreme Court had granted bail on December 13 that year to Lalu Prasad, who had been behind the bars for two months. He had moved the apex court challenging the order of the Jharkhand High Court which had dismissed his bail plea.
Lalu Prasad faces another three fodder scam cases for illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka Treasury, Rs 36 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury and Rs 184 crore from the Doranda treasury.
Siddharthnagar (UP), Dec 24: A court here has awarded one-month jail term to BJP MP Jagdambika Pal for violating Model Code of Conduct during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The MP, however, was granted bail by the court soon after.
Pal had been charged for using vehicles more than the permissible limit during a rally in Bansi while campaigning for the 2014 polls.
The then SDM had lodged a case against Pal in Bansi Kotwali for violation of model code of conduct, additional prosecution officer Keshav Pandey said.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Sanjay Chaudhary pronounced the verdict yesterday, additional prosecution officer Keshav Pandey said.
The CJM also imposed a fine of Rs 100 on Pal, he said.
The MP was granted bail by the court soon after, Pandey added.