India beat Belgium 2-1 in the final to win Junior Hockey World Cup after 15 years
Mumbai, Dec 21 : The Reserve Bank today imposed penalty on five foreign banks, including Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, for violation of its instructions on reporting requirements of the FEMA.
The three other banks are: Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and The Royal Bank of Scotland.
RBI said they have been fined for violation of its instructions on reporting requirements of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).
Germany’s Deutsche Bank has been imposed fine of Rs 20,000, while Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered Bank have been fined Rs 10,000 each.
“The penalties have been imposed in exercise of the powers vested in the Reserve Bank under the provisions of Section 11(3) of FEMA 1999, taking into account, the violations of the instructions/directions/guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India, from time to time,” RBI said.
RBI said it has issued show cause notices to all the banks, in response to which the banks submitted written replies and also made oral submissions thereon.
“After considering the facts of the cases and the banks’ replies in the matter, Reserve Bank came to the conclusion that the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of penalty,” RBI said further.
Seoul, Dec 21 : South Korea’s ruling conservative party today faced an imminent split over the impeachment of scandal-hit President Park Geun-Hye, a development that would seriously undermine its presidential election chances.
More than 30 lawmakers of the Saenuri Party, who have been at odds with Park, have vowed to leave, arguing the party’s current leadership refuses to embrace reforms despite the corruption scandal and impeachment crisis.
“We’ve reached a conclusion that conservatives’ reform through the Saenuri Party is impossible”, Yoo Seung-Min, an eminent lawmaker among the dissenters told journalists.
A split would also complicate a possible run by outgoing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who had been widely expected to compete as a centre-right candidate on the Saenuri ticket.
Thirty-five lawmakers have agreed to break away from the party on December 27, the group said, adding they will try to convince more parliamentary members to join them.
Their departure will leave the party with some 90 lawmakers within the 300-seat parliament and relegating it to second place behind the liberal Democratic Party within the National Assembly.
The group crossed party lines to join opposition parties in passing a motion to impeach Park this month.
Park is accused of colluding with her friend Choi Soon-Sil to strong-arm large companies like Samsung into handing over tens of millions of dollars to two dubious foundations Choi allegedly controlled and plundered.
Park is also accused of ordering aides to leak state documents to Choi, who has no official title or security clearance, and allowing her to meddle in some state affairs, including the appointment of top officials.
The case is now being considered by the constitutional court, which has up to 180 days to rule on the validity of the impeachment that charged Park with multiple criminal and constitutional violations — ranging from bribery to abuse of power.
If the justices confirm impeachment, Park will be permanently removed and elections must be held within 60 days — meaning a ballot could be held as early as late March.
The split will drastically reduce the chances of the conservative party winning the presidential election.
Karachi, Dec 20 : The screening of Bollywood films has resumed in Pakistan after three months in a low-key manner with cinema owners still fearing an adverse reaction from extremists amid recent tensions between India and Pakistan.
A visit to some single screen cinemas and multiplexes a day after the screening resumed yesterday showed small crowds and low-visibility publicity posters.
The manager of Capri cinema in Karachi admitted this is being done intentionally.
“The relations between the two countries are not good so we are just keeping it low-key and not creating too much hype.
It will take some time for things to get normal,” Saleem said.
“The response to screening of Indian films once again has been a mixed one going by social media and other media outlets. While some are objecting in a spirit of patriotism there are others who support our decision,” said well known film distributor Nadeem Mandviwalla, owner of Atrium cinemas.
“I can understand why my colleagues are still apprehensive about any strong reactions because I have been through it myself. Indo-Pak relations can stir very extreme reactions in both countries, more so in India,” he said.
Mandviwalla also owns the historic Nishat cinema in the heart of Karachi which was burnt down in 2012 amid violent protests against a purportedly anti-Islamic short film called “Innocence of Muslims” aired on YouTube.
The Nishat cinema which was an iconic symbol at one time for Karachi’s thriving cultural and arts scene still remains a charred building with Mandviwalla refusing to rebuild it.
‘Freaky Ali’, a 2016 romantic comedy which has a cast of Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Arbaaz Khan and Amy Jackson is the first Indian film to be screened after Pakistani film exhibitors, distributors and cinema owners had in a collective show of patriotism voluntarily suspended the screening of Indian films last September after a ban on Pakistani artistes in India by the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association.
“Films that had already been imported will be screened as a token for now while we are negotiating for release of new Bollywood releases,” Mandviwalla said.
He said the decision to screen Indian films again was taken because the government had not pushed for any ban last September and there was no public agitation over screening of the films at a time when there was a serious threat to Indian filmmakers in India over casting Pakistani actors.
“Yes it is a commercially motivated decision partially but also because our cinema industry needs to get back on its feet and we need to show the world we are more openhearted in Pakistan,” he said. .
New Delhi, Dec 20 : Board exams for Class X are set to become compulsory for all CBSE students from 2018, three language formula could be extended till Class X and foreign language might be treated as fourth and “elective”, according to decisions taken by the CBSE today.
At the meeting of CBSE’s Governing body, its members “unanimously” agreed that from the academic session 2017-18, compulsory Board exams should be introduced for all students of Class X, sources told PTI here.
The decision will now have to be approved by the government before it is implemented.
Currently, it is optional for CBSE students to choose either the Board exam or a school-based examination.
HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar has in the past favoured making Board exam compulsory for CBSE students as is the practice in all state boards.
The sources said while there is a view that for the Class X Board exams, 80 percent weightage will be given to the marks scored in examinations while 20 percent weightage will be given to school-based evaluation.
In another key decision, the CBSE has decided to recommend to the HRD ministry that the three language formula, under which Hindi, English and Indian language are taught, should be extended to class IX and X as well from the current VI to VIII, a source said.
Oficials added that the Board also favoured sending a recommendation to the Centre that those languages which are listed in schedule VIII of the Constitution should be taught under the ‘Three language formula’ while languages which are “purely foreign” should be taught as a “fourth language as an elective subject.”
In the past the HRD ministry run Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV) used to offer German as a third language, but the practice was later discontinued.
The final call on these decisions will be taken by the government, a senior official said.
New Delhi : Transaction charges need to be kept at a minimum level to encourage digital payments and make it “ubiquitous” as India is a “cost-sensitive” market, TRAI Chairman R S Sharma said today.
Citing example of the telecom sector, Sharma said mechanism can be worked out to ensure that small payments are financially sustainable.
“There are three things which are extremely important for digital transactions to become ubiquitous – cost, convenience and confidence. India is an extremely cost-sensitive market…you can’t have Rs 5 commission on Rs 100 transaction.
That is not going to work,” Sharma said speaking at a seminar on ‘Demonetisation to Digital Remonetisation’ organised by FICCI.
Urging financial institutions to emulate the telecom sector where average value of pre-paid digital recharge is Rs 10, is “financially sustainable”, Sharma said that charges levied on digital transactions should be based on ‘work done’ principle.
“My view is that not only in the short run, in the longer run too, if the work done principle is adopted in digital transactions, this whole merchant discount rate (MDR) and other issues will go away. I am not saying that they (banks) should stop earning any money but if they earn money they should earn money in a reasonable manner,” Sharma said.
He further pointed out that two per cent charge on credit card transactions would prompt people to use alternative, which is cash.
“That thing has to go in the long run, if we want cashless to continue…otherwise there is a danger than once these incentives end, people will revert back to cash, which should not happen. India has to become cashless,” he said.
“I think there is a need to reduce these MDR and other digital charges…” Sharma said.
Asked about Vodafone’s move to challenge in court TRAI’s Rs 1050 crore penalty recommendation for denial of interconnectivity to newcomer Reliance Jio, Sharma declined to comment on the matter.
“This is a free country, every entity has the right of legal recourse and they are well within their rights to go to approach the courts, which is fine. Why should I have any comments, reservation or problems with that,” Sharma said on the sidelines.
Vodafone last week told the Delhi High Court that the TRAI’s recommendation to the Centre to impose Rs 1050 crore penalty on it for not giving interconnectivity to Reliance Jio was an “arbitrary” decision.
TRAI had recommended imposition of a fine of Rs 50 crore for each of the 21 circles of Vodafone, except in Jammu and Kashmir, coming to a total of Rs 1050 crore.
New Delhi : Government will soon launch a new programme, Digital Village, to provide services like health and education in villages with the help of technology.
The programme would be rolled out in 100 villages initially and will be expanded later, Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today.
“We are going to unleash another important initiative– Digital Village. As per my understanding, it will be a collector-driven initiative. We propose to begin with 100 villages and expand it later,” Prasad said at the Digital India Awards event here.
He said a collector with the help concerned local bodies may select a village to provide health, education and other virtual world service through Wi-Fi connectivity.
The minister appealed officers at the event to join pro-actively in government’s digital initiative aimed at transforming the country.
“We have trained 18 lakh people over a span of four days.
We may scale it (digital payments training) up in January,” he said.
Government has set a target of training 1.25 crore people on digital payments by March 31, 2017.
Minister of State for Law and IT P P Chaudhary appreciated National Informatics Centre and said that there are about 8,000 websites carrying information about government work and facilitating transactions.
“I would like to suggest some of the areas where we have to perform. We are far behind in the generation of Intellectual Property. In the area of cyber security, we have to be pro-active and not only be reactive,” Chaudhary said.
IT secretary Aruna Sundararajan said this is the first time Indians are having access to government without intermediaries.
At the event, e-governance service of departments from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Jharkhand won Digital India awards, earlier known as Web Ratna Aawards. Rajasthan won platinum award in the state category while Tamil Nadu received Gold and Haryana silver award for e-governance services.
North Goa won platinum award in districts category.
Kupwara received Gold and Udham Singh Nagar bagged silver award for e-governance. Municipal Corporations of Surat, Greater Visakhapatnam, Madurai and UP’s e-NagarSewaUP bagged award.
The Finance Ministry, on Monday, laid down restrictions on the amount of de-legalised currency that can be deposited in bank accounts till the December 30 deadline.
According to the Finance Ministry, now an amount exceeding Rs 5,000 (in value terms) can be deposited in the bank accounts only once till the December 30 deadline runs out.
So far, there were no restrictions on the amount that could be deposited in the bank accounts while the government had put in place caps on the exchange and withdrawals. People were allowed to deposit the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes till the deadline. However, this has changed now.
In a statement on the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) website, it said, “it has been decided to place certain restrictions on deposits of Specified Bank Notes into bank accounts while encouraging the deposits of the same under the Taxation and Investment Regime for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, 2016.”
That’s not all. If you’re going to deposit an amount exceeding Rs 5000 into your bank account would be approved only after “questioning the tenderer, on record, in the presence of atleast two officials of the bank as to why this could not be deposited earlier and receiving a satisfactory explanation. The explanation should be kept on record to facilitate an audit trail at a later stage. An appropriate flag also should be raised in CBS to that effect so that no more tenders are allowed,” the RBI said.
However, tenders up to the value of Rs 5000 can be deposited over the counter till the deadline but “even when tenders smaller than Rs 5000 are made into an account and such tenders taken together on cumulative basis exceed Rs 5,000 may be subject to the procedure to be followed in the case of tenders above Rs 5000, with no more tenders being allowed thereafter until December 30, 2016,” the central bank said.
Further, an amount exceeding Rs 5000 can only be deposited in KYC compliant accounts.
These caps, however, are not applicable if the deposits are being made under Taxation and Investment Regime for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, 2016.
United Nations, Dec 19 : The UN Security Council will vote today on a French-drafted resolution to quickly deploy UN observers to Aleppo, with Russia, Syria’s ally, giving cautious backing to the measure.
Russia had threatened to veto a first draft presented by France calling for observers to monitor evacuations from Aleppo and report on the protection of civilians in the besieged Syrian city.
But after nearly four hours of closed-door council consultations yesterday, a new draft was agreed.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters: “We put in some good hours of work and I think we have a good text.”
French Ambassador Francois Delattre declared that the council had reached “common ground,” while US Ambassador Samantha Power anticipated the member states would vote “unanimously” at 9 am (local time).
The vote, initially tabled for yesterday, was delayed until today to allow the Russian delegation to consult with Moscow on the final draft resolution that provides for UN and other international observers to be dispatched to eastern Aleppo.
The new draft calls on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to make arrangements, in consultation with Syrian authorities and the rebels, to allow UN monitoring of “the well-being of civilians.”
Moscow had presented its own draft resolution that requested that the United Nations make “arrangements” to monitor the situation, but made no specific mention of sending observers to east Aleppo.
France and the United States said the new text, which took into account Russian proposals, resulted in minor changes.
“The text left standing includes all the core provisions to allow for UN monitoring, to get the 100-plus UN people ready to go to team up with the ICRC and the Syrian Red Crescent,” said Power.
Evacuations of fighters and civilians from Aleppo were suspended yesterday after gunmen attacked buses for a similar operation from two rebel-besieged villages.
Syrian forces this week moved to assert full control over the east of the city, which had been held by opposition fighters since 2012.
Russia, which has deployed forces in Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad’s military, has vetoed six resolutions on Syria since the conflict began in March 2011.
Delattre said the international presence would prevent Aleppo from turning into another Srebrenica, where thousands of Bosnian men and boys were massacred in 1995 when the town fell to Bosnian Serb forces.
“If adopted, I believe it will be the first time the Security Council has been able to agree on a text in a long time,” said Delattre.
“It will give us collectively the tools to try to avoid a new Srebrenica.”
The draft resolution “demands that all parties allow complete, immediate, unconditional, safe and unhindered access” for humanitarian aid to Aleppo, which has been under siege since July.