New Delhi [India],(ANI): Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday reviewed the performance of credit and other welfare schemes for Scheduled Castes (SCs) in public sector banks during a meeting on Tuesday.

The finance minister said that the objective of the meeting was to bring all stakeholders on a common platform to work together in fulfillment of the rights for the upliftment and betterment of the people from SCs.

Some highlights of the meeting covered included banks will have to fill the small number of remaining backlog vacancies in a time-bound manner, banks will have to enhance the coverage of SCs in all schemes and advise PSBs heads to also look into their needs for capacity building, entrepreneurship development as SCs make up 18% of the total workforce of banks, and banks will have to make proper digital records for jobs being outsourced, especially for posts like safai karamcharis from October 1, according to an official statement.

Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Kisanrao Karad, Department of Financial Services Secretary Sanjay Malhotra were present in the meeting, along with National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSCs) Chairman Vijay Sampla and NCSC members — Subhash Ramnath Pardhi and Anju Bala.

The meeting also elaborated upon forward and backward linkages through convergence of various schemes of different government departments for SCs while giving them financial assistance, and redressal of all pending grievances pertaining to SC community may also be taken up in the special drive by DFS from October 2.

The review meeting also covered improvements required to be carried out in all the schemes like Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for Scheduled Castes (CEGSSC) that may be taken up by DFS after discussion with agencies like Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) that are working with SCs at the grass-root level. (ANI)

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India],(ANI): The monetary policy committee of the Reserve Bank of India is all set for its bi-monthly review meeting starting today.

Like several other central banks, the main focus of the RBI during the three-day-long meet will again remain on containing high inflation.

The MPC is a six-member body that is mandated to determine the policy interest rates required to achieve the inflation target while keeping in mind the objective of economic growth. As of now, this committee meets at least six times in a financial year, i.e every two months.

In its previous review meeting in early August, the monetary policy committee had unanimously decided to raise the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.40 per cent in order to contain the persistently high inflation. The hike took the repo rate above pre-pandemic levels of 5.15 per cent.

Raising interest typically suppresses demand in the economy, thereby helping inflation to decline.

The committee had in its previous meeting decided to remain focused on the “withdrawal of accommodation” stance to ensure that inflation remains within the target while supporting growth.

In line with the global trend of monetary policy tightening to cool off inflation, the RBI has so far hiked the key repo rates — the rate at which the central bank of a country lends money to commercial banks — by 140 basis points.

The MPC reiterated that retail inflation is projected to remain above the upper tolerance level of 6 per cent through the first three quarters of 2022-23.

Global investment and financial services firm Morgan Stanley recently said the Reserve Bank of India is likely to raise repo rates by another 50 basis points with an unchanged policy stance.

According to SBI Research, the RBI is expected to raise interest rates in the range of 35-50 basis points.

“We believe the RBI is likely to raise rates in September policy and it could be a close call between 35 and 50 basis points,” it had said.

Inflation in India:

India’s retail inflation rose to 7 per cent in August from 6.71 per cent the previous month due to a sharp rise in food prices, as per official data. Retail inflation exceeded the Reserve Bank of India’s tolerance band for the eighth consecutive month. With the headline inflation coming above 6 per cent for the eighth month in a row, the RBI is on a brink of failing to meet its inflation mandate.

The RBI is mandated to keep inflation in a range of 2-6 per cent. The RBI is deemed to have failed in its mandate if the average inflation remains outside the 2-6 per cent band for three consecutive quarters.

Further, India’s wholesale inflation declined during the month of August to 12.41 per cent from 13.93 per cent the previous month but continues to remain in double digits, official data showed. The wholesale inflation has been in the double-digit for 17 months in a row now. (ANI)

New Delhi, (PTI) The Centre has imposed a ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI) and several of its associates for their alleged terror activities.

The organisations which were also declared banned under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA include Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CF), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.

The action of the Central government came days after a countrywide crackdown on the 16-year-old PFI, arrest of over a hundred of its activities and seizure of several dozen properties.

In a late Tuesday night notification, the Union Home Ministry said some of the PFI’s founding members are the leaders of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the PFI has linkages with Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Both JMB and SIMI are proscribed organisations.

It said there had been many instances of international linkages of PFI with global terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts have been working covertly to increase the radicalization of one community by promoting a sense of insecurity in the country, which is substantiated by the fact that some PFI cadres have joined international terrorist organisations, the notification claimed.

“Whereas, the Central Government, having regard to the above circumstances, is of the firm opinion that it is necessary to declare the PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts association outlawed with immediate effect, and accordingly, in exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to sub-section (3) of section 3 of the said Act, declares it as outlawed,” it said. PTI 

New Delhi,(PTI) The ED on Wednesday morning arrested liquor businessman Sameer Mahendru in connection with its money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, official sources said.

Mahendru is the managing director of a company called Indospirits.

Sources said he was taken into custody under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after he was put through a night-long questioning session.

He is expected to be produced before a local court where the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will seek his further remand.

The ED action comes a day after the CBI arrested businessman Vijay Nair in this case in which Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is also an accused.

 The ED money laundering case is based on a CBI FIR and both the federal agencies have undertaken multiple search operations in this case till now.

The CBI FIR has alleged that Arjun Pandey, an alleged associate of Sisodia, had once collected about Rs 2-4 crore in cash from Mahendru on behalf of Nair, former CEO of Only Much Louder, an entertainment and event management company. PTI 

Bengaluru, (PTI) Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday welcomed the Union government’s decision to ban the Popular Front of India (PFI) for its alleged terror activities, and said the move sends a message to all “anti-national groups” that they will not survive in this country.

He said all that is necessary would be done to stop PFI’s activities in the state.

“For a long time, it has been a demand by the people of this country, by all political parties including the opposition CPI, CPI(M) and the Congress. PFI is the avatar (incarnation) of SIMI (banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India), and KFD (Karnataka Forum for Dignity). They were involved in anti-national activities and violence,” Bommai said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said they had their command outside the country and some of their important office-bearers had even gone across the border for the training.

The PFI was involved in all sorts of anti-social activities and time had come to ban this organisation, Bommai added.

“With a lot of background work, information, and cases, the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah has taken the right decision. This is the message for all anti-national groups that they will not survive in this country. I also urge people not to associate with such organisations,” he added.

To a question that PFI was strong in coastal Karnataka and the task before the state government to remove them, the Chief Minister said, “Whatever necessary, will be done.” In a notification issued late Tuesday night, the Union Home Ministry banned the PFI saying the central government is of the opinion that the Islamist outfit and its affiliates have been involved in subversive activities, thereby disturbing public order and undermining constitutional set up of the country and encouraging and enforcing a terror-based regressive regime.

It continues “propagating anti-national sentiments and radicalising a particular section of society” with the intention to create disaffection against the country, it said.

Welcoming the Centre’s decision to ban PFI, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said it is a right move for the country’s unity and integrity, and to maintain peace and order.

“Recently, the NIA and police of several states had raided several of its activists and office-bearers and had gathered evidences. Such fanatic organisations were instigating a section of youth against the country,” he said.

In an eight-hour long operation on Tuesday, the Karnataka police detained over 80 people, mostly office-bearers and members of the PFI and its political offshoot Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) from across the state, on the basis of intelligence inputs that they were trying to foment trouble in the society.

Additional Director General of Police (Law & Order) Alok Kumar had on Tuesday noted that raids were conducted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as well as the state police last week. The NIA had at the time secured seven people from Karnataka and the state police 13.

BJP national general secretary C T Ravi alleged that the PFI was nurtured by the Congress.

“In a huge step against home grown Terrorism, the Union Home Ministry has banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliates for 5 years. Congratulations to Union Home Minister Shri @AmitShah for taking this decisive action against the #PFI that was nurtured by CONgress,” he tweeted. PTI

New Delhi,(PTI) Delhi University is the most successful "centre of excellence" in the country but much more can be done, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the launch of a book celebrating 100 years of the university, the housing and urban affairs minister reminisced his time in DU's Hindu College and noted that a good institution is defined by its student body.

“Great institutions are made up of great faculty members. A good institution is defined by its student body. Institutions are celebrating and we are having the first in the series of that celebration,” he said.

“The university is the most successful university in the country. It is the most successful centre of excellence. But there is much more that can be done,” he added.

Edited by Puri, ‘Delhi University: Celebrating 100 Glorious Years’ is a collection of personal narratives and reflections of some of the university's most distinguished alumni and faculty - Amitabh Bachchan, Kiren Rijiju, Dinesh Singh, Meenakshi Gopinath, Shashi Tharoor, Bibek Debroy, Imtiaz Ali, Raian Karanjawala, Sanjeev Sanyal, Arnab Goswami, Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, Lakshmi Puri, Namita Gokhale and Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

The event was also attended by other contributors to the book - former DU Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh, former assistant secretary-general at the United Nations Lakshmi Puri, lawyer Raian Karanjawala, writer Namita Gokhale and film director Imtiaz Ali.

During his address at the event, the Union minister said he is proud and honoured that he could brought together some of its most illustrious alumni to collective reflect on its rich history, vibrant student life, and influence on India's public discourse today.

“This anthology was conceived with the intention of celebrating the 100 years of our alma mater and the role it has played in furthering world-class education. It has successfully captured a spectrum of viewpoints that covers five decades of studying or teaching at the university,” he said. PTI

Prayagraj, (PTI) Allahabad University students demonstrating against a fee hike on Tuesday threatened to take “bhu samadhi” by burying themselves in a pit they dug at their protest site here.

Some of them jumped into the five-foot pit near the protest sit on the university premises and policemen had to pull them out, the police said. Additional police force was also summoned.

The students say their fees have been hiked nearly three-fold, and have been holding protests for several days now. They later planted saplings in the pit.

Adarsh Singh Bhadauria, a student associated with the NSUI, said they were ready to end their lives to protest the fee hike, but the university administration was firm on its stand of not withdrawing the increment.

Students affiliated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad have apprised the chancellor of the Allahabad University about the ongoing agitation through postcards.

In a letter, they said a 300-percent fee hike has been effected unethically by the university administration, due to which many students would be deprived of education and a request has been made to withdraw it.

ABVP state convener (sports activity) Kartikeya Pati Tripathi said, “Our fight is with the dictatorial vice-chancellor of Allahabad University because their decision (fee hike) is tarnishing the image of the central and the state government.” “I want the government to take suo motu cognizance of this matter and issue a direction to withdraw the fee hike,” he said. PTI

 New Delhi, (PTI) The CPI(M) hit out at the BJP on Tuesday, alleging that the remarks of its president, J P Nadda, that Kerala has become a “hotspot of terrorism” were an effort to vitiate the atmosphere of communal harmony in the southern state.

In a statement, the ruling party in Kerala said these false accusations cannot cover up the fact that political violence in the state is “being perpetuated by killings and retaliatory killings indulged in by the RSS and the Popular Front of India (PFI)”.

It said this year itself, there have been four casualties of such killings and retaliatory killings by the workers of these two organisations in Alappuzha and Palakkad districts.

“This is a deliberate effort to vitiate communal peace in the state and create communal polarisation. It would be better for the BJP president to advise the RSS not to engage in such provocative activities. The LDF government has been taking firm action against the violent activities of all extremist organisations.

“The people of Kerala are known for their exemplary commitment to communal amity and peace and they will not tolerate any extremist violence,” the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said.

Nadda claimed on Monday that Kerala is now a “hotspot” of terrorism and fringe elements, and life is not safe in the state.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president also attacked Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, saying his family is getting involved in government matters and the Left party has fallen prey to a family or “dynastic” rule as the “involvement of the daughter and the son-in-law in the government is also seen”. PTI 

New Delhi, (PTI) More than 170 people allegedly linked with the Popular Front of India (PFI) were detained or arrested in raids across seven states on Tuesday, five days after a similar pan India crackdown against the group often accused of being linked to radical Islam.

Conducted mostly by state police teams, the raids were spread across Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.

On September 22, multi-agency teams spearheaded by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested 106 leaders and activists of the PFI in 15 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country. The NIA is investigating 19 cases involving the PFI.

As police teams fanned out across their respective states on Tuesday, seemingly synchronised, the action was swift. While 25 people each were arrested in Assam and Maharashtra, 57 were detained in Uttar Pradesh, officials said. The count of those detained in Delhi was 30, Madhya Pradesh was at 21 followed by 10 in Gujarat and six in Pune in Maharashtra. Besides, several people were also arrested in Karnataka.

In Uttar Pradesh, the raids across 26 districts were jointly carried out by the Anti Terrorist Squad, Special Task Force and the local police simultaneously. Documents and evidence were collected, Additional Director General (law and order) Prashant Kumar said.

Further action will be taken based on the evidence collected, Kumar said while adding that 57 people were taken into custody.

There was no immediate reaction from the PFI, which was formed in 2006 and claims to strive for a neo-social movement ostensibly for the empowerment of marginalised sections of India. It is, however, often accused by law enforcement agencies of promoting radical Islam. The organisation was formed in Kerala and is headquartered in Delhi.

Following the crackdowns, the PFI stares at a possible countrywide ban.

According to officials in Assam, of the 25 PFI activists arrested in the fresh crackdown, 10 were held in Goalpara. Besides, five were nabbed in Kamrup (Rural) and three in Dhubri, followed by arrests in Barpeta, Baksa, Darrang, Udalguri and Karimganj. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier said his government has been urging the Centre to ban the outfit for allegedly creating an eco-system for terror activities. In the national capital, Delhi Police’s Special Cell carried out the searches in multiple locations, including Nizamuddin and Shaheen Bagh.

“We have conducted raids at multiple locations in the national capital, including Shaheen Bagh and Nizamuddin. So far, we have detained 30 people associated with the PFI,” a senior police officer said.

Paramilitary forces were deployed in several places in the city where the raids were conducted.

“We have taken preventive measures and as part of it, we have deployed paramilitary forces in respective areas of the districts to ensure law and order situation and maintain peace and tranquillity in the area,” a senior police official said.

No case has been registered as the investigation is underway, police said. The operation started after 12.30 am continued till early morning, police said.

And in Maharashtra, 25 activists were arrested from six districts, including Aurangabad, Thane and Nanded. Other than this, Pune police detained six people linked to the PFI and its political wing Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), an official said. The Madhya Pradesh Police detained 21 people from eight districts for their links with the PFI, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra said. These people were detained on the basis of interrogation of the PFI activists arrested last week, Mishra, who is also the Madhya Pradesh government’s spokesperson, said.

In Gujarat, at least 10 people were detained from different parts of the state in raids conducted by a joint team of the state Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and the NIA. “They have detained at least 10 people for questioning from different parts of Gujarat with the help of the state police and ATS,” an official in Ahmedabad said.

The SDPI opened an office in Ahmedabad a few months back. In Karnataka, officials said several PFI leaders were detained in urban and rural areas of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts early in the morning. PFI leaders were taken into custody from Mangaluru, Ullal, Talapady and other areas in DK district.

Besides, five PFI leaders were taken into custody by the Udupi district police in raids conducted in their houses. Sources said raids were conducted at Hoode, Gangolli, Byndoor and Adi Udupi. The police department has been monitoring the activities of the detained leaders for the past six months and they have been taken into custody to prevent any untoward incident, the sources added.

The Maharashtra ATS on Monday told a court in Mumbai that it wanted to probe the links of five of the 20 people arrested last week with organisations including Al Qaeda and the Islamic State and also investigate electronic evidence. Four PFI activists were also arrested from Kerala’s Kottayam district and one from Kollam in Kerala for allegedly engaging in violent activities during the state-wide hartal called by the organisation on September 23. The strike had followed the nationwide raids on their offices and arrests of their leaders.

Following the September 22 searches, the PFI said the raids are taking place at the homes of national, state and local leaders of the outfit and that the state committee office in Kerala is also being raided.

“We strongly protest the fascist regime’s moves to use agencies to silence dissenting voices,” it said in a statement. PTI

 New Delhi,(PTI) The DRDO on Tuesday successfully flight tested the Very Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) missile in Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.

The VSHORADS is an air defence system designed and developed indigenously by Hyderabad-based Research Centre Imarat of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

“The DRDO conducted two successful test flight of the Very Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) missile on September 27 from a ground based portable launcher at the integrated test range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha,” the defence ministry said in a statement.

“VSHORADS missile incorporates many novel technologies including miniaturized Reaction Control System (RCS) and integrated avionics, which have been successfully proven during the tests,” the ministry said.

“The missile, meant for neutralising low altitude aerial threats at short ranges is propelled by a dual thrust solid motor,” the ministry said on the Man Portable Air Defence System.

The design of the missile including launcher has been optimised to ensure easy portability.

“Both the flight tests have completely met the mission objectives,” the ministry said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh complimented and appreciated the efforts of DRDO and industry partners and said this new missile equipped with modern technologies will give further technological boost to the armed forces. PTI