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PM inaugurates India’s first driverless train operations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated India’s first-ever driverless train operations on Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line, along with the fully operational National Common Mobility Card service, and said that India will have the metro service in more than 25 cities by 2025, as against in 18 cities currently.

Indias first fully automated driverless train runs on the Magenta Line of the Delhi Metro during a trial for the media following its launch by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi, Monday, Dec. 28, 2020. (Photo:Pallav Paliwal)

Fully automated driverless train will run on the 37-kilometre long Magenta Line from Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden. It will eliminate the possibility of human error. After the start of driverless services on the Magenta Line, the Pink Line of the Delhi Metro is expected to have driverless operations by the mid of 2021.

 Indias first fully automated driverless train runs on the Magenta Line of the Delhi Metro during a trial for the media following its launch by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi, Monday, Dec. 28, 2020. (Photo:Pallav Paliwal)

“First metro in the country was started with the efforts of Atal Ji. When our government was formed in 2014, only five cities had metro services and today 18 cities have metro rail service. By 2025, we will take this service to more than 25 cities,” the Prime Minister said after virtually inaugurating the driverless metro.

Kevadia: Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Photo: IANS)

He further said that the country had a metro network of 248 kilometers when his government was formed in 2014, which has tripled today and will expand further to 700 kilometers by 2025. “In 2014, 17 lakh people used to travel by metro. Today, the footfall has increased by five times. This is the evidence of ease-of-living.”

 Indias first fully automated driverless train runs on the Magenta Line of the Delhi Metro during a trial for the media following its launch by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi, Monday, Dec. 28, 2020. (Photo:Pallav Paliwal)

He also inaugurated the National Common Mobility Card, which will be fully operationalised on the Airport Express Line to enable anyone carrying a RuPay-Debit Card issued from any part of the country to travel on the Airport Express Line using that card. This facility will become available on the entire Delhi Metro network by 2022.

 Indias first fully automated driverless train runs on the Magenta Line of the Delhi Metro during a trial for the media following its launch by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi, Monday, Dec. 28, 2020. (Photo:Pallav Paliwal)

“This shows that how India is fast moving towards smart system. Urbanisation should not be thought as a challenge but an opportunity, which can be used to have better infrastructure in country and increase ease-of-living,” he added.

 Indias first fully automated driverless train runs on the Magenta Line of the Delhi Metro during a trial for the media following its launch by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi, Monday, Dec. 28, 2020. (Photo:Pallav Paliwal)

Alluding to the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance government, he added, “That time, no one paid heed to the future’s requirement, work used to be done half-heartedly and there was delusion. Result was such that in various parts of the country, a huge gap came in the infrastructure demand and fulfillment.”

The Prime Minister said that his government was able to overcome these challenges despite having the same bureaucracy and people. “How did this change come about? We thought of urbanisation not as a challenge but an opportunity. Earlier, our country did not have any policy regarding metro. Politicians and governments used to make false promises. Our government made policy and implemented it.”

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Investment Into India Touches $22 Billion During Pandemic

The Covid-19 virus not only triggered a worldwide pandemic, but also opened the floodgates for investments in the country’s equity market.

All in all, not only did the overall capitalisation of India’s domestic market increased, the country’s key indices emerged among the best performing emerging markets (EMs).

Initially, the lockdown induced crash led to attractive valuations along with a global flood of liquidity and near zero interest rates in foreign markets. As a result, return on investment from several asset classes except equities vaporised.

Investors jumped from one assets class to the other, till the time even the US dollar became unviable due to the massive stimulus package. Accordingly, the funnelling of such funds into the emerging markets led to a net investment of over $22 billion into India’s market till now in CY2020.

Besides foreign funds, the domestic lockdown, the biggest in the world, flooded the stock markets with over 60 lakh new retail investors.

Additionally, a considerable number enrolled through various schemes via the MF segment. Market watchers contend that these newbie investors saw the value in stocks beyond the pandemic induced slowdown and became the real beneficiaries of the up move.

Till now in 2020, Indian markets witnessed FPI inflows of $22,281 million, which is 55 per cent higher than the flows in the entire 2019 in USD terms.

However, the domestic MF houses pulled out over Rs 33,000 crore till November 2020.

“Valuations are at 2SD (standard deviation) over the 10 year average, hence there is some caution on this front. However as long as interest rates continue to be zero or near zero across the globe, P/E ratios could keep expanding to levels not seen in the past,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

In terms of purchase, FPIs initially preferred large cap stocks till October. Later on, they enlarged their purchases to include the mid and small cap segments.

Sectorally, IT, pharma, banks, FMCG, metals, realty and oil & gas stocks were bought the most by FPIs in this year.

Apart from very high FPI inflows in 2020, large number of new investor registrations due to the Covid-19 pandemic has also contributed to the uprun in the market.

“The huge stimulus rolled out by central banks across the developed world to tackle the pandemic in 2020 has certainly led to abundant liquidity. While it was expected that EMs would see strong FPI flows in 2020, the fact remains that only few emerging economies have seen such flows and India is one such country, especially given the slew of reforms undertaken in 2020,” said LKP Securities’ Head of Research, S. Ranganathan.

“Having said that, it cannot be denied that lakhs of young first time equity investors have opened DEMAT accounts during 2020 and have invested into direct equities which is also a reflection of financialisation of savings,” Ranganathan added.

According to Gaurav Garg, Head of Research at CapitalVia Global Research: “Moving forward, FPIs may continue to concentrate in the Indian market for another 1-2 quarters.

“The factors like low Covid-19 case count, expected vaccine in the first half of 2021, fear of valuations may go even higher and economic return to the growth trajectory are expected to potentially fuel more development in the emerging markets such as India.”

Also Read: WHO Urges Nations To Ramp Up Healthcare Investments

Also Read: Maharashtra Becomes The Investment Capital During Pandemic

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‘We are not convinced by your ‘Mann ki Baat’

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi was addressing the people of the country on Sunday through his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’, the protesting farmers opposed it by beating ‘thalis’ (plates) and clapping their hands.

Haryana farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni appealed to the Prime Minister to listen to the “Mann ki Baat” of farmers and voices of other people as well. Gurnam Singh is the Haryana state President of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and is one of the prominent leaders leading the farmer agitation.

Opposing the ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio programme by beating a ‘thali’ at the Makdoli toll plaza in the Rohtak district of Haryana, Chaduni while addressing Modi said, “We are not convinced by your ‘Mann ki Baat’ address. You speak your mind but do not listen to other people’s voices.”

The farmer agitation entered its 32nd day on Sunday. Since November 26, the protesting farmers have been camping at the Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders with the adjoining national capital. The protesting farmers are marching on the streets in protest against the three farm laws implemented by the central government, saying that these laws are not in the interest of the farmers, while the Centre has said opposition parties are misleading the farmers.

Several rounds of negotiations have been held to resolve the ongoing deadlock between the farmers and the central government but both sides have failed to reach a final consensus over the issue. The next round of talks between the two sides is set for December 29.

Farmers from Punjab and Haryana continued to protest against the new agricultural laws for the 15th consecutive day at Delhi-Haryana’s Singhu Border

On the request of the government, a letter was sent on Saturday by the leaders of 40 farmer organisations protesting under the banner of the ‘Samyukta Kisan Morcha’ citing the date and time of the next round of talks, with four major demands for the talks.

These demands by the farmer leaders include: the procedures to be followed to repeal the three central farm laws; the procedure and provisions for legal guarantee for procurement on profitable Minimum Support Price (MSP) as suggested by the National Farmers Commission for all farmers and agricultural commodities; amendments to the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020, which are necessary to exclude farmers from the penal provisions of the Ordinance; and necessary changes in the draft of Electricity Amendment Bill, 2020, to protect the interests of farmers.

When IANS asked farmer leader Darshanpal whether the next round of talks would be held on these four core conditions, he said these are not the conditions but the agenda of the talks which he has proposed only on the request of the central government.

The agitating farmer organisations are seeking a repeal of the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Production and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020; implemented in September by the central government.

Indian Farmers beat utensils during a protest against the central government’s recent agricultural reforms as India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation on the monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’, in Ghazipur  in New Delhi, India on December 27, 2020 (photo:pallav paliwal/Asianlite)

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Modi Stresses On ‘Zero effect, zero defect’ Policy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

 After being ‘vocal for local’ to make India ‘Aatmanirbhar’ (self-reliant), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday gave a clarion call to adopt “zero effect, zero defect” policy while manufacturing Made-in-India products and ensure that these produces are “world class”…reports India Daily News.

Speaking on his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’, the Prime Minister said “the people of India have taken many steps forward and are getting vocal for local. Our manufacturers are also thinking about making top quality products. This will boost the efforts towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat”.

The Prime Minister said that while focusing on Made-in-India products the manufacturers should not compromise with the quality of materials produced by them.

“This is the right time to work with ‘zero effect, zero defect’ policy.”

Speaking on the last ‘Mann Ki Baat’ episode of this year, Modi said this is the opportune moment to work with the ethos of ‘zero effect, zero defect’. “I urge manufacturers and industry leaders of the country that the people have taken a firm and bold step forward and vocal for local is reverberating in each and every household.”

“In such a scenario, it is time to ensure that our products meet global standards. Whatever is the global best, we should make it in India and prove it. For that, our entrepreneur friends have to come forward. Start-ups too have to come forth,” Modi said.

Kevadia: Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Photo: IANS)

He also suggested to focus on items used by us in our daily lives and ensure that these items should be manufactured in India and support vocal for local call to make the country ‘Aatmanirbhar’.

“We make new resolutions every new year. On this new year’s eve, we should take a resolution to use only Made-in-India products,” said the Prime Minister.

Modi also remembered Guru Gobind Singh and his family’s supreme sacrifices, saying “I bow to the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur ji, Mata Gujari, Guru Gobind Singh ji and the four ‘Sahibzade’.”

He also expressed happiness about rise in the number of leopards. “In India, between 2014 and 2018, the number of leopards has risen by more than 60 per cent. In 2014, the number of leopards in the country was about 7,900, whereas in 2019 it increased to 12,852.”

“Among the states with the maximum population of leopards, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra are at the top. This is a big achievement. Leopards across the world have been facing dangers, their habitat has faced loss in the world,” said Modi, adding “in such circumstances, the continued growth of the population of leopards in India has shown a way to the entire world”.

Sharing a heart-touching example in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, Modi mentioned the efforts of one Gayatri in the region who along with her father arranged a wheelchair for a suffering dog, and those who helped many animals, stressing “come, let us encourage such acts of care with a sense of service to others”.

“In Delhi NCR and other cities of the country in the chilling cold many people are doing a lot for the care of shelter-less animals. They arrange for food, water, sweaters and even beds for those animals. Some people arrange food for hundreds of such animals everyday. Such efforts should be commended.”

Addressing Indian youth, Modi said “I feel delighted and assured. Delighted and assured because the youth of my country have the ‘Can Do’ approach and the ‘Will Do’ spirit in them. No challenge is too big for them. Nothing is out of reach for them.”

Noting that saffron is identified with Kashmir for centuries and it is produced in Pulwama, Budgam and Kishtwar regions of the Union territory, the Prime Minister said “Kashmiri saffron has been given Geographical Indication (GI) tag this year. Through the GI tag, we want to make Kashmiri saffron a globally popular brand.”

The next time you want to buy ‘Kesar’ (saffron), do try Kashmiri saffron, Modi said.

Going back in history, the Prime Minister mentioned how Abul Fazl, a prominent member of Akbar’s court, described the saffron after his visit to Kashmir for the first time.

Saffron( wikipedia)

Modi said that Kashmiri saffron is globally famous as a spice which has a variety of medicinal properties. “It is very fragrant, its colour is thick. Kashmiri saffron represents the cultural heritage of Jammu & Kashmir. Kashmiri saffron is very unique when it comes to its quality. It is also different from saffron in other countries. Kashmiri saffron has been distinguished by its GI tag.”

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Imran Govt Faces Setback in Riko Diq Mining Case

The Imran Khan-led government of Pakistan is confronted with yet another setback in the Riko Diq case as the high court in the British Virgin Islands has directed it to present assets as bank guarantees to an international arbitrator after Islamabad failed to provide them in the past.

The court has passed an ex parte order on December 16, asking Pakistan to attack details of some of its assets as a guarantee for an international arbitrator.

As per details of the court order, Pakistan will not be able to sell assets managed by offshore companies registered in the British Overseas Territory.

Further details revealed that the Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) had asked Pakistan to provide attachments of these assets for enforcement of $6 billion award, slapped on the country by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on July 12, 2019, after Islamabad revoked the TCC contract for mining at Reko Diq in Balochistan province of the country.

However, the ICSID later stayed the enforcement of the $6 billion award and later on September 17, put out an order, stating that the stay shall continue on a conditional basis.

Pakistan was asked to provide unconditional and irrevocable bank guarantee or Letter of Credit (LC) for 25 per cent of the award, plus accrued interest as of date of the decision.

Later, ICSID held that if Pakistan fails to provide security and undertaking in terms as set out within 30 days of the notification, the stay of the enforcement in the amount of 50 per cent of the award and accrued interest would be lifted.

And after Pakistan failed to meet the deadline, the British Virgin Islands high court has now ordered for provision assets.

Pakistani government maintains that it will “vigorously pursue proceedings initiated by the TCC in any jurisdiction and the government reaffirms its commitment to protecting national assets, wherever they may be located”.

As per sources, Pakistan is weighing options of an out of court settlement with the TCC during next year as Pakistan has very limited assets abroad.

The litigation of the case has continued for years with TCC, initially claiming $11.4 billion in damages for the termination of their contract, which was later brought down to at least $4.08 billion.

Pakistan government under Prime Minister Imran Khan has already spent over $10 million as legal expenditures on this case. Pakistani lawyers and some government officials maintain that it was the misstatement of scientist Samar Mubarakmand, which pushed Pakistan towards being, slapped the heavy penalty by ICSID.

Mubarakmand claimed in front of the tribunal that Reko Diq gold mines would fetch the country around $2.5 billion annually, adding that the Reko Diq and other gold reserves in the country will bring in $131 billion to the national exchequer, a statement the tribunal relied on.

In the meanwhile, the ICSID had rejected over a dozen allegations by Pakistan of attempts made by the TCC of bribing the Balochistan Chief Minister in the same case. The Reko Diq case has been manipulated and misused by many politicians and authorities through corrupt practices over the years. However, with the current challenge at hand, the Imran Khan-led government and its legal team is trying to get TCC on negotiation table in an out of court settlement.

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India’s Anti-Drug Agency To Get A Major Revamp

Union Home Minister Amit Shah

The proposal aims at redesigning the governance architecture of NCB, its capacity of investigation and intelligence and making it more professional and effective…reports Sumit Kumar Singh

The Indian government is planning to revamp its federal drug law enforcement and intelligence agency – Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) — with creation of 3,689 new posts, canine squads, cyber and intelligence units and creation of a dedicated prosecution wing for the organisation.

The proposal aims at redesigning the governance architecture of NCB, its capacity of investigation and intelligence and making it more professional and effective. The bureau comes under Ministry of Home Affairs and is currently headed by 1984-batch IPS officer Rakesh Asthana.

The government has planned to create 3,689 posts in various grades up to level-15, thereby raising the strength of NCB from existing 1,107 to 4,751. There is also plan to create four new regional offices, thus raising the number of regional offices from existing three to seven.

Creation of 17 new zonal offices and upgrading all existing 12 sub-zonal offices into zonal offices thereby raising the number of field offices to 42, including 13 existing regional offices, has also been planned.

There are plans to set up a dedicated prosecution wing to provide for in-house expertise for legal advice and taking up all cases filed under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, a Canine Wing to identify drugs and Drug Intelligence Unit.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah

Setting up of a Cyber Technical Cell is also planned to tackle the challenges arising out of modern technological methods used by drug traffickers.

The decision to revamp was taken after government found that the drug traffickers are increasingly using the Dark Net for trafficking and crypto-currencies for payment.

This was disclosed in a report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs headed by Congress Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma, on the Demands for Grants of Ministry of Home Affairs placed in Parliament on December 21.

The report stated: “The drug traffickers are increasingly using the Dark Net for trafficking in drugs. The medium offers complete anonymity because of the use of onion routing, use of Crypto Currency for payment and Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption.”

The committee stressed upon that NCB’s expertise and capacity to deal with this “need to be augmented”.

“Nonetheless, with available resources the NCB arrested a Dark Net vendor who was operating as an active vendor of Psychotropic Drugs in Dark Net markets. This network had international linkages spread across India, Singapore and USA. During the operation, approximately 135 kgs of different psychotropic tablets were seized and four persons were arrested,” the report stated.

Keeping in view the constant changing pattern of drug trafficking and its abuse and the need to develop skills of officers to respond to the challenges arising out of the same, the Ministry of Home Affairs has, in December, 2019 set up a Training Centre on drug law enforcement within the campus of the Central Academy of Police Training, Bhopal. This institute is mandated to impart domain training to the officers of NCB and those of other Central and State Agencies involved in drug law enforcement.

For the purpose of Coordination among all states and central agencies in drug-related issues, a Narco Coordination mechanism was set up by MHA in 2016.

This mechanism provides a common platform for all drug-related issues in India.

Further for cooperation and information-sharing at international level, the NCB has entered into agreements with 42 countries. In addition, the NCB liaises with the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and UNODC regulary.

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India Daily Digital – December 24, 2020 – RBI Sees Green Shoots Of Recovery

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das (Photo: IANS)

RBI Sees Green Shoots Of Recovery; India, B’desh Mull Effective Border Management Plan; OTT Goes Big on Xmas Season; China interferes in Nepal’s political crisis – all in India Daily Digital – please click here to read

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GOI To Give Extra Push For Divestment In 2021

The very asset monetisation and disinvestment have been in the government’s plans for long but the plans have been severely delayed, and the pandemic has worsened the situation…reports Asian Lite News

The pandemic has created severe pressure on the government’s coffers, thereby making asset monetisation and disinvestment the Centre’s priorities to raise revenue.

Government’s asset monetisation programme involving development and sale of surplus land parcel and other non-core assets of central public sector enterprises (PSEs) is expected to be a big focus of Budget 2021-22 that is constrained to look at various innovative models to mobilise additional resources amidst a Covid-hit economy.

In tandem with the objective, the Centre may set asset monetisation-related targets for several state-run enterprises including Indian Oil Corp, GAIL, HPCL, NTPC, NHPC, PFC, REC, HAL, RITES and MTNL. The targets would allow execution of the scheme in a structured manner.

The government will benefit from such an exercise as portion of gains from such sale by PSUs will be recouped to it by way of higher dividend pay-out.

The very asset monetisation and disinvestment have been in the government’s plans for long but the plans have been severely delayed, and the pandemic has worsened the situation.

Two of the prime state-run majors put on the block, Air India and BPCL, have witnessed severe delays in their strategic sale processes. Centre has received few Expressions of Interest (EoI) for the energy major Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) including that of Vedanta, while Air India reportedly has attracted a initial interest from the Tatas.

The renewed focus on asset monetisation in the next financial year will witness active participation of both NBCC and international property consultants and other consultants selected through a competitive bidding process.

Recently, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the disinvestment process will take off in the next year.

In its budget recommendations to the government, industry body, CII asked the government to go ahead aggressively with the disinvestment process of of both loss-making and a few profit-making PSUs, especially given the fact that the capital markets are performing well and also explore sale or leasing of government’s surplus land.

Also Read: India Govt Set To Challenge Vodafone, Cairn Arb Awards

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India Govt Set To Challenge Vodafone, Cairn Arb Awards

The Indian government may mount a challenge against the arbitration awards passed against it over retrospective taxation levy on Cairn Energy and Vodafone Group.

Sources privy to the development said that as both the arbitration cases have gone against the government and the Cairn Energy award also makes the government liable for damages, the order may be challenged at appropriate fora.

The government was waiting for outcome of the arbitration initiated against it for levy of over Rs 10,000 crore retrospective tax on Cairn Energy before finalising its stand on a similar tax dispute case with Vodafone Group where an international arbitration court has ruled against it and in favour of the telecom company.

A Finance Ministry statement on Wednesday (after the Cairn Energy arbitration order) said that it will be studying the award and all its aspects carefully in consultation with its counsel and then consider all options and “take a decision on further course of action, including legal remedies before appropriate fora”.

In the Cairn Energy case, the international arbitration tribunal ruled that India’s tax claim of Rs 10,247 crore in past taxes over internal reorganisation of Cairn’s India business was not a valid demand.

In a statement, Cairn said that the tribunal has awarded damages of $1.2 billion along with interest and costs.

The development came as a major setback for the Indian government after Vodafone Group Plc had won an international arbitration case against the Indian government in September.

Sources said that the government wanted to take a uniform stand challenging arbitration orders in both the cases so it waited for the outcome in Cairn Energy tax dispute case. Now as things stand where it is, sources said, necessary legal challenge would be mounted in both the case after further consultations.

Vodafone.

As reported by IANS earlier, thee government was evaluating options on its loss in arbitration case against Vodafone Group over retrospective tax demand of more than Rs 20,000 crore.

The options included bringing a new law to withdraw the 2012 amendment to settle its tax dispute with Vodafone after the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague ruled in favour of the company.

The other options, sources said, was to look at challenging the PCA award in its entirety or confining the challenge to sovereign immunities as claimed by Vodafone Plc under the India-UK Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA) and the Netherlands-India Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT).

Sources said that the government was looking at all options, taking view on which move would be the best course that settles the dispute once and for all, along with limiting the loss to the exchequer, if it is to be incurred.

Now with clarity emerging in both the cases, legal challenge looks the suitable outcome but alternate options would also be explored.

Also Read: Int’l Tribunal Rejects India’s Rs 10K Cr Claim Against Cairn

Also Read: Vodafone wins tax arbitration against India

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India Daily Digital – December 23, 2020 – Army Chief Visits Border With China

Army Chief Visits Border With China; India Assures Barrier-Free Trade With B’desh; Parents Concerned Over Kids’ Emotional Health; Amnesty, Rights Forums Seek Probe into death of Karima Baloch – all in India Daily Digital – please click here to read