Thai PM proposes ‘reform council’ to mollify protesters

25122013

Updated on : 25-12-2013 04:06 PM

Thailand’s embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Wednesday proposed the creation of a national “reform council” in the wake of weeks of street protests by the opposition aimed at toppling her government.

Protest leaders immediately rejected Yingluck’s plan, saying she was “not sincere” about reforms.The Democrat Party -backed protesters are demanding reforms before the February 2 snap polls. In an address to the nation, Yingluck said the proposed council would be established in parallel with the election to recommend reforms and anti-corruption measures. Yingluck said the post-election government would be committed to continuing the work of the council, and asked all sectors of society to join the body in order to solve the ongoing political conflict. “My government has listened to suggestions of several sides from the several forums and agrees that reforms are needed in the social, economic and political dimensions,” she said. She insisted that her government would not get involved in the establishment of the council. The PM’s Office and the cabinet would only acknowledge the council but not approve it. She did not indicate the term of the council, though she had earlier stated it would operate for two years. A spokesman for the protesters told media that the proposed council would be under the influence of Yingluck. “It is certain that she will interfere with the proposed council,” the spokesman said. Anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a former deputy premier, has already dismissed the idea of a council and has been demanding that Yingluck should quit. Bangkok has witnessed weeks of anti-government protests by supporters of the opposition Democrat Party, which wants Yingluck to step down and quit politics. The Democrat Party, which has not won general elections in two decades, has said it would boycott the polls. It has accused Yingluck of acting as a proxy for her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra who is in self-exile. Meanwhile, theinterim cabinet has resolved to extend the enforcement of the Internal Security Act in Bangkok and three other adjacent provinces for 60 days, citing security reasons.

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Categories : Politics, Uncategorized, world News

TNA unsure about Lankan President’s call for dialogue

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Updated on : 25-12-2013 01:55 PM Sri Lanka’s main Tamil party has said it is uncertain about President Mahinda Rajapaksa extending an open invitation to it to join efforts to achieve national reconciliation as the government’s stand is unclear.  “President has called the TNA for a dialogue. We don’t know if they are talking about the parliamentary select committee (PSC) again,” Tamil National Alliance (TNA) senior leader Suresh Premachandran said.  He was commenting on a TNA parley held on Tuesday in the northern town of Vavuniya aimed at taking stock of unresolved Tamil issues.  “We are not expecting any meaningful, fruitful things from PSC”, Premachandran added.  The TNA and other opposition parties have boycotted Rajapaksa’s PSC.  Rajapaksa last week in parliament invited TNA to work towards a home grown solution to the Tamil minority question.  TNA said they were not averse to restarting bilateral talks with the government but would stick to their decision to stay away from the PSC constituted to look into their demands.  In the 6-hour marathon parley, the TNA also discussed several issues concerning the Tamils – based on the smooth functioning and deliverables of northern provincial council, Premachandran said.  The TNA secured a landslide win in the historic provincial council polls in September, held after a gap of 25 years, in the former LTTE-controlled Northern Province, renewing demands for greater autonomy for the Tamil-dominated region after decades of brutal ethnic conflict.

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Categories : Business, Politics, Uncategorized

25122013

TRAI imposed Rs 50 lakh fine on nine telcos for poor service

Updated on : 24-12-2013 07:25 PM

Telecom regulator TRAI has imposed cumulative penalty of Rs 50 lakh on nine mobile operators for failing to meet quality of service benchmarks in the second quarter ended June 2013, official sources said.

The regulator has imposed maximum penalty of Rs 14.5 lakh on state-run telecom company BSNL for failing to meet 13 quality of service parameters, they said, adding that no penalty was imposed on Videocon, Loop Mobile and state-run MTNL. TRAI imposed Rs 12.5 lakh penalty on Aircel and Reliance Communications (including Reliance Telecom) for failing to meet certain parameters.  The regulator imposed a penalty of Rs 3 lakh on Idea Cellular, Rs 2 lakh each Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, Rs 1.5 lakh each on Uninor and Vodafone, sources said.  A fine of Rs 50,000 was imposed on CDMA operator MTS. Under existing regulations, TRAI can impose up to Rs 50,000 penalty on telecom operators for failing to meet any quality of service parameter for mobile services and up to Rs 1 lakh for repeating such failure. For example, if call drop rate benchmark of (less than) two per cent is not met by an operator in the first quarter after coming into force of these regulations, a financial disincentive not exceeding Rs 50,000 would be imposed.  In case, in any of the subsequent quarters the benchmark for the same parameter i.e. call drop rate benchmark is not met, financial disincentive not exceeding Rs 1,00,000 will be imposed by the authority.  The regulator, however, can impose a penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh if it finds that telecom operators have submitted false compliance report on quality of service benchmark.

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SEBI board approves new norms for exercise of enhanced powers

25122013

Updated on : 24-12-2013 07:04 PM

To ensure greater efficacy in exercise of its new powers, market regulator Sebi’s board on Tuesday cleared new norms for its search and seizure operations, settlement proceedings, refund to investors and crackdown on illicit money-pooling schemes.

The new norms also seek to ensure that sufficient safeguards are put in place to avoid any misuse of its new powers and the required privacy of individuals is granted while conducting search and seizure operations.At the same time, detailed regulations have also been put in place for settlement of admistrative and civil proceedings in a transparent manner, while ensuring that serious offences like insider trading are kept out of settlement window. The decisions were taken at a board meeting of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Tuesday, which is also believed to have discussed matters like new Corporate Governance Code for listed companies, revision of insider trading norms and a new framework for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). However, a final decision is yet to be taken on corporate governance code, REITs and new insider trading norms, sources said. The seven decisions announced by Sebi after the board meeting also included doing away with mandatory IPO grading, prospectus being valid for one year for multiple draft offers, and a tax treatment similar to FIIs being accorded to FPIs (Foreign Portfolio Investors), a newly created class of overseas investors. As many as four decisions are related to the promulgation of an ordinance by the government for grant of greater powers to Sebi to check mushrooming of illegal money-pooling schemes across the country and to take strict actions against fraudsters and market manipulators. Among others, Sebi board approved an amendment to Sebi’s Investor Protection and Education Fund (IPEF) Regulations, enabling utilisation of such amounts primarily for restitution to investors and in case of failure of identification of investors, for the credit of disgorged amounts to this Fund. Besides, the board also approved an amendment to the Sebi Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) Regulations. The government ordinance, promulgated in September for second time, provides for regulation of pooling of funds under any scheme or arrangement, involving a corpus amount of Rs 100 crore or more, to be deemed to be a CIS activity. Accordingly, a proposal to amend Sebi’s CIS norms was been approved to provide for a framework for regulation of all activities deemed to be CIS schemes. The changes also provide for additional requirements for continuous compliance by a registered CIS entities. The ordinance also confers direct powers to Sebi Chairman to authorise an Investigating Authority or any other officer of Sebi to search any premises where incriminating documents are lying and seize such documents for investigation purpose. The ordinance also empowers Sebi to make regulations for executing the search operations and to ensure safe custody of any books of account or other documents that are seized. In this respect, the board approved Sebi (Procedure for Search and Seizure) Regulations, 2013, which is on the lines of the provisions in the Income Tax Act and provides detailed procedures for such search and seizures by the regulator. The board also approved Sebi (Settlement of Administrative and Civil Proceedings) Regulations, 2013, which have been framed, keeping in view the provisions of the Ordinance and public comments received by Sebi in this regard. The key features of this new regulation include a common substantive procedure for settlement of administrative and civil proceedings under all the securities laws, while it also formalises the already existing settlement process. The new norms also provide for guiding factors for dealing with the settlement process, while serious offences such as insider trading are excluded from the scope of settlement. In order to impart transparency in the process, the roles of the internal committee and high powered advisory committee are specifically defined, while the regulations also provide for terms of settlement in monetary as well as non-monetary terms or combination of both.