Quake 6.1 M Luzon

ON MAY 5, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

M6.1 – LUZON, PHILIPPINES

Preliminary Earthquake Report
Magnitude 6.1
Date-Time
5 May 2018 06:19:05 UTC
5 May 2018 14:19:05 near epicenter
5 May 2018 10:19:05 standard time in your timezone
Location 14.497N 123.931E
Depth 17 km
Distances
58 km (36 miles) NNW (332 degrees) of Pandan, Catanduanes, Philippines
127 km (79 miles) NE (39 degrees) of Naga, Luzon, Philippines
149 km (93 miles) N (8 degrees) of Legaspi, Luzon, Philippines
319 km (198 miles) E (92 degrees) of MANILA, Philippines
Location Uncertainty Horizontal: 7.7 km; Vertical 4.1 km

Two Group of Ministers constituted

ON MAY 5, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Two Group of Ministers Constituted to consider the issues relating to Incentivizing digital payments in the GST regime & Imposition of Cess on Sugar under GST

Subsequent to the decisions taken in the 27th GST Council meeting held yesterday i..e 4th May 2018, two Group of Ministers (GoMs) have been constituted. The first GoM shall consider the issues relating to “Incentivizing digital payments in the GST regime”.   Shri Sushil Kumar Modi, Deputy Chief Minister, Bihar is convenor and other members of this GoM are Shri Nitinbhai Patel, Dy. Chief Minister, Gujarat; Capt. Abhimanyu, Excise & Taxation Minister, Haryana; Dr. Amit Mitra, Hon’ble Finance Minister, West Bengal and Shri Manpreet Singh Badal, Hon’ble Finance Minister, Punjab. The Second GoM  shall consider issues relating to “Imposition of Cess on Sugar under GST”.   Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma, Hon’ble Finance Minister of Assam is convenor and other members of this GoM  are Shri Rajesh Agrawal, Hon’ble Finance Minister, Uttar Pradesh;  Shri Sudhir Mungatiwar, Hon’ble Finance Minister, Maharashtra;  Shri D. Jayakumar, Minister for Fisheries and Personnel & Administrative Reforms, Tamil Nadu and  Dr. T.M. Thomas Isaac, Hon’ble Finance Minister, Kerala. Both the GoMs shall submit their reports within a period of 15 days.

Punjab history is an Indian History

ON MAY 5, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Briefing media Punjabi Intellecuals said the punjab board of education has deliberately made punjab history with tag of Sikh history and has marginalised its ethos of bravery and marshal qualities.Punjab being buffer state with various kingdom has always been rock solid border for invaders to intrude in main land India.

Punjab history is not state history but a proud national history and therefore 12 th class text book Sikh history labeling is not community history but it is chapter of Indian history.Those present VC Dr Jaspal Singh, Ex RS Member Trilochan Singh brought to the notice of media that chapter 22 of text book of 12 class has been removed which is deliberately  done to keep youngster ignorance  of punjab history which is full of nationalism and love of patriotism. Further added to the media by abridging or briefing the Punjab history is diluting the national history.Punjab lies on North West boder was chiefly instrumental in halting invaders from time to time during ancient and medivial history and is full of praises of patriotism and marshal attitude any step to diluting the Punjab history by its  education board is step towards diluting nationalism and patriotism.

Addressing media the spokesperson of Punjabi Intelleucals said it is an interest of all Indians if governments draft monitoring council under Ministry of HRD to get stock of the text book actual blurring from the subject.

Sikh History taught in 11 class in open schools is not right criteria as those students appearing for board examination go for 12 class text books and therefore nefarious design to dilute ot sideline Punjab history in true spirit.

DoT bans multiple SIMs

ON MAY 5, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

The new norms came into effect on Friday with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) amending the customer verification norms for mobile phone users.
Scores of subscribers have multiple SIMs with several owning more than 100, a government official said. Telecom companies, desperate to add subscribers, have been lenient in checking multiple connections and do not verify credentials of such users.

Earlier, operators were offering free and pre-activated prepaid connections with SIMs at their company-managed outlets or franchise across the country. According to new customer verification norms, activated prepaid SIMs have been banned as reported by Mail Today on November 3.

The newspaper on October 30 had reported on how security agencies are concerned over growing misuse of SIMs and have asked DoT to expedite the process of forming a mechanism through which database of Unique Identification Authority of India could be shared to verify credential of subscribers.
According to industry insiders, there are almost 25-30 per inactive connections out of the total 94 crore mobile phone subscriber base as revealed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). The inactive connections were mostly owned by subscribers who had multiple SIM cards.

While telecom companies have been adding subscribers on an average of over 20 lakh per month, they have reported a fall in customer addition since August this year. During September, there was a drop of 0.2 per cent while it was 2.5 per cent in October

Round Table with Chair IBBI & stakeholders

ON MAY 5, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Round Table Industry Expert Meeting

Issues In Implementation Of IB Code 2016

08th May 2018, Hotel The Claridges, New Delhi.

Round Table Session Chairman

Dr. M.S. Sahoo, Chairperson, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI)

Greetings From ASSOCHAM,

The IB Code 2016 (“The Code”) is a landmark piece of legislation amongst a horde of path breaking reforms brought in by the current Government. This single piece of legislation has allowed us to jump several places in the world ranking on ease of resolving insolvencies. The intent of the Code has been clearly based out of the Bankruptcy Law Reforms Committee Report of November 2015 which laid the foundation for the IB Code. Based on BLRC recommendations, The IB Code empowers the financial creditors / lenders (Committee of Creditors (CoC)) with exclusive rights and privileges in the CIRP and authorizes them solely to decide the fate of the corporate debtor and its other stakeholders such as the unsecured creditors, equity shareholders, employees and workers, etc…. whether revival or liquidation. However, While the BLRC Report specifically highlights the duties and responsibilities of the CoC members and its reasoning’s behind putting all the powers in the hands of financial creditors, the same is missing from the final piece of IB Code or its regulations. Based on last 15 months of the functioning of IB Code, it would help if the Board could issue Regulations providing for the duties and responsibilities of COC members making them accountable for their decisions which they take during the course of the resolution process since they owe a fiduciary duty to all the other stakeholders as well.

To address these issues in the interest of the economic development of the nation and to prevent liquidation of the viable companies, an immediate intervention is required by way of issue of urgent guidelines or regulations to regulate the CAC members.

In this backdrop, ASSOCHAM with Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) is conducting a round table meeting on IBC for discussing some of the major challenges and issues being faced under the IB Code 2016 and a possible alternative plan. The round table meeting will be addressing the concerns over the Ordinance on IB Code 2016, No incentive to Banks, Accountability, IRPs and many other key issues.

Target Audience:-

·         Insolvency Professionals

·         Banks

·         Financial Institutions

·         Government Officials and Regulators

·         Corporates

·         Entrepreneurs

·         Real Estate Investors

·         Consultants

·         Tax Consultants and CAs

·         Asset Reconstruction Companies

·         Law Firms

Key Areas of Discussions:-

·         Proposal for Invoking Personal Guarantee in Insolvency Resolution

·         Staggering of MTM Hit

·         Ordinance on IB Code 2016

·         No incentive to Banks

·         Accountability

·         IRPs

·         Quorum & Voting at CoCs

·         Dissenting Financial Creditors

·         Payment to Operational Creditors

The deliberations at this highly interactive round table session will serve as a game-changer and help authorities in addressing the apprehensions and issues raised by different stakeholders.

We are pleased to inform you that Dr. M.S. Sahoo, Chairperson, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has very kindly agreed to be the session chairman for this round table meeting.

In this regard, We would like to invite you as per the attached registration form to attend the round table meeting schedule to be held on 08th May 2018 at Hotel The Claridges, New Delhi

Your participation would add immense value to the content of the conference.

We look forward for your kind confirmation.

Sincerely,

Kushagra Joshi

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India

Banking & Financial Services,

5, Sardar Patel Marg, Chanakyapuri,

New Delhi – 110021

Mob:+91-8447365357

Phone: +91- 11- 46550624

Fax: +91- 11- 46536481/82

Delhi Air Polluting deliberation at CPR

ON MAY 5, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Public debate over the quality of Delhi’s air reliably spikes every winter, along with the readings from air quality monitors. However, public discussion tends to rapidly taper off, even as the air quality remains consistently bad.  The Initiative on Climate, Energy and Environment (ICEE) at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) is organising a seminar series – Clearing the Air? Seminar Series on Delhi’s Air Pollution – to promote sustained and informed public understanding around the data, impacts, sources and policy challenges involved in clearing Delhi’s air. While we focus on the Delhi context, the series also reflects on the fact that the problem extends far beyond Delhi. The seminar series presents the work of experts in a range of areas, to help promote informed public discussion about what changes are needed, what is possible, and how to get it done. Clearing the air in terms of knowledge and public information, we hope, will make a small contribution toward actually clearing Delhi’s air. ICEE invites you to the eighth event in this series. A panel discussion on ‘Power plants as a source of Air Pollution in India’ Vinuta Gopal, Co-founder & Director, Asar Social Impact Advisors Priyavrat Bhati, Programme Director, Energy, Centre for Science & Environment Ritwick Dutta, Environmental Lawyer & Founder, Legal Initiative of Forest & Environment  Moderator:  Shibani Ghosh, Fellow, Centre for Policy Research

Friday, 11 May 2018, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m.

Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research

Image Source

As part of this seminar series, we have looked at three sources of air pollution: transport, crop burning, and municipal solid waste, and we now turn to a fourth significant source of air pollutants in the country – coal-based thermal power plants. They are responsible for the dramatic rise in pollutants such as SO2 and NOx in the country, particularly in industrial hotspots.  Power plant-specific emission standards for PM, SO2, NOx and mercury, introduced by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change in 2015, were to be complied with in two years. By some estimates these could have reduced emissions from power plants by 70-85%. However, the Ministry moved the Supreme Court to relax its own deadline by five years, claiming that the standards were not attainable in two years. As coal-based power plants generate about 75% of India’s electricity, regulation of emissions from power plants needs urgent attention. The panel will explore various aspects of this issue: what is the nature and scale of the problem; what is the governing regulatory eco-system; and what was the process of formulation of the 2015 emission norms? It will also deliberate the key challenges – political, economic and technical – in reducing power plant emissions and what is the role of the courts, particularly the Supreme Court, in regulating pollution from power plants. About the Panelists: Vinuta Gopal is a co-founder and director at Asar Social Impact Advisors Pvt Ltd, a consultancy company set up to provide advice, support and research data to forge an enabling environment for change on social and environmental issues. She has more than 15 years of experience in a campaigning and advocacy and led the climate and energy team in Greenpeace India during its formative years, leading them to some significant victories and new areas of work. During a difficult period in Greenpeace India, she also headed the organisation as the interim Executive Director and Program Director.  Priyavrat Bhati is Programme Director – Energy at Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi. He led the team that published a study of the coal-based power sector, Heat on Power, which proposed several policy reforms and tighter pollution norms to improve the environmental and operating performance of the sector. He has closely worked with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and central regulators to draft new environment standards for the thermal power sector and to improve the monitoring and compliance framework. He has also advised policy makers on energy and environment issues in other countries including Indonesia, South Africa and Tanzania. Prior to joining CSE, he spent over two decades in investment banking. Ritwick Dutta is an environmental lawyer and founder of the Legal Initiative of Forest and Environment (LIFE), an organisation working on issues of transparency and accountability in the field of environment protection. He has been involved in several environmental cases challenging regulatory approvals granted to projects and highlighting environmental impacts of development activities. Recently, he has been asked by the Supreme Court to assist it on the case relating to power plant pollution standards. The discussion will be moderated by Shibani Ghosh, Fellow, Centre for Policy Research.