Daily News (In Short)-9-July-2015

#* CBI to Probe Vyapam Scam and Deaths, Rules Supreme Court

NEW DELHI:  The Supreme Court has transferred the investigation into the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh to the CBI and asked the agency to probe the deaths linked to the scam.

There have been 36 deaths in the case so far, which the opposition Congress alleges indicates a massive cover-up.

The Supreme Court made a scathing observation on the Madhya Pradesh high court, which had on Wednesday deferred a petition for a CBI prove till July 20, saying it would wait for the top court ruling.

"Instead of deciding on a CBI probe, the Madhya Pradesh High Court washed its hands off (the case) and put the ball in our court," the Supreme Court said.

After the high court decision, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that he would request the Supreme Court that the investigation be handed over to the CBI.

Those who have died include witnesses and accused; the causes range from road accidents to suicides, alcohol poisoning and heart attacks.

At least one of the deaths was assessed by doctors to be a murder. Namrata Damor, one of the accused in the scam, was found dead in 2012 on railway tracks. She had been strangled, said an autopsy report, but the police said in their report that she had committed suicide.

Fresh questions have been raised over Ms Damor's death after a journalist died suddenly last Saturday while interviewing her father. The dean of a medical college also died a day later, triggering calls for a CBI probe.

Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested since 2013 over the scandal in which thousands of people are alleged to have paid bribes in return for jobs on the state payroll or for places in educational institutes. Vyapam is the Hindi acronym for the state board that conducts tests for medical and engineering colleges as well as government jobs.

#* After Jinping, Putin, PM Modi meets Iran’s Hassan Rouhani in Russia 

After extensive bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Ufa, Russia. The meeting came on the sidelines of the BRICS and SCO summits expected later today. Foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the meeting was the sign of ‘advancing a significant partnership.’
Ahead of the meeting, the PM and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley held talks with Indian CEOs. The PM’s meeting with Xi Jinping was the fifth in a year, signalling perhaps the depth of the Indo-China relationship. During the talks, PM Modi had raised the issue of China putting on “technical hold” India’s move in the United Nations to question Pakistan on the release of 26/11 attack mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi. Concerns were also shared of how China was building an economic corridor through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

#* Vyapam Scam: Madhya Pradesh Governor Likely to be Removed, Say Sources

NEW DELHI:  Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav may be removed over his alleged role in the Vyapam scam. A decision will be taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from Russia, sources have told NDTV.

The Supreme Court today issued notice to the governor and the Centre and asked for a response from both in four weeks. The court acted on a petition seeking the Governor's removal, moved by a group of lawyers in Madhya Pradesh, following an NDTV expose.

A police document accessed by NDTV shows that Mr Yadav was named as "Accused No 10" in a criminal case in the Vyapam scam. Also that while the Governor's constitutional immunity protected him from investigation, many of the others named with him in the case are now in jail.

The Governor and his son were accused last year of accepting bribes in a First Information Report or FIR by the Special Task Force of the state police that is investigating the Vyapam scam. The High Court ruled that the Governor could not be investigated while in office, but said the police could record his statement.

In March, the Governor's son, Shailesh Yadav, who had not been questioned by investigators, was found dead in Lucknow.

The FIR cited the testimony of Veerpal Singh, who, after being arrested, alleged that he handed over Rs. three lakh at the Governor's official residence to Shailesh Yadav on behalf of 10 candidates who wanted to cheat their way through the qualifying exam for government teachers.

The Congress has said that these details necessitate an investigation into the Governor's alleged role. "Is the BJP trying to protect the Chief Minister?" asked Congress leader Digivjaya Singh.

#* Cleartrip offers discount of upto Rs 2,000 on flight tickets

Online ticket booking platform, Cleartrip is offering discounts on flight tickets to Kolkata, Udaipur and Chennai from Mumbai.

The maximum discount is available on flight tickets to Kolkata, Udaipur and Chennai from Mumbai. Usually, if you book tickets about a month in advance, then a round trip to Kolkata costs anywhere between Rs 8,000 - 8,500. Currently, the same trip will have you shell out only Rs 6,500. A round trip to Udaipur costs nearly Rs 7,000, which is currently listed at Rs 4,902 only. 
A round trip from Mumbai to Chennai that will usually set you back by Rs 5,200, is currently listed at around Rs 4,100.

Tickets to Delhi, Bangalore and Goa from Mumbai, however, only showed discounts of about Rs 100-200. 

A round trip from New Delhi to Goa usually costs about Rs 8,000. Right now, a round trip will cost you only about Rs 6,500. Tickets to Chennai from New Delhi, usually pegged at Rs 7,000 will cost you about Rs 6,000 right now. 

The prices, however, were seen fluctuating rapidly with a plus-minus margin of Rs 500 everytime the company's website page was refreshed.  

#* Uber wins round one as HC sets aside Delhi govt's order denying licence

New Delhi: In a boost for taxi-app Uber, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday set aside the Delhi government's order rejecting the application of the service to operate in the national capital.
"I don't know if there should be a complete ban. I have doubts about it. How can you (Delhi government) stall someone like this. You can grant a conditional permission," Justice Manmohan said.
The court also said since the high court on 11 June  had set aside Delhi government's 3 June order, by which application for licence of two other app-based taxi services-- Apra Cabs India Pvt Ltd and Serendipity Infolabs Pvt Ltd (Taxi for Sure) -- were rejected, Uber India Technology Pvt Ltd was "entitled" to a similar relief.
It said as Delhi government has not challenged the June 11 order, it cannot "discriminate" against Uber, when relief has been given to Apra and Serendipity.
The court gave Delhi government the liberty to write to Uber, within ten days, informing the company about the "requirements it has to satisfy".
This clears the way for the service to apply again for a licence. However, since Uber doesn't have a radio taxi licence yet it cannot operate legally in the capital just yet. The service has been operational in Delhi but officials had been issuing fines to cabs operating under the service.
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Uber India Technology Pvt Ltd's had filed a plea in the high court that a 3 June order rejecting its licence application be quashed.
The Delhi government had cancelled the licence application of Uber for not complying with the provisions of the recently amended Radio Taxi Scheme of 2006.
The amendment was introduced after app-based cab companies were banned in the capital following an Uber cab driver allegedly raping a finance executive in December last year.
"If the GNCTD (Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi) is not satisfied with the response, it will give the petitioner (Uber) one opportunity to further be heard and give clarification. A decision will thereafter be taken on the application made by petitioner and communicated to them not later than four weeks thereafter," it said and disposed of Uber's plea challenging the 3 June order.

#* China's loss can be India's gain: Why Modi must press the accelerator

The crash in the Chinese stockmarket - a 30 percent fall in as many days - is yet another opportunity for India. This is because the resultant global fall in commodity prices will benefit us. We need to remember a simple law: as a huge net importer of goods and exporter of services, when global commodity prices fall, our gains exceed our losses.
Let's look at the loses first - and weigh the gains. As global stocks fall, so will Indian indices. But our market decline will be shallower than that of the others, for we are fundamentally a domestic demand-driven consumption economy. The psychological impact of a global stock decline will wear off.
Secondly, as global commodities fall, our steel and ore companies will suffer. But we will gain hugely from oil prices - as we are doing from last September. Oil is our biggest import, and we import 80 percent of our oil. A drop in oil prices also improves our public finances - as we saw last year.
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Theoretically, when Chinese stocks fall, investing in China should be more attractive than investing in India. But two differences make India a better hold if not buy. First, India is far better regulated than China, where the role of the government is simply too strong. This means fair prices of stocks in China are tougher to determine than in India.
Second, ownership of stocks is significantly different. In China, individual investors apparently own 80 percent of stocks. In India, individual stock ownership is low and foreign and domestic institutional ownership is very high. This makes the wealth effect of a loss in stock values less important in India. In China, a stock market crash will dent purchasing power significantly as individual investors will bear the brunt of this loss. A stock crash has implications for consumption in China.
While a slowing China is bad news for global growth, it is not so bad news for India. Just as the one-eyed have an advantage in a land of the blind, Indian suffers less when the world is slowing down.
History tells us why.
In 2008, when the Lehman crisis sent the global economy - and commodities - crashing, after a brief blip, India recovered quickly. Inflation, which was rising towards 13 percent in 2008 crashed to a negative level a year later.
It required serious economic mismanagement by the UPA to ruin things again. This they did by letting oil subsidies run riot, ensuring a fiscal crisis that sent inflation soaring again, with the current account deficit hitting new highs. The rupee almost hit 70 to the US dollar in 2013.
Last year, too, as Europe went into a tailspin and global oil crashed, Indian inflation crashed. The consumer price index is at manageable levels around 5 percent, and the wholesale prices index has been in negative territory for seven months in a row.
The NDA is also managing the economy better by keeping minimum support price increases reasonable and by timely releases of food stocks whenever food inflation threatens to rise sharply. The future of Indian food inflation depends on how we manage protein inflation - the prices of milk, eggs and meat, pulses, and fruits and vegetables.
On oil, the NDA has already decontrolled diesel, but LPG decontrol needs to happen quickly - especially with the direct cash transfer scheme now in place. Kerosene should be the next target for subsidy reform and decontrol, but the Modi government has been dilly-dallying on LPG decontrol for too long. This is the best time for this reform, not after the Bihar elections, which now look very tough for the BJP after the Vyapam scam.
When the world slows, India can do better if it gets the domestic act right. This is the time to press the accelerator on public investment, recapitalise banks quickly, and speed up deregulation that does not need legislation. It is a pity that land and labour reforms are mired in politics, but even without these changes, the Modi government can improve growth by better management of the macroeconomy and boosting public investment. Lower interest rates will be a bonus, but not vital to set off the virtuous cycle of growth without inflation.
A stock market revival will happen as we head towards the festival season, making it easier for companies and the government to access capital and clean up their balance-sheets.

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