The Odisha government today approved five investment proposals of Rs 328 crore, which would provide jobs to 1674 people. The government’s nod to the projects were given at the meeting of the State Level
Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Mr. Aditya Prasad Padhi.

The SLSWCA accorded approval to set up a manufacturing unit with a capacity to produce 35,000 tonnes per annum aluminium alloy conductors as well as alloy wires and rods at Angul Aluminium park. With an investment of Rs 75 crore the project will help create direct and indirect employment for 425 people, official sources said.

Another downstream project for setting up a manufacturing plant to produce 33,500 tonnes per annum aluminium and alloy downstream products at Angul Aluminium Park was also cleared. The project entails an investment of Rs 56.87 crore and would provide employment to 250 people.

In a bid to support downstream players setting up units in Angul Aluminium Park, the state government is giving a discount of Rs 10 lakh per acre towards land cost, while NALCO is offering a price discount of Rs 4000 per tonne on aluminium ingots and Rs 5000 per tonne on molten metal.

Such initiatives are making the business ecosystem in Angul Aluminium Park more lucrative for the investors. A proposal to set up a poultry processing plant at Khurda industrial area and a poultry pellet feed plant at Sea Food Park, Deras was also approved today. Another pellet feed plant proposed to be established at Bhadrak by the same firm was also given clearance with a cumulative investment of Rs 50.27 crore. The three units, together, would provide employment to 486 people.

The SLSWCA also cleared a proposal to set up 30,000 tonne per annum vegetable oil manufacturing unit at Khurda industrial area. The project entails an investment of Rs 91.45 crore and will create employment for 384 people, said official sources. A hotel project at Cuttack with an investment of Rs 54.50 crore was also cleared.

The Odisha government today effected an administrative reshuffle replacing collectors of eight districts and giving new assignments to a few other senior bureaucrats. The district collectors of Balasore, Dhenkanal, Bolangir, Koraput, Keonjhar, Gajapati, Malkangiri and Nawarangpur districts have been changed.

Ms Shalini Pandit, presently working as the Managing Director (MD) of the National Health Mission (NHM) in the state, has been given additional charge of State Project Director, OPEPA, State project Director, RMSA and Director, Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya Sangathan. Mr Pravat Kumar Lenka, presently Additional Secretary of Forest•and Environment Department, has been appointed as Additional Secretary of Public Enterprises Department.

Dhenkanal collector Bhupendra S. Poonia has been appointed as State Project Director, OPEPA, Bhubaneswar while Nikhil Pavan Kalyan, at present commissioner, Berhampur Municipal Corporation, Berhampur, replaced Poonia as Dhenknal collector. N. Thirumala Naik, collector of Keonjhar has been shifted as collector Bolangir and Ashish Thakare moved from Bolangir to Keonjhar. Rashmita Panda, the district collector of Nawarangpur has been posted as Chief Executive Officer, Rourkela Smart City Ltd.

It is pertinent to note that Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram had recently raised the issue of neglect of Rourkela and enumerated the various vacancies in key posts, including that of the CEO of the Smart City project. The Gajapati collector, Sudhansu Mohan Samal was today posted as Director, Horticulture.

Sudarshan Chakravarthy, at present Collector and District Magistrate, Malkangiri is appointed as Collector and District Magistrate, Koraput while Anupam Saha the collector of Koraput has been moved to Gajapati district.

Manish Agrawal, the Executive Director, CMGI, G.A & PG. (AR) Department has been sent to Malkangiri as the district collector and Balasore collector Pramod Kumar Das has been transferred as special secretary, planning department. Ramesh Rout posted as district collector of Balasore. Ajit Kumar Mishra has been made collector Nawarangpur . He was the additional secretary health department.

Odisha ST/SC Development Minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi today requested the Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram to rise above narrow party politics and help the tribal population of Malkangiri district who are bound to be adversely impacted by the Polavaram project in bordering Andhra Pradesh.

Mr Majhi requested the Union minister to exercise his good offices to influence the central government officers concerned and ensure that the project work in Andhra Pradesh stops immediately. He said though over four crore people of the state have posed their confidence on the Union minister and hoped that as a minister representing the tribal community he would continue his fight to protect the interest of the state particularly the interest of the tribal community but unfortunately it is not happening.

Mr Majhi regretted the reply given by Mr Oram in the Rajya Sabha on 4 January in reply to a question raised by Mr D Raja that the people of Odisha would not be affected by the Polavaram project. He said the Polavaram Project is being constructed by the Andhra Pradesh government violating many rules is coming up without holding a gram sabha in villages of Malkangiri district of Odisha which will be affected. Majhi said that as many as 6818 people including 5916 tribal people would be adversely impacted by the project. The project, he said would affect 35 habitations , 15 revenue villages and 7656 hectares of land in Malkangiri district.

Mr Majhi said on 8 June , 2014 in an interview Mr Oram had himself stated that “Odisha government has been unable to raise the issue effectively for the state’s interest, though the dam is set to affect a large number of people in the state”. Mr Majhi said he has written a letter in this regard to the Union minister yesterday requesting him to intervene in the matter and protect the interest of the state and its people.

He recalled that chief minister Naveen Patnaik had written repeatedly to the Prime Minister in this regard and questioned how the Centre had accorded national project status to Polavaram. The Odisha government has alsomoved the Supreme Court on the Polavaram project.

Commonwealth Championship silver medalist Parveen Rana waged a grim battle to help Veer Marathis to down Mumbai Maharathi 4-3 and record their first win in the Pro Wrestling League at Siri Fort Indoor complex in New Delhi on Wednesday.

In the battle between two Maharashtra teams the outcome was decided in the last match as both were tied 3-3, and in this all important match Praveen Rana overpowered namesake riot Praveen Dahiya of Mumbai Maharathi 6-4 to give the league debutantes their first victory.

Rana looked in great touch and warded off all attempts by his opponent to record his first win in this year’s edition. Earlier, World Championship bronze medalist Levan Berianidze ( Armenia) beat Satender Malik 5-0 in the super heavyweight category to make it 3-2 in favour of the Marathas.

However World Championship silver medalist Odunayo Adekouroye ( Nigeria) promptly pulled off a stunning 5-1 victory over Rio Olympic bronze medalist Marwa Amri to level the scores and bring her team back into the contest.

Mumbai won the toss and decided to keep Shravan out of the equation, while Marathas used their card to block Seema Bisla. Olympic champion Russian Soslan Ramonov got Maharathis off to a great start as he annihilated Amit Dhankar 16-0 through technical superiority in the 65 kg competition.

Soslan was in his brutal best and did not even break a sweat as he sealed the bout within couple of minutes of the opening period. In the second bout , skipper Vasilisa Marzaliuk ( Belarus) restored parity for Marathas after she staved off a stiff challenge from France’s Cynthia Vescan 2-1 in the 76 kg event.

It was an evenly poised battle and the results could have gone either ways but Vasilisa hung on by her skin to come out victorious. World championship bronze medalist Georgi Keteov ( Armenia) made it 2-1 in favour of Marathas after he picked up a convincing 5-0 victory over Satyawart Kadian in the heavyweight category.

Mumbai Maharathi pulls out of PWL

In a reaction to alleged cheating of by the organisers of the PWL, led by Sunil Yash Kalra, the CEO of ProSportify, the team owners of Mumbai Maharathi have decided to withdraw from the 3rd edition of the PWL with immediate effect, according to a release issued by the team today.

While the team management has taken in its stride several instances of mismanagement and operational glitches by the league organisers, they reacted strongly to the incident that occurred at the toss between Mumbai Maharathi and their opponents. After Sakshi Malik won the toss, she oped to block the wrestler in the 74 kg category, but was prevented to so by the organisers in a clear violation of the rules. Sakshi then had no option but to block a wrestler in another weight category and the 74 kg category proved vital in the final outcome of the match, with Mumbai Maharathi losing the tie 3-4 to Veer Maratha.

According to the rules, one weight category cannot be blocked for consecutive matches and for a total of 2 out of the 5 league matches. Mumbai Maharathi had blocked the 74 kg category in their first encounter and now sought to do so in their third encounter, adhering to the rules, but the league organisers stepped in to twist the rules and thwart Mumbai Maharathi.

Mumbai Maharathi are the 6th owners who have walked out of the league in 3 years.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday alleged that Lt Governor Anil Baijal does not want to appoint the chairperson of Delhi Waqf Board, which is leading to “corruption and misuse” of its property.

On Tuesday, the Delhi Assembly-appointed committee has found that a part of the land belonging to Hazrat Naseeruddin Aulia Dargah in the national Capital was sold illegally in connivance with some Delhi Waqf Board officials in 2016.

As per the report, a part of the land of Dargah, located in Chirag Delhi area of the city, was sold by the officials of the Waqf Board. The Committee in its report recommended to the Chief Secretary to initiate criminal and privilege proceedings against a section officer for sale of the property and also for giving “misleading” and “manipulated” deposition during investigation of the case. It also asked the Chief Secretary to submit an action taken report to the House within a month.

Based on Delhi Assembly committee report on corruption in Waqf Board, Delhi Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot alleged that the LG, for no apparent reason, is delaying the appointment of the chairman of the Waqf Board.

“I don’t understand why the LG is not appointing the chairperson. I request the LG to accept our request,” Gahlot said.

Gahlot citing the orders of the Supreme Court, said that no court has put a stay on the appointment of the chairperson.

The minister said that “Imams” were not getting salaries for the past six months as there was no chairman.

Raising the issue of illegal sale of Dargah land in the Assembly, AAP MLA Sourabh Bhardwaj said that the Board has been “headless” for over one-and-a-half years which is a very serious issue.
“As there has been no appointment of the chairperson, Waqf properties are being encroached. The matter has been pending with the LG office for one-and-a-half years, but LG has not appointed the chairperson yet,” Bhardwaj said.

The House later passed a resolution seeking a magisterial probe into 36 cases where the Delhi Waqf Board has lost in the past.

Equity and bond markets gave a big thumbs-up to the government’s “considered” decision to slash its borrowing requirement from Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore. Dalal Street participants said the move clearly signals improvement in revenue receipts that would ease worries over annual fiscal deficit for 2017-18.

Equity benchmarks of Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange regained upside momentum, overcoming Tuesday’s losses amid easing yields on 10-year bonds after yesterday’s 10 basis points jump. In early deals in bond market today, yields posted the steepest decline in 14 months from 7.269 per cent to 7.212 per cent. (Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions).

The 30-share Sensitive Index of BSE surpassed one more milestone of 35,000-level during intra-day trade today. The 50-share Nifty also moved apace on buying in broader market. The Sensex closed at record high of 35,081.82 points, registering an increase of 310.77 points or 0.89 per cent. The Nifty finished at 10,788.55 points, showing a jump of 88.10 points or 0.82 per cent.

Bank shares, particularly state-run lenders, took the Bank Nifty to 26,289.10 (+314.20) points, an increase of 1.21 per cent, while the PSU Bank Nifty ended the day with bigger gain of 4.17 per cent or 147.60 points at 3,690.90 points.

The BSE benchmark added nearly 1,000 points in nine trading sessions. It had closed at 34,153 points on 5 January and has been rising constantly irrespective of a couple of profit booking sessions.
Analysts say brokerages would be revising their Sensex and Nifty targets afresh in view of the booming pre-Budget rally which appears unprecedented considering repeated worries vented by experts over stretched valuations.

Another positive development pertains to GST Council’s expected decision to rationalise prices (indirect taxes) on more than 70 items of which 40 are linked to agriculture and rural economy. The council will be holding its last meeting before Budget 2018-19 is presented on 1 February.

This pre-Budget thinking, analysts say, hints at improvement in revenue receipts. The government has already stated nearly 18 per cent increase in direct tax collection in the fiscal so far. The finance minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, according to Dalal Street buzz, may not overshoot the 3.2 per cent fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal.

Foreign portfolio investors have turned net buyers in January despite four profit-booking sessions last week. Yesterday, they invested Rs 693.17 crore in domestic stocks, taking the month’s tally to Rs 1,499.37 crore, according to numbers available with the regulator and depositories.

Analysts say the cut in borrowing target also suggests the shortfall in indirect taxes or Goods and Services Tax or GST has been largely met. It would be interesting to know the latest GST collection figure which experts see crossing Rs 1 lakh crore or an increase between 15 and 20 per cent.

As bond yields eased, the partially convertible rupee, which closed at 64.04 against the United States dollar yesterday, recouped those losses and in early morning or intra-day trade appreciated 0.31 per cent to 63.77/$.

Bank shares, particularly state-run lenders, surged tracking cut in government’s borrowing requirement. Yesterday, lenders lost ground after Reserve Bank of India’s deputy governor Viral Acharya bluntly told lenders not to depend on financial regulator to manage their interest rate risks. The statement also hit the bond market.

The generous certificate given by some of the top industrialists are no indication of state’s development since they were given under influence, BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh said today.

He also said that these industrialists had no other option since their existing business in the state would be affected through the vindictive government’s measures if they kept mum on the actual state of economic health of the state.

Mr Ghosh today visited Noapara Assembly constituency to campaign for BJP candidate Sandeep Banerjee.

He added that the BJP wants investment for West Bengal but the high crime rate in the state affects the growth of the industry.

“BJP wants the state to become ‘Best Bengal’. But under the TMC tenure, it may get the number one position in crimes against women or child or in the government’s failure to maintain law and order. If industrialists stated the real pathetic facts of West Bengal on Bengal Global Business Summit’s (BGBS) dias, it would then irk chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the shutters of their existing manufacturing units would be forcibly closed permanently,” he said. Mr Ghosh said BGBS is a flop show and it is also a part of vote bank politics.

“Miss Banerjee’s claim regarding employment generation in the state is a big hoax,” he added. Mr Ghosh also ridiculed chief minister’s statement that the police would take legal action without judging the political colour of the offender. “TMC men are involved in all the crimes being committed in the state. They are digging sand mines illegally, steeling bricks and stones from the factories, organising syndicate racket, attacking Opposition party supporters. Miss Banerjee has been warning them from a long time but the Trinamul-backed goons are beyond her control,” he said. Mr Ghosh also criticised Trinamul leader and Bhatpara MLA Arjun Singh as the latter said that BJP will secure the fourth position in the upcoming Noapara Assembly poll.

“Arjun Singh is ignorant about Indian politics and he has no idea regarding BJP’s rise in India. BJP is now number one party in the country and it will become number one in this state. And BJP will also get good poll result from Noapara Assembly constituency,” he said.

The two-day Global Business Summit witnessed inking of a total of 110 agreements in a host of sectors.

State finance minister Amit Mitra said that among the big ticket MOUs include MOU on mining, power and several other sectors that were signed between Bengal government and Poland government. The state power department signed an agreement with GIZ (of Germany) towards and energy action plan for Bengal.

Jadavpur University signed three MOUs for collaboration in various fields with Exeter University, Edinburg University and Eotvos University. The Presidency University signed MOU with Edinburg University in the field of higher eductaion and life sciences. West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation signed an MOU with National Institute of Design for setting up State Design Centre in Kolkata that will open new frontiers in cutting edge technologies.

In a significant development, Wow Momo will set up a factory on a six-floor building in Kolkata and run Bengali restaurants alongside their outlets. The move is aimed at reaching Bengali food along with momo to our customers, said a representative of Wow Momo during the signing of MOU earlier in the day.

Next, a tannery from Kanpur will shift to Bantala Leather Complex, bringing in an investment of Rs 4.5 crore while a Chennai-based shoe
company has bought a tannery in Bantala, said Mr Mitra.

Meanwhile, Mr Anjan Chatterjee, founder & managing director, Speciality Restaurants signed an MOU with the state government whereby restaurant management and culinary training would be offered to youths of the state.

“We would provide six-month skill development training following which the bulk of students would be recruited by us and placements would be arranged for the rest,” said Mr Chatterjee adding that the class VIII pass outs and school drop outs are their target.

The state government will provide stipend to the students during the first three months.

After completion of the course, a group of 20 students out of the batch of 400 would be taken to Switzerland for a upskilling training, he added.

Agreements were also signed with foreign companies namely Buurtzorg Nederlands, Praan Group Nederlands and Edugreen Education and Services to launch healthcare services. A pilot project has been launched in Salt Lake wherein job opportunities will be created for 3000 trainer nurses and nursing attendants in two years.

Notable multi-national companies including Dassault, Aramco, Dubai Multi Commodities Center, Samsung, Pepsi Co, Covestro, Chemixil have expressed their interest to invest in the state, said Mr Mitra.A total of 1046 B2B meetings and 40 B2G meetings took place during the two-day event, said Mr Mitra

Uber, the world’s largest on-demand ride-sharing company, today signed MOU with West Bengal Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (WBTIDCL) to create 100,000 micro – entrepreneurship opportunities on the Uber app over the next five years.

In accordance with the MoU, Uber will create a portal to access the names and details of the eligible driver partners, provided by WBTIDCL and also appoint District Representatives to work
in coordination with the Regional Transport Officers (RTO).

These representatives will facilitate licensed driver partners to register with Uber through its help-desks maintained in RTO Offices across the city. In turn Bengal government will set up Motor Training Schools to train drivers and enable them to get driving licences.

Director agriculture Kashmir, Syed Altaf Aijaz Andrabi on Wednesday impressed upon the concerned officers and agencies to expedite work on state of art and one of the largest saffron park in Asia to be completed at an estimated cost of rupees 37 crore at Dussu in South Kashmir’s Pampore.

While reviewing the progress of work on this project, he directed the concerned officers to complete the different works including infrastructural works, mechanical, electrical, civil works and landscaping of surrounding area within the stipulated time.

He called upon the concerned officers, engineers and representatives of different executing agencies including representatives of national horticulture board to work in close coordination in order to complete the project.

He asked the concerned engineers to make some necessary changes in a particular section of park that have been suggested by the concerned experts.

The director was informed that the finishing work on different sections of the park is in full swing & is nearing completion.

It was said that the park would be handed over the department and will be thrown open for public in near future.

During the visit, Director Agriculture exhorted upon the officers to complete the finishing work as per the given deadline.

The meeting was attended by officers of electrical, mechanical and civil agencies, representatives of National Horticulture Board, and other senior officers of the department.

In the face of the Opposition tirade against the Central government’s move to end subsidy on the Haj pilgrimage, the ruling BJP defended the step saying there was no political agenda behind the decision.

Senior BJP leader and union minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi reiterated that the Haj subsidy money would be utilised for the educational needs of Muslim girls and women in the country.

Launching a frontal attack on the Opposition, Naqvi said they were trying to find fault in whatever decision the Modi government had been taking since it came to power in 2014.

Contrary to the Opposition’s hue and cry, the Muslim community had welcomed the government decision to scrap Haj subsidy from this year onwards, the minister claimed, adding that it had been taken keeping in mind the larger welfare of the Muslim community.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palanissami questioning the Centre’s decision to scrap Haj subsidy demanded the government should review its decision.

In a move to encourage greater participation by industry in acquisition of defence equipment, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) at its meeting on Tuesday chaired by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman cleared a simplified “Make-II” procedure.

The simplified ‘Make-II’ procedure will help import substitution and promote innovative solutions. This simplified ‘Make-II’ procedure will amend the existing ‘Make Procedure’ in Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP)-2016.

The revised procedure was finalised after a series of consultations held with industry, according to a defence ministry release.

The salient features of the new ‘Make-II’ procedure include the industry suggesting projects especially among those items which are currently being imported. Start-ups or individuals can also suggest proposals. Service headquarters will also list out a series of projects which can be undertaken as ‘Make-II’ projects under the new procedure.

The potential ‘Make-II’ projects will be approved by a collegiate comprising DRDO, HQ (IDS), Department of Defence under a committee chaired by Secretary (Defence Production). There will be no limit to the number of industry players who may respond to the expression of interest (EoI) for development of the prototype subject to meeting the minimum qualification criteria. The design and development time of 12 to 30 weeks is granted to industry to offer the prototypes.

There is no limit to the number of industry players who may show interest and offer prototype.

After this period, a commercial Request For Proposal (RFP) will be issued. Once the RFP is issued, it shall not be retracted.

The industry player who wins the bid is assured of an order.

Service Headquarters (SHQ) will constitute a project facilitation team for facilitating the process under this procedure.

The case will progress even if there is single entity offering an innovative solution.

The industry which develops the product will retain the title and ownership and all other rights in intellectual property. However, for some specified reasons like national security, government shall have ‘March-in’ rights.

The ‘Make-II’ procedure reduces the total time from in-principle approval to placing of order by 50 per cent. The estimated time to finish the whole process has come down to 69 to 103 weeks.

An Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre and a Cyber Police Force will be constituted under the newly-created Cyber & Information Security (CIS) Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

This was announced at a meeting chaired by home minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday to discuss this year’s action plan of the CIS Division, created under the MHA on 10 November 2017.

The CIS Division will have four wings ~ security clearance, cyber crime prevention, cyber security and information security ~ each headed by an under secretary-level officer.

It is also proposed to appoint the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Deputy CISO. An online portal for preparing, follow up and issuance of advisories on financial fraud-related matters is also in the offing.

The home minister expressed concern over the rising incidents of sharing pornography over the internet.

He called for an effective mechanism to strictly monitor cyber space and block website flouting India’s laws, especially child porn.

Reviewing the Police-1 Division, the minister was informed that a website has been created “ips.gov.in” containing relevant information for IPS officers.

The process of annual performance appraisal report (APAR), filing of immovable property returns (IPRs) and updation of executive record (ER)-sheets has been made online.

To provide relief to consumers from rising prices of petrol and diesel, state finance ministers from Congress-ruled states will push for inclusion of petroleum products and real estate under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) ambit in the Council meeting to be held on 18 January at 12 noon.

Petrol and diesel prices are skyrocketing. The Modi government is profiteering at the expense of common man, Punjab finance minister Manpreet Badal said.

GST, he added, was projected to usher growth, but its flawed implementation had resulted in GDP falling as well as an economic mess and retail inflation climbing to a 15-month high.

Most states and the Centre are of the view that their revenues may fall if petroleum products and real estate are included under the GST ambit. By bringing in petroleum products under the GST regime, experts believe that fuel prices could come down by 30-40 per cent even at the highest slab of 28 per cent.

As regards the demand for including real estate in the GST ambit, currently, taxation of land and buildings is part of the state list in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. Allowing the Centre to levy tax on land and buildings would need an amendment in GST laws.

Badal raised concerns about the government’s move to make several changes in the GST law itself. He said: “The agenda paper is 350 pages long and today only we have received 80 more pages. To me the future scenario sounds scary. I shudder to think of the extent of litigation that will arise due to ill-conceived provisions that have been unleashed in a hurry.

“The changes now proposed are also being rushed without wider consultation with all stakeholders. I understand that most of the recommendations of the committee set up to suggest reforms have been overruled.”

Last month, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley told the Rajya Sabha that the Centre was ready to bring petroleum products under GST but it would want a consensus with the states before taking such a step.
Days after Jaitley’s statement, industry body Assocham said the consensus with states on inclusion of petroleum would never emerge as they and the Centre were over-dependent on the sector for revenue collection.

However, tax revenues fell sharply to Rs 80,808 crore in December from Rs 94,063 crore in August ~ the first month of tax collections. This has raised the risk of the Union government breaching its 3.2 per cent of GDP fiscal deficit target this fiscal year.

Badal said: “The government is sitting over a pile of export refunds which total close to Rs 75,000 crore. Once these are sanctioned the impact on revenues will be colossal which will shake the fragile confidence in the stability of the economy drastically.”

The Council has already decided for the early roll-out of the e-way Bill system after detecting instances of widespread tax evasion.

With the implementation date of the e-way Bill approaching, industry is worried about harassment by tax officials and disruption of free movement of goods within the country. Badal also said the government should first hold wider consultations before rolling out e-way Bill.

“We are not against the introduction of e-way Bill, but it should not be introduced without adequate preparedness,” Badal said.
The GST Council is likely to rationalise the tax rates of about 70-80 items. The government’s attempt is to zero-in on the highest 28 per cent slab and then move towards rationalisation of overall rates.

Bengal has received investment proposals amounting to Rs 2,19,925 crore that is expected to fructify into 20 lakh jobs, said chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Addressing industrialists at the concluding session of the fourth Bengal Global Business Summit, Miss Banerjee said that 50 per cent of the proposals that were received last year are in the process. “We maintain the best relationship with industrialists so our state is ‘Best Bengal’. Ours is a friendly government and we’ll extend all support. We talk less and work more”, Miss Banerjee said.

Giving a sector-wise break-up of the investment, state finance minister Amit Mitra later said that the highest investment proposals have once again been received from the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors that jointly bagged 1,56,811 crore. This was followed by MSME that received 52,952 crore investment proposals. The hospital and tourism sectors got 1,483 crore investment proposals, IT and ITES got 1,146 crore, animal resource development, food processing and horticulture sectors received 1,518 crore and health, education and skill development received 6,015 crore investment proposals.

A host of policies namely Logistics Park Development and Promotion Policy, Export Promotion Policy and RORO Operation Promotion Policy were announced on the occasion.

According to Mr Mitra, the major job providers include Kanpur leather company that will recruit one lakh people while another one lakh will be employed by Uber and Ola.

Speaking at the concluding session, Miss Banerjee said “Without vision the world cannot survive. Our vision is our third eye, our innovation and it gives us strength.

Miss Banerjee rued that despite being an old state Bengal had to face so many legacies due to the 32 years of Leftists regime. “But our intention is clear and our sincerity and credibility are our strength,” she said.

Addressing the industrialists, Miss Banerjee said that their presence is the government’s strength and asset.

She said that the state is industry friendly with a political stability, good economic strength and skilled and talented labour. The connectivity within the state will be improved immensely once metros roll in by one to two years. There is a state land bank with a land use policy, she added.

She said the state is culminating into an industrial hub being the number one in agriculture, skill development, MSME, e-tendering e-governance and ease of doing business. The state government is revising the format of the summit from next year.

Amid the crisis convulsing the Supreme Court, the expected second round of meeting between Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and four top judges after him in the apex court did not occur on Wednesday as one of the four “rebel” judges, Justice J Chelameswar, could not attend the court due to his “indisposition”.

This meeting was supposed to take the engagement between the CJI and four top judges forward in order to resolve their raging conflict. Their meeting is now likely to take place on Thursday morning. Justice Chelameswar was on leave Wednesday as he was reported to be “unwell”. He was however said to have a brief meeting with another dissenting judge, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, at his residence. Justice Chelameswar, the seniormost judge after the CJI, had led the other three top judges ~ Justices Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph ~ to come out and hold a press conference on 12 January in order to question the administration of justice and state of affairs in the Supreme Court on the watch of CJI Misra.

Their stunning, unprecedented move in public against the CJI had sent out shock waves through the judiciary and polity of the country. There were some signs of a possible thaw on Tuesday when CJI Misra met the four top Justices for about 15 minutes before starting their normal work of the day. Some judges, who had facilitated this engagement, were also present in this meeting in the CJI’s chamber.

Three patients, including a two-and-a-half-year-old girl, died today in three private hospitals in the city, triggering protests from relatives. The three hospitals are AMRI, Woodlands and Apollo Gleneagles in the East Jadavpur, Alipore and Phoolbagan police stations areas, respectively.

Awitri De, a child of Kamalgazi in the southern part of the city, was rushed to AMRI Hospitals in Mukundapur along E M Bypass on 15 January. The girl was undergoing treatment at the hospitaltill yesterday. But, she died during the day soon after she was administered an injection by doctors and the nurse. The hospital management claimed that the child had been administered an injection after she started vomiting with respiratory distress today.

“Initially, the child was brought to the hospital’s OPD showing symptoms of high fever and respiratory trouble on 15 January and she was admitted to the hospital later in the day. There was no medical negligence and all kinds of proper treatment had been taken for the patient,” a spokesperson of the hospital claimed.

Mrs Joyonti Chatterjee, unit head of the hospital, reportedly told the relatives: “Don’t make any hooliganism here and for your information I am a big hooligan.” The relatives were then agitating against the child’s death. Later, Mrs Chatterjee apologised to the relatives who demanded her arrest if she did not . AMRI Hospitals sources said she was asked to go on leave and a committee has been set up to probe the allegations against her. Awitri’s mother Mrs Shampa De fainted repeatedly soon after she lost her only child. “It’s the sheer negligence of the doctors who snatched my child from my lap forever. The doctors could not give any proper medical attention to my daughter who was so playful till last night. There was no arrangement for oxygen supply even when her condition deteriorated . Finally, oxygen was given but it was too late,” she said.

According to a police officer the relatives left with the body after the police assured them their complaint would be looked into. In Apollo Gleneagles, Alok Das, 55 year-old employee of Science College at Rajabazar, died at the hospital allegedly without getting any medical attention for over an hour. The family members lodged a complaint with the Phoolbagan police station. “My father was rushed to Apollo hospital with chest and lung ailments today. No doctor attended to him for over an hour. The hospital denied his admission showing reasons of non-availability of beds. He requested the hospital authorities for immediate treatment. We saw him dying in front of all of us,” his son Rohit alleged.

“Our hospital was experiencing heavy rush of emergency patients since Tuesday. We communicated this to the relatives of the patient saying no beds were available for admission. However, our doctors attended the patients at the earliest possible time. He was declared dead due to sudden cardiac arrest,” a spokesperson of Apollo Gleneagles said.

In the third incident, Gautam Pal, an employee of Sector V, was brought to Woodlands from Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, after he sustained an injury on his right leg and left hand following a road accident on Monday.

“My son spoke to us last evening. He was scheduled to undergo an operation today. Surprisingly, the hospital informed us that my son’s condition had deteriorated and he died last night’’, his father said.

The Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said it was imperative to fight the menace of terrorism both on the military and political fronts and there was need to impose strong curbs on terrorist organisations.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2018 here, he warned that the menace of terrorism will continue to affect the world unless countries around the globe come together to fight it unitedly.

“Terrorism is here to stay unless the whole world comes together and works together,” Gen Rawat said at a panel discussion on ‘The Terror State: Innovative Solutions to New Threats’. He stressed on the urgent need for the world community to come to a consensus on the definition of ‘terrorist’. He regretted that there is no consensus on the definition itself and different countries treat ‘terrorists’ differently according to their choice.

Saying that drugs are a major source of funding for terrorists, Gen Rawat suggested buying out all the poppy crops from the farmers directly which will help provide farmers reasonable money which they are denied now and also stifle the funding of terrorists.

He warned against the danger of terrorists getting their hands on other mass destruction weapons, including nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, which would be disastrous for humanity.

Gen Rawat said comprehensive action must be taken against the terror groups, on both military and political fronts, to have a better impact.

He emphasised on the need to develop the capacity to take on the terror groups and the states supporting it, as most times, victim countries themselves have to take on the fight.

Army chief on Doklam
The Army does not visualise any “serious trouble” post-Doklam episode as the border forces of India and China are holding regular exchange and the earlier “bonhomie” has returned, but the forces are prepared for any exigency, Army chief General Bipin Rawat said today.

Rawat also insisted that the PLA soldiers were not in the same numbers in the North Dolam (Doklam) area as they were at the time of the (India-China military) stand-off.