India’s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves rose by $4.44 billion as on December 29, 2017, official data showed on Friday.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) weekly statistical supplement showed that the overall Forex reserves rose to $409.36 billion from $404.92 billion reported for the week ended December 22.

India’s Forex reserves comprise of foreign currency assets (FCAs), gold reserves, special drawing rights (SDRs) and the RBI’s position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Segment-wise, FCAs — the largest component of the Forex reserves — increased by $4.42 billion to $385.10 billion during the week under review.

Besides the US dollar, FCAs consist of nearly 20-30 per cent of major global currencies. It also includes investments in US Treasury bonds, bonds of other selected governments and deposits with foreign central and commercial banks.

The country’s gold reserves value remained stagnant at $20.71 billion, while SDRs inched up by $8.9 million to $1.51 billion.

Similarly, the country’s reserve position with the IMF rose by $12.1 million to $2.03 billion.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Friday accused the BJP-led NDA central government at the Centre of trying to legalise immigrants by proposing to amend the Citizenship Act.

“On one hand they wanted to push illegal immigrants, but on the other, they wanted to legalise immigrants by amending the Citizenship Act. This is not acceptable to the people of Assam, Meghalaya and the Northeast,” he told journalists after chairing a Cabinet meeting.

“If this Act is amended, the whole fallout will be on the Northeast. Do you think those immigrants from Bangladesh will go to Punjab, Kerala or Rajasthan? They will look at the Northeast as their destination,” Sangma said.

He said that the government has instructed all Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police of the state districts bordering Assam to take all necessary measures to address the issue following the publication of first draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

He said steps were being taken according to mandate of the law including the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act, 2016 that has been passed by the state Assembly as part of the comprehensive mechanisms to check influx and illegal immigrants.

Despite a series of modifications being made in the controversial film “Padmavati” including its renaming as “Padmavat”, the Karni Sena on Friday again raised a demand for a complete ban on film.

Speaking to media here, Karni Sena observer Lokendra singh Kalvi said that filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali should forget dreaming about the film’s release.

“All efforts of Bhansali and CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) shall go down the drain as we will never allow the screening of Padmawati anywhere in India or abroad.

“We are still adamant on our demand. Let there be a complete ban on the release of Padmawati,” he added.

Kalvi also demanded a complete ban on the “Ghoomar” song. “We don’t want any changes in the said song, however, we demand a complete ban on the same,” he said.

He also questioned the ‘authenticity’ of the panel formed by the CBFC to review the film.

Not all of them were historians, hence, their suggestions hardly make a difference, he said, adding that the CBFC proposed to bring in nine historians in the panel but ended calling only three historians “which speaks volumes on their seriousness to justify our demands”.

The Congress on Friday said that BJP was responsible for the “impasse in Rajya Sabha” due to which triple talaq bill could not be discussed, while alleging that BJP wanted to treat the Parliament as a “rubber stamp”.

“They (BJP) are squarely responsible for this impasse in Rajya Sabha. For the first time, the Union Ministers and the MPs were seen standing in Rajya Sabha and stalling the House,” Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters.

Azad also said the government was responsible for not being able to take up the bill in Rajya Sabha and sending it to Select Committee for closer scrutiny.

“We are totally in favour of the bill, but some provisions are objectionable. The government has not clarified about the sustenance of the victims. The government is also responsible for the chaos that was created in the Parliament,” he added.

Azad also said the delay in calling the winter session was for two reasons – first not to give the opposition a chance to raise the failures of the government in the House and second because the Prime Minister and the cabinet ministers were busy in the Gujarat election.

“From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the all the ministers, they were all busy in Gujarat election.

“Be it election in any state, there is a new trend that union council of ministers are being converted to national election committee of BJP. All the ministers get involved in the election duty in that particular state,” he said, terming this “tradition” is not good for democracy and development of the nation.

“Just to win Gujarat election they didn’t let the Parliament to function. It has been proved they don’t believe in parliamentary democracy,” he added.

Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda said that the government was not taking Parliament seriously and was treating it as a “rubber stamp”.

“They do not believe in Parliament. They only believe in Ordinances. They have given 10 Ordinances. They want to treat the Parliament as rubber stamp,” he said.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday said it has arrested a Nigerian national from the city and recovered around 170 gram of cocaine valued at Rs 1 crore from his possession.

Acting on a tip off, the officials of the agency arrested Kevin Edward James, who was to hand over the consignment on behalf of his associates, who are running the drug racket from Mumbai.

“Preliminary enquiry revealed that James, 28 is indulging in trafficking of narcotic drugs in many cities in India including Kolkata,” NCB’s Zonal Director Dilip Kumar Srivastava said.

The accused revealed that the stuff were brought to India from the source country by swallowing and concealing inside the body cavities and sold to the customers and local peddlers in different cities in India, the agency said in a statement.

“Accused revealed that this type of delivery has already been done in past on two occasions in Kolkata. The ultimate recipient of these stimulant narcotics drug are the people from elite class of the society,” it said.

James usually sold the drug at Rs 60,000 per gram in the Indian market whereas he also revealed that the value of the seized cocaine in international illegal market is Rs. one crore, Srivastava added.

The Central government on Friday defended, in the Supreme Court, its Haj policy under which a quota is allocated on the basis of the Muslim population in each state as it told the court that it was not discriminatory and based on objective criteria.

The government made its stand to a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M.Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y.Chandrachud on a plea by the Kerala State Haj Committee which has questioned the allocation of Haj quota on the basis of Muslim population that deprives Muslims in smaller states including Kerala from undertaking the pilgrimages to Makkah and Madina.

Giving the government 10 days time to respond to the plea by Kerala, the bench gave a week’s time to Kerala Haj Committee to file rejoinder if any and directed the next hearing of the matter on January 30.

The court was told that Saudi Arabian government allows India to send 1.7 lakh Haj pilgrims which in turn are distributed to the states in proportion to their Muslim population.

Appearing for the Kerala Haj Committee, counsel Prashant Bhushan described the policy as “arbitrary” and “discriminatory”, saying that more people in Kerala are desirous to undertake the Haj pilgrimage than in Bihar.

Bhushan told the court that Bihar gets the quota of 12,000 pilgrims but only gets 6,900 applicants to go and Kerala get a share of 6,000 seats while there are 95,000 applicants.

“As a result, every applicant in Bihar gets the opportunity to go for Haj. However, in Kerala, the situation is not so,” he said.

However, Attorney General K.K.Venugopal defended the Haj policy saying that it was formulated by the Central Haj Committee after consulting 31 State Haj Committees.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday met members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) delegation led by Meng Xiangfeng and said it was a “meaningful exchange of views”.

“Met with the CPC Delegation led by Mr Meng Xiangfeng, member of the CPC Central Committee for a meaningful exchange of views,” tweeted Gandhi attaching a picture with CPC members and Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik.

The delegation also met and held talks with Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh on Friday.

This meeting comes against the backdrop of Doklam standoff and both the countries making efforts to improve ties post the impasse.

Social activist Anna Hazare on Friday said he would go on an indefinite fast in New Delhi in March if the central government does not implement the Lok Pal Act to eliminate corruption across the country.

“I will sit on an indefinite fast in New Delhi from March 23 if the Lok Pal Act is not implemented. I will continue the fast if am arrested and put in jail if the Union government does not implement the Lok Pal Act against corruption,” he told reporters at a function in Aralikatti hamlet near Baihongal in this northern district.

Though Parliament passed the Lok Pal and Lok Ayuktas Bill in 2013, the central or state governments have so far not set up the anti-corruption ombudsman (Lok Pal) or Lok Ayuktas in the states which do not have them.

“The Modi government has been talking about fighting corruption over the last three years but has not taken any step to have the Lok Pal institution to check corruption,” said Hazare.

“Even demonetisation of higher currency notes has not curbed corruption. Modi has failed to achieve his goal of making the country corruption-free,” he added.

Regretting suicides by farmers across the country due to agrarian crisis, Hazare said neither the central nor state governments were doing anything to mitigate the hardships in the farm sector.

“I have written 10 letters to Modi to introduce an effective Lok Pal system to root out corruption. I have also written 22 letters to him urging him to solve problems faced by farmers. He has not responded to any of them,” he said.

On Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde’s recent statement that the NDA government would change the basic structure of the Constitution, Hazare said no one had right to change it (Constitution) or even talk about changing it.

“If somebody like Hegde said he would change the Constitution, he needs to referred to a mental hospital for treatment,” added Hazare.

Hegde, a Lok Sabha lawmaker from Uttar Kannada district in northwest Karnataka, however, withdrew his statement subsequently.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday expressed concern about the violation of people’s privacy and data security due to possible leaking of Aadhar details and urged the people to be more cautious prevent data theft.

Stating that there are reports of Aadhar cards being easily available from “fictitious agencies against payment of small amounts”, she said she feared that such cases would be huge infringement of individual privacy and data security.

“From the very beginning, I have been voicing my serious concern over violation of privacy due to Aadhar and urging to ensure a foolproof mechanism to ensure security of data,” she wrote on Twitter.

“I would like to request all citizens of the country to be more alert and cautious to prevent data theft and violation of privacy,” she added.

Premier League giants Manchester United left it late to beat Championship side Derby County 2-0 courtesy of goals from Jesse Lingard and Romelu Lukaku to progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday night.

Old Trafford was packed but if they were expected a cavalier performance from their beloved Red Devils they were sorely disappointed for despite dominating their opponents, the hosts were guilty of profligacy and the match looked destined for a replay before the in-form Lingard struck with six minutes remaining.

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The United Academy graduate, who has come into his own of late, sent in a stupendous volley to break Derby’s stubborn resistance with custodian Scott Carson well beaten for once.

Lingard’s goal deflated the Rams, who had looked determined to hold on for a draw, and while they surged forward to find an equaliser, United caught them cold on the counter.

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Paul Pogba’s speculative punt was expertly controlled by Romelu Lukaku, who was playing for the first time since suffering a head injury less than a week ago, and the Belgian spun away to create space for himself near the halfway line. 

With fellow substitute Anthony Marital in support, the Belgian played a quick one-two with his teammate before firing one post Carson with his weaker foot to ensure United’s progression into the next round.

While Lukaku didn’t start, United fielded a very strong starting XI and ideally should have been up by several goals at half-time, Marcus Rashford, starting as centre-forward, was guilty of some glaring misses while Juan Mata and Paul Pogba were denied from set-pieces by a sprawling Carson.

After the interval, United kept up the momentum and while Derby threatened intermittently, United custodian Sergio Romero was a virtual spectator for most parts.
Rashford would hit the post late on and it seemed like Derby would hold on before Lingard struck with a moment of magic and Lukaku added gloss to the scoreline with a well-taken goal.

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In the other FA Cup tie on the night, Liverpool edged Merseyside rivals Everton 2-1 at Anfield to progress to the fourth round.

United have some breathing space before their next game, a Premier League tie with Stoke City at Old Trafford on January 15 and will look to extend their winning streak when the struggling Potters come visiting.

A court here on Friday said that it will, on January 9, decide whether a preliminary inquiry is to be conducted into the matter related to large-scale fraud involving nearly Rs 100 crore in awarding road and drain works contracts by Delhi PWD Minister Satyendra Jain and PWD officials.

Metropolitan Magistrate Abhilash Malhotra was hearing the complaint lodged by Rahul Sharma, founder of NGO Road Anti-Corruption Organisation, who has sought registration of an FIR against Jain and three Public Works Department (PWD) officials for alleged irregularities in grant of tenders.

It has been alleged that during 2014-17, officials of Delhi government’s PWD had allocated contracts for their pecuniary benefits as well as that of contractors for the work “which never got completed whereas shockingly all payments have been cleared”.

Sharma also alleged irregularities in 125 matters of construction of roads, drains and other maintenance work with an estimated cost of more than Rs 90 crore.

India Inc expects the country’s 2017-18 economic growth to be above the 6.5 per cent-mark due to a favourable base effect.

Its reactions came after the estimate of national income for 2017-18, released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), showed that implementation of GST and subsequent slowdown in the manufacturing sector was expected to drag down the country’s growth rate to 6.5 per cent from 7.1 per cent achieved in 2016-17.

“While this gives the impression of a downturn, in reality, growth has bottomed out in the first quarter of the current year and is now on a recovery. It is possible that this number will be revised up once more data is available for the third and fourth quarter of the year,” said CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee.

“It is heartening that gross fixed capital formation is on a recovery path, as a turnaround in investments is imperative for a sustained recovery to take hold.”

According to Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist at ICRA: “The advance estimates for the full year have been based on limited data, which would be available for a period of 6-9 months for different sectors.

“Therefore, they are not fully factoring in the expected pickup in growth in the later months of FY2018, related to a favourable base effect and a ‘catch up’ following the subdued growth momentum in H1 FY2018.”

“Accordingly, the advance estimates for GDP and GVA growth appear to be understating economic expansion for FY2018, in our view.”

The data disclosed that sectors like ‘public administration, defence and other services’, ‘Trade, hotels, transport, communication and services related to broadcasting’, ‘electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services’ and ‘financial, real estate and professional services’ registered a growth rate of over 7 per cent.

On the other hand, growth in the ‘agriculture, forestry and fishing’, ‘mining and quarrying’, ‘manufacturing’ and ‘construction’ sectors “is estimated to be 2.1 per cent (from 4.9 per cent), 2.9 per cent (from 1.8 per cent), 4.6 per cent (from 7.9 per cent) and 3.6 per cent (from 1.7 per cent)”, respectively.

The CSO used the first seven-month data of 2017-18 to extrapolate figures for the full fiscal.

“Since these estimates are based on data till November 2017, it has not captured the latest up-tick in the vehicle sales and the improvement in the steel and cement sectors; we expect the final numbers to be revised upwards as and when they happen,” said Arun Thukral, Managing Director and CEO, Axis Securities.

“Given the tepid growth estimates from agriculture, it gives us a feeling that the budget 2018 will have a higher focus on agriculture and rural economy. And as the estimates are missing the RBI expectations, the central bank is likely to pause in its next policy meeting in February 2018.”

Anis Chakravarty, Lead Economist, Deloitte, said the estimate for yearly GDP showed that the growth momentum was expected to improve in the coming quarters in line with expectations and signals from leading indicators.

“As such, for a broad based recovery the rural economy needs to recover and we can expect the upcoming budget to focus on alleviating some of the stress in the rural economy and concentrating on measures to augment the flow of credit in the economy,” said Chakravarty.

Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Friday targeted the Modi government over the estimated GDP growth of 6.5 per cent in 2017-18, saying the numbers prove there is “a slowdown”.

In a series of tweets, the former Union Finance Minister asked how will the government create “promised two crore jobs” in 2017-18 in a slowdown and asked if it will continue to claim that India’s growth is robust.

“Our fears and warnings have proved true. GDP growth in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 (est) is 8.0, 7.1 and 6.5. These numbers prove there is a slowdown.

“Will government continue to claim that India’s growth rate is robust? In a slowdown, how will jobs be created? And how will the promised 2 crore jobs per year be created?”

The former Finance Minister hoped the government will bend to do solid work instead of making tall claims.

“It is time government stops making tall claims and bends down to do solid work,” he said.

The official data showed on Friday that implementation of Goods and Services Tax and subsequent slowdown in the manufacturing sector is expected to drag down India’s growth to 6.5 per cent in 2017-18.

Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk had a debut to remember as the £75 million-signing headed in a 83rd minute winner to ensure the Reds beat Merseyside rivals Everton 2-1 in their FA Cup third round tie at Anfield on Friday night.

Gylfi Sigurdsson had scored a classic counter-attack in the 67th-minute to cancel out James Milner’s controversial first-half penalty and as full-time neared, the home fans feared an energy-sapping replay was on the cards.

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Bereft of their two most in-form forwards—Mohamed Salah and Philippe Coutinho— Liverpool dominated the game from the off but lacked that vital cutting edge with Adam Lallana, in particular, looking rusty in attack.

And after van Dijk had missed an easy headed chance, it seemed like a second consecutive draw between the two rivals was imminent, but the Dutchman had other ideas and as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain swung in a corner with seven minutes remaining, the 6’4 defender rose highest to head home.

Everton keeper Jordan Pickford, who has been in superb form this season, was culpable of an error, coming out but getting beaten by an opposition player to the ball and the Toffees never truly looked like they would equalise for a second time in the tie.

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Liverpool join arch-rivals Manchester United, who edged Derby County 2-0 in the other third round tie be played on Friday night, in the fourth round now.

Earlier, Everton had begun the tie on a bright manner, with Yannick Bolasie causing a few problems for Liverpool on the flank but the Reds would take the lead via contentious circumstances.

Adam Lallana went down in the box after being the subject of close marking by Everton defender Mason Holgate and replays suggested the midfielder had gone down a tad easily.
The redoubtable James Milner stepped up and sent his effort straight down the middle while Pickford dived to his left to open the scoring 10 minutes from half-time.

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Everton had it all to do in the second-half and against the run of play, equalised but their goal had no element of luck towards it. Yannick Bolasie, substitute Ademeloa Lookman and Phil Jagielka of all people, were all involved in the build-up which saw Gylfi Sigurdsson arrive at the right place and right time to stroke home.

Big Sam’s Toffees have lost their last three games (all competitions) on the bounce and will look to pick themselves up as they travel to Tottenham Hotspur on January 13 for a Premier League clash next.

Liverpool have a massive clash with leaders Manchester City to prepare for and Jurgen Klopp’s men will be looking to get revenge for their 5-0 mauling at the hands of the Sky Blues earlier in the season when the sides clash at Anfield on January 14.

Gross Enrolment Ratio or GER in higher education has registered an increase from 24.5 per cent in 2015-16 to 25.2 per cent in 2016-17, according to the latest edition of the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) launched by Union human resource development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday.

However, GER for Dalits remained less at 21.1 per cent and for tribals it was even lower at 15.4 per cent. GER is a statistical measure for determining the number of students enrolled in undergraduate, postgraduate and research level studies within the country and is expressed as a percentage of the population. It is calculated for those in the age group of 18-23 years.
India aims to attain a GER of 30 per cent by 2020, it’s still much behind many countries, including China.

Tamil Nadu has the highest GER in the country at 46.9 per cent, which is higher than the national average. Bihar’s poor show continues with just 14.9 per cent of its eligible population pursuing higher education.

For those enrolling in regular courses in institutions which are under the Ministry, the Pupil Teacher Ratio is 19. Citing this as a good indication, the report said Pupil Teacher Ratio is more than 50 in Bihar, Delhi and Jharkhand. Female participation in professional courses is lower in comparison to academic courses at both undergraduate and post graduate levels. The gap is higher in enrollment in professional courses in private institutions, it said.

There were 864 universities in the country last year compared to 799 in 2015-16. In Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, the number of institutes, including central universities and deemed universities among others, is the highest at 72 and 62, respectively.

As has been the case in the past, states in south India have higher college density, which is defined as the number of colleges per lakh eligible population. The college density in the top three states is 49 in Puducherry, 59 in Telangana and 53 in Karnataka.

Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, on the other hand, are at the bottom of the pile with seven, eight and 11 colleges, respectively for every one lakh students in the state.
Although the Ministry is intent on improving the world ranking of its institutions, there is a marginal improvement in the number of foreign students studying in the country from 45,424 in 2015-16 to 47,575 in 2016-17.

After a humiliating defeat in the Sabang Assembly by-election, a despondent mood prevails in the state Congress as its leadership anounced Goutam Basu as the candidate for Noapara Assembly bypoll.

On the other hand, having already announced their nominees, both Trinamul Congress and CPI-M have started their election campaign.

While the name of Basu, a councillor of Garulia municipality, was doing the rounds for weeks as the Congress nominee, there has not been any official annoucement from Bidhan Bhavan, the state Congress headquarters.

Lack of coordination was palpable in the Congress camp as even after leader of the Oppostion, Abdul Mannan, is learnt to have sent the names of his candidates of preference, he told reporters that he would go by PCC president Adhir Chowdhury’s decision.

The preparation for the election is markedly absent in Congress, even as its political rivals are way ahead in campaigning, a senior leader said. It was up to the PCC chief to take the final call in this matter after the AICC nod, but the delay will adversly affect our efforts to reach out to the voters, he said.

Moreover, the delay has dismayed the party rank and file, a senior leader said. Given the fact that the seat was won by Madhusudan Ghosh last year as a nominee of the Congress-Left Front electoral, the Congress nominee has a tough task ahead in this triangular electoral battle.

With the Front having announced its candidate, the Congress can no longer bank upon the support of some of the voters who supported its nominee last year.

Meanwhile, some senior Congress leaders admitted the party activists in Noapara will not be able to go into election mode as soon as the party nominee is announced.

The delay in naming the party nominee have slackened the organisational structure of Congress in Noapara where the election victory had rejuvented it last year. The delay has denied the party an opportunity to offer its rivals a neck to neck electoral battle.

BJP national general secretary and the West Bengal observer Kailash Vijayvargiya today criticized chief minister Mamata Banerjee for her remarks on the updating of the National Register of Citizens in Assam.

Issuing a statement, Mr Vijayvargiya said Miss Banerjee had insulted the Constitution and the Supreme Court with her remarks on the NRC in Assam. Her comment was part of her “sinister political motives”, he said.

“The NRC is being updated in Assam after consultation with all stakeholders, communities, political parties and outfits. Such comments are not only an insult to the Constitution and Supreme Court but also against the spirit of the federal structure of our country,” Vijayvergiya said.

During a public meeting at Ahmedpur on Thursday, Miss banerjee had accused the BJP-led Central government of “hatching a conspiracy” to drive out Bengalis from Assam by excluding their names from the first draft of the NRC, published on the midnight of 31 December.

Mr Vijayvargiya accused Miss Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress of sponsoring cross-border infiltration into the state just to reap “political benefits” out of it.

The NRC of 1951 is being updated in Assam ~ now ruled by its first-ever BJP government ~ under the supervision of the Supreme Court to identify original residents of the state in order to check illegal immigration.

Referring to Miss Banerjee’s continuous protests against various policies of the Narendra Modi government, BJP’s national secretary urged her not to interfere in matters related to other states.
“The Assam government is competent enough to protect its citizens. Bengal CM should concentrate on her own state and stop playing politics on each and every issue,” he said.

The Assam police had on Thursday filed a case against Miss Banerjee on complaints over her claim that the Centre plotted conspiracy to drive Bengalis out of Assam with the state’s NRC that is being updated.

Trinamul secretary general Partha Chatterjee, however, said police cases would not stop the Trinamul supremo from fighting for the cause of the Bengalis. “We are aware of old tricks being played to drive out Bengalis from Assam. If Bengalis face any trouble there then our party will not be a mute spectator,” he said.

The BJP accused Miss Mamata of trying to make an “issue out of an non-issue,” to reap political dividends. The BJP-led government in Assam had condemned chief minister Banerjee’s statement, saying it was “derogatory, insulting to the people of Assam and against the Constitution as well as the spirit of the Supreme Court.