BJP’s Biren Singh stakes claim to form govt. in Manipur.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday put forward the name of N. Biren Singh as the next Chief Minister of Manipur. The decision was taken at a meeting of BJP legislators in the presence of two Central ministers, Piyush Goyal and Prakash Javadekar, at a hotel in Imphal. The journalist-turned-politician and MLA from the Heingang constituency is considered one of the most prominent faces of the BJP in Manipur. He had left the Congress in October 2016 and joined the BJP. Meets Governor Immediately after being elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party, Mr. Biren Singh met Governor Najma Heptulla, staking his claim to form the first BJP government in Manipur. 

                       “This is a huge challenge. I left Congress because of misgovernance. I assure the people that our team will bring good governance to the people of Manipur,” the BJP leader said. Within hours of the developments at the BJP camp, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh visited Raj Bhavan and tendered his resignation. Manipur, which gave a fractured mandate in the recent Assembly poll, has witnessed high political drama in the past two days. While the Congress has emerged as the single largest party with 28 MLAs in the 60-member Assembly, three short of majority, the BJP got 21 seats. The BJP has the support of 4 MLAs each from the Naga People’s Front (NPF) and the National People’s Party (NPP) and one from the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

                         However the disappearance of the lone independent MLA Ashad Uddin and the switching of sides by Congress MLA T. Shyamkumar has tilted the balance in favour of the BJP. The only Trinamool Congress MLA T. Robindro has also offered to support the BJP. After the BJP leadership met the Governor, along with representatives of other parties, Mr. Ibobi Singh met the Governor late on Sunday night and staked claim to form the government. On Monday also, the suspense continued with reports that Mr. Ibobi Singh was not resigning. Earlier Ms. Heptulla said: “I told the CM that first you resign then only I can start the process of government formation.” Mr. Ibobi Singh even held a press conference stating that he had ample time and would resign in a day or two. According to senior officials in the Manipur administration, the Election Commission of India will issue a notification for constitution of a fresh Assembly in all five States on Tuesday, following which the Governor can summon any party to form the government even if Mr. Ibobi Singh refuses to resign. With both parties now staking claim to form the government all eyes are now on who the Governor will call for proving majority on the floor of the House. The BJP claims that it has the numbers to form the government. The Congress, however, insists that being the single largest party it should be allowed to go for a floor test. 

                          “The Governor has to decide. As per the decision of the Supreme Court who has the numbers in the House cannot be decided by the Governor. It has to decided on the floor of the House,” senior Congress leader C.P. Joshi, who is in Imphal, said.

Uttar Pradesh assembly election results 2017: BJP big win will help push key reforms, say officials

THE phenomenal win for the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Hindi heartland — combined with the perceived symbolism that this was a vote for development — will make it easier for the Centre to push through key reform measures, say government functionaries. An official in the Prime Minister’s Office said the election outcome, which comes in the backdrop of demonetisation, is a signal that people want the Centre to take bolder steps to stem black money, root out corruption and bring back illegal money from abroad. “Tackling the problem of non-performing assets (NPAs) is more a political call. The results will galvanise action on this and also expedite action on the strategic sale of PSUs,” the official said.

Top economic managers also say reforms will continue and, in fact, now gather speed. “The last bastion of caste politics has come around and voted for development. Finally, even Uttar Pradesh wants good governance and growth,” said Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairperson, Niti Aayog. “I expect continued reforms while ensuring that the poor receive what the Prime Minister promised,” he said.

Given the size of Uttar Pradesh, both in terms of population and size of the state Budget, a strong development-based agenda can yield good dividends over the next couple of years, said Neelkanth Mishra, India Equity Strategist, Credit Suisse. In 2016-17, UP had a Budget of Rs 3,46,935 crore, more than 17.5 per cent of the Union government’s total expenditure.

“Uttar Pradesh accounts for 16 per cent of the country’s population. The size of its Budget is almost 20 per cent of the Centre’s Budget. But the state contributes just 11 per cent to India’s GDP,” pointed out Mishra of Credit Suisse. Better Centre-state coordination can boost its output and the state can add more to the national economy, he said.

While the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime would have taken off in July this year irrespective of the election outcome, the Centre’s efforts to reform labour laws is likely to get a fillip. “Major work on labour (reforms) is more or less ready. The opposition to tough legislative reforms from the Opposition will be milder. The goodwill earned by the BJP will be respected by the Opposition,” said Mishra.

Former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Virmani, who is now chairman, Policy Foundation, too said political opposition to the government’s economic policies would likely cease, both in the Rajya Sabha and among party and affiliated organisations. The “low-hanging fruits”, he said, are certain policy and institutional reform measures announced earlier. “Among these are the introduction of Direct Benefit Transfers for kerosene, food and fertiliser subsidies; acceleration of promised labour law reforms (amalgamating 44 labour laws into four sets of labour codes); promised strategic sales of public sector units, solution to the public sector banks’ bad loan problem,” he said.

When asked if the government can take cues from the election outcome to take bolder steps to tackle black money, Virmani said, “Demonetisation clearly did not play a negative role, though the extent of positive influence is difficult to determine from limited data. Any further steps on this matter are likely to run up against another declared objective of the government, namely to end ‘tax terrorism’, which is far more important for the growth of the economy and employment. So I hope that the government puts more emphasis on the latter objective than the former.”

Analysts, however, do not expect tough bills in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha given that the government is already at the end of its third year. “Labour reforms will happen. It’s more about many different laws being merged and codified into simple and lesser number of laws,” said Credit Suisse’s Mishra. He said the ruling party’s numbers in the Rajya Sabha will be bolstered next year, and it will not be before 2020 that it will have a majority in the Upper House.

Explaining how political strength helps resolve the NPA problem, Virmani said, “Any decision will be criticised by Opposition parties. However, with its hands strengthened by the electoral verdict, the government is in a stronger position to deal with any criticism. The key here is to take and implement decisions quickly, rather than to search endlessly for a perfect solution (which does not exist),” he said.

Next Army Chief Lt Gen Bipin Rawat

The government on Saturday night appointed Lt-General Bipin Rawat as the next army chief after General Dalbir Singh Suhag, superseding two Lt-Generals senior to him. The present Army chief will retire on December 31.


But sticking to the seniority principle in appointment of the next IAF chief, Air Marshal Birendra Singh Dhanoa will replace Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha on December 31.

Lt-General Bipin Rawat (infantry), who took over as the Army vice-chief in September 2016, has been appointed the new chief over Eastern Command chief Lt-Gen Praveen Bakshi (armored corps) and Southern Army Command chief Lt-Gen P M Hariz (mechanized infantry). While Lt-Gen Bakshi was commissioned in December 1977, Lt-Gen Hariz was commissioned in June 1978. Lt-Gen Rawat, in turn, was commissioned into the fifth battalion of the 11 Gorkha Rifles in December 1978.

A sword of honour winner at the Indian Military Academy, Lt-Gen Rawat has vast experience in high-altitude warfare and counter-insurgency operations. He commanded an infantry battalion along the Line of Actual Control with China, a Rashtriya Rifles sector in J&K and an infantry division in Kashmir Valley.

Even though it's well within the right of a government to appoint whoever it wants to be the next chief of the Army, IAF or Navy, successive dispensations have almost always followed the seniority principle to anoint the new military chief. Exceptions have been few and far between, like when Indira Gandhi superseded Lt-Gen S K Sinha to appoint Gen A S Vaidya as the Army chief in 1983. Similarly, Air Chief Marshal S K Mehra became IAF chief by superseding Air Marshal M M Singh in 1988.

MAGGI BAN  

IN DELHI

Kerala has ordered a pullout of Maggi noodles from government-run outlets and the Delhi government has said samples that it tested were found "unsafe," amid a country-wide scrutiny of the product for high content of lead and monosodium glutamate or MSG, a taste enhancer.

        Here are the 10 latest developments in this story:

1. The Delhi government has said it has decided to initiate a case against Nestle, the company that manufactures Maggi noodles, "for sale of an unsafe product." It said it is also considering a fine for "misbranding," for not declaring MSG on the label.
2. Delhi health minister Satyendra Kumar Jain said, "The government will initiate action and will follow the legal course. Adulteration of any kind in food will not be tolerated." The state government has summoned Nestle officials and said more action could follow after detailed results of tests are received.
3. The president of Delhi's BJP unit, Satish Upadhyay, has demanded that Maggi be immediately recalled from the capital's markets.
4. As more states order tests, Goa's Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has said that the Maggi noodles samples it tested were found to be safe for human consumption. It said that the samples tested negative for MSG and lead content.
5. The Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation said its 1,424 outlets will temporarily stop the sale of Maggi noodles, till there is clarity on quality. Unsold stock, it said, will be returned to the company.
6. Haryana has ordered samples to be randomly  lifted for testing, while  Gujarat said it has sent 39 samples of Maggi noodles to be tested. West Bengal's food department has convened a meeting tomorrow. Samples are also being tested in Karnataka.
7. In Bihar today, a court ordered that a First Information Report, or FIR, be registered against Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit and Preity Zinta, who have featured in Maggi noodle advertisements, on a petition filed by a lawyer.
8. Maggi noodles has been at the centre of controversy since laboratory tests ordered by Uttar Pradesh food inspectors on a batch of the popular snack allegedly found eight times as much lead as permissible.
9. Nestle India has said that it has got samples of Maggi noodles tested in an external laboratory as well as in house and that the product was found "safe to eat".

Mars 2 mission set for 2018

India is amazing one and all and itself also in the process. The way India has developed its space program in such a short period of time seems to be a dream for many experts. After being ignored by other nations with some achievements in space, even to the extent of ridiculed, India has gone ahead unhindered, unmindful of what others did to stop it from developing its space program.

They even imposed ban on importing technology transfers from other nations. United States that is now doing everything to impress upon India to do its bidding against China had forced Russia not to sell cryogenic engine to India.

But India and ISRO defied everything and went on to manufacture its own cryogenic engine. Now they are catching up very fast and the Mars Orbiter Mission was the biggest moment for India in the space. Launched last year in November, the Mars 2 mission set for 2018, ISRO, India’s main space agency says. The announcement has come on the heels of the success of Mars Orbiter Mission.

India is amazing one and all and itself also in the process. The way India has developed its space program in such a short period of time seems to be a dream for many experts. After being ignored by other nations with some achievements in space, even to the extent of ridiculed, India has gone ahead unhindered, unmindful of what others did to stop it from developing its space program.

They even imposed ban on importing technology transfers from other nations. United States that is now doing everything to impress upon India to do its bidding against China had forced Russia not to sell cryogenic engine to India.

But India and ISRO defied everything and went on to manufacture its own cryogenic engine. Now they are catching up very fast and the Mars Orbiter Mission was the biggest moment for India in the space. Launched last year in November, the Mangalyaan entered into the Red Planet’s orbit last month, making history of sorts.

And now before the euphoria of Mars Orbiter Mission has ended, ISRO has said that it is going to introduce the next mars mission in the year 2017. This is something that almost everyone was waiting for. Earlier ISRO bosses had said that they are going to try and increase the life of the Mars Orbiter Mission.

There is no denying the fact that the next orbiter is going to be better and equipped with better payloads. “We plan to launch a second mission to Mars in 2018, probably with a lander and rover, to conduct more experiments for which we have to develop new technologies,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) satellite centre director S. Shiva Kumar told reporters here. The state-run space agency successfully inserted its spacecraft (MOM) Sep 24 in the Martian orbit with five scientific instruments to search for life-sustaining elements on the planet over nine months after it was launched Nov 5, 2013 from its spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and about 90 km northeast of Chennai.

NASA bosses seem ecstatic with their achievement and the plans ahead. “We will be able to take the Mars-2 mission after launching the second mission to the moon (Chandrayaan-2) in 2016 with our own lander and rover, which will help us develop a separate lander and rover for the red planet”. As missions to Mars can be launched only at an interval of two years, the space agency is looking for a slot in 2018 and by which it hopes to have a heavy rocket fully operational to carry a lander and rover with scientific experiments as additional payloads. “We hope to have fully operational heavy rockets over the next two-three years for carrying communication satellites weighing two-three tonnes into the geo-stationary orbits around the earth,” Kumar said.

The development is blazing fast without any iota of doubt. The space agency has developed the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-Mark I-III) with indigenous cryogenic engine to launch heavier satellites weighing more than two tonnes and three tonnes into the geo-orbit at 36,000 km above Earth. “GSLV-Mark I-III will be used for Chandrayaan-2, which will have heavier payload than its predecessor (Chandrayaan-1) and later for Mars-2 mission, as both will have a lander and rover in addition to scientific experiments,” he said. The space agency launched Jan 5 a GSLV rocket with an indigenous cryogenic engine from the spaceport and placed a communication satellite (Gsat-14) in the geo-stationary orbit. Chandrayaan-1 was launched Oct 22, 2008, using a polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-C11), a four-stage rocket. The 475 kg Mars Orbiter was also launched on board a polar rocket. The GSLV-Mark III’s maiden launch is likely to be in December. entered into the Red Planet’s orbit last month, making history of sorts.

And now before the euphoria of Mars Orbiter Mission has ended, ISRO has said that it is going to introduce the next mars mission in the year 2017. This is something that almost everyone was waiting for. Earlier ISRO bosses had said that they are going to try and increase the life of the Mars Orbiter Mission.

There is no denying the fact that the next orbiter is going to be better and equipped with better payloads. “We plan to launch a second mission to Mars in 2018, probably with a lander and rover, to conduct more experiments for which we have to develop new technologies,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) satellite centre director S. Shiva Kumar told reporters here. The state-run space agency successfully inserted its spacecraft (MOM) Sept 24 in the Martian orbit with five scientific instruments to search for life-sustaining elements on the planet over nine months after it was launched Nov 5, 2013 from its spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and about 90 km northeast of Chennai.

NASA bosses seem ecstatic with their achievement and the plans ahead. “We will be able to take the Mars-2 mission after launching the second mission to the moon (Chandrayaan-2) in 2016 with our own lander and rover, which will help us develop a separate lander and rover for the red planet”. As missions to Mars can be launched only at an interval of two years, the space agency is looking for a slot in 2018 and by which it hopes to have a heavy rocket fully operational to carry a lander and rover with scientific experiments as additional payloads. “We hope to have fully operational heavy rockets over the next two-three years for carrying communication satellites weighting two-three tonnes into the geo-stationary orbits around the earth,” Kumar said.

The development is blazing fast without any iota of doubt. The space agency has developed the geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-Mark I-III) with indigenous cryogenic engine to launch heavier satellites weighing more than two tonnes and three tonnes into the geo-orbit at 36,000 km above Earth. “GSLV-Mark I-III will be used for Chandrayaan-2, which will have heavier payload than its predecessor (Chandrayaan-1) and later for Mars-2 mission, as both will have a lander and rover in addition to scientific experiments,” he said. The space agency launched Jan 5 a GSLV rocket with an indigenous cryogenic engine from the spaceport and placed a communication satellite (Gsat-14) in the geo-stationary orbit. Chandrayaan-1 was launched Oct 22, 2008, using a polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-C11), a four-stage rocket. The 475 kg Mars Orbiter was also launched on board a polar rocket. The GSLV-Mark III’s maiden launch is likely to be in December.