Chabahar Port in Iran-Modi Government's strategy to bypass Pakistan to reach Afganistan is Operational

India's Chabahar Port in Iran is Operational. Modi Govt's strategy to ferry goods to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan is operational. 

A former port named Tis in Chabahar's neighborhood dates back to 2500 BC, known in Alexander's conquests and recorded that the sea coast of India commences with Tis.

In May 2016, Narendra Modi became the first Indian prime minister in 15 years to visit Iran, and during his visit, he pledged up to $500 million to develop and operate Iran's Chabahar port as part of a trilateral engagement between India, Iran and Afghanistan.

India signed a series of twelve memorandums of understanding which centered upon the Port of Chabahar. The trilateral transit agreement signed by India, Iran and Afghanistan allows Indian goods to reach Afghanistan through Iran. It links ports in the western coast of India to the Chabahar port and covers the road and rail links between Chabahar and the Afghan border

In August 2017, Indian Union Minister of Ports, Nitin Gadkari, informed at an event in Iran that the civil work at Chabahar port developed by India is complete, and the Indian government is ordering INR 400 crores (USD63 million) worth of mechanised equipment and cranes, and the port will be operational in 2018 to export Indian wheat to Afghanistan. after meeting with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, he said "now, we are building a railway line in Iran. From Chabhar, we can go to Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Russia."

India's Chabahar Port deal is seen as "a counter to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor," as it has "broken through the strategic encirclement by China and Pakistan."

Pakistani military commentators have characterised the alliance between India, Iran, and Afghanistan as a "security threat to Pakistan", and it had "ominous and far-reaching implications" to the region. Segments of the Pakistani press bemoaned the country's increasing "isolationism"

WHY CHABAHAR PORT IS CRUCIAL FOR INDIA

The first and foremost significance of the Chabahar port is the fact that India can bypass Pakistan in transporting goods to Afghanistan. Chabahar port will boost India's access to Iran, the key gateway to the International North-South Transport Corridor that has sea, rail and road routes between India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia.

Chabahar port will be beneficial to India in countering Chinese presence in the Arabian Sea which China is trying to ensure by helping Pakistan develop the Gwadar port. Gwadar port is less than 400 km from Chabahar by road and 100 km by sea.

With Chabahar port being developed and operated by India, Iran also becomes a military ally to India. Chabahar could be used in case China decides to flex its navy muscles by stationing ships in Gwadar port to reckon its upper hand in the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and Middle East.

With Chabahar port becoming functional, there will be a significant boost in the import of iron ore, sugar and rice to India. The import cost of oil to India will also see a considerable decline. India has already increased its crude purchase from Iran since the West imposed ban on Iran was lifted.

Chabahar port will ensure in the establishment of a politically sustainable connectivity between India and Afghanistan. This is will, in turn, lead to better economic ties between the two countries.

From a diplomatic perspective, Chabahar port could be used as a point from where humanitarian operations could be coordinated.

The Zaranj-Delaram road constructed by India in 2009 can give access to Afghanistan's Garland Highway, setting up road access to four major cities in Afghanistan - Herat, Kandahar, Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif.

Officials from the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) said India will send its first cargo of wheat to Afghanistan through Chabahar Port in Iran. 

The ACCI officials said the move to send in at least 130,000 tons of wheat to Afghanistan will strengthen trade ties between the two countries.

“This process is crucial for strengthening trade and transit relations of Afghanistan with India and Iran. We will continue our efforts to provide better grounds for increasing trade activities,” the ACCI deputy head for trade, Kamila Sediqi said.

“Many (Afghan) investors will try to do business through Chabahar once the process kicks off. This will help investors send their goods to India and import goods through a closer route,” the CEO of the ACCI, Atiqullah Nasrat said.

This comes after President Ashraf Ghani said during his trip to India this week that Afghanistan appreciated India’s move to send in the wheat to the country.

India wastes 40 to 50 per cent of the total food output valued of $440 billion

Despite India being the worlds largest producer of milk and second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, about 40 to 50 per cent of the total output valued of $440 billion ends up being wasted, a study said.

"India has about 6,300 cold storage facilities with a capacity of 30.11 million tons, which are only able to store about 11 per cent of the country's total perishable produce," said D.S. Rawat, the Assocham Secretary General.

Highlighting that about 60 per cent of this capacity was spread across Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Punjab, the Assocham-MRSS India joint study said: "The situation is severe in southern part of India due to unavailability of cold storage units, moreover as the climate is far more hot and humid."

The study estimated that the cold chain market in India valued at $167.24 billion in 2016 was projected to reach $234.49 billion by 2020. The cold chain market had grown steadily in the last few years and this trend was projected to continue until 2020.

"Shortage of adequate infrastructure, lack of trained personnel, outdated technology and inconsistent power supply are other major obstacles in the growth of cold chain infrastructure in India," said Rawat.

He said that setting up cold-chain involves higher infrastructure cost.

"Given the expected growth in grocery retail to $847.9 billion by 2020 from $500 billion in 2012, there are some changes expected by the industry as a whole to ensure three significant areas of handling food collection, storage and transportation to be more cost effective for retailer."

India, alone, wastes as much food as the whole of United Kingdom consumes. If this statistic is not shocking enough, another one which says that India wastes more food than China in Asia, cannot be ignored at all.

An estimated 21 million tons of wheat is wasted in India in one year which is the same amount of wheat produced by Australia in a year.

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) measures and tracks hunger globally, regionally and by country. The higher the score, the hunger situation is worse and lower the rank. India ranks 55 out of 76 countries which is still better than the last rank of 63. The neighbouring countries like SriLanka (39), Nepal (44) and Bangladesh (49) still rank better than India where hunger is considered a curse too.

Another infographic by Rick Westhead showing major food wastage in India:

REASONS OF FOOD WASTE

• The main reasons of food wastage in India are poor storage, poor transportation and poor management. 
• The poor storage facilities account for food to be eaten by insects or it rots in the open grounds in the worst weather conditions which makes it inedible. 
• There are only a few cold-storages in India which can store only 10% of the perishable food leaving 370 million tons of perishable food at stake. 
• Lack of electricity which also doesn't let food items to refrigerate properly also accounts for that food to be wasted. 
• Poor management and ever growing corruption in the food departments make it worse.

India's large Grain Drain
Source

Government announced Rs.2,11,000cr plan for recapitalisation of the PSU banks to push growth and and create jobs

The government today announced an unprecedented mega Rs.2,11,000 crore plan for recapitalisation of the PSU (public sector undertaking) banks to push growth and and create jobs. The Cabinet that met earlier in the day cleared the package. The Rs 2.11 lakh crore package will be spread over two years, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

While Rs 1,35,00 crore will be in the form of front-loaded recapitalisation bonds, the remaining Rs 76,000 crore will be in the form of budgetary support. The nature of the bonds and details of the bonds would be made public during course of time, he said.

While saying more banking reforms will be announced in the days to come, Jaitley was critical of banks being indiscriminate in their lending in the past and brushing the real NPA (non-performing assets) issue under the carpet for a long time.

Non-performing assets of banks have increased from Rs 2.75 lakh in March 2015 to Rs 7.33 crore as on June 2017.

"We believed that PSU banks at one stage did indiscriminate lending. From the lending that happened between 2008-2014, there is a big chunk which is now NPA. The NPAs were kept below the carpet," Jaitley said.

After an asset quality review by the government, the "real situation" of the banks was revealed. The banking sector has been neck-deep with with asset quality worries. As per the latest data available, 39 listed banks have NPAs running up to a whopping Rs 8.35 lakh crore.

The finance minister said banks would get Rs 18,000 crore under the Indradhanush plan.

Under Indradhanush roadmap introduced in 2015, the government had announced to infuse Rs 70,000 crore in state- run banks over four years to meet their capital requirement in line with global risk norms, known as Basel-III.

In line with the plan, public sector banks were given Rs 25,000 crore in 2015-16, and similar amount has been earmarked for the following years. Besides, Rs 10,000 crore each would be infused in 2017-18 and 2018-19

The Finance Minister also said the the capital infusion will help improve the lending capacity of banks. The MSME ( Micro, small and medium enterprises) sector will be a priority as far as lending is concerned in order to create jobs, he pointed out.

While banks remain the main source of funding for India Inc, the stubborn bad debt problem has eaten into bank profits and choked off new lending, especially to smaller firms, at a time when an economy that depends on them is stalling.

Twenty one state-run banks account for more than two-thirds of India's banking assets. But they also account for a bulk of the record 9.5 lakh crore bad loans.

In addition to repairing their balance sheets, the banks also need crores of rupees in new capital to meet global Basel III banking rules, due to fully kick in by March 2019.

Fitch Ratings estimates Indian banks will need $65 billion ( Rs 4.23 lakh crore) of additional capital by March 2019 to meet Basel III global banking rules. Moody's expects the top 11 state lenders alone will need nearly $15 billion (more than Rs 97,500 crore). The government has just $3 billion (more than Rs 19,500 crore) left in its budget for bank recapitalisation.

Earlier in the day, banks stocks rose on expectations that the government is set to announce capital infusion into the ailing PSU banks. The Nifty PSU Bank index closed 3.79 per cent up at 2,984.15. Public sector lenders like Punjab National Bank, Andhra Bank, Syndicate Bank, and Oriental Bank gained between 4 and 8 per cent.

When 120 Indian Jawans Killed 1300 Chinese Soldiers

Heroes of 1962 Rezang La War Recall The Day When 120 Indian Jawans Killed 1300 Chinese Soldiers

Any effort to describe the bravery of Indian soldiers always falls short of adjectives to describe their heroics in the 1962 Sino-India. While the Indian perspective always tends to give it a pass by calling it Chinese aggression or a debacle, the Chinese use it to threat India every now and then and the recent Doklam issue perfectly sums up the statement.

While the defeat in 1962 is a truth more inconvenient than any other, it’s also a fact India too had shined the multiple theatres of war where Indian army not only humbled the Chinese but also proved that it only takes fearless gallantry to break the myth of Chinese invincibility.


Ramchander and Nihal (right) 

Rezang La is one such front in Ladakh sector of Jammu and Kashmir where 120 Indian Jawans led by a fear by fearless Major Shaitan Singh killed over 1200 Chinese within a battle of six hours or even less.

Out of these 120 Jawan, 114 were martyred including the Major Shaitan Singh who later received Param Vir Chakra for unparallel bravery.

The Indian government never mentioned it and neither did the Chinese ever admit it, but the obvious signs like the ceasefire on the very next day and the topographical advantage the gallant Ahirs of Charlie Company of 13 Kumaon had provided testimony to the hell 120 Indians had unleashed on the Chinese.

IndiaTimes met the 78-year-old Honorary Captain Ramchander Yadav and Havaldar Nihar Singh, who were among the six survivors of Rezang La War and tried to relive those six hours of action during that bone-chilling night of November 17-18.
How it all began?

“We landed at Rezang La, a three-kilometre long ridge facing the Chinese side on October 23. We were told to take the position there. Therefore, we started digging and made bunkers. We made the ridge battle ready by the first week of November. We knew Chinese will come since the radio bulletin would tell us daily that how easily Chinese ran over us in NEFA today known as Arunachal Pradesh,” told Ramchander who was the wireless operator of Charlie Company accompanying Major Shaitan Singh like his shadow.



On November 15, the Brigade headquarters located roughly five kilometres down the hill had asked them to vacate the post and retreat because the Chinese attack in other theatres was too fierce. But the gallant jawans refused to vacate when Major Shaitan Singh put this question before them.

How Indians positioned themselves?

“We the 118 Ahirs led by a Rajput Major divided the Rezang La ridge into three positions and put nearly 40 soldiers each platoon and we gave them numbers 7, 8 and 9 which were stationed at the distance of a kilometre each,” added Nihal Singh who was handling Light Machine Gun (LMG) while showing scars of the wounds.



BHARATMATA MANDIR

The Indians made their bunkers at steep heights which the Chinese wouldn’t reach without exposing themselves to the Indian LMGs.
And thus began the attack

While the Operational Post (OP which operates during the day) and Listening Post (LP which operates at night) of Indians were keeping a tap on Chinese movement in the area, the Indians knew that Chinese attack will take place.
The first attack

“It was roughly 3:45 am, the LP was out to listen to the Chinese movement when it gave information that 8 to 10 Chinese are doing Recce of the area near the position of Platoon 7, the LMG of Naik Hukum Singh silenced them,” recalled Ramchander who kept Major Shaitan Singh stationed at Platoon 8 informed about each development.

“This irked the Chinese and nearly 400 Chinese with artillery support at the back rushed toward platoon 7. But Naik Hukum Singh’s LMG filled the Nala or ditch between the Chinese and us with bodies of over 250 Chinese,” added Ramchander.  The first attack was repulsed.
 

The second attack

By then the Chinese had realised it’s not going to be easy as it had been till now. The heavy bombardment was unleashed to destroy the positions occupied and kill as many soldiers as it could without exposing the Chinese soldiers to Indian LMGs. The heavy mortars destroyed the bunker of platoon 8 but luckily no one died, since it fell in vacant place.


Ramchander with his wireless set

“The second attack came at 4:45, 8 platoon and despite heavy bombardment, no one was even injured. Chinese approached us and my LMG silenced nearly 150 Chinese,” added Nihal Singh.

Chinese encircled all three all platoons
Chinese had the advantage of numbers and if Ramchander and Nihal’s estimates are to be believed there were roughly 3 to 4 thousand Chinese taking on 120 Jawans.

“We were encircled by Chinese and knew that they will unleash the attack on all three platoon in one go. We too were ready because now there was no way out,” recalled Ramchander who maintained communication between three platoons.
 

Another attempt
But before unleashing an all-out attack, the Chinese once again tried to attack Platoon 7 and this time LMG didn’t let them even retreat. “I remember it as it was yesterday. It was 6:30 am and the platoon 7 LMG killed nearly 400 Chinese and the white snow carpet turned red,” added Ramchander.


Yogesh Sarkar

Till now, the Indians hadn’t seen any casualties. 

And an all-out attack that turned the tide
Heavy casualties frustrated the Chinese. They couldn’t believe their eyes when they witnessed Chinese soldier getting killed in heaps. They launched an all-out attack and they could do it because numbers for them was not an issue at all. All three platoons got engaged in one go and soon the law of averages chipped in.

Hukum Singh at platoon 7 was hit by a bullet and he died. Nihal Singh was handling LMG at Platoon 9 received bullets in both his hands. He could still do much later. “I was helpless, but still summoned my strength and dissembled the LMG and threw it parts so that enemy doesn’t use it. Suzaram too perished while Harphool was hit in the knee,” added Nihal Singh. 

Major Shaitan Singh gets hit
“At 6:30 am Major Shaitan had received a shell in his shoulder. I tied a cloth there to stop bleeding. But when Harphool got injured, Major Sahab took his position and started firing. And there he got hit in the abdomen,” recalled Ramchander who was immediately asked by Major Singh to run to Brigade headquarter because he knew that people down there would never believe that 120 jawans killed many Chinese.



“He knew the people down the hill would say we were caught by Chinese while sleeping. They would never believe that 120 killed so many Chinese, therefore he asked me to rush to brigade headquarters to tell the story. But I refused. Because I didn’t want to leave him alone as it would have been a disgrace if Chinese caught our injured Major alive. Therefore, I stood there,” added Ramchander. 

Sangram Singh and the hand to hand combat
Soon Chinese entered the bunkers and a hand to hand battle ensued between the troops.

“It all began with bayonet fight between us and the Chinese. But Chinese were wearing heavy clothes and bayonets wouldn’t pierce their clothing. Therefore we used the butt of the gun to hit the Chinese,” recalls Nihal Singh.

Sangram Singh, 6 feet tall soldier who was a wrestler too killed nearly 30-40 Chinese with his hands.

“He broke necks of many and smashed the heads of a few against the rock by lifting them like the sack of grain. The Chinese had to shoot him in his head. But they paid respect and put his helmet on his chest and his weapon near him show the respect for the slain soldier,” recalled Ramchander. 

Major Shaitan Singh breathed last
“It was over soon and I decided to take injured Major down. I lifted him and tried to get down the hill. After moving barely 50 feet downwards, I kept him down and watched time in his wristwatch. It was 8:15 am and suddenly the watch stopped. I knew Major was dead because his watch was pulse watch,” said Ramchander.



Ramchander left the body of Major there and made some marks and signs around it to identify the spot when he would return to collect the body later.
 

Nobody believed Ramchander
As speculated by Major Shaitan Singh, none believed Ramchander and his story about the last stand of Rezang La where 120 gallant soldiers killed nearly 1300 troops of the enemy.

Nevertheless, Ramchander was called for an inquiry in Army headquarters in Delhi in January. “When I narrated the story, they lambasted me, threatened me of court marshal. None believed that he could unleash a hell on Chinese,” recalled Ramchander.
But all cried when team went to Rezang La in February

Chinese had collected their bodies the very next day. But Indians waited until February despite ceasefire on November 20.



The Last Four Survivors
“When they went at Rezang La, my narration of the events came before their eyes. Major Shaitan Singh’s body was there in the same position. Every soldier had the bullet in the chest, even Dharampal Dahiya, the Nursing Assistant who was there to help the injured soldiers. He had the bullet in the chest and an injection in his hand. All started cries in one go including our commander Brigadier TN Raina. The officer who had scolded me in Delhi cried the most,” added Raina.

After the inquiry got over, the Rezang La heroes got one Param Vir Chakra, five Vir Chakras, and four Sena medals, but were they enough? 

How a dog helped Nihal escape Chinese custody
While Ramchander had managed to escape with Major Singh on his shoulder, Nihal Singh with bullet injuries was taken prisoner by Chinese. But there was a dog that became his saviour. "This dog accompanied us from base camp when we first landed here. We used to feed him with whatever we were eating which included meat at times. I was taken a prisoner and was kept hungry throughout the day. At night on November 18, he wanted to escape but had no direction to go. Then suddenly this dog appeared and I followed," said ecstatic Nihal.

"We managed to pass the Chinese soldiers standing as guards at night. Hiding behind the stones that dog and I managed to find our way through the dark night and reached our base camp after 7 hours of walk. I was lucky that Chinese didn't follow me perhaps they are apprehensive about a counter-attack which never happened."

But the Ahirs still don’t have a regiment
Ramchander and Nihal Singh tell their story with pride, yet their heart cries because despite literally turning the tide of the battle, the Ahirs don’t have any regiment for them.



“We get inducted in Kumaon and some other regiments, but unlike Rajputs and the Jats, we don’t have a regiment dedicated to us. Are we any less brave? Time and again we have raised this demand, but it has always fallen on deaf ears,” said an emotional Ramchander while Nihal Singh was lost somewhere in his own thoughts.
Published in India Times

Garima Satija
https://www.indiatimes.com/news/indiaheroes-of-1962-rezang-la-war-recall-the-day-when-120-indian-jawans-killed-1300-chinese-soldiers-331850.html 

PM Modi: Rs 10,000 crore will be given to top 10 universities to make them world-class

PM Modi: Rs 10,000 crore will be given to top 10 universities to make them world-class - "We will provide an assistance of Rs 10,000 crore to 10 private universities and an equal number of government ones for a period of five years. All these universities have to do is to demonstrate their potential to become world class."

Oct 14, 2017

Lamenting that no Indian university figures among the top 500 globally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the government intends to unshackle these institutions and provide Rs 10,000 crore to 20 varsities to ensure that they are counted among the best in the world.

Addressing a function on the centenary celebrations of the Patna University here, he said measures like grant of central status were "a thing of the past" and his government has taken "a step forward" towards making 10 private universities and 10 government ones world class.

"My government took an important step towards unshackling the IIMs, freeing them from the clutches of restrictions and regulations set by the government.

"We intend to do the same for our universities and ensure that our centres of higher learning figure among the best 500 in the world," Modi said here.

In his speech that lasted a little over 30 minutes, the Prime Minister stressed on the need for universities to give more emphasis on "learning and innovation" and give up old teaching methods which focused on "cramming students' minds with information".

The Prime Minister also replied in his characteristic style to a fervent plea by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who in his welcome address had urged Modi "with folded hands that central status be granted to Patna University".

"I would like to say something about a demand that was raised here and met with loud cheers by the young crowd attending this ceremony. Issues like grant of central status have become a thing of the past. We are taking a step forward.

"We will provide an assistance of Rs 10,000 crore to 10 private universities and an equal number of government ones for a period of five years. All these universities have to do is to demonstrate their potential to become world class," he said.

The universities will not be selected by the prime minister or a chief minister or any other political figure, he said, adding their potential will be assessed by a professional, third party agency.

"I exhort Patna University to seize this opportunity," he said in the presence of a host of dignitaries, which included Kumar and his Deputy Sushil Kumar Modi.

Hailing the role of young IT professionals in changing the global outlook towards India, Modi quipped "earlier we were seen as a land of snake charmers, exorcism and superstitions. "Long back, while on a visit to Taiwan, I told a friend that we, as a nation, have moved from snakes to the mouse," he said.

Modi said, "We are a nation of 800 million young people, 65 per cent of our population is below the age of 35 years. There is nothing that we cannot achieve with such a huge demographic advantage."

The PM began his speech on a humorous note, saying "the Chief Minister said in his speech that I was the first Prime Minister to visit this university. It seems my predecessors have left quite a few tasks for me".

He also paid rich tributes to the rich and glorious history of Bihar, saying "the stream of knowledge that flows through this state is as ancient as the river Ganges itself".

"The state has been devoting itself to the worship of Saraswati (Goddess of learning). But the time has come to propitiate Laxmi (Goddess of wealth and prosperity) as well and make the state a prosperous one by 2022, when we celebrate 75 years of our Independence," he said

He also remarked "there is no state in the country where one does not find a Patna University alumnus among the top five bureaucrats. I have had the opportunity to work with many such bright officers".

Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan, Ashwini Chaubey and Upendra Kushwaha were among those present during the event.

After attending the PU function, the PM paid an unscheduled visit to the Bihar Museum, situated adjacent to the Patna High Court, which has been a pet project of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The chief minister accompanied Modi during the museum visit.

Shell firms made huge deposits in multiple accounts post note ban

Shell firms made huge deposits in multiple accounts post note ban

• 5,800 shell cos under govt glare over deposits post note ban
• A few of the companies have been found to have more than 100 accounts in their names. One company had as many as 2,134 accounts

Intensifying its crackdown on black money, the government has collated information about 5,800 shell companies whose near zero-balance accounts saw nearly Rs.4,574 crore of deposits post note ban and Rs.4,552 crore withdrawal thereafter.

"Vital information has been received from 13 banks regarding the bank account operations and post-demonetisation transactions of some of the 2,09,032 suspicious companies that had been struck off the Register of Companies earlier this year," the government said in a statement today.

Last month, the government imposed restrictions on operations of bank accounts of over 2 lakh 'struck-off' companies.

Terming it as a "major breakthrough" in fight against black money and shell companies, it said the first instalment of data pertains to about 5,800 companies -- out of more than 2 lakh that were struck off -- involving 13,140 accounts.

"Few of the companies have been found to have more than 100 accounts to their names. The highest grosser among these is a company having 2,134 accounts, followed by others having accounts in the range of 900, 300 etc," it said.

The data on pre-demonetisation accounts and transactions conducted during the cash ban period is "startling", the government stated.

On 12 September, the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) issued a statement saying that it had identified 106,000 directors of companies who did not file their financial statements or annual returns for three straight years, violating provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. 

Prior to that, it struck off 200,000 firms that were suspected to be shell companies and directed banks to restrict operation of bank accounts of such companies by the directors of such companies or their authorized representatives.

Shell firms, though not defined under the Companies Act, are those that adhere to basic company laws and are used to avoid taxes and convert black money into white.

After separating the loan accounts, these companies had a meagre balance of Rs.22.05crore on November 8, 2016.

"However, from November 9, 2016 (after the announcement of demonetisation), till the date of their being struck off, these companies have altogether deposited a huge amount of Rs.4,573.87 crore in their accounts and withdrawn an equally large amount of Rs.4,552 crore," the statement said.

With loan accounts, there was a negative opening balance of Rs 80.79 crore in these accounts.

Companies had multiple accounts with minuscule or negative balance as on November 8, 2016, which have seen deposits and withdrawal running into several crores. The accounts were thereafter again left as dormant with paltry balance.

"This exercise of swindling the authorities was carried out post demonetisation till the companies were struck off. In some cases, certain companies have gone more adventurous and made deposits and withdrawals even after being struck off," it said.

Citing an example, it said that in one of the banks, 429 companies having zero balance each on November 8, 2016, deposited and withdrew over Rs 11 crore and left again with a cumulative balance of just Rs 42,000 as on the date of the freeze.

Similarly, in the case of another bank, more than 3,000 such companies -- most having multiple accounts -- have been located.

From having a cumulative balance of about Rs 13 crore as on November 8, 2016, these companies have deposited and withdrawn about Rs 3,800 crore, leaving a negative cumulative balance of almost Rs 200 crore at the time of freezing of their accounts.

"It needs to be re-emphasised that this data is only about 2.5 per cent of the total number of suspected companies that have been struck off by the government. The huge money game played by these companies may well be the tip of an iceberg of corruption, black money and black deeds of these and many more of their brethren," the statement said.

Investigative agencies have been asked to complete necessary investigation in a time-bound manner.

After being removed from the list, operations of the bank accounts of 2,09,032 suspicious companies were restricted for discharge of their liabilities only.

Over half of new cancer drugs 'show no benefits' for survival or wellbeing

Over half of new cancer drugs 'show no benefits' for survival or wellbeing


Most cancer drugs that have recently arrived on the market have come with little evidence that they boost the survival or well being of patients, research reveals.

Forty-eight cancer drugs were approved by the European Medicines Agency between 2009 and 2013 for use as treatments in 68 different situations.

But the study, which looked at the clinical trials associated with the drugs, reveals that at the time the therapies became available there was no conclusive evidence that they improved survival in almost two-thirds of the situations for which they were approved.

In only 10% of the uses did the drugs improve quality of life. Overall 57% of uses showed no benefits for either survival or quality of life.




The newspapers love a cancer research story, but many are misleading or won’t affect patients for many years. But there is plenty of progress worth reporting

The team then looked to see whether the picture improved over time.

Huseyin Naci, assistant professor of health policy at the London School of Economics, and a co-author of the study, published in the British Medical Journal, said: “We wanted to see once [the drugs] were already on the market did they actually generate some evidence to show that they improved or extended life?”

The team found that after a follow-up period of between three to eight years, 49% of approved uses were linked to no clear sign of improvement in survival or quality of life. Where survival benefits were shown, the team said these were clinically meaningless in almost half of the cases.

“What we find very surprising is that not very many studies are looking at overall survival or quality of life as their [primary] objective,” said Naci. He said that instead most of the studies examined indirect measures, such as x-rays or laboratory tests that were assumed to offer clues as to a drug’s survival benefits.


A new study shows that some cancers hold within them the seeds of their own destruction, which could allow therapies using patients’ own immune systems

He added: “Unfortunately the expectation is that once the drugs are on the market then companies will be investing in [longer term] trials to then demonstrate overall survival benefits. But unfortunately these trials are not necessarily taken up and conducted.”

Naci said the findings did not mean patients should worry. “I think it is very important that no one is alarmed,” he said.

Carl Heneghan, professor of evidence-based medicine at University of Oxford, described the lack of drug improvement with regard to survival as disappointing, and called for a more rigorous approach to evaluating cancer drugs. “It is hard to understand why half the drugs were approved in the first place if they provide no clinically meaningful benefit,” he said.


But Winette van der Graaf, professor of personalised oncology at the Institute of Cancer Research, said that making decisions based on smaller studies looking at benefits other than overall survival, were important in making sure new treatments were swiftly made available to patients.

“In my area of research [on] rare cancers the level of evidence called for here is very hard to obtain, meaning that these patients would find it extremely difficult to gain access to new treatments,” she said, adding that large trials looking directly at survival could be expensive and lengthy.

“Ideally, studies should try also measuring early markers of treatment failure, so that health authorities can make well-balanced decisions.”

Emma Greenwood, Cancer Research UK’s director of policy, warned that the study did not necessarily reflect the situation in the UK where Nice (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) played an important role in deciding which drugs were available to patients.

“The study does highlight the importance of using real-world evidence from patients, on top of data from clinical trials, to build our understanding of how drugs work in a real-life setting. We’re already starting to see this happen through the cancer drugs fund in England, where patients can access promising new drugs while more data is collected on their effectiveness.” 

 

Nicola Davis theguardian.com  

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/05/over-half-of-new-cancer-drugs-show-no-benefits-for-survival-or-wellbeing

I too need to speak up - Rajeev Chandrasekhar's reply to Yashwant Sinha

I too need to speak up - Rajeev Chandrasekhar's reply to Yashwant Sinha’s recent article.
After three years of repair and rebuilding, the Indian economy is in a better place than it was in 2014. It is prepared to deliver longer periods of higher rates of growth.
Written by Rajeev Chandrasekhar | 
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/yashwant-sinha-indian-economy-demonetisation-gst-narendra-modi-i-too-need-to-speak-up-4866093/

Decades of crony capitalism and piggy-banking on public sector banks have come to an end.

Yashwant Sinha’s recent article (‘I need to speak up now‘, IE, September 27) about the economy concludes more in hope, than on facts, that the economy is headed for a “hard landing”. He joins some others in a desperate attempt to build a narrative of a failing economy. This is wishful thinking because nothing is further from the truth.

P. Chidambaram’s rush to embrace Sinha’s article is amusing and ironic because despite inheriting, by his own admission, a robust economy from the NDA 1 government in 2004, he presided over a spectacular destruction of the economy when UPA 2 was in office. Sinha himself has described Chidambaram as the FM who caused the GDP to decline. 

Perhaps Chidambaram too hopes, as Sushil Kumar Shinde had after the UPA’s scams: “The memory of the Indian public is short.” But those dark days of the UPA aren’t easily forgotten.

I have served with Sinha in the parliamentary committee on finance and so I wish his economic analysis was factual and not dictated by his antipathy to the government. He ignores how far the economy has come from the dark and dangerous days of 2014. 

The UPA had left behind a broken economy: Over 12 quarters of successive GDP decline, 24 quarters of rising inflation, a record Current Account Deficit of $400 billion, fiscal profligacy, declining capital formation, flight of foreign investors and scam-inspired plummeting of investor confidence, a banking system wrecked by years of politically-directed lending, a tenth of the jobs created by NDA 1, an economic model that created jobless growth, corrupt crony capitalism of the worst kind (written by Raghuram Rajan himself), a cash and high-denomination note dominant economy that was, in turn, inflating asset prices and a dysfunctional administration — this list can go on. The Indian economy in 2014 was on the brink, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The fact that the UPA was responsible for that cannot easily be erased from the public memory.

This government inherited such an economy and has steadily built it back over the last three years to one where the GDP has grown, per capita income has increased, foreign direct investments are at a historic high of almost $160 billion, foreign exchange reserves are at the record level of almost $400 billion, inflation has moderated, and government finances are following a roadmap of fiscal discipline after years of reckless profligacy. 

Decades of crony capitalism and piggy-banking on public sector banks have come to an end, a battle against corruption is underway, ease of making investments and doing business has increased and medium- to long-term investor confidence is high. 

This transformation of our economy into macro-economic solidity required calm and determined policy action. Challenges do remain in creating jobs but governments all over the world are facing disruptive changes in manufacturing – a sharp increase in automation and robotics has led to a reduction in jobs. For the economy to respond to such a deep — and permanent — transformation of the job market requires some more time and effort.

Sinha talks about “managing better” the petroleum windfall. That is vague. He should know the government has used the resources to fix the devastated balance sheets of the oil marketing companies that had been driven to the brink by the UPA, and to increase public spending in programmes, subsidies and infrastructure. Hindsight is always the best free-pass to score points. But that’s as appropriate as me saying the situation that required Sinha to ship gold (in the early 1990s) could have been “managed better”. I could say so but that would not be the right thing to do. The affliction of “I-can-do-better” is best avoided.

Stalled private investment is a big hurdle to higher growth; the problem is an inheritance from the UPA and remains unsolved in the past three years. At the heart of the problem is a broken government banking system, itself a product of reckless lending and building bad assets during the UPA with little or no oversight by the RBI as the banking regulator or the finance ministry. 

Indeed, Chidambaram first responded to NPAs when I raised the issue in Parliament in 2010. The NDA has tried to minimise taxpayer-funded bailouts of these banks. The RBI’s belated response with a flawed model of bad debt provisioning is exacerbating the NPA problem and so the problem has ballooned and the ability and the desire of the banks to lend has shrunk. When over 80 per cent of all credit is delivered by the public sector banks, this deadlock is the biggest hurdle to boosting private investment. Fixing this legacy of the UPA to the economy should be a priority for the government.

Demonetisation and GST have, expectedly, caused short-term disruptions. Introducing GST so soon after demonetisation has, perhaps, compounded the tax regime’s short-term impact. But the timing of GST was determined more by successive parliamentary sessions, where it was blocked.

The rush to come to a judgement about demonetisation ignores that an elaborate trail of deposits has been created to expose illegal deposits and networks. The criticism of GST is laughable given that its design was arrived at after a consensus with the Opposition in Parliament, state legislatures and in the GST council.

There is increased compliance with GST, both upstream with suppliers to companies and downstream in sales to consumers. If this holds true in the coming months when the dust settles, the GST slabs could be revised and simplified. GST can and will be an industry and consumer-friendly indirect taxation regime as was envisioned but give it time to evolve into that. The initial issues with GST have to do with the transition to a complex indirect taxation regime and to a tax administration system based on technology — both challenges in themselves. Dealing with these challenges in a compressed time-frame has caused predictable pain in the export sector, MSMEs and traders.

So, admittedly there has been moderation of the GDP in recent quarters. There is a legitimate request for intervention to support those impacted — during the transition. This must not be a knee-jerk response like the one by the UPA in 2008, which even Raghuram Rajan was critical of in later years because it caused inflation and fiscal challenges. This transition support could be about focussing on bank capitalisation, credit for housing, credit for MSMEs, exporters, stabilising GST and creating a permanent roadmap for public sector banks.

In 2014, Sinha had famously charged Chidambaram of committing fraud with his budgets. Politics, in this case, has created the unlikeliest of combines, where two people are bound only by their personal/political dislike of the present government. 

The truth is in stark variance from the picture the duo are trying to paint. Challenges remain but the current state of economy is a far cry from 2014. After three years of repair and rebuilding, the Indian economy is in a better place and is better prepared to deliver longer periods of higher rates of growth. There is space for honest discussion on the economy, about further reforms and transformation to make sure every citizen benefits but not political fake-point scoring.

Sinha is right that economies are destroyed much more easily than they are built. The UPA did that to what was left by the NDA 1 government, combining profligacy and corruption. 

With respect to him, Sinha is off the mark in his assessment of where we are today — perhaps a case of personal dislikes overcoming facts and reality. To Chidambaram, thank you for asking me to speak up, and yes, truth does prevail. 

The writer is Member of Parliament, member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, and vice chairman, NDA Kerala.