Overdrive's Rohit Paradkar gets behind the wheel of the all new Alto K10 to find out what it's like to drive.
Overdrive's Rohit Paradkar gets behind the wheel of the all new Alto K10 to find out what it's like to drive.
For more watch accompanying video
It is true that there is no magic wand to fulfil promises made (during polls) but people of Maharashtra are looking at the new Government, the first led by BJP, with a lot of hope, the publication said.
Shiv Sena today cautioned new Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis against taking the people for granted and asked him to fulfil the expectations of the common man.
"The new Government is like a newly-wed woman who initially pleases her mother-in-law. In this case the mother- in-law is the people of Maharashtra. You cannot take people for granted. They have the power to pull your ears when you err," an editorial in Sena mouthpiece `Saamana' said.
This is the first lesson the new Government will have to learn, the Sena said amid signs of a rapprochement between the saffron parties, who parted ways on September 25, just weeks before the Assembly polls, which saw BJP emerging as the single largest party in the State.
It is true that there is no magic wand to fulfil promises made (during polls) but people of Maharashtra are looking at the new Government, the first led by BJP, with a lot of hope, the publication said.
"Mantralaya (the State Secretariat) was gutted during the Congress-NCP rule but the aspirations of people had turned into ashes much before that. The new Chief Minister should ensure that his work is like the proverbial Phoenix which rose from the ashes," the Sena organ maintained.
Describing yesterday's swearing in ceremony of the Fadnavis-led Ministry as grand (it was also attended by corporate bigwigs), the Sena said the poor, and not the rich or money bags, should get the attention of the administration as was the case during Shivaji's era.
"Fadnavis has said he will emulate Shivaji Maharaj's example while ruling the state. He should remember that the real strength of Shivaji's Hindavi swarajya was not the seth and sahukars but the common poor folk."
Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray attended the inauguration ceremony at Wankhede Stadium after a call from BJP President Amit Shah and other leaders. The party had earlier announced it would keep off the mega event, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing "constant humiliation" by BJP ahead of Government formation.
Sena MP Vinayak Raut yesterday said Shah has assured Uddhav of a positive decision on participation of his party in the BJP Government.
Overdrive chat with Girish Wagh, Tata Motors' Vice President and Head of Small Car Project, to know more about the soon to be launched Tata Bolt.
Overdrive chat with Girish Wagh, Tata Motors ' Vice President and Head of Small Car Project, to know more about the soon to be launched Tata Bolt.
For entire chat watch accompanying video
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been pressuring the Union HRD Minister, Smriti Irani, to make some changes in historytext-books. At a meeting yesterday (30 October), representatives from various RSS front organisations told her that she must "correct" school history textbooks so that children were taught "true" history and learn about "real Indian heroes."
While the RSS' regular meetings with Irani have been criticised for turning into an NDA version of� Sonia Gandhi 's National Advisory Council – an extra-constitutional influence on government policy – the purpose of this article is not to dwell on that aspect, but to dispel notions about what history really is, and what school curricula should or should not be about.
In calling for the writing of "correct" history, the RSS is falling into the same trap that the earlier Nehruvian consensus on history-writing led us into. If there is any incorrect thing that needs debunking in history, it is this: there is no such thing as "correct" history. All histories are versions of the truth. The more the kinds of histories we write, the closer we will get to the truth.
Let me illustrate this point with recent history. If there is one correct version of recent history, which we have all seen on TV screens or read about in newspapers or have witnessed personally, there should be only one narrative emerging from it. For example: did� Narendra Modi �win the 2014 election or did UPA lose it? Or is a third factor responsible for the results we got. There are enough reasons to believe that both points have some relevance. If Modi partisans were to write history, they would call it the triumph of one man's vision on development, or some such thing. If his detractors were to write it, they would say communal scare-mongering was a key factor in his victory. A third version may say it wasn't about Modi or Manmohan, changing demographics had everything to do with it.
If we cannot agree on recent history which we have all had direct access to, how can we ever expect to agree on what is our "true" ancient history, as deduced from broken pottery or shards of glass or defaced coins or religious literature? If there can be 300 Ramayanas, surely there can be 300 versions of history?
So, to repeat, there is no such thing as "correct" history. What there can be are many versions of history, and here the RSS is surely right to think its version should also have its day in the sun. Thus, there need not be only a Marxist-Left-Secular version of history, but a Hindu version of history, just as there can be histories told from the gender, underclass, regional or tribal perspectives.
What the RSS should not do is try and pretend that only its version is correct. It can't be.
The second issue one needs to address is this: should the party in power seek to use its control of government resources to write (or rewrite) history? I don't believe so.
If Nerhuvian-Marxist scholars like Romila Thapar and Bipan Chandra could shove their version of history down our throats, and we felt suffocated by this insistence that theirs was the only right version, it hardly makes sense for the RSS to impose the same tyranny on us. I believe that all attempts at writing history with different perspectives should be left to private think-tanks and scholars. The HRD ministry or the central government should not be involved in the process.
What does this imply? The RSS should fund independent historical research that empathises with its world view and then let these versions compete for attention and dominance with the public. If it is based on evidence, logic and research, it will hold its own against the Romila Thapar version. Writing history top-down from a position of governmental strength will never have validity – just as the Thapar version did not have authenticity with many sections of the country.
This leaves us with the question of school text-books: if what we now have is only one version of Nehru-Marxist-influenced history, why should it be retained? If it is not right to thrust a saffron version of history down our children's throats, how is the Thapar version more palatable?
Clearly, our history text-books need to be re-written – but not by replacing one bias with another.
Any rewriting should attempt to present history as a version, with references to other versions too being made at various points where there are sharp differences. Our children need to be taught that history is about looking at all versions of the truth and then making up one's mind. History is not god's truth.
If the RSS is interested in a better version of history, it should build the credibility of its approach by putting its money where its mouth is. It should invest in scholarship and research. Lobbying Smriti Irani for it is not the way to go.
The writer is editor-in-chief, digital and publishing, Network18 Group
Amit Harchekar – Chief Technical Strategist at A PLUS Analytics is of the view that HDFC Bank may touch Rs 960.
HDFC Bank's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 38.38 per share. (Sep, 2014). The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 23.77. The latest book value of the company is Rs 180.10 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company was 5.06. The dividend yield of the company was 0.76 percent.
Amit Harchekar – Chief Technical Strategist at A PLUS Analytics is of the view that Tata Motors may hit Rs 560.
"We are expecting a price target of around Rs 555-560. I fact within the auto space we are expecting Tata Motors to outperform the entire auto sector and make an incremental high in the coming days. So we are quite optimistic on Tata Motors and recommending the stock with
a stoploss of Rs 516 for a target of Rs 560," he said.
"In order to assess the value of the assets to be paid for acquisition of these 42 running mines, the competent authority has decided to constitute a valuation committee," the official added.
The Coal Ministry has decided to constitute a six-member panel for valuation and assessment of the 42 running coal blocks which were deallocated by the Supreme Court. "In pursuance to Supreme Court's judgement...wherein 204 coal blocks allocated to various companies, since 1993 to 2009 was quashed. Out of these 204 coal blocks 42 (37+5) are running coal mines," an official said. "In order to assess the value of the assets to be paid for acquisition of these 42 running mines, the competent authority has decided to constitute a valuation committee," the official added.
The panel under the Chairmanship of Pratiyush Sinha, the retired IAS Officer, will have representative from the ministries of power, finance, law, coal and CMPDIL, the official said. The committee will carry out assessment of the liabilities associated with the operations of the mine, the official added. The official said that proposed terms of reference of the committee includes, "valuation of assets of each of the coal blocks (37+5)...land demarcated for afforestation and land for rehabilitation and re-settlement of persons affected by coal mining operations under the relevant law."
The panel shall recommend the value of the assets to be paid for acquisition and give its recommendations by November 10, the official said. The committee may engage expert/consultants for the purpose of valuation of analysis of coal mines. The committee may consider selecting such experts from the approved panels of public sector banks/insurance companies. In a major blow to the corporate sector, the Supreme Court had in September quashed allocation of 204 out of 218 coal blocks which were alloted to various companies since 1993.
Government feels proposed exemptions can expedite land acquisition along with boosting rural infrastructure, affordable housing, defence projects and industrial corridors.
The government is mulling changes to land acquisition act to boost public–private partnership (PPP) projects. To quicken the process, BJP is already in talks with Congress for exemptions for PPP projects, sources tell CNBC-TV18.
Land Act declares that states will do social and environmental impact study. However, the government is keen to exempt PPP projects from social impact study and consent clause.
Furthermore, government feels proposed exemptions can expedite land acquisition along with boosting rural infrastructure, affordable housing, defence projects and industrial corridors.
Andhra Bank 's second quarter net profit has doubled, up 105 percent, to Rs 144 crore against Rs 70 crore on a year-on-year basis. Gross NPA stood at 5.99 percent versus 5.98 percent and net NPA at 3.86 percent versus 3.89 percent on a sequential basis.
Discussing the company results, CVR Rajendran, CMD, Andhra Bank, said he expects asset quality to improve substantially in H2 and recovery from agri loan waiver in the next 2 quarters.
The bank had classified Rs 1,090 crore agri NPAs in the first quarter and saw interest being credited from interest reversal (in Q1), he said.
Net Interest Margin (NIM) has come in at 2.93 percent and Rajendran expects it to improve to 3 percent in the next quarter. He said the bank has been targeting gross NPA at 4 percent, but that looks difficult as there has not been much turnaround in infra NPAs. He expects GNPA to be closer to 5 percent.
Below is the transcript of CVR Rajendran's interview with CNBC-TV18's Sonia Shenoy
Sonia: What does the trend look like as far as asset quality is concerned? This time around your gross non-performing assets (NPAs) are at 5.99 percent. Do you see any improvement in asset quality in the second half of the year?
A: It should improve tremendously in the second part. Our major problem has come from the agricultural loan waiver scheme in both the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Recently both the governments have come out and declared about 25 percent of the amount to be paid during the current year in Telangana and 20 percent amount to be paid in Andhra Pradesh.
With that announcement the agricultural loans are getting repaid and getting renewed mostly in Telangana part now because Andhra is yet to pay the money. So if both the governments give the money, about Rs 1093 crore is NPA which we provided during the last year, and the interest reversal and provision on this account of Rs 393 crore provided during the first quarter of the current year which will completely get reversed in the subsequent quarters.
During this quarter alone I had a net benefit of about Rs 75 crore reversal of the interest which was reversed during the current year Q1. So Q3 and Q4 will reflect more of interest reversal happening that is interest being credited to the profit and loss account will happen which will help us in improving the profitability in Q2.
Sonia: On account of this loan waiver what is the quantum of farm loans that you had classified as NPAs?
A: First quarter we had classified Rs 1093 crore as NPA.
Sonia: So going forward since you are expecting to see a recovery from this 5.9 percent gross NPA level how much do you think it could recover by the end of the fiscal?
A: It should be at 5 percent even though we have a target of having 4 percent gross NPA and 2 percent net NPA is our internal target, it appears to be difficult at this point of time because infrastructure there is not much happening because major NPAs are coming from infrastructure, power and the iron and steel sector. So there is not much of turnaround happening in these sectors so a reasonable estimate could be we will be in a position to reach 5 percent in the gross NPA and less than 3 percent in the net NPA at this point of time.
Sonia: Can you tell us what your net interest margins (NIMs) were this quarter?
A: NIM is 2.93 percent for this quarter and we expect it to improve to 3 percent in the next quarter.
Sonia: What are the fresh slippages and the restructuring for this particular quarter?
A: Restructuring remains almost the same during the current year. Of course Rs 1000 crore of restructured accounts have moved into NPA that is why NPA numbers have gone up substantially.
We have sanctioned about Rs 399 crore on the restructured accounts which adds to the restructured portfolio and fresh restructuring during the current year is about Rs 533 crore. So all together it adds to almost Rs 900 crore to the restructured portfolio. About Rs 313 crore is the recovery in these accounts and Rs 318 crore is the upgradation in these accounts. So the opening balance of Rs 10784 crore it has come to 10665 crore, reduction over the opening balance.
The comments come at a time when a Supreme Court-monitored Special Investigation Team is probing alleged stashing of black money by Indians aboard, including Swiss banks.
Amid a debate on disclosure of names of suspected black money holders, Switzerland today said information exchanged under Swiss-India tax treaty cannot be disclosed "in principle" to a court or any other body outside the proceedings of a 'specific and relevant' case.
The comments come at a time when a Supreme Court-monitored Special Investigation Team is probing alleged stashing of black money by Indians aboard, including Swiss banks.
Switzerland, long accused of being a safe haven for illicit funds, has promised to extend assistance to India and reply to requests for information in a "time-bound" manner on cases of alleged tax evasion and financial crimes, or provide a reason if no information can be shared.
Explaining the treaty provisions about disclosure of such 'secret' information, a Swiss Finance Ministry spokesperson told PTI from Berne that authorities from the two countries are having "regular contacts on bilateral tax matters" but refused to comment on particular cases.
The government yesterday gave to the Supreme Court a list of 627 Indians with accounts in a Swiss branch of HSBC bank, on which probe for suspected black money is underway.
Also read: Black money: India withdraws multilateral info sharing pact
While this list was given in 'sealed envelopes', three other names were made public a day earlier as prosecution had been launched against those persons.
There has been a debate on whether disclosure of names, without prosecution, could violate tax treaties under which these names and other details are shared by foreign countries.
Replying to queries in this regard, the Swiss Federal Department of Finance spokesperson said that the protocol to Swiss-Indian DTA (Double Taxation Agreement) states that any information received "by a contracting state shall be treated as 'secret' in the same manner as information obtained under the domestic laws of that state..."
The treaty further provides that any such information "shall be disclosed only to persons or authorities (including courts and administrative bodies) concerned with the assessment or collection of (information), the enforcement or prosecution in respect of, or the determination of appeals in relation to the taxes ... or the oversight of the above."
