QBullet: Centre Probes New Panama Leak; PM Leads Yoga Day Events
Read The Quint’s morning news wrap here.
1. Yoga Powerful Unifier in Conflict-Ridden World, Says PM Modi
Leading the fourth International Yoga Day celebrations at the sprawling campus of the Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute (FRI) Thursday, 21 June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described yoga as “one of the most powerful unifying forces in a conflict-ridden world”.
Before performing yoga for 45 minutes at the FRI campus, Modi addressed the 50,000 yoga enthusiasts who gathered to celebrate the day at the venue, where about 3,000 policemen were deployed.
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. Have Begun Verifying New Data: Tax Chief
On the day The Indian Express published details of a new set of Panama Papers linking Indians to offshore entities in tax havens, tax authorities in India responded, promising “prompt investigations” into revelations and leads from the tranche of 11.2 million documents connected to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
Sushil Chandra, Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), heading the joint team probing the Panama Papers, told The Indian Express that within hours of the fresh revelations, “initial verification” of the new names and details had already begun.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. Radicalisation at Militant Funerals on Forces’ Radar
The Jammu and Kashmir police will act against those who eulogise dead militants in funerals, making provocative speeches which the police believes motivates young people to join militant groups.
“We have devised a strategy to deal with these gatherings,” said state police chief SP Vaid.
Vaid refused to discuss specifics of the strategy but a Srinagarbased official in the security forces said the state police had been asked to identify and act against people making provocative speeches at such gatherings, glorifying the “sacrifices” of the dead militants. The police will also take measures to keep these gatherings from not becoming too large, this person said.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. Advocate Accused of Instigating Anti-Sterlite Protests in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi Arrested
Tamil Nadu police on 21 June arrested advocate S Vanchinathan, one of the two lawyers accused of engineering anti-Sterlite Copper protests in Thoothukudi that resulted in police firing which killed 13 people on 23 May.
Thoothukudi police picked up Vanchinathan at Chennai airport on Wednesday night on his return from New Delhi. He was the legal advisor for People’s Right Protection Centre, which actively participated in the Thoothukudi protests.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
5. Trade War: India Hits Back at US, Increases Import Duty on 29 Items
With the Trump administration increasing import duties and initiating trade war with various countries including India, the Indian government on Wednesday, 19 June, slapped higher duties on a number of items including apples, almonds, walnuts, diagnostic reagents and certain steel products. A bulk of these products figure in a list of items imported from the US, alongside other countries.
India is the 21st largest agricultural export market for the US. Total American exports of agricultural products to India totaled $1.3 billion in 2016. Leading items in agricultural products category that are imported by India from US include: tree nuts ($522 million), cotton ($250 million), pulses ($144 million), fresh fruit ($72 million), and planting seeds ($32 million).
(Source: The Indian Express)
6. Uttar Pradesh Ministers Lobby for Big Lucknow Bungalows Vacated by Former CMs
Senior ministers in the Uttar Pradesh government are vying for the large bungalows vacated by six former chief ministers, according to officials.
While health minister Sidharth Nath Singh has written to the principal secretary to the CM seeking allotment of one of the bungalows vacated by Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav respectively, estate department officials claim at least six other ministers are vying for these accommodations.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. Supreme Court Judge Jasti Chelameswar to Demit Office Today
Justice Jasti Chelameswar, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, who led three senior judges to an unprecedented press conference, mounting a virtual revolt against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, will demit office on Friday, 22 June, after a nearly seven-year tenure in the top court.
Along with justices Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph, he had raised questions on "selective" allocation of cases, including the sensitive case of special CBI judge BH Loya, who died on 1 December 2014.
(Source: PTI)
8. Argentina, Messi on Brink of World Cup Exit After Croatia Drubbing
Lionel Messi's World Cup dream was left hanging by a thread as Croatia powered into the last 16 with a 3-0 rout of Argentina on Thursday, 21 June.
Second-half goals from Ante Rebic, Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic sealed a deserved victory as a poor Argentina were left on the brink of a humiliating first round exit.
The Group D defeat means Argentina have just one point from two games, meaning they will probably have to beat Nigeria in their last game and hope other results go their way to avoid elimination.
(Source: AFP via PTI)
9. ICICI Bank May Have Rotating Chairman Till Full-Time Find
ICICI Bank may adopt a system of having a rotating chairman to head board meetings until a full-time chairman is in place. Current chairman MK Sharma will retire this month-end.
According to sources, the board will nominate an independent director as chairman for its next meeting after Sharma’s term comes to an end. Besides Sharma, the six independent directors on the board of the bank include Uday Chitale, Dileep Choksi, Neelam Dhawan, M D Mallya, Radhakrishnan Nair and VK Sharma.
(Source: The Times of India)
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