Trump picks NJ Governor Christie to head transition team

Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) greets New Jersey Governor and former Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie at a town hall campaign event in Hickory, North Carolina. March 14, 2016.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday he has chosen New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a rival turned ally, to lead his White House transition team as he prepares for the general election campaign.

"Governor Christie is an extremely knowledgeable and loyal person with the tools and resources to put together an unparalleled Transition Team, one that will be prepared to take over the White House when we win in November," Trump said in a statement.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in the Nov. 8 presidential election, said Christie will oversee an "extensive team."

Christie endorsed Trump after dropping out of the 2016 Republican primary race in February and has been campaigning with the New York billionaire.

Trump's campaign said the candidate was moving into a general election mode and "implementing an infrastructure capable of securing a victory including making key hires, building a finance operation to benefit the Republican Party and unifying the party by working with several Republican leaders now voicing their support for Mr. Trump and his candidacy."

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis)

Russia marks WWII victory anniversary with military parade

Moscow, May 9 (AFP) Russia today staged a grandiose military parade through Moscow's Red Square as part of nationwide celebrations to mark 71 years since the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Some 10,000 troops, tanks and nuclear missile systems swept across Red Square's cobblestones in front of President Vladimir Putin, senior officials and a handful of war veterans.

Putin addressed the troops, congratulating them on a holiday that traditionally unites Russians across political divides.

The Kremlin strongman also took the opportunity to call for the international community to unite in the fight against global terrorism.

"We must overcome this evil, and Russia is open to uniting forces with other states, it is ready to work on the creation of a modern, non-aligned international security system," Putin said.

The parade on Red Square also saw military aircraft, including Su-35 fighter jets Russia uses in its bombing campaign in war-torn Syria, swoop over Moscow in a resounding fly-by.

A smaller-scale parade was held on Russia's Hmeimim airbase in Syria, where Moscow is conducting air strikes it says are aimed at extremist groups like the Islamic State.

May 9 festivities also took place in some former Soviet republics.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev sat beside Putin at the Moscow parade, but other foreign leaders were not among the honoured guests.

Western leaders last year snubbed invitations to attend the 70th anniversary celebrations over the Ukraine crisis, leaving Putin to mark the day in the company of the leaders of China, Cuba and other Moscow-friendly figures.

An estimated 27 million of the former Soviet Union's soldiers and civilians were killed in World War II and the Red Army's triumph in the war is viewed as a huge source of pride in Russia.

Anonymous letter threatens to kill Rahul, Cong team meets HM

Puducherry/New Delhi, May 9 (PTI) An anonymous letter threatening to kill Rahul Gandhi at an election meeting in Puducherry has been received by a senior Congress leader V Narayanasamy.

The Congress Vice President is scheduled to address an election rally of the Congress-DMK alliance tomorrow at Karaikal in Puducherry.

After the death threat letter surfaced, a delegation of top Congress leaders met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi today and urged him to beef up Rahul's security.

Singh assured the delegation there will be prompt action and security enhancement.

Narayanasamy, an AICC General Secretary and a former Union Minister, told PTI from Karaikal over phone that he had received an 'unsigned letter' at his Puducherry residence on May 5, threatening him and Rahul Gandhi.

He said the letter written in Tamil stated that "your party is responsible for closure of industries in Puducherry.

We will attack you and your former Prime Minister's son and be blasted while attending a meeting."

Narayanasamy said he had filed a complaint with police and had also informed the party high command.

The Congress delegation including Ahmed Patel, Political Secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi; treasurer Motilal Vohra and Congress Deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma met Singh and apprised him about the threat to Rahul's life.

"The Home Minister has assured prompt action and security enhancement. He has also assured us that the agencies of Centre and and states and SPG will be alerted to the threat that has been received," Sharma told reporters after the 20- minute meeting with the Home Minister.

The Special Protection Group (SPG) guards the Prime Minister, the former prime ministers and their immediate family. Sonia Gandhi and her two children--Rahul and Priyanka --are SPG protectees.

Rahul's father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated during a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur near Chennai in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991 shortly before he was to address a Lok Sabha poll rally.

SC allows Centre's plea for modification of order on U'khand

New Delhi, May 9 (PTI) The Supreme Court today clarified that the voting during tomorrow's floor test in Uttarakhand Assembly on the trust vote motion moved by sacked chief minister Harish Rawat will be overseen by Principal Secretary (Legislative Assembly and Parliamentary Affairs) in the state.

A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh allowed the Centre's plea to modify the May 6 order in which the designation of the officer was stated as Principal Secretary (Legislative Assembly).

The Centre had moved an application saying the officials concerned have written a letter to the Chief Secretary stating there is no Principal Secretary (Legislative Assembly) designation in the state and they can only act when a clarification is issued by the apex court.

Congress had opposed the plea, saying that allowing Principal Secretary (Legislative Assembly and Parliamentary Affairs) would amount to the participation of an outsider in the Assembly.

The party had submitted that the Secretary (Legislative Assembly) who is under the supervision of the Speaker should be allowed to oversee the floor test.

However, the apex court rejected the contention and said that the purpose of entrusting the job to an official was to maintain the neutrality in the House.

The bench further said the floor test in the House will go ahead tomorrow in accordance with the May 6 order.

The Supreme Court will pass at 4 PM today its interim order on the plea of nine rebel Congress MLAs seeking permission to participate in the floor test.

HC dismisses petition of disqualified MLAs, matter moves to SC

Nainital/New Delhi, May 9 (PTI) In advantage to sacked Chief Minister Harish Rawat in the confidence vote tomorrow, the Uttarakhand High Court today dismissed the petition of nine Congress MLAs challenging their disqualification by the Speaker, a decision the rebels challenged in the Supreme Court immediately.

Dismissing their petition, the single judge bench of Justice UC Dhyani said the petition stands dismissed and asked the MLAs to go back to Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal seeking a review of his action if they so wished.

The judgement will make the BJP's task difficult in the confidence vote to be sought by Rawat tomorrow as it will be left with only 28 MLAs including Bhim Lal Arya whose loyalty to the party is in doubt. Though suspended by the BJP Arya continues to represent the party in the House.

It may give Rawat an advantage in the floor test which will now be held in the Assembly with an effective strength of 62 in which the winning side will need 31 MLAs for a majority.

Moments after the high court pronounced its order, the MLAs moved the Supreme Court.

Counsel for the MLAs C A Sundaram mentioned the matter before Chief Justice of India T S Thakur about the high court verdict that had come earlier in the day. The CJI asked the counsel to approach the bench which had on Friday ordered the floor test.

The fresh petition will be heard at 2 PM.

Meanwhile, the same bench is also expected to hear at 12:30 PM the Centre's petition seeking modification of its order on the floor test saying the official concerned has refused to act as observer on the ground that a clarification is needed on his designation.

Today's order of the high court ensures that the disqualification of the MLAs stays and would keep the rebel MLAs out of the proceedings during the confidence vote for Rawat in the Assembly tomorrow unless overturned by the apex court.

Ordering a floor test on May 10 in the Assembly, the Supreme Court had said "if they (disqualified MLAs) have the same status" at the time of vote of confidence, they cannot participate in the House.

A specially convened two-hour-long session during which the President's Rule will be kept in abeyance will be held between 11 AM and 1 PM for a "single agenda" of floor test, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh had said.

Moscow needs judicial guarantees US missile system in Asia does not target Russia — FM

According to the Russian foreign minister, Moscow's estimates do not confirm that the US missile defense does not target Russia


Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) surface-to-air missile units are deployed at the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's Chinen Sub Base (archive)

SOCHI, May 6. /TASS/. Moscow needs judicially binding guarantees that the US missile system in Asia does not target Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday after the talks of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

North Korea's actions should not be used as a pretext for bolstering military presence in the Asia Pacific region, Lavrov said.

"On our part, we have noted that, despite the unity against North Korea’s missile and nuclear escapades, Russia thinks the attempts to use the situation as a pretext for bolstering military presence in that region are absolutely unjustified and rather dangerous," he said, explaining that he mentioned US military preparations as that country was taking steps disproportionate to the risks coming from the North Korean leadership.

"We confirmed that as with the European segment of the US missile defense, we have been told that it does not target us but our estimates are somewhat different. If all this does not target Russia, we need judicially binding guarantees of the absence of such a target."

Revenue Department takes various measures to boost-up growth and employment generation; Steps to give relief to the small tax payers and to the small business and professionals

The Revenue Department of the Ministry of Finance takes several steps for boosting-up growth and employment generation:

(a)    Lowering the Corporate tax rates to 25% for new manufacturing companies

(b)   Extending tax benefits for housing sector so as to promote construction industry

(c)    Rate of tax on royalty and fees for technical services reduced from 25% to 10%

(d)   Tax incentives for Start-up India

Similarly, it has taken various steps to give relief to the small tax payers and to the small business and professionals:

The limit of deduction that can be claimed under section 80C of Income tax Act 1961 has been enhanced fromRs. 1 lakh per annum to Rs. 2 lakh per annum, subject to the additional Rs. 50,000/- being contributed to NPS.  Further, the scope of presumptive taxation regime for small businesses has been extended by increasing the turnover up to Rs. 2 crores.  The presumptive taxation benefit is now available for professionals having turnover upto Rs. 50,00,000/-.

Don't fall in trap of schools giving useless degrees: Rajan

Noida, May 7 (PTI) Sounding a word of caution to students on education loans, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan today said they should not fall prey to 'unscrupulous schools' which leave them with high debt and "useless degrees".

Observing that education at high quality research universities will remain expensive in near future, he said efforts should be made to make degrees affordable to all deserving students.

One part of the solution is student loans, he said, adding "we have to be careful that student loans are repaid in full by those who have the means, while they are forgiven in part for those who fall on bad times, or those who take low paying public service jobs." 

In his convocation address at the Shiv Nadar University, he said, "we also should make sure that unscrupulous schools do not prey on uninformed students, leaving them with high debt and useless degrees." 

The Governor said private education across the world is expensive and is getting more expensive all the time.

Beginning his address in a lighter vein, Rajan said he embarks on this talk comforted by the knowledge that the "bar for convocation speeches is low." 

"If you even remember a word I say a few years from now, I will have surpassed the average convocation speaker most people don t remember who spoke at their convocation, let alone what they said." 

Rajan, a globally known economist, emphasised that free market is not fair saying even well-run market economies seem to be favouring those who already have plenty.

"In part, this is because skills and capabilities have become much more important in well-paid jobs, and those born in good circumstances have a much better chance at acquiring these," he said.

PM Modi bows to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore on his 155th birth anniversary

Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has paid homage to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore on his 155th  birth anniversary. 

“I bow to Gurudev Tagore on his birth anniversary. He was a versatile personality whose profound thoughts and writings continue to inspire”, the Prime Minister said. 

Tagore, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 was born on May 7, 1861. He died on August 7, 1941. He was a Bengali polymath. He was a poet, visual artist, playwright, novelist, educationist, social reformer, nationalist, business-manager and composer whose works reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; however, his "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal. Sometimes referred to as "the Bard of Bengal", Tagore introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature, thereby freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit. He was highly influential in introducing the best of Indian culture to the West and vice versa, and he is generally regarded as the outstanding creative artist of the modern Indian subcontinent.

Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced) and Ghare-Baire are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh`s Amar Shonar Bangla. Some sources state that Sri Lanka `s National Anthem  was written by Tagore whilst others state it was inspired by the work of Tagore.

RBI Norms for Protecting Customers

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released a Charter of Customer Rights, which enshrines broad, overarching principles for protection of bank customers and enunciates the ‘five’ basic rights for bank customers, that I s, (i) Right to Fair Treatment, (ii) Right to Transparency, Fair and Honest Dealing, (iii) Right to Suitability, (iv) Right to Privacy, and (v) Right to Grievance Redress and Compensation. RBI has advised banks to formulate either an exclusive Customer Rights Policy keeping the spirit of the Charter intact or dovetail the existing Customer Service Policies suitably to integrate the Charter and its tenets with the approval of the Board. The banks have since framed Customer Rights Policy with the approval of the Board. Banks have also been advised to review internally by the Board the progress made in implementation of the Charter. 

RBI vide its circular dated September 28, 2006, issued guidelines on Fair Practices Code (FPC) for all Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) to be adopted by them while doing lending business. The guidelines inter-alia covered general principles on adequate disclosures on the terms and conditions of a loan and also adopting a non-coercive recovery method. The same was revised in view of the recent developments with sector including creation of New Category of NBFCs viz., NBFC-MFII and also the rapid growth in NBFCs lending against gold jewellery. Revised circular was issued on March 26, 2012. 

The Banking Ombudsman Scheme has specified 27 grounds of complaints under which complaints can be lodged with the Banking Ombudsman on grievances related to deficiency in banking services provided by commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks and scheduled primary cooperative banks. In so far as NBFCs are concerned, no cases of depositor cheating by the entities regulated by RBI have come to the notice of RBI during the last three years. 

RBI has also set up the Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI) as an autonomous body, adopting the stance of a Self-Regulatory Organization in the larger interest of improving the quality of customer service by the Indian Banking System. 

Further, RBI has issued guidelines on Fair Practices Code for Lenders. In terms of these guidelines the banks have been advised to frame the Fair Practices Code duly approved by their Board of Directors. 

This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.