Demonetisation paralyses Parl; Clash in RS over Azad remarks

New Delhi, Nov 17 (PTI) Parliament was paralysed today over demonetisation, with Rajya Sabha witnessing a sharp clash over certain remarks by Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, leaving a debate on the issue incomplete in the House which had a lively discussion yesterday.

Opposition parties, led by Congress, created uproar in both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha as soon as the Houses met for the day and it continued throughout.

The Lok Sabha could carry out business only during the Question Hour, that too amid the uproar, after which it was adjourned for the day minutes past 12 PM.

The Rajya Sabha could not transact any business.

In the Upper House, which witnessed about six-hour-long debate on demonetisation yesterday, Congress and some other opposition parties pressed, from the word go, for the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the House and a response from him over the hardships caused to people by the November 8 decision to make Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes invalid.

AIADMK members, meanwhile, trooped into the Well and created uproar demanding that Karnataka release Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu.

The uproar forced repeated adjournments of the House, whose proceedings for the day were ended minutes past 3 PM following a major clash between opposition and ruling members after Congress leader Azad compared Uri terror attack casualties to the number of deaths which occurred due to demonetisation "crisis".

Taking strong objection to this, the ruling side termed the comments as "anti-national" and demanded an apology from Congress besides seeking deletion of the remarks from the official records of the Upper House.

Azad, while demanding presence of the Prime Minister and asserting that the House will not be allowed to function till he comes there, said 40 people had died following government's decision on demonetisation.

"People are suffering because of demonetisation. The death toll has reached 40. In the attack by Pakistani terrorists (on army camp) in Uri (in Kashmir), even half of the deaths did not take place. People double than that figure have died due to wrong policy of the government," he said.

In the Uri attack, 18 army personnel had been killed.

In an apparent reference to the cross-LoC surgical strikes carried out by India in PoK after the Uri attack, Azad said, "There should be air strike on BJP....Your wrong policies are responsible for their murders." 

He said since the Prime Minister had made the demonetisation announcement, he should come to the House.

Demonetisation will hit terror funding & counterfeiting

New Delhi, Nov 17 (PTI) The demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes is expected to hit terror funding and counterfeiting as there are additional security features in new notes which are very difficult to replicate, a senior government official said.

Counterfeiting of new Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes would be very difficult as they have at least 7-8 additional security features which are very tough to replicate.

It would take years for anyone to counterfeit the new notes being circulated, the official said, adding funding of terror activities would be badly affected due to demonetisation.

The official said the change of higher denomination of Indian currencies was long over due as in normal circumstances any country changes its notes in every 7-8 years with additional security features to check its counterfeiting.

There was no major change in the Rs 1,000 notes ever since it was introduced in the year 2000 while changes in the Rs 500 notes, which was launched in 1987, were done more than a decade ago.

Change in the security features of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes was long over due and the present demonetisation move, even though abrupt, was absolute necessary, the official said.

There is an estimate that around Rs 17,00,000 crore black money was in circulation in the country and even though many people attempt to whitewash the black money they have, it is certain that around Rs 4,00,000 crore is not coming back to the banking system.

This will clean up the economy and windfall gain for the government, the official said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 had announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes ceased to be legal tender and asked people possessing such notes to deposit or exchange the same with banks.

He had said new Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes would be introduced with different colour and design.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday that it will take up to three weeks for all two lakh ATMs in the country to be re-calibrated.

Sensex succumbs to late sell-off, ends flat on global cues

Mumbai, Nov 16 (PTI) Market benchmark Sensex ended a shade lower today after giving up early gains of about 317 points on widespread fag-end selling amid sustained capital outflows by foreign funds and a weak trend in European shares.

However, NSE Nifty managed to eke out a small gain and closed above the crucial 8,100-mark.

Sentiment remained upbeat for the major part of the session after lower inflation data raised hopes of a rate cut by RBI next month, but the index turned lower towards the fag-end as profit-booking emerged.

Sensex started off on a strong footing and advanced to a high of 26,621.40. However, it succumbed to profit-booking at higher levels, falling to 26,239.21, before settling 5.94 points or 0.02 per cent lower at 26,298.69.

NSE Nifty, however, managed to close in the positive zone with a small gain of 3.15 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 8,111.60 after shuttling between 8,210.05 and 8,089.40.

Govt defence in RS: Demonetisation is in national interest

New Delhi, Nov 16 (PTI) Facing opposition onslaught, government today put up a strong defence in Rajya Sabha on demonetisation, saying the step was taken in national interest to end corruption and black money, which it is said is also used for terror activities in the country.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal, who spoke on behalf of the ruling side after Congress leader Anand Sharma slammed the government, rejected as baseless the opposition charge that there was "leakage" of the decision and said everyone was taken by surprise which is why there are "initial" problems.

"There is no politics in it. It is a step taken in national interest," he said, adding the step will help the country in the long run.

"If anyone has the strength to take on black money and corruption, it is the BJP government and Narendra Modi," the minister said.

He claimed that common people are out in support of the government's move which is aimed against graft and terror and that the step will lead to curbing inflation and tax rate may come down.

Goyal claimed that the country has welcomed this initiative of the Modi government and it is natural that some people who have black money and are indulging in corruption and blackmoney are worried about it.

"Desh me imandaar ka samman hua hai aur be-imaan ka nuksaan hua hai, (The honest have been honoured and the dishonest have faced losses)," he said.

"I am confident that public is understanding the initial problems because the decision was kept a secret. No honest tax-payer will lose a single rupee. The loss will be of those who have amassed wealth through corruption and black money and the public should also support the government in the move," he said.

Goyal said some pain and difficulty in the implementation of such a decision is inevitable but despite that the people have strongly supported the move.

He urged all the parties to support the move so that the House gives a message to the country that all are against corruption and black money.

To Sharma's charge that those questioning the government are labelled as anti-national, he said, "Understandably if someone opposes it (demonetisation), questions will be raised on whether they are against ending the menace of corruption and black money in the country."

Taking a dig at the opposition, he said, "We thought all political parties will support us in Parliament. But for some reasons they have opposed the move. It seems they are worried due to the large public favouring it and supporting the government despite the problems being faced by them."

Goyal also said BJP has already put out its poll expenses on the website and after this step all will think before indulging in corruption and black marketing. .

Retail, WPI inflation cools; industry demands rate cut

New Delhi, Nov 15 (PTI) Softening food prices helped ease retail as well as wholesale inflation in October, raising hopes that RBI may go in for another rate cut in its monetary policy review next month.

Retail or CPI inflation dipped to 14 month low of 4.20 per cent in October, while the one based on wholesale prices or WPI fell for the second consecutive month to 3.39 per cent in October.

While Consumer Price Index based retail inflation was at 4.39 per cent in September, the one tracking Wholesale Price Index was at 3.57 per cent.

Retail food price inflation in October was 3.32 per cent, lower than 3.88 per cent recorded in September. The WPI food inflation basket too showed moderation with inflation at 4.34 per cent in October, as against 5.75 per cent in September.

The easing inflation prompted industry chamber Ficci to demand reduction in interest rate to support investor as well as consumer sentiment.

"An immediate 0.50 per cent cut in repo rate should be considered by RBI as well as some measures may be introduced to provide easy finance for sectors like housing, automobiles and consumer durables," Ficci President Harshavardhan Neotia said.

The all-powerful Monetary Policy Committee headed by RBI Governor Urjit Patel last month cut benchmark interest rates by 0.25 per cent to 6.25 per cent. The next RBI policy review is on December 7.

While Patel had signalled more tolerance towards inflation, the easing in CPI data was in line with the RBI's inflation target of 5 per cent for March 2017.

ICRA Senior Economist Aditi Nayar said the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes could further lower inflation in the coming months.

"The temporary shock to economic activity, including predominantly cash based transactions at mandis as well as construction activity, would have an impact on wholesale prices from mid-November 2016 onward," Nayar said.

Industry demand for rate cut comes after data showed that factory output in the April-September period declined by 0.1 per cent compared to 4 per cent growth in the year-ago period.

Opposition set to pin down govt in Parliament tomorrow

New Delhi, Nov 15 (PTI) A Congress-led opposition today came together seeking to pin down the government on the demonetisation issue in the Winter Session of Parliament beginning tomorrow but a consenses eluded on TMC's proposed march to Rashtrapati Bhawan for meeting the President.

The leaders will meet again tomorrow to finalize the strategy on the issue agreeing at the meeting to use "all parliamentary tools including a demand for constituting a joint parliamentary committee to go into the issue and hold the government to account.

On its part, TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said her party will go ahead with its plans to meet the President tomorrow. Representatives of the National Conference and AAP are likely to accompany the TMC delegation.

At a meeting of 13 opposition parties including arch rivals TMC and CPI-M, besides BSP, SP, JD-U and DMK, opposition leaders unanimously concluded that it was too early to visit the President on the issue which must first be raised adequately in parliamentary forums.

Various parties have separately given adjournment notices in Lok Sabha and for suspension of proceedings in Rajya Sabha to discuss the issue and highlight the plight of the common man.

"So far as the march is concerned, there was unanimous decision by everybody that the march tomorrow is too early. As an opposition party, we must have a march in due course of time, but not on the very first day. On first day of Parliament, we must hold a discussion inside the House.

"There was an overwhelming consensus that there is no need to rush to Rashtrapati Bhawan on the very first day before bringing this issue before Parliament," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said after the meeting. .

Support India on terror, ours not a friendship to hide: Rivlin

New Delhi, Nov 14 (PTI) Friendship between India and Israel is at work "day in, day out" and is not a relationship "we should be hiding", said Israeli President Reuven Rivlin as he pledged full support to India in fighting terrorism.

Rivlin arrived today on an eight-day visit to India, the first by any Israeli President in nearly two decades.

In a wide ranging interview to PTI, the Israeli President acknowledged differences with India on the Palestinian issue but spoke warmly about the growing Indo- Israeli ties as the two countries prepare to celebrate 25 years of establishment of full diplomatic ties between them next year.

Pledging full support to India in fighting terrorism, Rivlin said that his country was proud to "stand with India in its defence of the values of democracy".

"Terror is terror is terror, whoever carries it out and whoever are its victims. And we all have the duty to condemn in our words, and fight with our deeds against this terrible evil," asserted the President, whose country is one of the biggest suppliers of defence equipment to India and is cooperating with it in a major way in dealing with terrorism.

Answering a question on "murmurs" in Israel that India keeps under wraps their relationship because of close ties with the Arab world and domestic political considerations, Rivlin said, "Israel is proud of our friendship with India and I believe that India is proud of its friendship with Israel.

"Again, this is not just a friendship of leaders and governments. It is a friendship between people in all walks of life, in all fields of study, in all areas of trade. This is not a friendship we should be hiding. This is a friendship that we see at work day in, day out, at the very forefront of building a better world for Israelis, for Indians, and for all peoples," he said.

In reply to a question on India's continued support for an independent Palestine with east Jerusalem as its capital, Rivlin said, "Friends may not always see eye to eye on everything, and as friends we can agree to disagree with respect and understanding.

"Israel understands and indeed shares India's desire to see a just and lasting solution to the conflict between us and the Palestinians. But no solution that may ever be found has a chance of success lest we work now to build confidence between peoples," the President said, and asserted that Israel and Palestine need to work towards "direct negotiations".

Rivlin, who is accompanied by a strong delegation of businessmen, will hold comprehensive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow on key bilateral and regional issues.

On the long-pending FTA, negotiations for which were launched nearly five years ago between India and Israel, Rivlin said it is a "tool" that can have huge impact and boost the partnership. .

"More projects" to fight graft; ready to face consequences: PM

Panaji, Nov 13 (PTI) After demonetising high value notes to curb blackmoney, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said he has "more projects" in mind to rid the country of corruption and was ready to face the consequences as forces are "up against me" with their 70 years of loot being in trouble.

"This is not an end. I have more projects in mind to make India corruption-free. .... Cooperate with me and help me for 50 days and I will give you the India you desired," Modi said after laying the foundation stone of Mopa greenfield airport and launching work on electronic city project in Goa.

"We will take action against 'benami' property; This is major step to eradicate corruption and black money ... If any money that was looted in India and has left Indian shores, it is our duty to find out about it," he said.

"I know that (some) forces are up against me, they may not let me live, they may ruin me because their loot of 70 years is in trouble, but I am prepared," Modi said in a speech which saw him getting emotional a few times.

He said the people voted against corruption in 2014. "I am doing what I was asked to do by the people of this country and it had become clear from the very first meeting of my Cabinet when I formed the SIT (on blackmoney). We never kept the people in dark." 

Hitting out at previous governments, the Prime Minister said they "neglected this ...we took a key step to help honest citizen to defeat the menace of graft.

Clinton blames FBI's Comey for her defeat in call with donors

Hillary Clinton attends an event where she addressed her staff and supporters about the results of the U.S. election at a hotel in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Hillary Clinton blamed FBI director James Comey for her stunning defeat in Tuesday's presidential election in a conference call with her top campaign funders on Saturday, according to two participants who were on the call.

Clinton was projected by nearly every national public opinion poll as the heavy favorite going into Tuesday's race. Instead, Republican Donald Trump won the election, shocking many throughout the nation and prompting widespread protests.

Clinton has kept a low profile since her defeat after delivering her concession speech on Wednesday morning.

Clinton told her supporters on Saturday that her team had drafted a memo that looked at the changing opinion polls leading up to the election and that the letter from Comey proved to be a turning point. She said Comey's decision to go public with the renewed examination of her email server had caused an erosion of support in the upper Midwest, according to three people familiar with the call.

Clinton lost in Wisconsin, the first time since 1984 that the state favored the Republican candidate in a presidential election. Although the final result in Michigan has still not been tallied, it is leaning Republican, in a state that last favored the Republican nominee in 1988.

Comey sent a letter to Congress only days before the election announcing that he was reinstating an investigation into whether Clinton mishandled classified information when she used a private email server while secretary of state from 2009 to 2012.

Comey announced a week later that he had reviewed emails and continued to believe she should not be prosecuted, but the political damage was already done.

Clinton told donors that Trump was able to seize on both of Comey's announcements and use them to attack her, according to two participants on the call.

While the second letter cleared her of wrongdoing, Clinton said that it reinforced to Trump's supporters that the system was rigged in her favor and motivated them to mobilize on Election Day.

The memo prepared by Clinton's campaign, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, said voters who decided which candidate to support in the last week were more likely to support Trump than Clinton.

"In the end, late breaking developments in the race proved one hurdle too many for us to overcome," the memo concludes.

A spokesperson for the FBI could not immediately be reached for comment.

On the phone call, Dennis Chang, who served as Clinton's finance chair, said her campaign and the national party had raised more than $900 million from more than 3 million individual donors, according to the two participants who spoke to Reuters.

Japan makes exception; signs historic nuclear deal with India

Tokyo, Nov 11 (PTI) Shedding its reservations, Japan today made an exception to sign a landmark civil nuclear deal with India, opening the door for export of its atomic technology and reactors, after adding features like safety and security keeping in mind its sensitivities on the issue.

The nuclear deal, described as historic by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was part of the ten agreements signed between the two countries in various areas after he held talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on the second day of his three-day visit.

They held wide-ranging talks which covered aspects like trade and investment, security, terrorism, cooperation in skill development, aerospace and people-to-people contacts.

The nuclear agreement comes after tough negotiations for over six years between the two countries and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said the nuclear deal was similar to the agreements signed with the US and other countries with added features on safety and security in keeping with Japan's sensitivities.

The two leaders, despite objections by China, also discussed the South China Sea issue and agreed on the need for respecting freedom of navigation and overflight in tune with the principles of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The nuclear agreement will also push implementation of the Indo-US atomic cooperation agreement since the major American companies in this sector have alliances with Japanese companies like GE-Hitachi and Toshiba-Westinghouse Electric Company.

The deal will come into effect as soon as the Japanese Parliament Diet approves it.

The Japanese Prime Minister, while noting that his country was the only one to have suffered atom bomb attacks, said he was "delighted" over the signing of the agreement with India despite it not being a signatory to the NPT.

At the same time, Abe, with Modi standing next to him, appeared to remind India about the NPT, saying his country wishes to see universalisation of the treaty, which New Delhi terms as "flawed".

"This agreement is a legal framework that India will act responsibly in peaceful uses of nuclear energy and also in Non-Proliferation regime even though India is not a participant or signatory of NPT," he said at a joint press interaction with Modi.

"It (the agreement) is in line with Japan's ambition to create a world without nuclear weapons," said Abe, whose country has traditionally adopted a tough stand on proliferation issues having been the only victim of atomic bombings during World War II.

He noted that India in September 2008 had made its intention of peaceful uses of nuclear energy and also announced moratorium on nuclear tests. .