Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], October 3 (ANI): JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said Monday that the reported comments by RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on economic inequality, poverty and unemployment raise "big questions" over claims of "achhe din".

Guwahati Mar 28 PTI The Assam government on Monday announced that it has acquired PSU Hindustan Paper Corps HPC two defunct paper mills in the state for Rs 375 croreAssam Industrial Development Corporation AIDC was declared as the successful bidder On behalf of the Government of Assam the AIDC has taken over the assets of Nagaon and Cachar paper mills an official statement saidAfter long and sustained efforts dialogues and meetings Assam Government has finally taken over the assets of Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited HPCL Nagaon at Jagiroad under Morigaon District Cachar Paper Mill Panchgram under Hailakandi district today it addedThe AIDC had participated in the e-auction process of all the assets plant technical area township area of Nagaon and Cachar paper mills pursuant to public announcement on February 26 2022 at a reserve price of Rs 375 croreThe Government of Assam has paid the amount of Rs 375 crore and will be distributed by the liquidator as per the norms of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code IBC 2016 The remaining amount of Rs 700 crore will be utilised in clearing the dues of employees and workers of HPC the statement saidChief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the acquisition will pave the way for the long-awaited relief to the mill workersAIDC Managing Director Adil Khan and Moloy Ranjan Thakur authorised person of official liquidator Kuldeep Verma signed an understanding in presence of Assam Industries Commerce and Public Enterprises Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary at the Nagaon Paper Mill complex in the eveningIn the meantime a team of AIDC officials took over the assets of Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram the Industries and Commerce Department said in the statementThe Government of Assam also plans to develop the land to promote industrial and economic activities to accelerate the growth of the region it said adding the total land area of both the paper mills are about 1550 acresHPCs Cachar unit in Panchgram stopped functioning on October 20 2015 while the Nagaon mill in Jagiroad stopped operations on March 31 2017 No salary was paid to the staff of Cachar and Nagaon units since January and March of 2017 respectivelyOn September 30 last year the Assam Cabinet had approved a Rs 700-crore relief package for the two paper mills The major portion of this amount will be spent to pay the dues of the employees while some will be used to pay bills such as electricity chargesEarlier an agreement was signed between the representatives of officers and supervisors associations and workers unions of the HPC and the Government of Assam resulting in the relief packageIn June 2018 the National Company Law Tribunal NCLT had directed initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code IBC 2016 against the HPC which had submitted a Rs 1995-crore revival proposal to the governmentDuring the hearing of the case the NCLT had ordered for the liquidation of the two mills of the HPC although the BJP-led state government was repeatedly promising to revive the two plants since former Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal assumed power in 2016As all options of revival failed after following the due process with several rounds of meetings between all stakeholders and a number of hearings the NCLT on April 26 last year ordered the Liquidator to sell the entire HPC as per the decision of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal NCLATDuring the auction HPCs all assets such as the two mills at Nagaon and Cachar residential flats in Guwahati Kolkata and Mumbai office assets in Kolkata and New Delhi and a huge amount of inventory such as coal unslaked lime bamboo and limestone went under the hammerThe reserve price for the bids was initially kept at Rs 1139 crore but it attracted no bidder The price was lowered several times and the Assam government finally acquired the mills at Rs 375 crore PTI TR SOM SOM

Guwahati (Assam) [India], March 28 (ANI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday announced that the assets of Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC) Nagaon and Cacher paper mills have been taken over by the state government by paying Rs 375 crores.

New Delhi Mar 27 PTI The Congress on Sunday attacked the government after fuel prices were increased for the fifth time in six daysand demanded that it should give an account of the Rs 26 lakh crore accrued through excise duty on petrol and diesel in about eight yearsPetrol price on Sunday was hiked by 50 paise a litre and diesel by 55 paise taking the total increase in rates since resumption of daily price revision less than a week back to Rs 370-375 per litreIn a tweet in Hindi Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Will tell with full force in eight years earned a profit of Rs 2600000 crore through tax loot on petroldiesel Were silent for 137 days to dupe voters in elections then in only six days loot of Rs 375 per litre He also posted an old video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi talking about the Opposition crediting his luck for reduction in petrol prices Tagging the video Surjewala asked With whose bad luck and bad intent is public reeling under inflation now At a press conference Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said thanks to Rahul Gandhi who had said fuel prices would be increased after polls the government waited for a few days before going for a hikeThe Congress is the only party raising this as issues of the public matter to it more than just winning elections Khera saidWhere is the account of the Rs 26 lakh crore accrued through excise duty on petroleum and diesel The country has the right to know Khera saidAfter Sundays hike petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 9911 per litre as against Rs 9861 previously while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 8987 per litre to Rs 9042 according to a price notification of state fuel retailersRates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending upon the incidence of local taxationThis is the fifth increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22 On all the previous four occasions prices had been increased by 80 paise a litre PTI ASK DV DV

New Delhi Mar 27 PTI Petrol price on Sunday was hiked by 50 paise a litre and diesel by 55 paise taking the total increase in rates since resumption of daily price revision less than a week back to Rs 370-375 per litrePetrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 9911 per litre as against Rs 9861 previously while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 8987 per litre to Rs 9042 according to a price notification of state fuel retailersRates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending upon the incidence of local taxationThis is the fifth increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22 On all the previous four occasions prices had been increased by 80 paise a litre - the steepest single-day rise since the daily price revision was introduced in June 2017In all petrol prices have gone up by Rs 370 per litre and diesel by Rs 375 in six daysPrices had been on a freeze since November 4 ahead of the assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab -- a period during which the cost of raw material crude oil soared by about USD 30 per barrelThe rate revision was expected soon after counting of votes on March 10 but it was put off by a couple of weeks apparently to not give opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi a handle to say that they had rightly predicted that prices will go up after electionsCongress and other opposition parties have criticised the government for the price rise saying it has added to the burden on common man reeling under general commodity price riseThe increase in retail price warranted from crude oil prices rising during the 137 day hiatus from around USD 82 per barrel to USD 120 is huge but state-owned fuel retailers Indian Oil Corporation IOC Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd BPCL and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd HPCL are passing on the required increase in stagesMoodys Investors Services last week stated that state retailers together lost around USD 225 billion Rs 19000 crore in revenue for keeping petrol and diesel prices on hold during the election periodOil companies will need to raise diesel prices by Rs 131-249 per litre and Rs 106-223 a litre on gasoline petrol at an underlying crude price of USD 100-120 per barrel according to Kotak Institutional EquitiesCRISIL Research said a Rs 9-12 per litre increase in retail price will be required for a full pass-through of an average USD 100 per barrel crude oil and Rs 15-20 a litre hike if the average crude oil price rises to USD 110-120India is 85 per cent dependent on imports for meeting its oil needs and so retail rates adjust accordingly to the global movement PTI ANZ RUP

Mumbai Feb 18 PTI A special PMLA court in Mumbai on Friday rejected the bail plea of Girish Chaudhary the son-in-law of NCP leader Eknath Khadse in a case connected to the 2016 purchase of government land in Pune This was Chaudharys second attempt at seeking bail in the case Special judge R N Rokade rejected the bail plea The detailed order was not available yet Chaudhary in his plea had claimed that he was being made a scapegoat in the case and that provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA did not apply in the case as he had not siphoned off any amount The Enforcement Directorate ED has alleged that Chaudhary and Khadse had purchased a government land in Bhosari near Pune for Rs 375 crore when its actual cost as per the valuation provided by the sub-registrar was Rs 3101 crore The probe agency has alleged that Khadse who was the state revenue minister at the time of the purchase had misused his official position to facilitate the transaction PTI AVI ARU ARU

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 8 (ANI): Stating that Indian youths are talented and they are creating a new picture of Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday welcomed lakhs of youths who joined Mangal Dal and said that while the previous state governments ignored Mangal Dal, the BJP recognised them and channelised their energy in the right direction for country's benefit.

New Delhi [India], December 22 (ANI): In a bid to provide benefit to the coconut farmers, the Union Cabinet has approved the hike in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Copra (dried coconut) for the year 2022, Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday informed.

New Delhi Nov 25 PTI The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has attached assets worth Rs 375 crore of Saaed Khan an arrested aide of Shiv Sena MP Bhavana Gawali in connection with a money laundering investigationIt said the immovable properties have been attached as part of a provisional order issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLAKhan accused of siphoning funds from a trust called Mahila Utkarsh Pratishthan was arrested by the ED in SeptemberGawali 48 is a sitting Lok Sabha member from the Yavatmal-Washim constituency in MaharashtraThe agency while taking the custody of Khan had then claimed before a special PMLA court in Mumbai that Gawali criminally conspired to convert a trust into a private company through Khan by forgery and fraud for layering of about Rs 18 crore fundsThe ED had told the court that its investigation suggested that misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 1818 crore and theft of Rs 7 crore cash have been layeredThe agency told the court that the trust filed for conversion into a Section 8 company by alleged fraudulent forgery of signatures of the management and documents from public institutions The total assets of Rs 69 crore in the book value of the trust were transferred to the newly-formed Section 8 company limited the agency told the courtThe Companies Act defines a Section 8 company as one whose objective is to promote fields of arts commerce science research education sports charity social welfare religion environment protection or other similar objectivesThe directors of this company according to the ED are Khan and Shalinitai Gawali the mother of the Sena MPBhavana Gawali along with the two is stated to be a member of this companyIt is stated that Bhavana Gawali through her aide Saeed Khan Shergul Khan and his accomplices have criminally conspired to convert the Trust Mahila Utkarsha Pratishthan into a Section 8 company through forgery and fraud for the purpose of layering the trust fund the ED had said Initial probe shows that there is a huge cash deposit and the withdrawal of bigger amounts from the account of the trust maintained at the Risod Urban cooperative society Then branch manager of Risod Urban cooperative society in his statement stated that the society was not entitled to receive a cash deposit of more than Rs 3 lakhHowever there are multiple cash deposits of much bigger amounts followed by the withdrawal of the same amount on the same day He the manager also stated that these transactions were merely book entries and no physical cash was moved This was all done on specific instructions of Bhavana Gawali the ED had claimedThus it has come to light that the complaints alleging misappropriation of funds of Rs 1818 crore and theft of Rs 7 crore cash are layered the probe agency saidThe ED counsel had claimed that Khan played an active role in forging documents and creating companiesKhans lawyer opposed the ED argument and said Let them ED show if any money has come to my accountthere is nothing against meI am targeted because I am affiliated to a state party The ED case is based on an FIR registered by Risod police station in Washim district for cheating and criminal breach of trustThe agency had earlier conducted searches in this case at multiple premises in Yavatmal Washim and Mumbai PTI NES KJ

Mumbai Oct 21 PTI NCP leader Eknath Khadses wife Mandakini on Thursday appeared before a special court here in a money laundering case pertaining to the 2016 Pune land deal case The court had issued summons to Mandakini her husband son-in-law Girish Chaudhary and other accused in the case after taking cognisance of the chargesheet filed in the case Special judge H S Satbhai hearing matters related to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA cases had in the last hearing rejected Mandakinis anticipatory bail application The court had then issued a non-bailable warrant against her considering her conduct and disobedience in not appearing before the court when the summons was issued to her last month Mandakinis lawyer Mohan Tekavde confirmed that she had appeared before the special judge Meanwhile the court allowed Eknath Khadses plea seeking exemption from personal appearance for the day in the wake of the Bombay High Court allowing his pre-arrest bailKhadses son-in-law Girish Chaudhary was arrested in the case a few months ago and is currently in judicial custodyThe ED has alleged that Chaudhary and Khadse had purchased a government land in Bhosari near Pune for Rs 375 crore when its actual cost was Rs 3101 croreThe prosecutions case is that Khadse allegedly misused his official position as state revenue minister at that time to facilitate the transactionIn June 2016 Khadse resigned as the revenue minister of the then BJP-led state government following controversy over the purchase of land He quit the BJP in October last year and later joined the NCP PTI AVI ARU ARU