Minister for Commerce and Industry, Suresh Prabhu, on Friday approved constitution of a High Level Advisory Group (HLAG) to make recommendations in identifying opportunities and addressing challenges in the contemporary global trade scenario.

The HLAG will be headed by Surjit S. Bhalla, Director of Oxus Research and Investments. The other members of the Group are S. Jaishankar, former Foreign Secretary; Rajeev Kher, former Commerce Secretary and Member Competition Appellate Tribunal; Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Advisor, Government of India; Adil Zainul bhai, Chairman Quality Council of India; Dr.Harsha Vardhana Singh, former DDG WTO; Dr.Shekhar Shah, DG, NCAER; Dr.Vijay Chauthaiwale, Foreign Policy Advisor; Dr.Pulok Ghosh, IIM Bangalore; Jayant Dasgupta, former Ambassador of India to the WTO; Rajiv K Luthra of Luthra&Luthra and Chandrajit Banerjee, DG

NEW DELHI: The Modi government Thursday constituted an eight-member search committee, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, to recommend the chairperson and members of the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal.

The committee, formed despite concerns raised by the Congress, has former chief of State Bank of India (SBI) Arundhati Bhattacharya, Prasar Bharati chairperson A Surya Prakash and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) head A S Kiran Kumar as members.

Besides them, Justice Sakha Ram Singh Yadav, former judge of Allahabad High Court; Shabbirhusein S Khandwawala, former Gujarat Police head; Lalit K Panwar, retired IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre; and former Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar are the other members of the panel, according to an official order issued by the Personnel Ministry.

"The process of Lokpal selection is going as per the guidelines laid down in the Lokpal Act," Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh told PTI when asked about the development.

The move assumes significance as the government decided to go ahead with the formation of the search committee despite Congress leader in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, boycotting meetings of the Lokpal selection panel, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a senior government official said.

"The search committee is a major step towards setting up of the Lokpal. The committee will start its functioning soon," he said.

The decision to constitute the search committee comes four years after the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, which envisages establishment of anti-graft body Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013.

Kharge had been boycotting the selection committee meeting on the pretext that he is not made a full-fledged member in the panel.

He had rejected the invitation extended to him to attend the meetings of the selection committee held this year on six occasions-- March 1, April 10, July 19, August 21, September 4 and September 19 -- as a "special invitee".

The eight-member search committee is mandated to recommend a panel of names for the appointment of the Lokpal and its members.

Kharge had earlier urged the government to amend the Lokpal Act to include the leader of the single largest opposition party in Lok Sabha in the selection committee and bring an ordinance in this regard.

As per the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, only the leader of the opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha is a member of the selection committee and since, Kharge does not have that status, he is not a part of the panel.

A party should have at least 55 seats or 10 per cent of the strength of the Lok Sabha for its leader to get the LoP status.

The Congress is the single largest opposition party in the Lower House but its leader could not be given the LoP status as it does not have the requisite number to qualify for it, the official said.

The Lokpal selection committee headed by the prime minister has as its members the Lok Sabha speaker, leader of the opposition in the lower house, the chief justice of India or a judge of the apex court nominated by him, and an eminent jurist who could be nominated by the president or any other member.

Upon the recommendations of the selection committee in its meeting held on April 10, President Ram Nath Kovind had nominated Mukul Rohatgi, former Attorney General of India as 'eminent jurist' member of the panel against the vacancy arising following the death of senior advocate P P Rao.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today eased mandatory cash requirement rules for banks to provide “durable liquidity” to the economy.

RBI in a statement said banks could 'carve out' up to 15 per cent of holdings under the statutory liquidity reserves to meet their liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) requirements as compared to 13 per cent now.

RBI further announced the relaxation in statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) requirement with effect from October 1, 2018.This will supplement the ability of individual banks to avail of liquidity,from the repo markets.

RBI in a statement said that it stands ready to meet the durable liquidity requirements of the system through various available instruments.Citing proactive steps taken in the last few days, RBI said it conducted open market operation (OMO) on September 19.It further said that another OMO will be conducted to ensure adequate liquidity in the system.

New Delhi: Led by Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, India has a record 49 institutions among the best universities in the world, according to the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2019 published Wednesday.

While IISc remained the top school from the country, the Indian list saw some fresh names including the newly established Indian Institute of Technology in Indore (IIT Indore) making an impressive debut in the global rankings. However, all Indian institutes are outside the top 200 global list that was topped by Oxford University.

While IISc was kept in the 250-300 ranking cohort, IIT Indore made its debut with a presence in the 351-400 best universities group ahead of established IITs in Delhi, Madras and Mumbai.

IIT Bombay with a global ranking in the 401-500 group is the third best from India and has slipped in the latest ranking by 50 places when compared with its previous ranking. IIT Roorkee, however, improved its ranking by 100 places to be clubbed in the same group as IIT Bombay. After the top 200 list, THE does not assign individual rankings to universities but club them in groups.

These awards are presented to State Governments/ Union Territories, classified hotels, heritage hotels, approved travel agents, tour operators and tourist transport operators, individuals and other private organizations in recognition of their performance in their respective fields.

The awardees were chosen on the basis of several parameters including tourist traffic and efforts undertaken to make the state tourist friendly.

The awards are given to encourage healthy competition with an aim to promoting tourism.

Speaking on the occasion, K J Alphons said that the Tourism sector has generated 1.46 crore jobs in the last four years and clocked a growth of more than 14 per cent in number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals last year.

National Informatics Centre (NIC) and National Informatics Centre Services Incorporated (NICSI) have jointly set up a Centre of Excellence for data analytics to support Government departments to unlock the hidden potential of the data that they are generating as part of the governance processes and use it to improve the overall governance. Launch of Centre of Excellence for Data Analytics (CEDA) is being held on 28th September, 2018 (Friday) by the Hon’ble Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology, Sh. Ravi Shankar Prasad in the presence of Hon’ble Minister of State, Electronics & Information Technology, as part of Workshop on Data Analytics in Government. The event will be attended by several dignitaries from the Central Government.

NIC as a premier technology advisor and ICT solution provider to Government at all levels, has always taken the first step to introduce the latest technologies and services in government, be it the introduction of ICT in Government, establishment of NICNET or National Knowledge Network (NKN), development of critical e-Governance solutions and a host of other services required by the Government. NICSI is a trusted partner of NIC and has been instrumental in supporting all NIC’s initiatives through provisioning of resources and establishing & managing ICT infrastructure such as National Data Center at Shastri Park, Development Center, Cloud infrastructure etc. Recognizing the emerging digital ecosystem, challenges and opportunities, CEDA is envisaged to kick-start and fast track the adoption of advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities and make it the locus of expertise for the Government department in this avant garde field.

Centre of Excellence for Data Analytics (CEDA) is being set up with the sole vision of kick-starting and fast-tracking the adoption of advanced analytic and machine learning capabilities by making the Centre the locus of expertise and excellence in the field of Data Analytics. The centre shall provide quality data analytic services to government departments at all levels by identifying appropriate tools and technologies and deploying people with right expertise.

Through its focused efforts, the centre aims to provide data analytics services to the government and help in solving complex policy issues through data-driven decision making so as to ensure effective formulation and implementation of various development initiatives that will ultimately benefit the citizens.

NEW DELHI:
The Supreme Court has refused to revisit its 1994 ruling that the government can acquire land that a mosque is built on. In the Ismail Farooqui judgement, the court had ruled then that namaz or prayers can be offered anywhere and a mosque is not essential. The ruling will not be referred to a larger bench, the three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said. It could also be one of the last verdicts that Chief Justice Misra deliver, before he retires.

In 1994, the Supreme Court said that namaz could be offered anywhere and that a mosque was not necessary. This cleared the way for the government taking over the land where the 16th century Babri mosque was razed in December 1992 by Hindu hardliners who believed it was built on Lord Ram's birthplace.

prime Minister Narendra Modi will today inaugurate an exhibition to commemorate the second anniversary of the surgical strikes that were carried out by the Indian Army against terror camps across the Line of Control in 2016.

The Army announced on September 29, 2016 that it had carried out the cross-border strikes, days after several Indian soldiers were martyred in a pre-dawn terrorist attack on the Army Headquarters in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri.

The exhibition named 'Parakram Parv' is being organised by the Konark Corps at the Jodhpur Military Station. It is aimed at exhibiting the army's combat capabilities.

READ | Modi govt releases fresh video of surgical strikes

The exhibition is expected to start around 9 am. Before inaugurating the exhibition, the prime minister will lay wreath at the Konark War Memorial.

Meanwhile in Jaipur, the Sapta Shakti Command will be celebrating the 'Parakram Parv' on September 29 at the Jaipur Military Station.

"The celebrations are meant to showcase the valour of the Indian Army in combat operations. Around 250 students of Jaipur have been invited to witness the exhibition of equipment used by the infantry. Besides this, soldiers will perform various drills in combat gears," said Colonel Sombit Ghosh, PRO defence, Rajasthan.

NEW YORK: The International Monetary Fund has agreed to increase its crisis loan package aimed at restoring confidence in Argentina's struggling economy by $7 billion to $57 billion, the South American country's Finance Minister Nicolas Dujovne said on Wednesday.

The agreement "will allow our country to leave behind the turbulent path of recent months," said Dujovne during a press conference with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Lagarde said the aim of the program was to help Argentina "face its challenges" and support the most vulnerable populations.

The Guardian quoted Lagarde as saying that "This is the biggest loan in the history of the IMF".

Argentina originally secured a $50 billion loan back in June, when an initial $15 billion tranche was handed over.

However, last month, President Mauricio Macri revealed he had asked for an accelerated disbursement of the remaining $35 billion, with another $3 billion not due until November and the remainder over the next three years.

The new deal "front loads IMF financing," the Fund said in a statement, increasing by $19 billion the amount due to be made available up to the end of 2019.

The announcement of the agreement comes a day after Argentina changed its central bank president.

Some analysts claimed outgoing head Luis Caputo was at odds with the IMF over Argentina's monetary strategy, leading to his replacement by Guido Sandleris.

Lagarde said that "persistently high inflation continues to erode the foundation of economic prosperity in Argentina" and to tackle it, the country's "authorities will shift towards a stronger, simpler, and verifiable monetary policy regime."

She said Argentina would "contain the supply of money, and keep short-term interest rates at their currently" world-high level of 60 percent, aiming to rapidly bring down inflation, expected to hit 40 percent by the end of the year.

Argentina's economic woes were brought on by a rapid loss of confidence in its peso currency from April.

It has lost around 50 percent of its value against the dollar since the start of the year, including 20 percent in a two-day period in August after Macri announced he was seeking to renegotiate the IMF loan.

He has since introduced hugely unpopular austerity measures, including halving the number of government ministries and restoring taxes on grain exports.

The peso has largely stabilized since its August slump, although it lost 2.2 percent on Tuesday following Caputo's resignation.

NEW DELHI:
The Supreme Court delivered an unanimous verdict with all the five judges concurring on a crucial 150-year-old adultery law that considers punishment only to a man and not a married woman for an affair by treating her as a victim and not as an abettor of the offence. "Adultery law arbitrary," said the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra. Section 497 deprives women of dignity and that women are treated as property of her husband. The court said any provision treating women with inequality is not constitutional and it's time to say that husband is not the master of woman. Adultery will remain a ground for divorce, the bench added.

The centre had, in its defence, claimed that the law should remain valid as it protects the sanctity of marriage. The petition filed against the law was done so on the premise that the law does not treat men and women equally.