India appoints Modi ally as new central bank head

NEW DELHI, India — The Indian government Tuesday named an ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as new central bank head after his predecessor quit following a row about alleged government interference.

Shaktikanta Das, named in a government statement as new Reserve Bank of India governor, is a former senior finance ministry official and a key figure in Modi's controversial "demonetisation" scheme of 2016.

His predecessor Urjit Patel announced his surprise resignation late Monday following months of tensions with Modi's government over interference in policy.

The government was thought to be pressuring the RBI to enact policies to help spur growth ahead of next year's elections, when Modi will run for a second term.

It was also believed to be unhappy with the RBI over issues including its handling of interest rates, how to deploy reserves and what to do about the sliding rupee.

Modi stunned Asia's third-largest economy in November 2016 by withdrawing 86 percent of banknotes from circulation.

The move was aimed at cleaning up India's graft-ridden economy where large volumes of transactions are conducted in cash and therefore undetected by the tax authorities.

Critics said it caused unnecessary suffering to millions of India's poor who operate outside of the formal economy.

Indian growth slumped as low as 5.7 percent in mid-2017 as it reeled from the move and other economic reforms, including the introduction of a nationwide goods and services tax.

"Modi government has hired an insider who will be sympathetic to government concerns and not hold diverging opinions as the head of RBI. Unlike Patel or (predecessor Raghuram Govind) Rajan, Das will offer no independent views and was also a key member when the demonetisation decision was taken," said Ashutosh Datar, an independent economist.

"This is extremely disappointing a choice and is the final straw in chipping away RBI's integrity and freedom to set rates or take policy decisions," he said.

source: philstar.com

Two gunmen dead in Indian air base attack - police

PATHANKOT, India - Two suspected Islamic insurgents were killed Sunday when fighting flared up again at an Indian air force base, a senior police officer said, a day after the initial bloody raid on the base close to Pakistan.

Seven soldiers and four attackers were earlier confirmed killed during the assault on the Pathankot base in the northern state of Punjab, which triggered a 14-hour gunbattle Saturday.

The attack -- a rare targeting of an Indian military installation outside disputed Kashmir -- threatens to undermine improving relations with Pakistan.

It came just about a week after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a surprise visit to Pakistan, the first by an Indian premier in 11 years

Security officials suspect the gunmen belong to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, the group that staged the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament which brought the two countries to the brink of war.

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh Saturday tweeted "all five terrorists" have been killed but security officials at the site had found only four bodies.

Early Sunday afternoon security forces came under heavy fire inside the base during a search for munitions and possible militants.

The police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity the two militants were killed four hours after the first contact was made Sunday. But the search would continue before the base was declared safe.

"Both have been killed. We are yet to retrieve their bodies," the officer said.

The base commander, J S Dhamoon, told reporters separately the operation was close to completion but gave no information on any fresh casualties.

The Pathankot air base houses dozens of jet fighters and is important for its strategic location about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Pakistan border.

Rajiv Mehrishi, a top home ministry official, said troops and police had foiled the aim of the intruders to damage equipment at the base.

"Due to active intelligence and quick action taken by forces we were able to ensure there was no damage to the assets," Mehrishi told reporters in New Delhi.

Mehrishi said seven security personnel were killed and 20 injured but declined to give any details of Sunday's gunbattle.

Among the military dead was a lieutenant-colonel in the elite National Security Guard, a commando unit. Also killed was Subedar Fateh Singh, a gold medallist at the 1995 Commonwealth Shooting Championships in New Delhi, an air force spokeswoman said.

In July three gunmen said to be Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militants killed seven people including four policemen in an attack in the Sikh-majority state of Punjab.

The possible involvement of Pakistan-based militants in the latest raid could be a setback for peace overtures between the nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought three wars since independence in 1947.

Modi Saturday termed the attackers as "enemies of humanity" but did not blame Pakistan.

Islamabad, meanwhile, moved quickly to condemn the attack which it described as a "terrorist incident".

The US State Department termed the assault "a heinous" terrorist attack and urged the two rivals to work together to hunt down those responsible.

Modi's December 25 visit to the Pakistani city of Lahore to meet his counterpart Nawaz Sharif indicated a potential thaw in tensions, and the foreign secretaries of both countries are scheduled to meet in Islamabad this month.

source: interaksyon.com

Angela Merkel lands in India, with trade high on the agenda

NEW DELHI, India - German Chancellor Angela Merkel landed in New Delhi late Sunday for a visit in which she is expected to push for closer trade ties, and during which India's leader hopes to draw investment from the European powerhouse.

Briefly leaving behind a refugee crisis in Europe, Merkel arrived with a delegation including Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and German business leaders for her first visit to India since the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party stormed to power last year.

"Namaste Chancellor Merkel! Warm welcome to you & the delegation. I look forward to fruitful discussions & strengthening India-Germany ties," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on Twitter.

She will meet with Modi, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday before she heads to the southern technology hub of Bangalore for a businness conference the next day.

Modi and Merkel will hold talks on "issues of mutual interest", including trade, defence and renewable energy, according to the Indian foreign ministry.

The two are likely to discuss resuming stalled India-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations -- a market-opening pact to boost bilateral commerce.

German investments in India stand at 9.7 billion euros with about 1,600 companies in the country.

Modi officially visited Germany in April when he sought to attract more industries to set up shop in Asia's third-largest economy for his flagship "Make in India" campaign and boost the manufacturing sector.

source: interaksyon.com

Indian 'semi-bullet train' sets new national speed record

NEW DELHI - An Indian passenger train set a new national speed record of 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles an hour) on Thursday during a test between the capital and the Taj Mahal city of Agra.

The introduction of high-speed links and bullet trains were one of the key poll campaign promises of India's new right-wing prime minister, Narendra Modi, who won elections in May.

Thursday's test, part of the government's plans to upgrade the ageing rail network, saw the train complete the 200 km between New Delhi and Agra in around 90 minutes. The top speed clocked at 10 kph more than the previous record.

"This is now the fastest train in India," Delhi divisional railway manager Anurag Sachan told AFP from inside the train. "We are recording all technical parameters during the trial run and hope to introduce it to the public by this November."

While fast by Indian standards, the train is some way from the Japanese "Shinkansen" admired by Modi which reach speeds of 320 kph.

The Indian media labelled it a "semi-high-speed train" or "semi-bullet".

Observers say the railways have been neglected by successive governments over the past three decades of rapid economic growth during which car ownership has surged and low-cost airlines have mushroomed.

But it continues to be one of the main modes of long-distance travel for most of India's 1.2 billion people, while increased use of the tracks for freight could help ease road traffic congestion.

Similar high-speed rail corridors are being planned between New Delhi and the northeastern city of Chandigarh, and the national capital and the industrial town of Kanpur 500 kilometres away.

"The cost of upgrading tracks, signal systems and other related infrastructure isn't high on some of the corridors which already have other high speed trains," Sachan told AFP.

"We are confident of expanding it once this project is completed," he added.

source: interaksyon.com