Telcos...

Until last week, Airtel paid ~10,000 crore and Vodafone Idea paid a total of ~3,500 crore in two instalments. According to the SC verdict, the telcos were expected to pay AGR dues of about ~1.47 lakh crore by January 23, 2020. Airtel owes around ~35,000 crore and Vodafone Idea about ~55,000 crore. The government is keen to offer a bailout package before the next hearing of the Supreme Court, which is on March 17, the officials said. The government is considering various options because it wants to prevent any telco from going out of business, something that would, given the size and importance of these firms, adversely affect the investor’s sentiment, restrict consumers’ choice and increase stress in the banking sector. As per an Inter-ministerial Group report in August 2017, the total debt of the telecom industry was ~7.88 lakh crore that included exposures of Indian banks. The government has also sought legal opinion in the light of the recent verdict of the Supreme Court before it takes a final call soon, the officials said.

As reported by HT on Friday, at least three senior cabinet ministers are directly involved in this matter. Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal on Thursday met telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Any package will be announced only after intensive consultations among them, the officials said. “AGR is an unprecedented crisis for industry, which is being dealt with by government,” Mittal was quoted as saying by news agency PTI on Thursday. Mittal and Vodafone Idea chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla had met finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman individually on Wednesday.

The second official mentioned above said the Digital Communications Commission or (DCC) on Sunday discussed the financial package. The government had re-designated the Telecom Commission as DCC in 2018, which is chaired by the telecom secretary and its part-time members include the CEO of NITI Aayog, secretary economic affairs (finance ministry), the secretary in the ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) and the industry secretary. DCC advises the government in formulating telecom policies, budget for the department of telecom, and implementation of the government’s policies pertaining to telecommunications.

Spokespersons of the finance ministry, ministry of telecom, law ministry, Vodafone Idea and Airtel declined to comment on the matter.

Former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said: “India needs a healthy and competitive telecom sector. It would be in national interest if Vodafone Idea survives as a strong player.” He said that the closure of any firm would mean non-performing assets (NPAS) getting transmitted to banks. “The duopoly of Jioairtel would not be in the interest of the country. India needs a healthy and competitive telecom sector,” he added.

At the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in December, Birla had said that Vodafone Idea would have to shut shop if the company does not get any relief. “If we are not getting anything, then I think it is the end of story for Vodafone Idea... They (government) have publicly stated that they want three players from the private sector and one player from the public sector, so I think we can expect much more stimulus from the government because it is required by the sector to survive,” he said. growth and fine-tuning the human resource policy to address issues related to postings, tenure and family requirements.

Hindustan Times reported on February 15 that the IAF was working to tighten rules to prevent its pilots from leaving service and a raft of measures were being implemented to arrest the trend of officers quitting the air force to take up well-paying flying jobs outside.

The promotion policy is being reviewed to remove stagnation at a critical career juncture – the group captain level (equivalent to a colonel in the army).

“It can take up to 13 years for a group captain to be promoted as an air commodore (equivalent to a brigadier). We are examining the possibility of bringing it down to around 10 years to address the aspirations of officers,” the first official said.

A middle-rung IAF pilot earning up to ₹2 lakh a month could land up a salary that is four times higher as captain in a private airlines. Most pilots quit service after being overlooked for promotion and completing 20 years of service, which entitles them to a pension.

“We are not talking about a blanket ban on pilots leaving the air force. But some restrictions are being imposed so that the IAF does not suffer. Simultaneously, we are adopting a proactive approach to address issues that are bothering people,” the first official said.

The second official said pilots who had been overlooked for promotion would be given top priority for early release, followed by officers who make it to the next rank only in the last promotion board. While most pilots usually look at leaving after being overlooked for promotion, there have been cases of people putting in their papers before reaching that stage.

“The 200 pilots who quit during 2018-19 included officers who had not been superseded and were doing well. That can’t be allowed to go on. We are looking at those issues very carefully,” the second official added.

Experts said it was critical for the IAF to ensure that it had adequate number of pilots for operational utilisation.

“It takes years to operationalise a pilot. And then comes a time when he needs to give back to the country the time and effort invested in him. People join the air force of their own free will. The IAF has to enforce policies that ensure minimum strength of pilots is maintained to carry out operational roles,” said Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (retd), additional director general, Centre for Air Power Studies.

He added that the IAF’S human resource policies looked at the human aspect and career progression of officers and there were in-built mechanisms to make sure that genuine cases for early discharge did not suffer. where the law and order is the responsibility of the BJP. The attack on the JNU students in Delhi was no less than a terror attack,” he said.

Thackeray softened his stand on the NPR reportedly after the Congress and NCP openly expressed their unhappiness over his statement. A day after he announced support for the NPR, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and deputy chief minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar met Thackeray and reportedly asserted their opinion on the issue. Congress leader Manish Tewari tweeted on Friday that Thackeray needs to be briefed about the CAA and NPR. “Thackeray needed to understand how NPR was the basis of NRC. Once you do NPR, you cannot stop NRC,” he wrote.

Thackeray rubbished Fadnavis’s remarks that the MVA government had failed in addressing farmers’ issues. He said that Fadnavis’s party was not able to digest the good performance of his government.

When asked about the BJP’S demand for a resolution in honour of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Thackeray said the BJP should not assert that their Hindutva is the only Hindutva. “They should not teach us Hindutva and pride for Savarkar. When a memorial plaque bearing Savarkar’s name in the cellular jail in Andaman was removed, BJP’S Ram Kapse was the governor there. Did the BJP ask him to resign,” he asked.

Responding to Thackeray’s statement on anti-caa protests, Maharashtra BJP said: “When the tukde tukde gang knows that no action will be taken against them by the Thackeray government, why will they create any riots in the state. The government even allowed Azad Kashmir banner to unfurl at Gateway of India. Despite this there was stone pelting in agitations in Beed, Parbhani, Nanded etc.”

Meanwhile, the Thackeray government announced rollout of the loan waiver scheme for farmers from Monday. Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said the first list of 20,000 farmers from 68 villages in 34 districts will be announced in the first phase on Monday. He said the second phase will be announced on February 28 and will have more farmers as beneficiaries.