Scuffle over releasing calendar carrying Pak PM Imran’s image
AMRITSAR: Activists of the Dal Khalsa, a Sikh hardliner group, on Friday entered into a scuffle with members of the SGPC task force over the release of the original version of Nanakshahi calendar from the Akal Takht secretariat in Amritsar.
The calendar carried a photograph of the Kartarpur corridor opening ceremony being addressed by Pakistan PM Imran Khan. The Takht secretariat incharge intervened and allowed the Dal Khalsa members to release it from the outside platform of the secretariat.
The Nanakshahi calendar format was accepted by the SGPC general house and ratified by the Akal Takht in 2003, but was rejected by the apex gurdwara body in 2010.
Around ~30,000 of its loan book is below investment grade (or junk grade) corporate debt. That number is higher than its net worth of around ~25,000 crore.
Its core capital is at 8.7% of risk-weighted assets, marginally higher than RBI’S threshold of 8%, but its non-performing assets were at 7.4% of advances (of around ~300,000 crore). And it has around ~2.1 trillion of deposits which means the government will have a big hole to fill in case of a r un on the bank.
Much of the crisis can be attributed to the bank’s inability to raise money, roughly $2-2.5 billion, that it needs. After Kapoor’s exit, and after he and his family sold all of their stake in the bank, the new management has held forth the promise of a white knight, but none has come forward.
RBI itself has known about the crisis for at least a year and has had a nominee on the board.
Government agencies will determine circumstances that led to the fall of the bank and fix individual responsibilities,
Sitharaman said.“rbi will act with sense of urgency... I have asked RBI to assess what is the role of various people in creating the problems and not resolving them,” she added.
The moratorium on withdrawals — RBI has said it will allow up to ~5 lakh in special cases, including for education, marriage, or medical reasons — has also spooked mutual funds (they have around ~3,300 crore of investments in YES Bank’ bonds and shares). On Friday, shares of YES Bank closed at ~16.20, down 56%, after falling to as low as ~5.5.
Because of its linkages to the payment systems of several fintech companies, the crisis at YES Bank partially disrupted operations at companies such as Razorpay and Phonepe, adding to the confusion in the financial system.analysts are worried that the near-collapse of a reasonably important bank (which has been on life-support for some time), could result in contagion across the broader financial system. The bank was being monitored since 2017 and developments relating to it were being monitored on a day-to-day basis, Sitharaman said.
The restructuring scheme of YES Bank will be fully effective within the moratorium period of 30 days, she added.
Significantly, the only losers are those who have invested in the so -called AT1 capital (or additional tier 1 capital) of the bank which, according to the scheme “will stand fully written down”.
The state government has filed an appeal against the ruling in the Rajasthan high court.
Khan was attacked on the Delhi-jaipur highway near Behror in Alwar district on suspicion of smuggling cows when he was transporting cattle bought from a weekly market in Jaipur to his home in Nuh with his two sons. He died in hospital on April 3, 2017.
Additional public prosecutor in the ADJ’S court, Yogendra Khatana, said he was unaware of the evidence used in the hearing before the JJB. “I can comment on the conviction only after going through the order,” he added.
“Maybe the lapses in the main case were addressed during trial in the juvenile court.”
The defence counsel in the ADJ’S court, Hukum Chand Sharma, said the judgment of the JJB juvenile court will have no bearing on the main case, in which his clients have been acquitted. In Jaipur, additional advocate general RP Singh, who will argue on behalf of the government in the high court, called the JJB’S ruling an important development. “We will definitely use it during the hearing of the appeal ,” he said.
After the acquittal of the six men by the lower court, the state government formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the factors that led to the verdict.
The team recommended that new evidence be gathered and the suspects named or identified by earlier investigating officers be probed because a charge sheet against a juvenile delinquent hadn’t yet been filed.
As proceedings began in the Lower House on Friday, Congress floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called Birla “Pope of the Vatican” and urged him to reconsider his decision. Other members, too, urged the Speaker to withdraw the suspension.
In response, parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi said that while the government does not want to keep any member away, what happened on Thursday has never happened before in India’s parliamentary history. “Such behaviour should not be displayed in the House. Earlier, inappropriate words were said against the PM and Amit Shah in the House but we did not do anything,” Joshi said.
In the Rajya Sabha, vice-president Venkaiah Naidu urged members from both sides to discuss repeated disruptions. Despite the din, the Lok Sabha passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill 2019 and the Mineral Laws (Amendment) Bill 2020.