MODI RALLY BLITZ

Kunwar Danish Ali, who had won the seat in 2019 when BSPSP-RLD had teamed up against the BJP, is now contesting the polls as the Congress candidate.

The Congress has a pre-poll pact with the Samajwadi Party for 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The Modi rally in Amroha to back its candidate Kanwar Singh Tanwar, who had won the seat in 2014, has its own meaning as the Congress has not won the seat since 1984. The day after Modi’s election meeting, a joint rally of Rahul Gandhi-Akhilesh Yadav has also been planned in Amroha.“The influence of the Modi rally could be assessed from the fact that after his rally, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati too are scheduled to address rallies to counter the Modi impact,” a local BJP leader said.

After Amroha, Modi is again expected be back with rallies for the Hathras and Aligarh Lok Sabha seats on April 22. The BJP had won both seats won in 2019 and they have a substantial Dalit and minority population. The BJP has changed its sitting MP Rajveer Singh Diler in Hathras, while in Aligarh, after much suspense it has retained its sitting MP Satish Gautam.

This is likely to be followed by a Modi rally for party candidates in Agra and the adjoining Fatehpur Sikri Lok Sabha seats on April 25. Both Agra and Fatehpur Sikri are set for a three-cornered contest. Agra has a substantial population of Jatavs – the Dalit subcaste to which BSP chief Mayawati belongs. It is also referred to as the “Dalit capital” due to substantial presence of the community. Fatehpur Sikri has a substantial population of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

In Agra, BJP candidate SP Singh Baghel is a sitting MP and a Union minister of state in Modi 2.0. In Hathras, the sitting MP is Anoop Valmiki, a minister in Yogi 2.0. Another Modi rally is expected for BJP candidates in Bareilly, Aonla and Shahjahanpur on April 25. This is set to be followed by a road show in Bareilly on April 26. In Bareilly, the BJP has changed its formidable sitting OBC MP and former Union minister Santosh Gangwar, who had won eight times, including six consecutive terms. Recently, Gangwar’s supporters had shouted slogans in front of U.P. BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary when he had visited the region after declaration of the candidate for the seat. Even after being denied the ticket, Santosh Gangwar has been regularly present for party meetings but the BJP, not wanting to take a chance, has also squeezed in a Modi road show here as well. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has also held a rally there.

Zia Haq

NEW DELHI: India and Myanmar have set up a new forex payment mechanism via the Punjab National Bank to ease cross-border movement of goods, especially pulses, which Indian importers are being encouraged to use to avoid logjams, a top official said.

Consumer affairs secretary Nidhi Khare last week reviewed trade arrangements between the two countries to speed up import of pulses from the conflict-ridden country, which is a major supplier of pigeon pea (tur) and black gram (urad) to India.

Last year, the government found that importers of pigeon pea and black gram were hoarding their purchases in Myanmar by not bringing them to India immediately.

This had created artificial scarcity and stoked prices.

The consumer affairs minis

Output of pulses dipped to 23.4 million tonne in 2023-24 from 26.1 million tonne year ago.

try cracked down on hoarding by asking stockholding entities like supermarkets, millers and wholesalers to declare pulses inventories held by them on a weekly basis effective April 15.

The top bureaucrat in the consumer affairs virtually discussed with the Indian mission in Yangon issues related to pulses imports from Myanmar.

Revised exchange rates had created a hurdle in seamless payments while stocks of pulses held by Indian importers in Myanmar have in the past cre2023-24 ated artificial scarcity.

The Indian mission apprised Khare that a rupee/kyat settlement mechanism had been operationalised in January to ease trade. The Central Bank of Myanmar has released guidelines for payment procedures under a special rupee vostro account. A vostro account is one in which a foreign bank provides financial services on behalf of a domestic bank, making transactions easier.

Retail inflation in pulses remains high, although it slowed to 17.71% in March compared to a rise of 18.9% in February, according to official data. Holding the repurchase rate steady, the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy committee on April 6 highlighted how food price pressures “have been interrupting the ongoing disinflation process, posing challenges for the final descent of inflation to the target of 4%”.

India’s output of pulses dipped to 23.4 million tonne in from 26.1 million tonne a year ago, the agriculture ministry estimated.

“The new mechanism will apply for both sea and border trade and for trade in goods as well as services. Adoption of the mechanism by traders will reduce costs associated with currency conversions and eliminate complexities related to exchange rates by eliminating the need for multiple currency conversations,” an official said, declining to be named.

The consumer affairs ministry is undertaking a campaign to disseminate information about the new payment mechanisms among pulses importers, who can now use rupee/kyat direct payment system using the vostro account through the Punjab National Bank.

To keep prices stable, the Centre has put in a mechanism to closely monitor stock disclosures of pulses importers, traders and millers to check hoarding, which could stoke prices.