2100 HRS.
JUNE 17, 2013.

THE HEADLINES:  

• Union Council of Ministers  expanded with  four new cabinet ministers and four new Ministers of State; Oscar Fernandes given  the charge of Road Transport and Highways Ministry, Girija Vyas has got Housing and  Urban Poverty Alleviation, Sis Ram Ola,  Labour and Employment  and K S Rao, Textiles. Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge to be new Minister for Railways.
• TRAI announces reduction in  mobile roaming charges to  come into effect from 1st July.
• Death toll has gone upto 55 in incessant rains in Uttarkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
• Sensex gains  148 points to close at 19,326.
• National selectors decide  to retain Indian squad currently taking part in the ICC Champions Trophy for  tri-series in West Indies starting June 28.

<><>

The Union Council of Ministers was expanded today with  the induction of four cabinet ministers and four Ministers of State(MOS). The ministers who were inducted as Cabinet Ministers are   Sisram Ola, Oscar Fernandes, Girija Vyas and Dr K S Rao. Mr.  Fernandes has been given  the charge of Road Transport and Highways Ministry, Girija Vyas has got Housing and  Urban Poverty Alleviation, Sis Ram Ola,  Labour and Employment Ministry and K S Rao, Textiles Ministry. Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge will be the new Minister for Railways.
 
Manikrao Gavit has been made Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Santosh Chowdhury, MoS Health and Family Welfare,  Jesudasu Seelam,MoS Finance and  E M S Natchiappan, MoS Commerce and Industry. The newly inducted Ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by President  Pranab Mukherjee  at a function in Rashtrpati Bhawan this evening. 

Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi,  Union Ministers and senior congress leaders were also present on the occasion.
    
Our correspondent reports the expansion-cum-reshuffle of the Council of Ministers was necessitated by the exit of DMK  Ministers as well as resignation of Pawan Kumar Bansal, Ashwani Kumar, Ajay Maken and Dr. C P Joshi. 
                                                       <><><>     
The Prime Minister, Dr. Minister Manmohan Singh has said the people will again repose their faith in UPA government and   will have a third go as UPA. He was talking to reporters after cabinet reshuffle ceremony in New Delhi this evening.   Replying to  a question  on the possibility of Congress- JD(U) alliance, Dr. Singh said that in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies and the decision is taken as the situation evolves. He also termed Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar as a  secular leader. He said he would like all  secular parties to  work  together to  give a  clean and secular government. 
    
On a media query on Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, the Prime Minister said he is a natural leader of the Congress and has all  the right qualities of leadership. He said he will be very happy to see Mr. Gandhi step into his shoes.  Dr. Singh also said that Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi is no threat to UPA as people know what he stands for.
                                                         <><><>
Congress today said that  the split between JD(U) and BJP in Bihar  will have long-term impact on national politics and it  is closely watching the situation. Briefing reporters in New Delhi,  party  New  Media in charge, Ajay Maken  said that Congress will make alliance with like minded and secular parties in future. He said,  the party has also  formed a committee under the chairmanship of senior leader  A. K Antony who is looking into the alliance issues. Mr. Maken said  that Congress is moving ahead while NDA is shrinking day by day.  Very carefully we are keeping an eye on situation in Bihar.  And what happened in Bihar yesterday will have a long term impact on the national politics and no doubt NDA is shrinking, NDA is receding, is the message which comes from Bihar.

                <><><>

Telecom regulator TRAI today announced reduction in national mobile phone roaming charges, but said there will be no free national roaming as of now. The regulator in a statement also said that it has mandated two types of free national roaming plans to be provided by all telecom service providers. These changes will come into effect from 1st July.  The ceiling tariffs have been reduced from 1 rupee 40 paise to 1 rupee per minute for local calls and from 2 rupees 40 paise to 1 rupee 50 paise for outgoing STD calls while on national roaming.  Similarly, the ceiling tariffs for incoming calls while on national roaming have been reduced from 1 rupee 75 paise per minute to 75 paise per minute, the statement said.

                      <><>

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today favoured revising Foreign Direct Investment cap in sectors where it is not serving the purpose. Addressing a meeting of Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Finance in New Delhi, Mr. Chidambaram said that the Government is looking at FDI caps to see if they are serving the purpose or else, they will be revisited. He also said that the only way to contain the Current Account Deficit (CAD) is to increase the domestic production of oil and coal and restrain the consumption of gold.

                <><><>

The Reserve Bank of India, RBI, in its June mid-quarter monetary policy today, left its key policy, repo rate unchanged at 7.25 percent in line. Cash reserve ratio, CRR, remained at 4 percent. Repo is the rate at which banks borrow from the Central bank. CRR is the portion of deposits that banks are mandated to keep with RBI.  Consequently, the reverse repo rate will remain unchanged at 6.25 per cent, and the marginal standing facility, MSF, rate and the Bank Rate at 8.25 per cent. We have spoke to business journalist Jynto Roy Chowdhray.
     
RBI kept the interest rate stable today possibly because despite the fact that the inflation rate has ben coming down and manufacturing growth has not been much to speak of, it realise that the interest rate difference between Indian markets and Western market has actually shrunk, which is why the Foreign Institutional Investors, who are playing in our debt market have pulled off about  three billion dollars.  They would not like to aggravate the situation by reducing interest rate at this point of time and encouraging FII to pull out more from the debt market.

             <><><>

Flashfloods in river Ganga and its tributaries, triggered by incessant rains, today left a trail of death and devastation across Uttarakhand killing 30 people, injuring 19 and damaging over 160 buildings. Seven people went missing and a chopper and four vehicles were swept away as heavy rains continue to lash the state. This was disclosed by the Disaster Management authorities in Dehradun. A large number of structures including shrines, hotels, rest houses, commercial and residential buildings collapsed like a pack of cards in Rudraparayag district. Over hundred houses were totally damaged in Rudraprayag, in Pithoragarh,  Uttarkashi,  Dehradun, Tehri and Bageshwar. Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, who took information from District Magistrates on the extent of damage caused by the flashfloods through video conferencing, described  the calamity as a huge one. 
    
Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath roads and footpaths have been blocked at many places due to landslides. Thousands of pilgrims have been stranded at many places and being shifted to safer places. Jawans of Indian Army and ITBP along with BRO have been pressed into service to carry out relief and rescue work and remove debris . Looking at the inclement weather the pilgrim of Kailash Mansarover yatra have been stopped at Bundi in Pithoragarh district. In Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Pithoragarh districts many houses, bridges and roads have been washed away due to heavy incessant rain. In Rishikesh and Haridwar the river Ganges is flowing above the danger mark  Meanwhile, considering the seriousness of the situation the leave of all officers has been cancelled by the state government. Sanjeev Sundriyal,AIR News, Dehradun
    
In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, at least 15 people were killed in different parts of Saharanpur district as flash floods, caused by heavy rains in Uttarakhand, wreck havoc in the area.  Meteorological department issued a heavy rainfall warning for some parts of both the states.A bulletin issued by the Central Water Commission in New Delhi said river Ganga at Rishikesh in Uttarakhand's Dehradun district is now flowing in high flood situation and it may further rise.

In Himachal Pradesh,  the death toll has rose up to ten in separate incidents of house collapse and flash floods in the tribal District Kinnaur  since yesterday.  More than thousand tourists including state Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh are stranded in Sangla town of Kinnaur since Sunday morning. 

Power generation in Karcham Wangtoo, Nathpa Jhakri and other various small hydro power projects has been shut down precautionary measures after heavy silt in Sutlej. All schools in the district has been closed till 19th June. According to Deputy Commissioner J.M.Pathania,  local people are helping in rescue and relief works on Community Based Disaster Management at different places. Meanwhile,  Chief  Minister Virbhadra Singh has urged centre to provide financial help to the state. With Sita Ram Negi from Kinnaur, Shishu Sharma Shantal, AIR News, Shimla.

                <><><>

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)  has sent one of its investigating officers along with a Defence Ministry team to  Milan, Italy for attending the  trial related to alleged corruption by Agusta Westland and Finmeccanica executives in clinching the VVIP helicopter supply contract. The Italian agencies are probing allegations of corrupt practices against top executives of UK-based Agusta Westland and its parent company Italy-based Finmeccanica in bagging  the 3,600 crore rupees  deal for supplying 12 helicopters to India. CBI sources  said the Defence Ministry wanted a CBI officer in the team to assist it. The Investigating  agency has already booked former Indian Air force Chief S P Tyagi, his three cousins and nine others in this case.

                <><><>

Suspended cricketer Ajit Chandila, arrested in the IPL spot-fixing case, was today remanded to fresh police custody for three days by a Delhi court.  Delhi police said he was required to corroborate evidence collected from other accused after invoking Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).   Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Kumar Jain said that the matter is being investigated under the provision of MCOCA. The court directed the special cell of Delhi police to produce Chandila before it on June 20th.

            <><><>

In Chhattisgarh, a Naxal couple today surrendered in Bijapur district of tribal Bastar region. These hardcore naxals surrendered before I.G. of Central Reserve Police Force- CRPF. According to police both were members of a military company of Maoist and actively involved in several Naxal incidents in the region. The couple will be rehabilitated as per the surrender policies of the Centre and Chhattisgarh government. 

                <><>

THE BUSINESS WORLD
The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange climbed 148 points, or 0.8 percent, to close at 19,326, even as the Reserve Bank kept key policy rates unchanged, today. The Nifty gained 42 points, to 5,850.Stock markets in Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore ended mixed.   The rupee weakened 36 paise, to close at 57.87 against the dollar. Gold fell 50 rupees, to 28,250 rupees per ten grams in Delhi. Silver lost 250 rupees, to 44,350 rupees per kilo.And Brent crude oil futures rose above 106 dollars a barrel, while US crude gained 15 cents, to 98 dollars a barrel.Pradeep Kumar, AIR News.    

            <><><

The national selectors today decided to retain the Indian squad that is currently taking part in the ICC Champions Trophy for the upcoming tri-series in West Indies starting June 28.
The third team of the tri-series is Sri Lanka.  The matches will be played in Antigua, Jamaica and Trinidad.  In the on-going Champions Trophy, India have performed well by qualifying for the semi-finals with an all-win record in the group league matches.      

                <><><>

In the final Champions Trophy Group A cricket match at the Oval in London,  Sri Lanka have set a victory target of 254 runs for Australia.  Put in to bat, they made  253 for 8 in the stipulated 50 overs. Sri Lanka will qualify for the semi-finals if they win today's match.