Narayan Rane : A Longtime Sulking Leader

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane is sulking for quite a time now. The veteran leader, hailing originally from Shiv Sena and having shifted later to Congress, is hanging around Bharatiya Janata Party's lobby to get a berth in the Maharashtra cabinet.

However, his hopes do not appear to come to fruition anytime soon as BJP choses to place him on its waiting list. On Wednesday night, Rane met BJP President Amit Shah at his residence and later claimed that the latter promised a Rajya Sabha seat to him in lieu of the ministerial berth. CM Devendra Fadnavis and Mumbai BJP President Ashish Shelar as also Narayan Rane's MLA son Nitish were also present in the meeting.

Rane's claim cannot be taken at its face value because BJP has made en number of such promises to him in the past but never fulfilled it. Again, Rane himself makes these claims and there is no word from BJP and that makes the matter even more curious.

Rane had formed a new party called 'Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksh' last October after quitting the Congress and had indicated his organisation may align with the BJP

The 65-year-old leader known for his outspoken nature has pockets of influence in the Konkan region, mainly Sindhudurg district. Rane served as the chief minister in 1999 when he was in the Shiv Sena but is presently the bete noire of the party, a reason why BJP apparently cosied up to him. The Shiv Sena has been bitterly critical of Rane, who had objected to Uddhav Thackeray's elevation in the party.

Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray had expelled Rane from the party following which the Maratha leader joined the Congress on July 26, 2005. He was made the revenue minister in the then Congress-NCP government in the state the very next day.

Rane is also known for his aspiration to become the chief minister, an ambition he has professed publicly on many occasion to possess. "I still have an ambition to become the chief minister of Maharashtra. It never dies. I will wait for the right time to come," is his popular refrain. He claims that Congress had promised him to make CM but never made him one.

There were speculations in the past that Rane would join the BJP. However, a large section in the BJP was not in favour of his induction into the party. Rane resigned from the Congress in September last year after accusing the party having reneged on the promise of making him the chief minister. He had also resigned as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.

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Talks with Iranian President Fruitful : PM Modi

The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has termed his talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as fruitful.
India and Iran on Saturday signed nine agreements in different areas after delegation-level talks between PM Modi and President Rouhani in New Delhi. 
The fields in which the agreements were inked include extradition treaty, Chabahar port, medicine and agriculture. 
In a joint statement, Modi said, he had a fruitful discussion with Dr. Rouhani on a wide range of issues of mutual interest. He said, the Iranian President's visit will further deepen and strengthen bilateral ties. 
Modi also said, both countries would like to see a prosperous and terror-free Afghanistan. He said, India and Iran are connected by common Sufi strain and want the region to be free of terror. 
The Prime Minister also thanked Mr Rouhani for providing leadership in developing Chabahar Port which is a gateway to Central Asia.
Both leaders also released a special postal stamp. Earlier in the day, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on the visiting dignitary and discussed ways to strengthen co-operation in energy, connectivity, IT, education, culture and people-to-people contact. 
The Iranian President was accorded a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan Saturday morning. He also visited Rajghat to pay tributes to Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi.
Rouhani will meet President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu later on Saturday.
The Iranian President, who is on three-day visit to India, arrived in New Delhi last night after his stay in Hyderabad.

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Thank God, 22 Indian Sailors Are Now Free

An oil tanker, with an all Indian crew of 22 members that went missing off the coast of Benin in north-west Africa, has been released by pirates after four days.

Officials said, all the crew members, who endured the over four-day ordeal, are safe. Director General of Shipping Malini Shankar said, the ship, 'Marine Express', has been released and is back under the command of the captain. She said all 22 crew members are safe and the ship has resumed further sailing.

The Marine Express was at the anchorage Cotonou in the Gulf of Guinea in Benin when it was taken over by pirates on 1st February.

In a tweet, Swaraj said she is happy to inform that Merchant Ship "Marine Express" with 22 Indian nationals on board has been released. The Minister thanked the government of Nigeria and Benin for their help and support in the release of an oil tanker with 22 Indian crew.

Yesterday Swaraj had spoken to her Nigerian counterpart to seek assistance in tracing the missing oil tanker. An official said all the crew members, released by pirates are safe and the ship has resumed sailing. The vessel was at the anchorage Cotonou in the Gulf of Guinea in Benin when it was taken over by pirates on 1st February.

It was immediately not clear if a ransom was paid to secure the release of the vessel and the cargo. The Marine Express was at the anchorage Cotonou in the Gulf of Guinea in Benin when it was taken over by pirates on February 1.

All the communication systems on the vessel were switched off by pirates before making it sail. In a Facebook post, the ship manning agent Anglo Eastern said the Panama-flagged vessel was the subject of a “pirate attack and seizure”, and also confirmed the safe release. The cargo of 13,500 tonnes of gasoline remains on board, the post added.

An official at the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) had earlier confirmed that the waters in which the vessel was taken over are infested with sea pirates. There had been a few incidents where the pirates had let off hijacked vessels and crew after siphoning-off the on board cargo without demanding any ransom.

In respect of this incident, DGS officials were in contact with the Indian mission in Nigeria, which was coordinating rescue efforts with local agencies. The ship went missing less than a month after another vessel, ‘MT Barret’, disappeared off the coast of Benin in January, and was later confirmed to have been hijacked. The 22 crew members of MT Barret, most of whom were Indians, were reportedly released after a ransom was paid.

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India Announces World's Largest Health Programme

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget 2018-19 in the Parliament on Thursday, where he had a challenge to not just realise the 'New India' dream by spurring growth, but also meet expectations of millions of people and different sections of society and businesses of the country.
World's largest government-funded health programme - 'National Health Protection Scheme' was announced. It will cover 10 crore poor and vulnerable families by providing upto Rs 5 lakh per family per year. The government will launch 'Revitalising of Infrastructure and Systems in Education' by 2022 with a total investment of Rs 1 lakh crore in next 4 years.
This budget is significant as it was Modi government's fifth and final full budget. It is also the first one after GST implementation. Clearly, the focus is on low-cost farming. He said besides 'ease of doing business', the government is also focusing on 'ease of living' now. “
Higher Minimum Support Price of all crops shall be increased to at least 1.5 times that of the production cost.Hardwork of farmers resulted in a record production of more than 275 million tonnes of food grain and about 300 million tonnes of horticultural produce,” FM  said.
The Finance Minister expressed hope that economy will grow at 7.2 percent to 7.5 percent in the second half of 2017-18. He exuded confidence that India is on track to grow at 8 percent.
He proposed to raise institutional credit for agriculture to Rs 11 lakh crore for 2018-19. National Livelihood Mission allocated Rs. 5,750 cr in 2018-19.
Bamboo is green gold and restructured National Bamboo Mission will be launched with an allocation of Rs 1,290 crore to promote bamboo sector in a holistic manner, Jaitley said.
Air Pollution in Delhi NCR is a cause for concern, special scheme will be implemented to support Govts of Haryana, Punjab, UP and Delhi NCT to address it and subsidize machinery for management of crop residue, FM said.
By 2022, every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal people will have 'Ekalavya' school at par with Navodaya Vidyalas.
Government plans to construct 2 crore more toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission, he informed.
Jaitley said the government has successfully implemented series of structural reforms as a result of which India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. He said FDI has gone up and Indian economy is now a 2.5 trillion economy.

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Another Addition to India's Naval Might

The Indian Navy today added to its naval might by launching the third Scorpene-class submarine Karanj at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited in Mumbai. Navy chief Admrial Sunil Lanba, was the chief guest on the occasion while his wife Reena Lanba launched the submarine.

Speaking on the occasion, Admiral Lanba said the submarine will undergo rigorous tests for the next one year before it is commissioned. a total six submarines are going to be built at the MDL. The submarines are being built in collaboration with French shipbuilding major Naval Group.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month commissioned the first of the six Scorpene-class submarine Kalvari into the Indian Navy and said its induction was a big step in the country's defence preparedness. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had then said that submarine building is a sophisticated and exacting craft which very few countries possess in their industrial capacity.

Karanj is the third of the six Scorpene-class submarines being built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited - MDL under the Project 75 programme. The first one, INS Kalvari, was commissioned on December 14 last year. The second one, Khandari, has already been launched and is undergoing sea trials. It is equipped with precision guided weapons and capable of launching both, torpedoes and anti-ship missiles.The submarines also have the ability to launch a crippling attack on the enemy using precision guided weapons. The attack can be launched with both torpedoes and tube launched anti-ship missiles, whilst underwater or on surface.

The contract for the construction and transfer of technology for six Scorpene submarines in series has Naval Group, formerly called DCNS, of France as collaborator and are being built by MDL.

The technology being used for construction of the Scorpene class submarines has ensured superior stealth features such as advanced acoustic silencing techniques, low radiated noise levels and hydrodynamically optimized shape.

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Budget 2017 Is Good News for Real Estate sector

The developers have welcomed the budget 2017 presented by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.  Provisions like constructing one crore houses for homeless by 2019  and raising PM Awas Yojana allocation from Rs 15,000 cr to Rs 23,000 cr are being welcomed.

Kishor Pate, CMD - Amit Enterprises Housing Ltd.:

The Budget has announced that 1 crore rural houses will be created by 2019, and the outlay for rural housing under PMAY is Rs. 23000 crores from the previous Rs. 15000 crores. This will help address the housing needs of the homeless and those living in 'kachha' houses in the rural areas, and potentially help reduce pressure on urban areas if it is in conjunction with employment generation

The total allocation for infrastructure is a whopping Rs. 396135 crores in 2017-18. This is very good news for the real estate sector, as the correlation of infrastructure with real estate growth is a well-established fact.

Affordable housing has finally been given infrastructure status. This will mean cheaper loans for developers of budget housing and significantly boost the Government’s target of Housing for All by 2022. The Affordable housing has seen a significant change in the Government’s existing scheme, with the qualifying size requirements now changed from built-up area to carpet area of 30 sqm and 60 sqm for projects within the municipal limits of the large 4 cities.

On the all-important front of personal income tax, the existing tax rate for incomes between Rs. 2.5 lakh to 5 lakh has been reduced to 5%, and taxpayers in other categories will also save Rs. 12,500. While this will definitely boost the overall consumption story, it unfortunately will not have any significant impact on housing demand. However, the FM did indicate that lending rates are likely to come down in the wake of the demonetisation move. A decline in interest rates would have positive implications on housing demand.

Anil Pharande, Chairman - Pharande Spaces:

Project completion timelines for affordable residential projects have now been increased to 5 years, which comes as a relief to developers of such housing as it will allow them more time to sell their inventory.

 The Budget has focused on improving rural connectivity through higher kilometers road construction per day. Also, railway stations redevelopment has received a shot in the arm, with 27 stations to be allocated in the current year. This will help connect more areas and create new development corridors. It has also announced that the PPP mode will be used for select tier 2 airports, and a relaxation of AAI Act for commercial usage of land. The Government will also announce a metro rail policy for implementation and financing of such projects, which will generate additional employmentand therefore interest in home purchasing.

With five tourism zones to be established via Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), we will see an increase in tourism to the focus areas, with a direct boost to hospitality. It will also increase appetite for second-home investors focused on the tourism-related rental income in these areas.

The Government has announced that 250 proposals for electronic manufacturing worth 1.2 lakh crore have rolled in. Obviously, this has a direct potential correlation to employment generation and therefore demand for housing in and around the identified manufacturing nodes.

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