Oppn Show of Unity 'Anarchist' Alliance of 'Disparate Parties': Jaitly

Oppn Show of Unity 'Anarchist' Alliance of 'Disparate Parties': Jaitly

New Delhi: Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday, 26^th May 2018, termed the idea of a non-BJP front for 2019 elections as “fictional alternative”, saying aspirational India will reject the "anarchist" formation of "disparate political parties".

In a Facebook post on the fourth anniversary of the Narendra Modi government, Jaitley said the political agenda for debate would Modi versus an "anarchist combination" of such parties.

"A group of disparate political parties are promising to come together. Some of their leaders are temperamental, the others occasionally change ideological positions. With many of them, such as TMC, DMK, TDP, BSP and the JD(S), the BJP has had an opportunity to share power. They frequently change political positions," Jaitley said.

Aspirational societies with vibrant democracies do not invite anarchy, the minister said, adding that a strong nation and the requirements of good governance abhor anarchy.

Several opposition parties, including the Congress, are trying to forge an alliance to take on the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Prime Minister Modi has given 'scam-free' government and his fifth year will focus on consolidation of policies and programmes, he wrote.

Jaitley, who had a renal transplant earlier this month and has yesterday been shifted out of ICU, said the country's mood has transformed from despair to hope and aspirations in last four years.

"Good governance and good economics have been blended with good politics. The result of this has been that the BJP is more confident, its geographical base has become much bigger, its social base has expanded and its winnability has hugely increased," he said.

Attacking Congress, Jaitley said the party "is in desperation without the perks of office".

"From the dominant party of Indian politics, it is moving towards the 'fringe', its political positions are not of a mainstream party but one usually adopted by 'fringe' organisations. Fringe organisations can never hope to come in power," the minister's Facebook post noted.

"Its best hope lies in becoming a supporter of regional political parties. State level regional political parties have realised that the marginalised Congress can at best be either a junior partner or a marginal supporter," he said.

Demonetisation: With anger rising, govt eases withdrawal norms

Demonetisation: With anger rising,
 govt eases withdrawal norms

New Delhi:  With public anger rising across the country over limited cash availability, the government tonight eased key restrictions including raising daily withdrawal limit from bank counters and ATM as well as hiking the amount of old and now defunct currency notes that can be exchanged.

To augment cash supplies, newly printed hard-to-fake Rs 500 notes were also released in market.

After a review by Finance ministry, the limit of old and now defunct Rs 500 and Rs 1000 rupee notes that can be exchanged for freshly minted Rs 2000 and new Rs 500 notes was increased from Rs 4000 to Rs 4500 per day.

Cash withdrawal limit at ATMs was hiked to Rs 2,500 from Rs 2,000 a day.

The weekly limit of Rs 20,000 for withdrawal from bank counters has been increased to Rs 24,000. The maximum limit of Rs 10,000 per day on such withdrawals has been removed, the ministry said in a statement.

"Banks have been advised to increase the issuance and use of mobile wallets and debit/credit cards as also to provide them to those customers and establishments not having access to these non-cash means of payment," it said.

Also, the last date for submission of the annual life certificate for the government pensioners which is to be submitted in November every year has been extended up to January 15, 2017. 

Jaitley regrets inconvenience,urges patience

Jaitley regrets inconvenience,urges patience

Around Rs 2 lakh crore deposited

New Delhi: Amid rising anger among people across India over exchanging the scrapped currency, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday, 12^th November  2016, regretted hardships caused due to withdrawal of high denomination notes but advised the public to be patient as the move will have larger benefits for the economy in long term.

He said it may take up to 3 weeks for all the 2 lakh cash vending ATMs to operate normally as each one has to be calibrated individually to dispense new sized notes of Indian Rupees (INR) 2000 and Indian Rupees 500 besides lower denomination currency of Indian Rupee 100.

Assuring that RBI and banks have stacked up enough currency to replace the INR 14 lakh crore worth of INR 1000/500 notes that have been declared invalid, he said the government is constantly monitoring the situation as it is a "massive operation".

As banks have been asked to remain open this weekend to cope with the rush, the Finance Ministry held a video- conference call with top Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials to assess the emerging situation and coordinate currency distribution across the country.

At a hurriedly called press conference, Jaitley urged people not to flock the banks to exchange the now-defunct banknotes, asking them to stagger it over the 50-day window provided by the government for the purpose.

The briefing, second in three days, was called after anger and chaos over never-ending queues were witnessed at banks that struggled to exchange old notes and give out newer INR 2000 notes and smaller denomination currency.

Hardly 40 per cent of the ATMs were operating in the country and they too ran out of cash within hours. The new INR 500 note was available only in Delhi and Mumbai and RBI has already started releasing soiled INR 100 notes to cope with the demand.

"ATMs could not have been calibrated (before the announcement) because of secrecy issue. Thousands of people are involved in recalibration exercise (and) secrecy could not have been maintained. Recalibration takes at least 2-3 weeks," he said.

Terming demonetisation as a massive operation, he said there will be inconvenience in the first few days "but the long term advantages of this are to the overall economy".

"It is a regret that people are being inconvenienced. Because a replacement of this magnitude will cause inconvenience as you have to go to the bank, you have to stand in a queue," he said. In the short run, he said, some "obvious" disruption will be caused in the short term.

Around Rs 2 lakh crore has been deposited till 12.15 pm on Saturday in banks across the country, following demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, Jaitly added.

“The largest banker in the country State Bank of India (SBI) saw deposits of Rs 47,868 crore till Saturday afternoon,” Jaitley said while briefing the media here.

He said SBI’s deposit is around 20 per cent of the total deposits in all the banks in the country.