Who should be made to sit in the corner?
There is a practice of making irresponsible students sit in a corner if they violate the class rules or fail to complete their homework. The humiliation this student suffers in front of everyone is simply unfathomable. Sometimes judges follow this to the core. They make some witnesses plundering lies sit in the corner of the court till the workday ends. But these are really given to those small robbers, thieves etc. But in Modi’s India, this punishment has been given to the officer heading one of the most premier institutions of India, the CBI.
The court had ordered that CBI Joint Director Arun Kumar Sharma who was investigating the case of Bihar Shelter home sexual harassment case should not be transferred. But CBI former Chief Nageswara Rao had violated this. Hence the court not only penalized Rao to the tune of Rs one lakh, but also made him sit in the corner like a petty criminal. Having lost its entire credibility, the CBI was subjected to another humiliating phase with this. This is a big warning to officers in various posts who are trying to circumvent the constitution paying heed to those who are encouraging them to violate.
Who actually sat in the corner over that order? Was it Nageswara Rao or the CBI? Who put CBI in this spot? Is it Narendra Modi? In some ways, it was not Nageswara Rao who was penalized and punished. It was actually a rap on PM Modi. Rao may have been the face of it, but the humiliation was caused to Modi. The country had seen with trepidation the way Modi had made CBI dance to his tunes. Initially he used the IT officers and then began to operate through CBI officers who were used like BJP workers or slaves of the ruling party. But when CBI began to raise its hood against the limited interest of the PM, they set CBI to fight against its own officers. Worried that the then CBI chief Alok Verma would be investigating the Rafale deal, the government brought one of its blue eyed persons to head the institution, despite the opposition even with the CBI. Asthana was facing corruption charges when he was nominated for the post of CBI chief. How can he investigate corruption charges against anyone else? When Alok Verma filed a case against him, it was dubbed as ‘clashes within the CBI’ by the government. Under this pretext, PM Modi sent two officers on leave and brought Nageswara Rao into that chair. Rao also had corruption charges against him.
Eventually Supreme Court reappointed Alok Verma. The government had one chance to rectify its mistakes and uphold the office of CBI. But it took a very narrow bylane without any dignity to spare and transferred Verma again. Verma saved his personal integrity by resigning from the post. Why is the government that claims that the Rafale deal is a clean one, get so petrified of Verma? Looks like PM himself has declared that he is guilty by sending Verma home with the sword of Rafale hanging on his neck. CBI officers began to work like they had extra constitutional powers. They transferred everyone who didn’t heed to their demands and requirements across cases.
In some ways it seemed like they were acting on the instructions of PMO. Because the transfer of CBI joint director A K Sharma who was investigating the Bihar case, couldn’t have been Rao’s independent decision. Without political pressure this couldn’t have been done. Now Rao has to bear the cross for the mistakes made by politicians. He stood guilty before the court and the country saw Modi in his place while he was at it. But then since people are walking without an ounce of shame, to expect that a punishment would bring some change is a tough proposition.
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Rupee hits all-time low for second time in a week
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 31 paise to settle at 91.99 against the US dollar on Wednesday, touching the lowest closing level for the second time in less than a week, amid increased month-end demand for the greenback.
Forex traders said the rupee opened higher as the US dollar index softened and a long-awaited trade breakthrough with Europe offered quiet reassurance. However, increased month-end demand for the American currency as well as the ongoing geopolitical tensions dented investors' sentiments.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 91.60 and touched an early high of 91.50, but pared all the gains to touch an intra-day low of 91.99 against the greenback.
The domestic unit settled 31 paise down, revisiting its lowest-ever closing level of 91.99 against the greenback. The Indian currency previously ended at this level on January 23 when it also hit its all-time intraday low of 92 against the US dollar.
On Tuesday, the rupee rebounded from its all-time low levels and gained 22 paise to close at 91.68 against the US dollar.
Analysts said the rupee opened higher as the US dollar index softened and a long-awaited trade breakthrough with Europe bolstered investor sentiment.
India and the European Union on Tuesday announced the conclusion of negotiations for the free trade agreement (FTA), under which a number of domestic sectors such as apparel, chemicals and footwear will get duty-free entry into the 27-nation bloc, while the EU will get access to the Indian market at concessional duty for cars and wines, an official said.
The deal has been dubbed the "mother of all deals" as it will create a market of about 2 billion people.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.07 per cent lower at 96.14.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.43 per cent lower at USD 67.28 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 487.20 points to settle at 82,344.68, while Nifty surged 167.35 points to 25,342.75.
Foreign Institutional Investors turned net buyers and purchased equities worth Rs 480.26 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
