BJP Leader Takes Dig at New RBI Chief Shaktikanta Das, Questions Credentials
New Delhi, Dec 13: The term of the newly-appointed Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das – who took over the post after Urjit Patel announced his resignation on Monday – is off to a rocky start with questions being raised about his credentials.
According to a PTI report, referring to Das’s master’s degree in history, Gujarat BJP leader and former minister in Narendra Modi’s cabinet, Jay Narayan Vyas said in a tweet on Wednesday that he hoped that the new RBI chief did not make the central bank itself history. Vyas, who was health and family welfare minister in Gujarat till 2012, has now been sidelined in the party. He lost the assembly elections in 2012 and 2017.
Since his appointment on Tuesday, Das – an IAS officer – has been the target of ridicule on social media over his educational qualifications and is being compared to his predecessors Patel and Raghuram Rajan – who hold doctorates in economics.
“To manage RBI you have to have a fair knowledge of the domestic and international economy. I respect IAS, the issue is that they’re exposed to a little of many things but the acceptance among the international community which earlier governors commanded (is not there),” Vyas was quoted by ANI as saying.
“I would wish that a person heading that bank may be a qualified economist. They are trained for general management. The management of the economy especially when it’s going through a rough weather requires altogether different kinds of talents,” he said.
Vyas continued his jibes saying that he “sympathised” with the new RBI governor because has a master’s degree in history and would have to “pull out a lot more at his age that is near retirement. He has to control and steer the RBI and answer issues like the use of RBI reserves.”
Besides a post-graduate degree in history, Das has completed an advanced financial management course from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and another in development banking and institutional credit from Pune’s National Institute of Bank Management. Das retired as Economic Affairs secretary last year and was subsequently made a member of the 15th Finance Commission. Das was also India’s Sherpa at the recent G-20 meet in Argentina.
The New RBI Governor Das's educational qualification is MA (History ) . Hope and Pray he doesn't make RBI also a History .May God Bless the New Arrival !!
— Jay Narayan Vyas (@JayNarayan_Vyas) December 12, 2018
Courtesy: thewire.in
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Never sought bribe from Shah Rukh Khan to spare his son in drugs case: Sameer Wankhede
Mumbai (PTI): Former NCB Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede told the Bombay High Court on Monday that he never demanded or took a bribe from actor Shah Rukh Khan to spare his son Aryan Khan following the latter's arrest in a cruise drugs case.
Wankhede's counsel, Aabad Ponda, was arguing the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer's plea seeking to quash the FIR registered against him in May 2023 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on charges of corruption and bribery.
Ponda told a bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Suman Shyam that Wankhede never demanded or took a bribe from Shah Rukh Khan.
As per the CBI FIR, Wankhede and the other accused in the case allegedly demanded Rs 25 crore from the actor to give a clean chit to his son in the drugs case.
However, Ponda told the court on Monday that the CBI has no evidence to establish that Wankhede demanded or received any bribe.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had received a tip-off about alleged drugs on the cruise ship Cordelia. A search was conducted in accordance with the law and a few persons, including Aryan Khan, were arrested, the counsel added.
The high court said it would continue hearing the plea further on Tuesday.
The CBI had registered the case against Wankhede and others on charges of criminal conspiracy (Indian Penal Code section 120-B), and threat of extortion (388 IPC), as well as bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from the NCB.
Aryan Khan was arrested in the alleged drug bust case on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021.
Later, the NCB filed a charge sheet in the case against 14 accused, but gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan.
The much-hyped case took a twist in 2021 when an 'independent witness' claimed that an NCB official and other persons, including a witness, demanded Rs 25 crore to let off Aryan Khan.
The NCB later conducted an internal vigilance probe against Wankhede and others and shared the contents with the CBI, leading to the registration of the case against him.
Based on the CBI's FIR, the Enforcement Directorate also registered a case against Wankhede, accusing him of money laundering.
