Karan Adani, Anant Ambani in Maharashtra govt's advisory panel to achieve USD 1 trillion economy
Mumbai, Feb 6: Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekharan will head the Maharashtra state Economic Advisory Council (EAC) which also includes Karan Adani and Anant Ambani, a government resolution said on Monday.
Karan Adani, the CEO of Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd, is the son of Gautam Adani, who is battling allegations of stock manipulation and fraud in Adani Group raised by Hindenburg Research. The Adani Group has denied the allegations, which created a political firestorm and eroded his networth.
The Adani junior has been named as the expert on the ports and SEZ sector in the 21-member body.
The name of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, appears next to the "diversified" sector in the list of the EAC members. Anant is the Executive Director of Reliance Industries.
"An Economic Advisory Council as an Independent Body to advise the state government on economic and other related issues ," the government resolution said.
The council has domain experts from fields including textiles, pharma, ports, special economic zone, banking, agriculture, industries, engineering, and manufacturing.
The EAC will advise the state government on any financial or other policy matter referred to it, address issues of macroeconomic importance and present the council's views to the government.
Reacting to the GR, Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council Ambadas Danve, who belongs to the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena, has sarcastically said the state government should hand over the reins of power to Adani and others.
The 21-member panel comprises a chairman, three full-time members (who are top officials of the state government), and 17 part-time members.
Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Unilever Ltd; SN Subramanyam, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Larsen & Toubro; Milind Kamble Chairman, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Ajit Ranade Vice Chancellor, Gokhale Institute Of Politics & Economics are part of the council.
Senior bureaucrats O P Gupta Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department, Harshdeep Kamble Principal Secretary, Industries Department, and Rajgopal Devara, Additional Chief Secretary, Planning Department, are also part of the panel.
The notification said the role of the state of Maharashtra is crucial in the fulfillment of the objective to make India a USD 5 trillion economy.
Accordingly, the goal of Maharashtra to become an economy of USD 1 trillion is intrinsically linked with the national goal and the collaboration of private and public sectors will help to achieve it.
To study and determine parameters of key indicators in all sectors, as well as formulate strategies for growth in these sectors aligned with the objective of a "USD 1 trillion economy", involves extensive and in-depth consultation with various stakeholders in the state, the GR said stating the objective behind setting up the EAC.
The EAC will suggest measures for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and determine parameters for important indicators in all sectors as well as to formulate strategies for growth in these sectors linked to the objective of USD 1 trillion.
It will also submit the five-year plan document to the state government in accordance with the above mentioned matters.
Meanwhile, Ambadas Danve slammed the government in a tweet.
"Instead of running the government for Ashar and Adani why don't you hand over this state government to them (sic)," he tweeted along with a page of the GR with the name of Karan Adani encircled.
"The inclusion of Adani Group's Karan Adani in the Economic Advisor Council shows for whom the government is working. But this will not work in Maharashtra," he added.
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Rare polar bear showed up on shores of Iceland. Police shot it
A rare polar bear that was spotted outside a cottage in a remote village in Iceland was shot by police after being considered a threat, authorities said Friday.
The bear was killed Thursday afternoon in the northwest of Iceland after police consulted the Environment Agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, Westfjords Police Chief Helgi Jensson told The Associated Press.
“It's not something we like to do,” Jensson said. “In this case, as you can see in the picture, the bear was very close to a summer house. There was an old woman in there.”
The owner, who was alone, was frightened and locked herself upstairs as the bear rummaged through her garbage, Jensson said. She contacted her daughter in Reykjavik, the nation's capital, by satellite link, and called for help.
“She stayed there,” Jensson said, adding that other summer residents in the area had gone home. “She knew the danger.”
Polar bears are not native to Iceland but occasionally come ashore after traveling on ice floes from Greenland, according to Anna Sveinsdóttir, director of scientific collections at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. Many icebergs have been spotted off the north coast in the last few weeks.
Although attacks by polar bears on humans are extremely rare, a study in Wildlife Society Bulletin in 2017 said that the loss of sea ice from global warming has led more hungry bears to land, putting them in greater chance of conflicts with humans and leading to a greater risk to both.
Of 73 documented attacks by polar bears from 1870 to 2014 in Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and United States — which killed 20 people and injured 63 — 15 occurred in the final five years of that period.
The bear shot on Thursday was the first one seen in the country since 2016. Sightings are relatively rare with only 600 recorded in Iceland since the ninth century.
While the bears are a protected species in Iceland and it's forbidden to kill one at sea, they can be killed if they pose a threat to humans or livestock.
After two bears arrived in 2008, a debate over killing the threatened species led the environment minister to appoint a task force to study the issue, the institute said. The task force concluded that killing vagrant bears was the most appropriate response.
The group said the nonnative species posed a threat to people and animals, and the cost of returning them to Greenland, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) away, was exorbitant. It also found there was a healthy bear population in east Greenland where any bear was likely to have come from.
The young bear, which weighed between 150 and 200 kilograms (300 to 400 pounds), will be taken to the institute to study. Scientists took samples from the bear Friday.
They will be checking for parasites and infections and evaluating its physical condition, such as the health of its organs and percentage of body fat, Sveinsdóttir said. The pelt and skull may be preserved for the institute's collection.
A Coast Guard helicopter surveyed the area where the bear was found to look for others but didn't find any, police said.
After the shot bear was taken away, the woman who reported it decided to stay longer in the village, Jensson said.
