Murli Manohar Joshi-led panel slams govt over NPAs
At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing the "chowkidar-chor-hai" charge from Congress president Rahul Gandhi, a parliamentary panel has triggered more political trouble for him.
The Estimates Committee of Parliament headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Murli Manohar Joshi has asked the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to depose and provide details on what action the government initiated on a list of large corporate houses, which had amassed a large amount of non-performing assets (NPAs).
The list was submitted to the PMO by ex-Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chief Raghuram Rajan during his tenure.
This is not the only salvo fired at the government by Joshi.
The Joshi-led committee has also sent notices to the coal and power ministries asking for explanations on mounting NPAs in the sectors. Rajan in his note had flagged the two sectors for their contributions to the NPAs. The coal ministry is headed by high-profile minister Piyush Goyal and he was also the power minister before RK Singh was given the charge.
Joshi has been sidelined by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah leadership. He was removed from the top decision-making bodies of the BJP like the parliamentary board along with LK Advani and sent to an ineffective 'margdarshak mandal' after BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014.
Sources in the committee said that the PMO was sent a "notice" by the Lok Sabha committee to depose before it and provide details of the probe or legal proceedings initiated against the list submitted by Raghuram Rajan.
The Estimates Committee had asked for Rajan's "help" to resolve the mounting NPAs problem.
In his reply to the committee Rajan had said, "The RBI set up a fraud-monitoring cell when I was governor to coordinate the early reporting of fraud cases to the investigative agencies. I also sent a list of high-profile cases to the PMO urging that we coordinate action to bring at least one or two to book. I am not aware of progress on this front. This is a matter that should be addressed with urgency."
The opposition had slammed the government over this "revelation" by the ex-RBI governor, though Rajan has also backed the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government by saying in his note that "most NPAs originated in the 2006-08 period when the UPA [United Progressive Alliance] was in power".
Rajan had said that he had sought "coordinated investigation into corporates committing frauds with bank funds". He had stated that he told the PMO that it should set an example and act as a "deterrent" if a "high-profile fraud NPA was made an example of".
The fact that Rajan, in his note to the committee said that he was "unaware" of action taken, if any, on those who he had listed has armed the opposition.
Meanwhile, all is not well in the estimates committee too. Sources say that some BJP members of the committee are not happy with the actions of the committee chairman MM Joshi.
In the past few months there have been protests by BJP MPs present in the committee. Sources said Nishikant Dubey, a BJP MP, had staged a walk out of a meeting in which former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian was deposing.
Joshi has left quite a few BJP leaders red-faced. In an article he had raised issues like 'raj dharma' and the duty of a king. In another meeting Joshi had told finance ministry that NPAs were the collective responsibility of the government and not just one particular department.
Courtesy: www.indiatoday.in
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Tribal couple, son hacked to death over witchcraft suspicion in Jharkhand's Godda
Godda (Jharkhand) (PTI): A tribal couple and their minor son were allegedly hacked to death by their relatives in Jharkhand's Godda district over suspicion of practising witchcraft, police said on Tuesday.
The incident took place in Danga Tola under Deodanr police station area late on Monday and police recovered their bodies on Tuesday.
"A tribal couple and their minor son were hacked to death at Danga Tola in Godda. Preliminary investigation suggests the victims were killed over suspicion of practising witchcraft," Godda Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Ashok Ravidas told PTI.
Three persons have been arrested so far, he said.
"Police have arrested three persons in this connection. During initial interrogation, the accused told the police that they suspected that the victims were practising witchcraft," the SDPO said.
The axe used to kill them has also been recovered, and further investigation into the matter is underway, he said.
Deodanr police station officer-in-charge Amit Marki said the deceased tribal couple has been identified as Darbari Murmu (55) and his wife Maki Baski (50).
Their deceased son was around 12 years old. The bodies have been sent to Sadar Hospital in Godda for post-mortem examination.
