Patriarchy did not stop Indira Gandhi from becoming PM: Nirmala Sitharaman
Bengaluru, Nov 9: If patriarchy stopped women from achieving what they want in India, how come Indira Gandhi made it as prime minister, asked Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
She met the students of CMS Business School here on Saturday and discussed various measures undertaken by the Centre to support innovation as well as the government schemes available for young people, including the 1 crore internships for the ‘unemployable youth’ in the age group of 21 to 24 years old.
Replying to a question about women empowerment, Sitharaman insisted that patriarchy is a concept invented by the Left.
"Don’t get carried away by fantastic jargons. If you stand up for yourself and speak logically, patriarchy will not stop you from achieving your dreams," she advised the women in the audience.
However, she admitted that women are not facilitated adequately and that more facilitation is needed.
Answering a question about the prospects of innovators in India, the finance minister said the Modi government is creating an environment that is conducive to innovators.
"We do not just support innovation by bringing out policies," she said, adding that the Indian government is doing its best to ensure that such innovations find markets too.
As an example, she cited the support mechanism that is available for MSMEs. According to her, they are given priority in government procurements.
Sitharaman said that 40 per cent of all government procurements is coming from MSMEs. "That is why we have more than 2 lakh startups today in India and more than 130 have become unicorns. The opportunity is immense but is not fully utilised," she said.
It is the same with digital banking transformation that is happening in India, she added.
According to her, opportunities were created for the common people through Jan Dhan Yojana.
"India’s approach to spreading digital networks was funded by the government, while many other countries went through private players, resulting in some nominal charges somewhere. Because of this, even micro-level users also access digital banking without having to pay for it," Sitharaman said, and added that in the future this will only grow. "Therefore, technology will have to be continuously updated so that we don’t become redundant."
She also explained the concept of the 'Fund of Funds' offered by the Small Industries Development Bank of India, which is enabled by the Central government by infusing Rs 10,000 crore to help small businesses and innovative ideas needing support.
"Private equity funds are also backing this because we have given them concessions," she added.
As for the latest government scheme offering one crore internships to the unemployable, Sitharaman urged the students present to help get the target audience on to the platform so that more youth can become skilled.
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BharatPe fraud case: Delhi HC quashes lookout circular against Ashneer Grover, wife
New Delhi, Nov 12: The Delhi High Court has ordered cancellation of a lookout circular (LOC) issued against Ashneer Grover, the former MD of payment app BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, noting that the FIR lodged against them over allegations of cheating and forgery has already been quashed.
Justice Sanjeev Narula passed the order on Monday after the court was informed that another bench of the high court quashed the FIR on the same day.
The FIR was quashed by Justice Chandra Dhari Singh after considering a plea moved by the Grovers stating that they have arrived at a settlement with the fintech company.
In his order, Justice Narula said, "Although the copy of the order (quashing the FIR) is not available as of now, the aforenoted fact is not disputed by the counsel for the parties.
"In light of the fact that the underlying FIR has been quashed, the LOC issued by respondent No. 3 (Bureau of Immigration), in the opinion of the court, will not survive."
The LOC was issued by the Bureau of Immigration at the instance of Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in view of the investigation against the Grovers in the cheating and forgery FIR.
The court was hearing a plea moved by Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover seeking quashing of the LOC issued against them in connection with the investigation into the cheating and forgery case.
"Accordingly, the present petitions are disposed of with a direction to the respondents to cancel the LOC against the petitioners in their records," the court noted.
Earlier, the Grovers claimed that they were informed about the LOC for the first time when they were detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on November 16, 2023, while they were scheduled to travel to the US.
After being detained, they were informed that the LOC was operational from November 6, 2023.
In May last year, the EOW filed an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri, and others under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 and 468 (forgery), and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint was lodged by BhartPe, the fintech unicorn.
In its complaint, BharatPe alleged that Grover and his family caused damages to the tune of Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities, illegal payment to travel agencies, forged invoices by Madhuri, and destruction of evidence.
Madhuri was the head of controls at BharatPe before she was fired in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed several irregularities.
Subsequently, Grover resigned as the chief executive officer of the fintech firm in March 2022.
