HomeEconomy Rs 500, Rs 1,000 notes ban: While India plugs black money holes, Indians find leaks
Rs 500, Rs 1,000 notes ban: While India plugs black money holes, Indians find leaks
Indians are inventing ingenious ways to try and hide their money from the tax inspector, as the government attempts to flush out vast undeclared wealth by abolishing high denomination bank notes.
By: Reuters | Mumbai | Updated: November 11, 2016 10:48 PM
A man displays the new 2000 Indian rupee banknotes after withdrawing them from State Bank of India in Agartala. (Reuters) A man displays the new 2000 Indian rupee banknotes after withdrawing them from State Bank of India in Agartala. (Reuters)
Indians are inventing ingenious ways to try and hide their money from the tax inspector, as the government attempts to flush out vast undeclared wealth by abolishing high denomination bank notes.
The shock announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday gave people only a few hours to spend or deposit 500 and 1,000 rupee bills before they were abolished, although plans are in place to allow a more gradual conversion to new notes.
Those plans involve depositing old bills in bank accounts, however, where they can be seen and analysed, and, as millions of Indians scramble to convert savings using this method, some with piles of so-called “black money” are looking for loopholes.
Retailers and wedding planners say they have been inundated with frantic calls from people looking to bring forward large-item purchases from anyone willing to accept the old notes.
In Mumbai, a senior marketing executive at an event management company that organises large weddings has witnessed the scramble, and said his firm was debating whether to accept payment in the old money.
Like many others, he was unwilling to be quoted by name when discussing his customers’ requests.
“It has been a stressful day. Wedding clients are going mad,” he said this week. “One client called and said ‘I’ll give you 30 million rupees ($450,000) in (old) 1,000 rupee notes.’ There is loads of black money.”
That amount is not unusual for a wealthy Indian family’s wedding celebrations.
Others are looking to line up friends, domestic staff, and even senior citizens who are prepared to legally exchange the cash in small enough chunks to avoid scrutiny from banks.
Simply stepping forward and declaring the money is not an appealing option for tax dodgers, as banks have to report to tax authorities anybody depositing over 250,000 rupees ($3,765).
Being found to be holding undeclared cash can lead to a penalty of 200 percent of the tax owed.
TRAIN TICKETS
Other unusual methods of exchanging cash are appearing on social media.
One tweet described how people were paying agents for expensive first-class train tickets with old bills and then cancelling them later to get reimbursed in new notes, all in order to get around the tax man.
State-run Indian Railways was one of the few places still allowed to accept the old notes until Friday.
Anil Kumar Saxena, spokesman for Indian Railways, said ticket purchases for first class, air-conditioned compartments, the most expensive category, had surged.
“We usually sell about 2,000 tickets every day,” he said. The day after the demonetization measures were announced, that rose to 27,000, Saxena added.
Officials have caught on to some schemes.
The railways will refund tickets worth over 10,000 rupees booked on November 9, 10, and 11, but not in cash.
“It will be done by cheque, or electronically,” Saxena said.
A jeweller in Mumbai said he stopped accepting cash payments after someone he believed to be a revenue official lingered outside his shop.
Jewellers stayed open into the early hours of Wednesday, and one well-placed industry source in Mumbai estimated that about 250 kg of gold, worth an estimated 750 million rupees at spot prices, was sold in the city within a few hours of the ban.
The source said jewellers were paid anywhere between 20 and 65 percent above the going rate by buyers snapping up the precious metal with old notes.
Meenakshi Goswami, Commissioner of Income Tax, underlined how hard it was for the authorities to detect such activity.
“I’m not aware of anything going on,” she told Reuters.
“But (the) income tax (department) can’t be sitting in the marketplace unless there is a specific complaint.”
SHADY ECONOMY
The problem of the shadow, or “black” economy in India is pernicious. Transactions that take place outside formal channels amounts to around 20 percent of India’s annual $2 trillion gross domestic product, according to investment firm Ambit.
Shrinking it is a major objective for Modi, who is trying to get more money into tax coffers.
India’s tax revenue as a percentage of its GDP was 16.7 percent in 2016, compared with 25.4 percent in the United States and 30.3 percent in Japan.
Macquarie estimated the government could raise $30 billion in additional tax revenues from its scheme to withdraw higher-denominated bills, enough to significantly reduce India’s fiscal deficit, which in the previous year stood at around $80 billion.
Modi’s administration also implemented a tax amnesty scheme that brought in nearly $10 billion in undeclared income, while regulators are also trying to target unreported accounts overseas.
Bringing money into the legal economy without declaring it is proving tough. A senior citizen in Mumbai with around 500,000 rupees in undeclared cash told Reuters she split up the amount and opened bank accounts for four of her domestic workers.
Others say they are asking cousins, employees, and senior citizens for help to exchange the cash in the hope that it attracts less attention.
“For smaller sums, there are ways to change the money,” a partner at an investment firm told Reuters.
“But for large amounts, like 400 million (rupees) and up? I’ve tried looking. I have not found a way. Modi really is serious about black money.”
One of the major criticisms it has faced is that it has mixed up domestic black money and illicit money kept in tax havens abroad by Indians. These two need to be dealt with in different ways. Some part of the domestic black money is used in productive activities like real estate, trade, construction, mining, transport, restaurants and other businesses. The illicit money kept in tax havens abroad is, by and large, not used for domestic purposes unless it is round-tripped through share markets or foreign direct investment (FDI) to domestic operations.
Domestic black money is a no-confidence motion on the government of India while illicit money kept abroad is a no-confidence vote on India itself - its stability and its people.
Domestic black money is primarily dependent on the cash economy and tries to avoid formal transactions through banks due to fear of being captured by electronic systems and the tax authorities. So the holding of black money is usually in the form of cash and transactions undertaken in cash. This implies that substantial portions have to be kept in high denominational currency, since storing or carrying huge quantities of cash in small denominations is relatively difficult.
Another issue about holding cash in our context is this. The black money report says: "As of now there are no legal restrictions to keeping very large amounts of cash with oneself or transporting it from one place to another. One is neither required to report it nor provide any explanation for it. There have been suggestions that the government may consider amending existing laws, including the Coinage Act, 2011, the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, FEMA, and the Indian Penal Code, or enacting an entirely new statute aimed at regulating the possession and transportation of cash above a particular threshold limit. This may include creating a limitation on cash holdings for private use, as well as provisions for confiscation of cash held beyond such prescribed limits. However, such laws need a broader political consensus to emerge for their acceptance in Parliament."
We find that political parties do disburse cash to voters prior to elections and for which a huge amount of cash is held and transported from one location to another. For instance, one report suggests that in the recent Andhra Pradesh byelections cash valued at as high as Rs 32 crore was seized prior to the polls. These were presumably meant for distribution to voters.
An earlier report pertaining to last year's elections in Tamil Nadu suggested that Rs 24 crore in cash was seized by election officials.
There are many other reports which give us a clue that cash is held and transported in huge quantities not only for bribery at elections, but for other black money transactions. It is important that we bring in the necessary changes in the Coinage Act, 2011, and other relevant acts to make holding of cash above a threshold level, say Rs 10 lakh, punishable. This threshold can be arrived at by the Reserve Bank after taking into account the requirements for genuine cash transactions in the economy like marriage and religious ceremonies, wage disbursals in construction activities, etc. This limit should not be applicable to obviously banking institutions and corporates having construction/project activities where substantial amounts of cash disbursals take place.
In developed economies like the US, there are no restrictions per se in terms of holding or transporting cash domestically, unless it is suspected to be drug money. Even there, transactions beyond $10,000 in cash are expected to be notified to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by shops and establishments. Of course, there are restrictions on the amount of dollars one can transport during immigration/emigration. But since the US is a well developed economy, most of the transactions are conducted through plastic cards or banking channels.
In our country, cash transactions are more to avoid taxes and generate black money. The higher the denomination, the easier it is to transact and transport. Taking into account our situation, we should evolve laws to prohibit the holding of cash beyond a threshold level and this will go a long way in preventing disbursals for black transactions.
These two steps - demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes and creating a threshold limit for cash holdings - will facilitate a reduction in domestic black money transactions. These decisions will not eliminate domestic black money, but will help reduce it to some extent. Probity in public life comes in an incremental fashion since we have reached the nadir. Are our parliamentarians and other opinion makers ready for at least incremental steps to reduce domestic black money?
Rs 500, Rs 1,000 note ban: Two men die trying to exchange old notes, majority ATMs remain shut
Four days after Prime Minister Narendra announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the rush to exchange old notes claimed two lives on Friday. Two men have reportedly died in separate instances across the country due to the difficulties posed by the sudden demonetisation of high currency notes on Tuesday.
According to reports, a 73-year-old man died of heart attack in Mulund, whereas a 48-year-old man fell off from the second floor of a bank in Kerala while trying to deposit old notes.
As reported in Zee News and Maharashtra Times, 73- year old Vishwas Vartak was standing in a queue outside a bank in Hari Om Nagar in Mulund when he was seized by a heart attack that caused his death. The elderly man had been standing in the queue for 30 minutes to exchange the currency notes when the incident took place, the report said.
Though he was rushed to hospital by some people who saw him collapse, he was declared dead before admission, police said.
Allegedly, ATMs of various banks in south Mumbai, Lalbaugh, Parel, Dadar, Andheri, Ghatkopar and Mulund were found to be out of service and not dispensing money, forcing people to return empty-handed.
A 48-year-old man, who came to deposit Rs five lakh worth of scrapped high denomination notes in a bank in Thalassery, Kerala, died after he fell down from the second floor of the building on Friday.
Unni, a Kerala State Electricity Board employee, was filling the necessary forms to deposit the amount in a State Bank of Travancore's branch, located in the first floor when the mishap occurred, the Police told PTI, quoting preliminary information.
He had unsuccessfully tried to deposit the notes on Thursday and had come to the bank again in the morning.
Meanwhile, there have been reports of bank branches and post offices all over Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh that have witnessed serpentine queues of customers for the second successive day on Friday, waiting to get the new denomination currency.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on Tuesday night in order to curb black money, counterfeit currency, corruption and terror financing. The banks had remained on Wednesday, and opened on Thursday allowing people to exchange notes of old denominations and deposit it in their accounts.
All ATMs were shut on Wednesday and Thursday to help banks re-fill them reload cash, and were supposed to open on Friday. Despite that a large number of ATMs continued to remain closed due to non-availability of cash. And the cash in few ATMs, which were filled up on Friday, exhausted soon due to hordes of people trying to get cash, PTI reported.
People could withdraw only up to Rs 2000 from the ATMs which worked.
Those who had got exchange of Rs 4,000 on Thursday, in the denomination of Rs 2,000 currency notes also faced harassment as the notes were not being accepted by vendors, traders and shopkeepers in the absence of small denomination notes with them for the return of balance. On Friday, several banks were offering only Rs 2,000 currency notes due to unavailability of notes of lower denominations.
Some banks, however, distributed only Rs 100 denomination notes and the queues outside such banks got significantly longer due to easy exchangeability of Rs 100 notes at various shops and commercial establishments.
The customers, including women, started reaching bank branches and ATMs early in the morning as they were facing problems in purchasing day to day items, including vegetables and milk.
Heated exchanges were on at various branches with people stopping those trying to jump the queue.
Additional counters opened by various banks also failed to mitigate the sufferings of the people.
In what people are already calling a historic move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced the demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes.
First, people who have a lot of cash, legally earned, will deposit it in the bank. This will increase bank’s deposits by a huge margin.
This will also increase the lending activity because banks have a CRR (cash reserve ratio) to maintain and with more deposits they can do more lending.
Credit (loans) will become easier and interest rates may come down. More loans given out increases broad money supply and creates inflation. But this will happen slowly, not over-night.
What will happen over-night is heavy deflation.
Because people who have illegally earned this money may be afraid to deposit it in a bank. There are people with crores of cash, black money, earned through illegal ways, such as corruption, smuggling etc.
How ‘black money’ keeps an economy from flourishing
Some of these guys will try to find this money into a bank, but they have to declare it as income and pay taxes on it. Then the question arises - how did they make this income in the first place. Most of these guys will chicken out, count their blessings and just waste the money they have stashed somewhere in Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes.
This will reduce the total currency circulation in the economy - leading to deflation. Deflation increases the value of money that we have because the total money supply goes down but the commodities and things available in the market have not gone down.
[Example] If there are 100 widgets and 100 coins, each widget's value would be Rs.1. If there are 100 widgets and only 50 coins, each widget would cost Rs.0.50 only. Which means with each coin, you can buy 2 widgets.
The inflation and deflation will balance out each other on some level. But it is going to take some time for the inflation to happen because lending activities do not happen over night.
Deflation will happen first, for the next 6 months to 1 year. Gold prices will drop, stocks & commodities will drop. Everyone will get excited and congratulate the government for making this move.
Then slowly, as lending activity goes up, the broad money supply will go up and prices of all things would go up, slowly and steadily.
Now no one can predict the extent of the deflation and inflation. In an ideal world, if 100% of the people who have Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes have it as white money, then we would see only inflation. If a lot of these are black money and if many people decide to waste the money instead of depositing it, then we will have deflation in the short term.
If you see heavy deflation and heavy drop in prices, then it means that India has a lot of corrupt people who earned money in illegal ways, too afraid to deposit the money in a bank!
And my gut feeling says that we would see heavy deflation in the next 6 months. If you bet on this, then buy gold, stocks of asset-heavy companies.
Related read: Social media abuzz with talk of ‘NGC chip’ that makes new Rs 2,000 note ‘trackable’
What about Real estate?
It would crash slowly and recover quickly. That's because, in real estate, there is no index price like gold and it is fixed by the market in a demand-supply balance.
Let's say I have a real estate plot - a 40 x 60 plot which I bought for 1 crore a year back. Let's the say market value of it until yesterday was 1.5 crores. I would still think that the value of it would be 1.5 crores and I wouldn't sell it for less than that.
But if I want to sell it because I need money, I wouldn't get a buyer immediately. Because most buyers in real estate are doing the transactions in black money. Potential buyers would tell me that they don't have 1.5 crores in white money, so they will not be able to buy it.
With less potential buyers in the market and fewer people having white money, the demand for the land goes down and drives down its price. If I yield and sell it for 1.2 crores, I am driving down the market price in the entire locality.
Read more: What do Industry veterans have to say after PM Modi’s demonetization move?
Real estate crash will happen slowly because people will yield to the pressure slowly and start selling at lower prices because suddenly the pool of potential buyers have gone down. I predict that real estate prices would dip to lowest by end of 2017 and then start moving up again as inflation catches up.
[Currencies, inflation, deflation, payments and banking is a very interesting subject for me and I have read a lot of books on this topic. This is just my opinion, but I am bold enough to share this in the public domain. However, I may be wrong. Let's see how this pans out. Today is an iconic day in India's journey. History in the making. Nov 8th 2016! This would be a day to remember.]
Kerala police Monday suspended Peramangalam circle inspector K.V. Manikandan for allegedly insulting a gang-rape victim while questioning her. Manikandan was suspended as per the order of Thrissur Range IG M.R. Ajith Kumar.Kumar conducted a preliminary probe into the allegation leveled by the victim that the police officer had asked her "indecent questions" about the crime.
Manikandan is also accused of forcing the woman to change her statement. A 33-year-old woman hailing
from Thrissur, who was allegedly gang raped by four men two years ago, had in a press meet revealed that CPM leader and Wadakkancherry municipal councilor P.N. Jayanthan was among those who allegedly outraged her modesty.
The woman, a mother of two, had also complained about the 'insensitive and indecent' manner in which
the police questioned her about the incident.Actor Bhagya Lakshmi, who was instrumental in bringing the crime to light in her Facebook post, criticized the police officer for posing such questions.
The woman said though she had earlier filed a complaint in 2015, she was 'forced' to withdraw it after the accused threatened to kill her children.
Kerala police relaunched a probe into the incident. CPM suspended Jayanthan from the party and said it would probe the allegations against him.CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the party had promptly acted when the allegations were leveled."We will make sure such things which are not correct are not allowed," he told reporters here.
He also said the Thrissur District Secretary should not have revealed the victim's name. CPI(M) Politbureau member Brinda Karat said that naming the victim was a "mistake".
"We are not supposed to name the victim. So it was a mistake to name the victim," she said in Delhi.
Police have recorded the statements of the woman and her husband.
In another related development, Wadakancherry MLA Anil Akkara complained to the DGP that the victim's statement had been leaked.
He said the phones of woman police officers who took the victim's statement should be verified.
The woman had appeared before media here, alleging that she had been gang raped by four persons, including by the CPI(M) councillor, two years ago and was being harassed.
An armed confrontation between two Indian states, that too over water, may be unimaginable for many. But, on Quora, you would actually find people discussing the prospects of a war between the two rival states.
Laughable it may sound, but it is a pointer to the venomous rivalry that exists between the two border states. The ongoing violence in Bengaluru over the Cauvery water dispute is just a reflection of the strained relations between the two states.
Chauvinists on either side of the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border are always on a short fuse. Such is the nature of the Kannadiga-Tamil rivalry that violence can erupt even after a minor spark, sometimes even without it.
In 2000, when Kannadiga superstar Rajkumar was kidnapped by Veerappan, violence broke out in Karnataka simply because the brigand happened to be a Tamil. For almost 75 days, while the actor remained in Veerappan's custody, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu remained on the edge, with sporadic violence threatening peace in both states.
Considering the volatile nature of relations between the two states, the emotive issue of sharing of Cauvery waters was expected to trigger violence in the two states. Kannadigas are averse to sharing water from the Cauvery basin with their neighbouring states. So, the Supreme Court order directing the Siddaramaiah government to release 15,000 cusecs water (later revised to 12,000 cusecs) to Tamil Nadu was meant to create ripples in the two states.
The dispute over sharing of Cauvery water dates back to the 19th century. Several governments, court orders and arbitration panels have failed to resolve the row, primarily because the Kannadigas do not believe in the lower riparian rights of downstream states, especially during the low-monsoon years.
As this article in The Wire argues, Karnataka has historical reasons to be upset about the quantum of water to be shared with neighbouring states. Girish Nikam writes that the Cholas built reservoirs and check dams in Tamil Nadu in the 10th century, while the rulers of Mysore built Krishna Raja Sagara, the first major reservoir, in 1934.
Karnataka's politics, where no party can afford to be seen compromising the riparian rights of Kannadigas, further contributed to the problem. At an all-party meeting in Karnataka to discuss the SC order on water sharing, even the BJP leaders argued that the order not be implemented. On cue, CM Siddaramaiah dispatched a missive to the Prime Minister, seeking the Centre's intervention and arguing that Tamil Nadu has enough water this season to address its needs.
To this dangerous mix, the media and Twitterati have added more poison by spreading rumours, videos and inflammatory messages. Television channels in both the states, reports say, are playing up incidents of attacks on Kannadigas and Tamils, leading to retaliatory violence.
According to The Indian Express, the fire was reignited on Monday by TV channels playing the regional card. Some television channels, on Monday, showed images of the Kannadiga-owned New Woodlands Hotel in Chennai being attacked with petrol bombs. The reports suggested that it was in retaliation to the attacks on Tamils. Images of a Kannadiga being beaten up by Tamil activists and buses being vandalised were also shown, the report added.
"We will also show them,” a statement made by Vatal Nagaraj, a veteran leader who exhorts Kannada chauvinism, only indicates "retaliatory incidents in Karnataka," The Indian Express reported.
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are on the brink of another cycle of violence inspired by chauvinism, myopic politics and an irresponsible media, both conventional and social. Only by restraining all of them would this war between the two rivals would come to an end.
The Supreme Court will on Monday hear Karnataka’s plea to reduce the quantum of Cauvery water to be released to Tamil Nadu from 15,000 cusecs to 1,000 cusecs after violent protests on the sensitive issue paralysed life across the state.
The urgent hearing on a holiday was scheduled after Karnataka’s plea seeking modification of the SC’s September 5 order to release 15,000 cusecs of water for 10 days as immediate relief to Tamil Nadu farmers was mentioned before the court’s registry.
A bench of justice Dipak Misra and justice UU Lalit will sit to only hear the matter as the court is closed on Monday. The hearing was fixed after consulting the Chief Justice of India TS Thakur.
Read: Cauvery dispute: Conflicts, gaps and institutional spaces for reconciliation
The plea noted that Karnataka was facing “huge public pressure” and police prevented attempts to damage public property during recent statewide strikes with great difficulty. The application also referred to inputs from security agencies that said if the current flow of water was allowed to continue further, the situation “may go out of hand”.
The hearing coincides with the Cauvery Supervisory Committee’s meeting to decide on the quantum of the river’s water to be released to Tamil Nadu and other states.
The Karnataka government has demanded that instead of 10 days, the top court should restrict the release of water to only six as the state was facing a distress situation due to massive protests that inflicted daily losses of Rs 500 crore.
“Even the minimum arrangement mentioned by your lordships has caused distress and havoc in the entire southern part of Karnataka, paralysing civil life. The agitation of farmers has been that their dry crop is equaled with that of the farmers in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu’s need for the rice crop consumes more than twice the water which is needed for light crops in Karnataka,” it said.
The application sought to emphasize that farmers in Mysuru, Hassan, Mandya and Bengaluru had been squatting on the roads and streets, adversely affecting the IT industry – a source of huge revenue by way of income tax, service tax, and foreign exchange of USD 60 billion.
In its September 5 order, the top court had directed Tamil Nadu to approach Supervisory Committee, set up to implement the award of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, within three days for release of water as per the final order of the CWDT.
.Over 350 people have been arrested for vandalism in IT-hub Bengaluru, where buses were burnt and shops were damaged on Monday. 16 areas of the city are still under curfew.
After violence, which may potentially create law and order problem, domestic airlines including national carrier Air India and private carriers - Indigo, Vistara, Jet Airways - announced on Tuesday that they would waive flight cancellation/ rescheduling changes for flights to Bengaluru for a specified period.
Two people died in police firing after cops opened fire on protesters in Bengaluru's Rajgopalnagar area on Monday evening.
The protests have affected tech companies. Flipkart and Amazon said their operations had been impacted and TeamLease feared "mammoth losses". The streets were deserted all day on Tuesday. Buses were off the roads and resumed only in the evening.
In tweets on Tuesday morning, the police warned people against rumours. "Please do not blindly believe in messages circulating on WhatsApp," said one tweet. "Bengaluru situation is totally calm, strict action will be taken against vandals/miscreants," said another.
The Prime Minister has been asked by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to intervene. Earlier on Tuesday, PM Modi said the situation is "distressful" and added that breaking the law is not a "viable alternative" since it was causing loss to the poor.
On Monday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa wrote to her Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah seeking protection and security for Tamil-speaking people and their properties after 30 buses from Tamil Nadu were set on fire by protesters. Fearing backlash, many Tamils were reportedly leaving Bengaluru.
Trouble resurfaced in the decades-old dispute over the Cauvery river, which flows through Karnataka into Tamil Nadu, after the Supreme Court last week asked Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to its neighbor
The situation escalated on Monday after a court ruling indicated that Karnataka has to yield more water than it was asked to last week. Karnataka says it does not have enough water for farming or drinking. But Tamil Nadu has told the court its farmers will face a huge crisis without more water.
"The order is hard to follow but we'll still follow the Supreme Court order," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, urging people not to take law into their hands. He assured drinking water to Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya and villages of the Cauvery river basin till June next year.
Cauvery Protests: Karnataka Situation 'Alarming', Jayalalithaa Writes To Siddaramaiah
Describing the violence in Karnataka as "alarming", Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa wrote to her counterpart in the neighbouring state, Siddaramaiah, seeking protection to Tamil speaking people and their property, hours after he had made a similar plea to her.
Expressing concern, she said "hotels and properties belonging to Tamils in Karnataka are being attacked and damaged. This is an alarming situation and is causing considerable anxiety."
"I am concerned that the situation in Karnataka is serious with several instances of mob violence targeting Tamil speaking persons and their properties," she said in the letter.
Amid reports of escalating violence in Karnataka over the Cauvery issue in which Tamil properties including buses were targeted, she sought action to ensure safety for them.
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Cauvery Protests: Karnataka Situation 'Alarming', Jayalalithaa Writes To Siddaramaiah
Cauvery Protests: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa wrote to her counterpart Siddaramaiah.
CHENNAI:
HIGHLIGHTS
Jayalalithaa wrote to Siddaramaiah about protests over the cauvery issue
She said she was concerned about the well being of Tamils in Karnataka
She described the violence in Karnataka as 'alarming'; urged restraint
Describing the violence in Karnataka as "alarming", Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa wrote to her counterpart in the neighbouring state, Siddaramaiah, seeking protection to Tamil speaking people and their property, hours after he had made a similar plea to her.
Expressing concern, she said "hotels and properties belonging to Tamils in Karnataka are being attacked and damaged. This is an alarming situation and is causing considerable anxiety."
"I am concerned that the situation in Karnataka is serious with several instances of mob violence targeting Tamil speaking persons and their properties," she said in the letter.
Amid reports of escalating violence in Karnataka over the Cauvery issue in which Tamil properties including buses were targeted, she sought action to ensure safety for them.
"I request you to take immediate and effective action to provide all necessary protection and security to ensure that no harm is caused to the person and property of Tamil speaking people in Karnataka," she said in her letter to Mr Siddaramaiah.
She said, "the violence has escalated and a large number of vehicles, including more than 40 buses, 45 lorries and many other vehicles bearing Tamil Nadu number plates have been burnt and damaged."
Cauvery Protests: Karnataka Situation 'Alarming', Jayalalithaa Writes To Siddaramaiah
All India | Press Trust of India | Updated: September 13, 2016 08:32 IST
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Cauvery Protests: Karnataka Situation 'Alarming', Jayalalithaa Writes To Siddaramaiah
Cauvery Protests: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa wrote to her counterpart Siddaramaiah.
CHENNAI:
HIGHLIGHTS
Jayalalithaa wrote to Siddaramaiah about protests over the cauvery issue
She said she was concerned about the well being of Tamils in Karnataka
She described the violence in Karnataka as 'alarming'; urged restraint
Describing the violence in Karnataka as "alarming", Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa wrote to her counterpart in the neighbouring state, Siddaramaiah, seeking protection to Tamil speaking people and their property, hours after he had made a similar plea to her.
Expressing concern, she said "hotels and properties belonging to Tamils in Karnataka are being attacked and damaged. This is an alarming situation and is causing considerable anxiety."
"I am concerned that the situation in Karnataka is serious with several instances of mob violence targeting Tamil speaking persons and their properties," she said in the letter.
Amid reports of escalating violence in Karnataka over the Cauvery issue in which Tamil properties including buses were targeted, she sought action to ensure safety for them.
"I request you to take immediate and effective action to provide all necessary protection and security to ensure that no harm is caused to the person and property of Tamil speaking people in Karnataka," she said in her letter to Mr Siddaramaiah.
She said, "the violence has escalated and a large number of vehicles, including more than 40 buses, 45 lorries and many other vehicles bearing Tamil Nadu number plates have been burnt and damaged."
Stating that groups of protesters from Karnataka were regularly assembling at the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border near Hosur, she said they were threatening vehicles and commuters from Tamil Nadu.
Ms Jayalalithaa said she was writing to bring to Mr Siddaramaiah's "urgent attention" the need to ensure the safety and security of many lakhs of Tamil speaking people residing in Karnataka and of their properties in the light of the escalating incidents of violence.
Referring to his letter, regarding "certain incidents," in Tamil Nadu, she said "despite very provocative incidents that are taking place in Karnataka, absolute restraint has been observed in Tamil Nadu by all sections. We have ensured that no major incidents of any kind targeting Kannada speaking people or their properties have occurred."
Referring to the two incidents in Chennai and Ramanathapuram that was flagged by Karnataka, she said these were minor adding action was taken very promptly, cases registered and miscreants arrested.
"In any event, all precautionary measures have been taken and law and order continues to be well maintained in Tamil Nadu," she said.
"The protests by some sections in Tamil Nadu, including by farmers, have been peaceful and lawful."
She said the Tamil Nadu DGP was instructed to ensure that law and order is maintained and adequate protection provided to all Kannada speaking people and their properties in Tamil Nadu.
The DGP was instructed as soon as the directions of the Supreme Court on the Cauvery issue were received on Septemeber 6 and following telecast of violent protests in Karnataka by the media, Ms Jayalalithaa said.
CPM strongman Pinarayi Vijayan was today sworn in as chief minister of Kerala heading a 19-member ministry of the party-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) that had 13 new faces including two women.The CPM or Communist Party of India-Marxist will have 12 ministers, the Communist Party of India or CPI will have four and three other LDF constituents - the Janata Dal-S, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress-S - will have one each. Last week, the LDF wrested Kerala back from the Oomen Chandy-led Congress.
"This will be a people's government and will function for the welfare of the people. There will be no caste, religious and political barriers and we will function with that spirit," Mr Vijayan has promised. Among the pledges his newspaper ads this morning are safety for women and minorities, welfare of students and the elderly and a promise of new jobs and control of inflation.
The son of a toddy tapper, Mr Vijayan was picked to be chief minister over Mr Achuthanandan, the CPM's star campaigner.
Pinarayi Vijayan will take oath today as chief minister and is "committed to turn Kerala into a truly God's own country." Pinarayi Vijayan served for 17 years as the CPM's Kerala state secretary, the longest tenure ever. He has been elected to the state assembly five times and won this year's election from Dharmadam constituency by a margin of 36,000 votes.
The Cabinet of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government comprises 19 members.
Governor P. Sathasivam administered the oath of office and secrecy to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and 18 members of his Cabinet at the Central Stadium here.
Live updates:
04.47 p.m.: The swearing-in ceremony, a 48-minute affair, comes to a close. The Ministers will now attend their first Cabinet meeting.
04.44 p.m.: T.M. Thomas Isaac takes oath as Finance Minister. The former Economics professor from Alappuzha was Finanace Minister in the previous LDF government too. He has been credited with spearheading the People's Plan Campaign.
04.42 p.m.: P. Tilothaman will be the Public Distribution and Civil Supplies Minister. He is the third Minister from Alappuzha district.
04.39 p.m.: V.S. Sunil Kumar takes oath as Agriculture Minister.
04.38 p.m.: CPI(M) State committee member G. Sudhakaran will handle Public Works and Registration portfolios. The first president of the SFI in Kerala, he was earlier a part of Mr. Achutanandan's Cabinet too.
04.35 p.m.: K.K. Shylaja takes oath as Health and Social Welfare Minister.
04.33 p.m.: C. Ravindranath takes oath as Education Minister.
04.29 p.m.: T.P. Ramakrishnan takes oath as the Minister for Excise and Labour. Formerly the Kozhikode district secretary of the CPI(M), he won from Perambra. He is a member of the State secretariat of the party.
04.28 p.m.: K. Raju of the CPI, who won from Punalur, takes oath. He will handle the Forest, Wildlife and Environment portfolio.
04.25 p.m.: A.C. Moideen takes oath as Tourism and Cooperation Minister. The Kunnamkulam MLA had had a stint as CPI(M) Thrissur District Secretary.
04.23 p.m.: Mercykutty Amma, who won from Kundara, and one of the only two women in the Cabinet, takes the oath as the Fisheries Minister. She is also the CITU national president.
04.22 p.m.: The Minister for Electricity and Devaswoms is Kadakampalli Surendran. He won from Kazhakoottam and it is his second term as MLA.
04.18 p.m.: E.P. Jayarajan of the CPI(M) takes oath as Sports and Industry Minister. A three-time MLA and a first-time Minister, he is a CPI(M) central committee member.
04.16 p.m.: K.T. Jaleel takes oath as Minister for Local Self Government. At 48 years, he is the youngest Minister in the Cabinet. He was earlier the general secretary of the Muslim Youth League. He won as an LDF-backed independent.
04.15 p.m.: A.K. Balan of the CPI(M) takes oath. He was Minister for Power in the V.S. Achuthanandan government. The MLA from Tharoor will now handle the Law, Culture and SC/ST Affairs.
04.11 p.m.: Kadannappalli Ramachandran takes oath as Ports Minister.
04.08 p.m.: Actor Mammootty is in attendance at the ceremony.
04.07 p.m.: A.K. Saseendran of the NCP takes oath as Transport Minister. A five-time MLA, he won from Elathoor.
04.05 p.m.: Mathew T. Thomas of the JD(S) takes oath as Water Resources Minister. He won from Thiruvalla. He was the Transport Minister in the previous LDF government before resigning over differences with the LDF leadership. He takes the oath in the name of God, a rarity in LDF ceremonies.
04.03 p.m.: E Chandrasekharan of the CPI takes the oath as Revenue Minister. The CPI's State treasurer won from Kanhangad. He is a first-time Minister.
04.02 p.m.: CPI(M) Leaders V.S. Achutanandan, Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat are present at the swearing-in ceremony at the Central Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram.
04.01 p.m.: Pinarayi Vijayan takes oath as Chief Minister.
4 p.m.: Governor P. Sathasivam arrives for the swearing-in ceremony.
Vijayan was elected to lead his party at a meeting of his party leadership on Friday. Pinarayi Vijayan would be sworn-in as Kerala's 12nd chief minister on May 25 at the Thiruvananthapuram central stadium in the state capital. Generally, the new cabinet takes oath at the Raj Bhavan but this time, deviating from the routine, the LDF is expecting a larger turnout of invitees and hence a bigger venue.
Like in 2011, the LDF is contemplating a 19-member ministry. There would be 12 members from the CPM, including the chief minister, 4 from the CPI and one each from the Janata Dal (S), Kerala Congress (S) and the NCP.
The ministry will have eight new faces from the CPM, sources said. The names believed to be finalized E.P. Jayarajan, K.K. Shailaja, A.K. Balan, T.P. Ramakrishnan, J. Mercykuttiyamma, G. Sudhakaran, T.M. Thomas Isaac, A.C. Moitheen, K.T. Jaleel, C. Raveendranath and Kadakampally Surendran. Ponnani MLA and CPM leader P. Sreeramakrishnan is likely to be the Speaker.
CPI ministers to be new faces
Meanwhile, it is believed that all the four ministers from the CPI, the second largest constituent of the LDF, will be new faces. E. Chandrasekharan, V.S. Sunil Kumar, K. Raju and P. Thilothaman are likely to be the ministers from the CPI.Chirayinkeezhu MLA V Sasi will be recommended for the post of Deputy Speaker.It is believed that Thomas Isaac will handle finance while the department of industries will go to E.P. Jayarajan. Shailaja is likely to be the health minister. The decisions were taken by the CPM state secretariat, which met at AKG Centre, the party headquarters, here.
Pinarayi Vijayan is set to become the next chief minister of Kerala after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) emerged triumphant in the 16 May state assembly election.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, chose Vijayan, 72, over V.S. Achuthanandan, 92, a former chief minister of the southern state, who led the Left’s election campaign.
“We are very happy that in a unanimous decision we have decided that comrade Pinarayi Vijayan has been proposed as the leader of the LDF legislative party,” CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said while addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram. “We will put this forward with the other parties of the Left Front as well.”
The Left Front had refrained from announcing a chief ministerial candidate in the run-up to the election and both Achuthanandan and Vijayan had been seen as front-runners for the position. The two leaders in the past have had their differences.Vijayan is the only politburo member who has been elected to the assembly this time.
In the 140-member state Assembly, CPM-led LDF won 91 seats , UDF headed by Congress got 47 while BJP and Independents bagged one each.
Soon after the decision to nominate Vijayan to the CM's post became known, party workers at AKG Bhavan started celebrations and began distributing sweets.
“...considering comrade Achuthanandan’s age and physical limitations, we have come to the conclusion that comrade Pinarayi Vijayan will be our chief ministerial face,” Yechury said.
Commenting on the future role of Achuthanandan, Yechury said, “Achuthanandan is like the Fidel Castro of Kerala. He will guide and inspire the party.”
The decision was taken in a state secretariat meeting held in Kerala on Friday where a majority of the members were in favour of Vijayan’s selection. The meeting was attended by party general secretary Yechury and former general secretary Prakash Karat.
The move also comes as the party is making attempts to revive its organisational structure after fielding state and central committee members. This year, Vijayan contested elections for the first time since 1998.
The CPM is the largest party in the LDF, which secured 91 seats in the 140-member Kerala assembly in the vote count on Thursday. Analysts are hopeful of the state’s growth under Vijayan’s stewardship.
“Vijayan has a record of being a good minister and a reasonably modern-minded leader. Being a first-time chief minister, he would want to prove himself. Vijayan can provide a decent administration if he creates a good team from the 91 members that have been elected,” said Paul Zacharia, a Thiruvananthapuram-based political commentator and writer.
He added, “While making the announcement, Yechury shared the dias with VS (Achuthanandan) which in itself is a good sign. VS may have resigned himself to being a figurehead. If VS decides to keep his ambitions in control it will be a fairly smooth government.”
Born in 1944 to a toddy tapper family in Kannur, Vijayan served as CPM state committee secretary from 1998 to 2015. He is the longest serving state secretary and is known to be a grassroots leader. He has been elected to the state legislative assembly four times.
Vijayan became the minister for electricity and cooperation in 1996. Currently, he is a member of the central committee and the politburo of the party. He won the assembly election from Dharmadom in Kannur district with a margin of 36,905 votes.
Kerala Election 2016 Exit Poll
Pollsters UDF LDF BJP+ Others
India Today-Axis UDF 43 LDF 94 BJP 3 OTH 1
CVoter UDF 58 LDF 78 BJP 2
News Nation UDF 70 LDF 69 OTH 1 0
Chanakya UDF 57 LDF 75 BJP 8 OTH 0
Summary of Kerala Assembly Election 2016 Opinion Poll
According to a pre-poll survey conducted by IMEG (Institute for Monitoring Economic Growth), Thiruvananthapuram, the CPI(M)-led LDF is coming to power in Kerala in 2016. It appears that voters of Kerala are going to reject both the BJP and Congress-led incumbent UDF. The IMEG survey has projected the LDF to win 83-90 seats in the 2016 Assembly elections while the UDF will have to satisfy itself with 50 to 57 seats. The BJP-led NDA may see an increase in its vote share but it may not be sufficient to open its account in the Assembly. The IMEG survey was conducted among 60,000 voters from south, central and north regions of Kerala.
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Kerala Election Date 2016
Kerala Assembly Constituencies
LDF Candidate List 2016
Kerala Assembly elections: Times Now-CVoter opinion poll hints at the return of Left
According to a pre-poll survey by Times Now-CVoter and CNN-IBN suggests a whopping victory for the LDF as the anti-incumbency factor will lead to the defeat of ruling UDF. The LDF is likely to get 86 seats in the 140-seat assembly. The ruling UDF is expected to bag only 53 seats during the elections scheduled to be held on 16 May. The NDA, which is likely to eat into the vote share of UDF, will see 10% votes going in their favour.
Party/Alliance Seat Projection Seat Share %
LDF 86 44
UDF 53 41
NDA 1 10
Others 0 5
Kerala Opinion Poll by India TV C-voter
The opinion poll conducted by C-voter for India TV indicated that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) may stage a comeback in Kerala. If the report of the survey is taken at a face value, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s UDF will be ousted from power since it is expected to win only 49 seats. The LDF is likely to come back to power by winning 89 seats in the 140-member Assembly. There’s a slight probability of BJP-led front winning one seat.
Party Seats
LDF 89
UDF 49
BJP-led front 1
Kerala Opinion Poll by Elections.in
Party/Alliance Seat Projection
LDF 82
UDF 55
NDA 3
Kerala Opinion Poll by Asianet poll
(Feb 2016) As Kerala gears up to hold elections for the 140-seat assembly, the opinion poll survey indicates that the Left will win the polls. According to C for Survey conducted for Asianet, BJP will open its account in the state for the first time, and that too with 18% vote share. The 2016 Kerala Assembly elections opinion poll has predicted that LDF will win between 77 and 82 seats, thus securing the majority. The survey results indicate that the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) will emerge as the second largest party with 55 to 60 seats. The BJP is likely to gain three to five seats. It is to be noted that the Oommen Chandy-led UDF will get 37% of the vote share despite being mired in controversies and the LDF’s vote share will reduce from 44.94% in 2011 to 41%. The reason, according to pollsters, is eating away of the UDF and LDF vote shares by the NDA. The survey, which continued from 1-16 February, was conducted in 70 constituencies comprising 568 villages and 148 towns.
Party No. of Seats Vote Share
LDF 77 – 82 41.00%
United Democratic Front 55 – 60 37.00%
BJP 3 – 5 18.00%
Polling Agency: Asianet Survey Date: 1 Feb to 16 Feb 2016
Kerala Legislative Assembly Election 2011 Results
Party Seats
Communist Party of India (CPI) 13
Communist Party of Indian (Marxist) (CPM) 45
Indian National Congress (INC) 38
Janata Dal (Secular) JD(S) 4
Kerala Congress (Jacob) (KEC)(J) 1
Kerala Congress (M) (KCM) 9
Kerala Congress (B) KEC(B) 1
Kerala Revolutionary Socialist Party(Baby John) (KRSP) 1
Muslim League Kerala State Committee (MUL) 20
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 2
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) 2
Socialist Janta (Democratic) (SJD) 2
Independent (IND) 2
Total 140
