NEWSTRACK

Lt Gen Manoj Pande to be new Army Chief

NEW DELHI: Lieutenant General Manoj Pande was April 18 appointed the new Chief of Army Staff. He will succeed General MM Naravane on May 1. The Vice Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Pande, will be the first officer from the Corps of Engineers to become the COAS. He has been Vice Chief of Army Staff since February 1 this year. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers (Bombay Sappers) in December 1982.

PM Modi may attend Quad Summit in Tokyo

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to travel to Tokyo next month to join American President Joe Biden as well as his Australian and Japanese counterparts for a summit of the Quad. Apart from Modi and Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is expected to attend the Quad Summit 2022, which Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will host in Tokyo on May 24. This will be the second in-person meeting of the Quad, a coalition relaunched by India, Australia, Japan and the United Nations in 2017.

Tata Steel Board to consider stock-split

MUMBAI: The Board of Tata Steel will consider a stock-split proposal at its meeting on May 3, according to a regulatory filing. The Board will “consider a proposal for sub-division of the equity shares of the company having a face value of Rs 10 each, in such manner as may be determined by the Board of Directors, subject to regulatory/statutory approvals as may be required and the approval of the shareholders of the company,” the filing said on April 17. Besides, the Board will also recommend dividend, if any, for 2021-22 fiscal.

WPI inflation jumps to four-month high

NEW DELHI: India’s wholesale inflation rose to a four-month high in March, largely driven by a surge in global crude oil and other commodity prices amid the Russia-Ukraine war. Wholesale Price Index (WPI)- based inflation, which has remained in double-digits for a year now, is expected to climb higher, economists cautioned. WPI inflation jumped to 14.55% in March from 13.11% in February, as per data released by the Commerce Ministry on April 18.

ED attaches Amway assets worth ₹757 cr

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth ₹757 crore belonging to Amway, and accused the country’s largest direct selling company of “running a pyramid fraud”. The attached properties include land and factories of Amway in Tamil Nadu, plant and machineries, vehicles, bank accounts, and fixed deposits. The agency claimed that a money-laundering probe by it “revealed that Amway is running a pyramid fraud in the guise of a direct selling multi-level marketing network”.

India to attend BRICS virtual summit in June

NEW DELHI: India has agreed to attend a virtual summit of leaders of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa grouping, likely to be held at the end of June, reported a news portal. The dates of the meeting, that will see PM Modi on the same platform as Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and leaders of Brazil and South Africa for the first time since the Ukraine war began, are still being finalised, although June 23-24 have been suggested, it said.

Ruckus in Calcutta HC unprecedented: Guv

KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has said a ruckus in the Calcutta High Court was “unprecedented and shocking”. Referring to the recent protest outside the courtroom of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay by a section of lawyers, Dhankhar said, “Whatever happened in the High Court was unprecedented and shocking. If access to justice is obstructed, where’s the democracy then? It is unacceptable.”

India is headed for robust growth: FM

WASHINGTON: Describing the economy’s recovery from the pandemic as “distinct’ and ‘pronounced”, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on April 18 exuded confidence about India posting robust economic growth this decade. “So, as we look at India, given the pandemic and the recovery from it, and also where we stand today, we see the decade before us…2030 as a very robust decade where India would definitely be one of the fastest growing economy,” she said. She was here to attend the annual spring meeting of the IMF and the World Bank.

Centre notifies Act to unify civic bodies

NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Law and Justice on April 19 notified the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022, to reunify the three municipal corporations in the Capital. According to the Act, the three MCDs—East Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation and North Delhi Municipal Corporation—will be merged and called the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. All the liabilities, employees, and revenue sources of the SDMC, EDMC and NDMC will soon be transferred to the MCD.

RIL moves SC; seeks access to Sebi records

NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries has moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to give it access to certain documents that it thinks will exonerate it and its promoters from criminal prosecution by the regulator in a case related to the acquisition of RIL shares between 1994 and 2000.

PM: India tops milk production in world

BANASKANTHA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 19 said that India produces milk worth Rs 8.5 lakh crore annually, more than the turnover of wheat and rice. “Today, India is the world’s largest producer of milk. When the livelihood of crores of farmers depend on milk, India produces milk worth Rs 8.5 lakh crore annually, something that many people, including big economists, do not pay attention to,” he said while addressing a gathering after inaugurating a new dairy complex and a potato processing plant of Banas Dairy