Directed banks to saturate self-employment to bring the unemployment rate in J&K to its lowest
Jammu, Mar 2 (GNS): J&K Government is committed to bring down the unemployment in J&K to below 5% and for this banks need to put a well drilled mechanism for saturating the self- employment. This was stated by Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta while chairing the 9th Union Territory Level Bankers’ Committee meeting in Jammu to review achievements of banks and financial institutions operating in Jammu and Kashmir for the quarter ended December 2022.
Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Prashant Goyal, MD & CEO, J&K Bank (Convenor J&K UTLBC) Baldev Prakash, Chief General Manager, NABARD, Dr. A. K. Sood, General Manager RBI Neeraj Kumar and other senior functionaries of the Government, RBI, NABARD, Banks, line departments, insurance companies and Lead District Managers were also present on the occasion.
In his opening remarks, the Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta while applauding the efforts made by J&K Bank in providing coverage and credit to people under various employment generation schemes, urged other banks to follow the suit. He stated that employment generation is the major challenge the Government is facing and it was collective responsibility of all stakeholders to address the issue.
“Banks need to come forward and provide financial assistance to the unemployed youth who genuinely need it for achieving the gainful employment. We need to show empathy towards the unemployed youth in guiding them towards the path of prosperity and self-sufficiency through various credit facilities tailored in accordance to their entrepreneurial aspirations.
Chief Secretary impressed upon the banks to improve the ease of availing banking facilities so that the common people do not shy away to come under the ambit of banking.
Earlier in his welcome address MD & CEO J&K Bank, Baldev Prakash assured J&K Government that banks operating in J&K will extend all possible support for implementing the programmes and schemes aimed at entrepreneurial development, employment generation and poverty alleviation in Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.
While appreciating banks for 100% coverage of the unbanked villages by opening of banking touch points under National Strategy for Financial Inclusion Programme the chief secretary impressed upon the banks to expedite the roll out of brick and mortar branches in remaining villages out of the10 identified with population over 3000.
While hailing J&K’s performance under PM SVANidhi, he impressed upon banks to expedite disbursal under second and third tranche to the eligible beneficiaries in a time bound manner.”
Earlier General Manager J&K Bank, Syed Rais Maqbool while making presentation on the financial achievements of various banks in different sectors during the first three quarters of Financial year 2022-23 informed that banks in J&K have achieved 66% of the Target under Annual Credit Plan by disbursing credit of Rs.33,363.47 Crore to 10,69,626 beneficiaries.
It was informed that against the Annual Target to cover 30,410 beneficiaries, banks have sanctioned loans to the tune of Rs 1735.61 Crore to 42,354 beneficiaries under major employment generation schemes during current financial year.
He informed that under the ‘Back To Village’ and ‘My Town My Pride’ programmes of J&K Government banks have sourced 66,883 applications of which 58,446 applications have been sanctioned and amount of Rs.1099.88 Crore has been disbursed.(GNS)
Pottinger spiced up his testimony with a video of quotes by China’s paramount leader Xi Jinping that suggested hostile intentions toward the United States. Pottinger accused the Chinese government of waging “information warfare” on the U.S. and likened it to a series of magicians, calling the Chinese Communist Party “the Harry Houdini of Marxist-Leninist regimes; the David Copperfield of Communism; the Chris Angel of autocracy.” McMaster echoed that assessment and argued that some of the blame lies with leaders in academic, industry, finance and government who’ve exercised “wishful thinking and self-delusion” about China’s intentions.
But the hearing revealed stark differences in how GOP and Democratic committee members perceive the U.S.-China rivalry and the strategies to approach it.
Committee chair Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) laid out a GOP vision of an external facing “existential struggle” against China’s “ideological, technological, economic and military threat.” Democratic committee members countered with a more domestic-focused approach hinged to bolstering U.S. democracy and backed by government funding for an industrial policy that ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said could thwart China’s challenge “through investments in technologies of the future, workforce improvement and by fixing weaknesses in our economy.”
And Democratic members made implicit reference to Rep. Lance Gooden’s (R-Texas) statement on Fox News on Feb. 22 in which he questioned Rep. Judy Chu’s (D-Calif) loyalty or competence — a sign of the divides that could undermine the committee. “Calling into question the loyalty of Chinese Americans, as a member of Congress recently did, is as dangerous as it is deplorable,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.). Neither Chu nor Gooden are members of the committee.
Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi have also rejected Gooden’s comments. Still, the divisions on display at the hearing suggest they face serious challenges from day one in delivering on their commitment to keep the committee’s focus on China rather than GOP-Democratic bickering.
“Just because this Congress is divided, we cannot afford to waste the next two years lingering in legislative limbo or pandering for the press,” Gallagher said in opening remarks. And he warned that a failure by the U.S. to respond decisively to the Chinese government’s threat means “a world crowded with techno-totalitarian surveillance states where human rights are subordinate to the whims of the Party.”
That tone captures the growing congressional concern about China following the discovery and subsequent destruction of a Chinese spy balloon over the continental U.S. in February. Biden administration warnings that the Chinese government is considering providing lethal weaponry to Russia in its war against Ukraine have only fanned those fears. And a Department of Energy report leaked on Sunday that concluded that a laboratory leak in Wuhan, China sparked the Covid pandemic has renewed congressional anger toward China’s role in a pandemic that has killed more than a million Americans.
Bipartisan antagonism toward the Chinese government led the House Financial Services Committee to approve 10 bills on Tuesday aimed to rein in Beijing’s economic power. That legislation included measures that would target Chinese manufacturing of synthetic drugs, and commission a Treasury Department report on the global economic risks associated with China’s financial sector.
But while GOP China committee members focused mainly on well-trod U.S-China hot button issues, including the role of Chinese-sourced precursor chemicals in the U.S. opioid overdose epidemic, concerns about Chinese purchases of agricultural land and the plight of Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang, Democratic members called for domestic policy initiatives to offset challenges from China.
Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif) and Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) called for the U.S. to develop an industrial policy that would fund the development of manufacturers to supplant China’s dominance of global supply chains in areas including the supply of semiconductors for consumer products. “It provides dividends not only to our economy, but to our national security, to invest in R&D and invest in our manufacturing sector,” Stevens said.
There were no takers among GOP committee members. “The United States should not mimic the Chinese industrial policy and should not copy the Chinese command and control system. … We should not try to counter China by becoming more like China,” said Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.)
Democratic members argued, meanwhile, that facing down China’s authoritarian threat required a concerted effort to bolster what they described as America’s ailing democracy. Rep. Jake Auchincloss (R-Mass.) described the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection as a propaganda gift to Beijing. That day “was Xi Jinping’s best day in office,” said Auchincloss. “I hope the bipartisan spirit of competing with the Chinese Communist Party overseas extends to defending democracy here at home.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
The bills stopped short of major intervention into China’s economy, such as restrictions on U.S. investment. | Kiichiro Sato/AP Photo
A desire to restrain China united Republicans and Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee Tuesday, with lawmakers approving a series of bipartisan bills designed to rein in the country’s economic power.
The committee approved 10 bills with broad support, including measures that would have the U.S. government scrutinize financial institutions that serve senior Chinese officials, target Chinese manufacturing of synthetic drugs, and commission a Treasury Department report on the global economic risks associated with China’s financial sector.
The package also featured pro-Taiwan bills that would encourage Taiwan’s membership in the International Monetary Fund and exclude China from the G-20 and other global organizations in the event it threatens Taiwan’s security.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Kedarnath: Amid the news of a prescribed dress code, ban on Dakshina and mobile phones being spread amongst the devotees, the president of the Badri Kedar Temple Committee (BKTC) Ajendra Ajay has clarified and termed the news as misleading.
To make the arrangements for the Char Dham Yatra more accessible and convenient for the devotees, the BKTC had sent a team to study four major temples of the country. On the basis of that report, efforts are being made to improve the arrangements at Badrinath and Kedarnath, Ajay said.
He said that rumours are being spread about banning Dakshina in the Yatra which are entirely baseless.
The report submitted by the team is being discussed and the temple committee will not interfere in any way with Dakshina as it is the right of the Tirtha Purohit and the Pandits.
Ajay added that the staff in the temples are salaried employees who will not take any money from the devotees, instead donation boxes will be installed in the temples.
He assured that the devotees will not be pressured for the donations and it is solely a matter of faith.
On the matter of implementation of a certain dress code, Ajay said that the prescribed dress code will only be implemented for the salaried employees of the Committee after due discussion, for easier identification and access to help and information by the authorised people.
Regarding banning YouTube and mobile phones during the Yatra, Ajay said that no decision had been taken about this and it is still being discussed.
He added that an SOP would soon be issued regarding Darshan during the Char Dham Yatra.
New Delhi: Mayor Shelly Oberoi prepares to leave amid clashes between councillors of AAP and BJP during the election of members of the MCD Standing Committee, at the Civic Centre in New Delhi, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary)
New Delhi: Councillors of AAP and BJP clash during the election of members of the MCD Standing Committee, at the Civic Centre in New Delhi, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary)
New Delhi: Mayor Shelly Oberoi prepares to leave amid clashes between councillors of AAP and BJP during the election of members of the MCD Standing Committee, at the Civic Centre in New Delhi, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary)
New Delhi: Councillors of AAP and BJP clash during the election of members of the MCD Standing Committee, at the Civic Centre in New Delhi, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary)
New Delhi: Councillors of AAP and BJP clash during the election of members of the MCD Standing Committee, at the Civic Centre in New Delhi, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary)
New Delhi: Councillors of AAP and BJP clash during the election of members of the MCD Standing Committee, at the Civic Centre in New Delhi, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary)
Jordan’s panel has barely begun its work, but early indications suggest it will regurgitate a variety of right-wing conspiracy theories, some of them so convoluted that one would have to binge Fox News to make sense of them. Did the FBI strong-arm Twitter and Facebook into suppressing a news story about Hunter Biden’s laptop? Did the FBI surveil and intimidate conservative parent activists at local PTA meetings? Did Hillary Clinton collude with Russia in 2016 to sabotage Donald Trump’s presidential campaign? (If that last one doesn’t make sense, that’s because it doesn’t.)
Charles Grassley, the Iowa senator who testified before Jordan’s committee, gave the game away when he delivered a rambling statement focused on the purported criminality of Joe Biden’s family, something he claims is straight out of a “fiction spy thriller.” “This story of government abuse and political treachery is scarier than fiction,” Grassley offered. “It really happened. Help us write the last chapter in this real-life drama. You must relentlessly produce the facts and the evidence.”
Compared to the Church Committee, which investigated on a bipartisan basis crimes committed by intelligence agencies under both Republican and Democratic presidents, the Jordan Committee seems to have one objective: Get Democrats.
To understand just how different this panel is from the one it purports to model, it’s worth reviewing the history.
Watergate came as a shock to most Americans, including members of Congress, because it exposed shocking criminality on the part of high-ranking government officials. Not just the Watergate break-in itself, or Nixon’s efforts to conceal it, but far-reaching abuses by the CIA, FBI, IRS and other agencies against American civilians. Even members of Congress, from both parties, were slack-jawed. Since the advent of the modern security state in the early years of the Cold War, congressional oversight of domestic and foreign intelligence agencies had been de minimis. Most legislators seemed to agree with Sen. Leverett Saltonstall of Massachusetts, who in 1956 confessed that he was disinclined to “obtain information which I personally would rather not have, unless it was essential for me as a member of Congress to have it.”
In the wake of Nixon’s resignation, the Senate empaneled the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, chaired by Sen. Frank Church, a Democrat from Idaho. What the committee learned was astounding.
There was the criminality within the Nixon White House, of course. The committee laid bare a plan that Tom Huston, a young administration official, hatched to spy on and sabotage civil rights and anti-war protesters. In contrite testimony before the panel, Huston acknowledged that while the plan was inspired by legitimate concerns over radical violence, it posed a slippery slope from targeting “the kid with a bomb to the kid with a picket sign, and from the kid with a picket sign to the kid with the bumper sticker of the opposing candidate. And you just keep going down the line.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“It is important to remember that even if one of these former J6 investigators is not listed as a lobbyist on this specific account, the billings brought in by the clients listed below benefit all staff at the J6 investigator’s new firm,” he added.
It remains to be seen how effective the gambit will be, as the letter was sent only this past Wednesday. K Street firms have a major presence on Capitol Hill and their hires include figures on all sides of the political spectrum. But the group’s play illustrates the intense desire that exists among some conservatives to exact political retribution for those staffers who helped unearth extraordinary evidence of Donald Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election.
Jones confirmed the authenticity of the memo in an email to POLITICO. He railed against the January 6 committee’s use of investigative power, claiming that the committee and the F.B.I. forced some to “spend tens — sometimes hundreds — of thousands of dollars defending themselves from an overreaching and weaponized government.” He argued that conservatives should not be taking meetings with these lobbyists’ clients.
“My email was just a short list of people and companies they should stop working with,” he said.
“Until conservatives are willing to fight back against the swamp — in this case cutting off the lifeblood of lobbyist access — the swamp will never be drained,” he contended.
Among those listed on the memo include Casey Lucier, former investigative counsel for the committee, who was hired at McGuireWoods, a firm that represents Hertz Global, Perdue Foods, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and others. Other names listed were Kevin Elliker, another former investigative counsel, who was hired by Hunton Andrews Kurth. That firm represents Koch Companies Public Sector, NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, and Southern Company Services. Former committee staffers Marcus Childress, Heather Connelly, and Michelle Kallen had all been hired by Jenner & Block, the email noted, which represents T-Mobile and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
In his message, Jones also noted that the memo’s recipients were free to send over additional names.
Led by Jones, an alumnus of Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Tex.) presidential campaign, and Matt Buckham, a veteran of the Trump White House, the American Accountability Foundation has taken on controversial tactics to undermine Biden’s nominees. The New Yorker reported links between the American Accountability Foundation and the Conservative Partnership Institute, which has been affiliated with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and attorney Cleta Mitchell. Notably, Meadows’ attorney George Terwilliger works for McGuireWoods, one of firms listed in the memo.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Hajj Committee has this year dispensed with the practice of providing Saudi Riyals to the selected haj pilgrims for Hajj-2023.
In an official handout issued here, the authorities at Jammu and Kashmir Hajj Committee has informed that no foreign exchange in terms of 2100 Saudi Riyals previously provided by the Hajj Committee to selected Hajj Pilgrims on account of incurring day to day expenditure in Saudi Arabia shall be provided to the selected pilgrims this year by the Haj Committee.
Meanwhile in view of above, all the intending Hajj pilgrims of Hajj 2023 who are desirous to undertake Hajj Journey/get selected are hereby informed to obtain the required foreign exchange in Saudi Riyals at their own before leaving for Hajj.
Steil’s interest, shared by others on the committee, in using the panel to highlight both state laws that they support and make recommendations, though GOP lawmakers stressed they wouldn’t be requirements, is likely to spark partisan tension; particularly in an era of frequent, politically motivated challenges to election security.
“Twenty years ago, the committee was relatively unknown, because it didn’t cover topics that the broader public was interested in. I think that shifted dramatically,” Steil said in an interview about his plans for the committee.
Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) — who McCarthy pitched on joining the Administration panel — acknowledged he wasn’t “aware too much” of what it did before but has come to view it as “one of the most important and unknown committees in Congress” because of its lanes of jurisdiction.
And Administration has a more bipartisan history than the highly visible Judiciary and Oversight Committees, perhaps due to its relatively low-profile status that tends to attract less bombastic members to its ranks. When it comes to matters such as Blanton’s reported on-the-job misconduct, that increased freedom to work across the aisle may well spell more results in divided government.
Other higher-profile priorities of Steil’s, however, are going to test the panel’s bipartisan aura.
Two tension points in particular threaten to rip at committee camaraderie: how Republicans approach an investigation into Capitol security during the Jan. 6 attack and a renewed GOP desire to flex oversight sway over D.C. Steil and other Republicans are eyeing reviving legislation that would impose new voting rules on the district. The House has already passed legislation aimed at overturning a D.C. bill allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections.
Both areas are likely to touch a nerve with Democrats, though 42 of them sided with Republicans to oppose the action by the D.C. council.
Some of the committee’s work will remain bipartisan. Blanton’s ouster, for example, has renewed conversations about giving Congress the ability to fire the architect of the Capitol, who is currently a presidential appointee.
New York Rep. Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the committee, said in a brief interview that he, Steil and their aides have already had a “good series of conversations” about working together broadly. Morelle also wants to talk specifically with the Wisconsin Republican about empowering lawmakers to oust the Capitol’s top manager in the future.
The cross-aisle possibilities don’t end there. Lawmakers’ ability to own and trade stocks, where the committee has partial jurisdiction, has created unlikely cross-aisle bedfellows and GOP leadership interest in the past.
And there’s interest on both sides of the committee in reforming the three-member Capitol Police Board — comprised of the House sergeant at arms, the Senate sergeant at arms and the architect of the Capitol — which makes critical campus security decisions. Its structure faced new scrutiny in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack by a mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters, with two of its three officials resigning in the aftermath.
“I think it’s just a construct that may have worked twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years ago. I don’t think it works today,” Morelle said.
Where panel Republicans go first is still under discussion. The conference deemed the Administration Committee the new hub for the now-defunct Jan. 6 select committee’s documents, a potential treasure trove for Republicans who are eager to turn the investigative spotlight back on Democrats. A GOP committee aide confirmed to POLITICO that in doing so they also requested “the same access” to Capitol security footage that the previous panel had, which the Capitol Police granted.
McCarthy asked the select committee last year to preserve its findings. And in an apparent deal that has sparked fierce pushback from Democrats, the California Republican granted Tucker Carlson access to thousands of hours of Capitol security footage from Jan. 6, 2021. The parameters of the agreement haven’t been made public. Meanwhile, Morelle and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who chaired the Jan. 6 committee, are expected to brief Democrats on the implications of the arrangement Wednesday.
Focusing on the Jan. 6 committee’s work could be an odd fit for Steil, who isn’t known as a partisan bomb thrower. GOP lawmakers and aides say that identity makes Steil valuable on a panel that, should tempers boil over, could threaten to bog down basic operations of the House.
Steil’s vote to certify Biden’s Electoral College win also puts him in the minority of House Republicans as well as committee chairs. Thirteen of the 22 Republicans wielding committee gavels supported an objection to at least one state’s results, based on a POLITICO review.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) — looked at by the Democratic-run select committee because of a Capitol complex tour he gave on Jan. 5, 2021 — said in an interview that conversations are already underway about investigating security decisions during the next day’s riot.
“I think that is something that we do need to work on,” Loudermilk said.
The Jan. 6 select committee had looked into security as part of its investigation and pointed out certain failures in its much-anticipated final report. But much of the panel’s focus was on the actions of Trump and those close to him before, during and after the attack.
For now, Republicans are holding back on pledges to dig back into the work of the select committee itself. Steil said there would be a “role” for the Administration Committee but that he hadn’t “reached any conclusions as to exactly what that process will look like.”
Meanwhile, Morelle vowed Democrats would “strongly oppose any efforts to go back and create a revisionist version of history.” And even GOP Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), asked about revisiting either the work of the Jan. 6 committee or security during the attack, noted that there had been several investigations already and advised her party to not “continue to labor on that issue” and instead focus on staff and member security.
But a broader review of the Capitol Police is in the committee’s plans, and could be a foothold for folding in security decisions on Jan. 6. Members of the committee, in interviews, said they wanted to specifically look at the department’s culture, funding and training as well as to review member security amid increasing violent threats.
Additionally, while Republicans are likely to avoid any attempt at relitigating Trump’s 2020 loss when they get around to ballot security, the GOP priority is still likely to highlight partisan divisions even without stepping directly into the presidential election. Democrats view many new state-level voting laws implemented after the 2020 cycle as attempted ballot restrictions, particularly among minority communities. Morelle said the panel’s Democrats wanted to highlight expanding access to the ballot box.
And Republicans’ consideration of legislation to enforce new voting rules in D.C., including prohibiting same-day voter registration, has sparked backlash from the capital city’s House delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who warned it was a preview of the “wide-ranging home-rule attacks” a GOP-controlled House would launch.
And while Steil might be rhetorically low-key, he won’t back down from a fight.
“Washington, D.C. is a federally administered city. And so I think that that’s an appropriate place for Congress to be engaged,” Steil said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
New Delhi: The Central government has told the Supreme Court that the “truthfulness” of the allegations levelled by a US short seller against the Adani Group should be examined and a fact-finding exercise is required to be undertaken as a one-time measure and without making it a precedent.
In a note submitted in the apex court, the Central government supported the formation of a committee to probe the allegations made in the Hindenburg report.
The government said in view of the unprecedented financial loss suffered by the investors and in view of the complexities involved in the subject which requires urgent consideration, a fact-finding exercise requires to be undertaken as a one-time measure and a committee can be constituted with a former judge of the Supreme Court as its head.
The Centre proposed the committee could include the Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Director of the Enforcement Directorate.
“The committee shall have all the powers to undertake an effective investigation with all powers which are available under the relevant legislations regulations/rules, including every authority and power to avail all assistance and protocols for its investigation outside India,” said the note.
It added that this committee should have no reflection either on the ability or competence of Sebi and all other statutory agencies, and it should submit a report within a period of eight weeks.
The Centre said the committee should submit a report “regarding the truthfulness or otherwise of the allegations levelled against Adani group of companies in the Hindenburg report”.
The note added, “To ascertain and submit a report regarding Hindenburg’s admitted claim of taking a ‘short position in Adani Group companies through US traded bonds and non-Indian traded derivatives instruments’ prior to the publication of its subject report with all underlying transactions undertaken/made either by Hindenburg itself, its associated companies/concerns and/or connected entities/individuals, whether within or outside India in violation of any regulatory/penal/preventive or other statutory provisions.”
It added that the committee should ascertain and submit a report regarding the details of all undisclosed “short positions” and/or other transactions, source of funds and profits made by short sellers in India or abroad prior to and/or in near proximity of the Hindenburg report.
“Suggest measures to strengthen investor awareness including at the point of trade. Suggest measures to strengthen statutory and/or regulatory framework for further and better protection of investors,” added the note.
The Supreme Court is yet to issue an order on setting up of a panel proposed to examine investor protection mechanisms against the backdrop of the Hindenburg report.
