Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh State Industries and IT Minister Gudivada Amarnath unveiled the new industrial policy of the state governments in Visakhapatnam on Monday.
He also launched the YSR AP1 app related to industrial permits.
IT Minister Gudivada Amarnath said that Chief Miniter Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government has given priority in this new industrial policy to the sectors neglected by the previous governments. YSR has also launched a new app called AP1 to grant 96 clearances required for setting up industries in just 21 days.
The YSR AP1 centre will be made available as the Visakhapatnam and sub-centres will be set up in the district industry centres in the remaining districts of the state. Those who are interested in setting up industries in the state have been informed that they will be allotted land within 21 days. The state’s industrial development will be extended to all the districts.
Warehousing in the state has been given the status of the industry and incorporated into the new industrial policy. We are mainly bringing low-cost, low-risk business policies to the state. I appealed to the industrialists to take advantage of this industrial policy and contribute to the economic progress of the state.
Karikala Vallavan, Special Chief Secretary of the Industries Department, said why industries should be set up in Andhra Pradesh?, What are the specialities here? , A new industrial policy has been designed so that the entrepreneurs know about other aspects.
The central government has recognized that the industrial policy of Andhra Pradesh and the reforms undertaken by the government in this sector is good. The industrialists came forward to invest 13 lakh crore rupees only after inquiring about the industrial policy of the state, added Karikala Vallavan.
He also advised the industrialists to gather information about which countries need which goods and make products accordingly.
Director Industries Department Sujana said that plug-and-play facilities has been included in the new industrial policy operation guidelines. He said that priority has been given to port-based industries in the new industrial policy.
Sridhar, Adviser of the State Industries Department, Sravani Shipping Head Sambasiva Rao, APIDC Chairperson Bandi Punyasheela, and CII Vice President Muralikrishna also participated in this meeting.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday did not grant stay on summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to K. Kavitha, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
Kavitha had moved the apex court against her questioning and also sought protection from arrest by the ED regarding a money laundering case connected with alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Kavitha, submitted before a bench headed by Justice Ajay Rastogi that it is on the question whether she would have to be interrogated here or at her residence. Sibal added that summons were issued to his client for investigation.
The bench did not give any interim relief to her on protection from arrest or stayed the ED summons. However, the top court agreed to examine the legal point if a woman can be summoned to the ED office under CrPC/PMLA. The top court tagged it along with a similar plea filed by Nalini Chidambaram and Ruchira Banerjee, wife of Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed it saying that Abhishek Banerjee’s matter is different. Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, representing the ED, said summons have been issued and this petition is infructuous. However, the top court listed the matter after three weeks.
Kavitha’s plea said her name has not been mentioned in the FIR registered by the CBI in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi’s deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was also arrested by the CBI for alleged corruption in framing a new liquor policy, which was later withdrawn.
Kavitha’s counsel had previously told the court that she had appeared before the ED earlier this month but the repeated summons were contrary to law because the petitioner was a woman. “That despite the petitioner not being named in the FIR, certain members of the incumbent ruling political party at the Centre made scandalous statements linking the petitioner to the Delhi excise policy…,” said the plea.
Kavitha accused the ED of acting in “extremely shameful” manner and as per a “larger conspiracy orchestrated at the behest of the members of the incumbent ruling party at the Centre”.
The petitioner claimed the ED is eliciting false statements from other witnesses by threatening to place them and their family members under arrest.
“The petitioner believes that the investigation against her is nothing more than a fishing expedition being undertaken by the Enforcement Directorate solely at the behest of the incumbent ruling political party,” added the plea.
It further contended that the ED, in teeth of settled law, summoned her to appear before their offices in New Delhi and has confiscated her cellular phone without any written order for production of the phone.
The plea claimed that the petitioner apprehends that she would be physically and mentally coerced by the ED and stressed that there is no case against her.
The plea added that the only basis on which she has been implicated is on the basis of certain statements of a few persons who have given incriminating statements themselves as well as allegedly against her. Kavitha had earlier been questioned by the CBI in the case.
It has been alleged that Kavitha held benami investment in Indospiritis, a liquor firm involved in the scam. ED alleged Arun Ramchandran Pillai represented Kavitha in Indospirits.
The investigating agency has also alleged the South lobby, which included Kavitha, bribed the AAP government to formulate an excise policy to facilitate the companies to win the bids and to form a cartel and control the retail outlets in Delhi.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea by K Kavitha, Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, seeking protection from arrest and challenging the summons by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case arising out of the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
A bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi is scheduled to hear the plea by Kavitha.
On March 15, the top court agreed to hear her plea seeking protection from arrest and challenging the summons issued by the ED.
On March 11, the 44-year-old BRS leader was deposed before the ED to record her statement and was summoned again on March 16 for questioning.
She was last quizzed for about 10 hours on March 21, which was her third day of deposition before the Enforcement Directorate.
The BRS leader has denied all allegations against her.
According to official sources, Kavitha, during her questioning by the ED, was confronted with the statements made by Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai, who has been arrested in the case, apart from those of a few others allegedly involved in the case.
Kavitha’s statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Pillai was arrested by the ED earlier. He has moved a city court accusing the ED of forging his statements.
The ED had said Pillai “represented the south group”, an alleged liquor cartel linked to Kavitha and others that paid kickbacks amounting to about Rs 100 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party to gain a larger share of the market in the national capital under the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2020-21.
The “south group”, according to the ED, comprises Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Pharma), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (YSR Congress MP from Ongole in Andhra Pradesh), his son Raghav Magunta, Kavitha, and others.
The ED had also alleged in Pillai’s remand papers that he “represented the benami investments” of Kavitha, who has also been questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the case.
The ED has so far arrested 12 people in the case, including former Delhi deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia.
It has recorded the statement of Butchi Babu, a chartered accountant allegedly linked to Kavitha, where he said “there was a political understanding between K Kavitha and the chief minister (Arvind Kejriwal) and the deputy chief minister (Sisodia). In that process, K Kavitha also met Vijay Nair on March 19-20, 2021.”
Nair was arrested in the case by both ED and CBI. Butchi Babu has been arrested by CBI.
According to Butchi Babu’s statement, Nair was “trying to impress Kavitha with what he could do in the (excise) policy”.
“Vijay Nair was acting on behalf of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia,” the statement recorded by the ED said.
It is alleged that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licenses to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.
The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered the case under the PMLA.
New Delhi: A court on Saturday adjourned till April 5 the hearing on the bail plea of AAP leader Manish Sisodia, who has been arrested by the ED in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in implementing the now-scrapped excise policy in Delhi.
Special Judge MK Nagpal adjourned the hearing after Sisodia’s counsel sought more time to prepare a detailed response to ED’s submission on the bail plea.
Sisodia moved the bail plea on Tuesday and the court sought the Enforcement Directorate’s response by March 25.
On Wednesday, after seven days of questioning by the ED, the court sent him to 14-day judicial custody.
On Friday, the court reserved its order on a separate bail plea moved by Sisodia in the excise policy case lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Special Judge Nagapal said the court will pronounce its order on the bail plea in the CBI case on March 31.
The ED arrested the former Delhi deputy chief minister on March 9 at Tihar jail, where he was lodged in connection with the case being probed by the CBI.
Elon Musk pledged Twitter would abide by Europe’s new content rules — but Yevgeniy Golovchenko is not so convinced.
The Ukrainian academic, an assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen, relies on the social network’s data to track Russian disinformation, including propaganda linked to the ongoing war in Ukraine. But that access, including to reams of tweets analyzing pro-Kremlin messaging, may soon be cut off. Or, even worse for Golovchenko, cost him potentially millions of euros a year.
Under Musk’s leadership, Twitter is shutting down researchers’ free access to its data, though the final decision on when that will happen has yet to be made. Company officials are also offering new pay-to-play access to researchers via deals that start at $42,000 per month and can rocket up to $210,000 per month for the largest amount of data, according to Twitter’s internal presentation to academics that was shared with POLITICO.
Yet this switch — from almost unlimited, free data access to costly monthly subscription fees — falls afoul of the European Union’s new online content rules, the Digital Services Act. Those standards, which kick in over the coming months, require the largest social networking platforms, including Twitter, to provide so-called vetted researchers free access to their data.
It remains unclear how Twitter will meet its obligations under the 27-country bloc’s rules, which impose fines of up to 6 percent of its yearly revenue for infractions.
“If Twitter makes access less accessible to researchers, this will hurt research on things like disinformation and misinformation,” said Golovchenko who — like many academics who spoke with POLITICO — are now in limbo until Twitter publicly decides when, or whether, it will shut down its current free data-access regime.
It also means that “we will have fewer choices,” added the Ukrainian, acknowledging that, until now, Twitter had been more open for outsiders to poke around its data compared with the likes of Facebook or YouTube. “This means will be even more dependent on the goodwill of social media platforms.”
Meeting EU commitments
When POLITICO contacted Twitter for comment, the press email address sent back a poop emoji in response. A company representative did not respond to POLITICO’s questions, though executives met with EU officials and civil society groups Wednesday to discuss how Twitter would comply with Europe’s data-access obligations, according to three people with knowledge of those discussions, who were granted anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations.
Twitter was expected to announce details of its new paid-for data access regime last week, according to the same individuals briefed on those discussions, though no specifics about the plans were yet known. As of Friday night, no details had yet been published.
Still, the ongoing uncertainty comes as EU regulators and policymakers have Musk in their crosshairs as the onetime world’s richest man reshapes Twitter into a free speech-focused social network. The Tesla chief executive has fired almost all of the trust, safety and policy teams in a company-wide cull of employees and has already failed to comply with some of the bloc’s new content rules that require Twitter to detail how it is tackling falsehoods and foreign interference.
Musk has publicly stated the company will comply with the bloc’s content rules.
“Access to platforms’ data is one of the key elements of democratic oversight of the players that control increasingly bigger part of Europe’s information space,” Věra Jourová, the European Commission vice president for values and transparency, told POLITICO in an emailed statement in reference to the EU’s code of practice on disinformation, a voluntary agreement that Twitter signed up to last year. A Commission spokesperson said such access would have to be free to approved researchers.
European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová said “Access to platforms’ data is one of the key elements of democratic oversight” | Olivier Hoslet/EPA-EFE
“If the access to researchers is getting worse, most likely that would go against the spirit of that commitment (under Europe’s new content rules),” Jourová added. “I appeal to Twitter to find the solution and respect its commitments under the code.”
Show me the data access
For researchers based in the United States — who don’t fall under the EU’s new content regime — the future is even bleaker.
Megan Brown, a senior research engineer at New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics, which relies heavily on Twitter’s existing access, said half of her team’s 40 projects currently use the company’s data. Under Twitter’s proposed price hikes, the researchers would have to scrap their reliance on the social network via existing paid-for access through the company’s so-called Decahose API for large-scale data access, which is expected to be shut off by the end of May.
NYU’s work via Twitter data has looked at everything from how automated bots skew conversations on social media to potential foreign interference via social media during elections. Such projects, Brown added, will not be possible when Twitter shuts down academic access to those unwilling to pay the new prices.
“We cannot pay that amount of money,” said Brown. “I don’t know of a research center or university that can or would pay that amount of money.”
For Rebekah Tromble, chairperson of the working group on platform-to-researcher data access at the European Digital Media Observatory, a Commission-funded group overseeing which researchers can access social media companies’ data under the bloc’s new rules, any rollback of Twitter’s data-access allowances would be against their existing commitments to give researchers greater access to its treasure trove of data.
“If Twitter makes the choice to begin charging researchers for access, it will clearly be in violation of its commitments under the code of practice [on disinformation],” she said.
This article has been updated.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has gathered a few more crucial evidences in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam case, sources said.
Recently, the federal anti-money laundering agency grilled a number of people and seized electronic and documentary evidences.
ED sources have said that they are all set to file a second supplementary charge sheet in which BRS MLC K. Kavitha and fomer Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia may be named as the accused.
The ED had mentioned in the charge sheet that all the accused were using a number of cell phones which they later destroyed or deleted entire data in a bid to remove the evidences.
During her questioning, Kavitha, who is also the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, handed over around nine cell phones to the ED which were sent to the FSL for forensic tests.
The sources said that she was also confronted with Sisodia.
New Delhi: Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday sought bail from a city court, saying he was neither a flight risk nor the CBI has found anything incriminating against him in its probe into the alleged irregularities relating to the excise policy, which, he added, was formulated “purely in the normal course.” Special Judge M K Nagpal, who deferred the hearing on Sisodia’s bail plea till March 24 for clarification and submissions, meanwhile issued a notice to the Enforcement Directorate and sought its response by March 25. The money-laundering case being probed by ED is an offshoot of the main case registered by the CBI.
During the hearing, which continued for more than an hour, the lawyers for the senior AAP leader said there was no documentary evidence of him receiving “kickbacks” and the allegation that the accused destroyed documentary evidence was “vague”.
Senior advocates Dayan Krishnan and Mohit Mathur, appearing for Sisodia, said the accused cooperated in the probe and none of the searches led to the seizure of any incriminatory evidence and moreover, there was no further need for his custodial interrogation by the CBI.
The CBI, so far, has quizzed Sisodia in its custody for seven days.
The senior lawyers said Sisodia was not a flight risk and regarding the allegations that the accused manipulated the excise policy, there was no documentary evidence of receiving kickbacks.
They said changes in the excise policy were made “purely in the normal course” and that it was a government policy, which was approved by the Delhi lieutenant governor and the law secretary.
The lawyers also said that Sisodia’s wife was suffering from an incurable disease, for which the medical treatment could only slow the degenerative condition, and that he was the only person to take care of his wife.
Opposing the bail plea, CBI’s special public prosecutor D P Singh said though Sisodia was not a flight risk, he was “definitely” in a position to influence witnesses and destroy evidence. If he is given the relief, “the investigation will be compromised”, Singh said.
“We have only 36 days left to file the chargesheet. Till that time he (Sisodia) being released on bail will scuttle our investigation,” the SPP said.
The prosecutor said Sisodia, who was dealing with an “unprecedented” 18 ministries, implemented the excise policy with “high handedness” in the way he and the representatives of the “south group” wanted. “A person is a saint till the time his irregularities are discovered,” the SPP said. To this, Sisodia’s advocates raised objections.
The SPP said Sisodia was “upset” over an expert committee report on the excise policy and that after seeing a draft cabinet note, he had “flared up” on an excise commissioner and “called a public servant, whatever he could.” Regarding Sisodia’s frequent changing of phones, Singh said these were not “innocent” actions and that phones were changed for the destruction of evidence. Along with phones, the files were also destroyed, the CBI prosecutor said.
He said the note which was put up in the cabinet along with the file containing the minutes of several meetings was missing. Besides staying in a Delhi hotel from March 14 to 17, 2021, the representatives of the “south group” also flew into the national capital by a chartered flight during the days of peak Covid-19, he said.
In the rejoinder submissions, the counsel for Sisodia said while dealing with policy decisions, it has to be kept in mind that merely because a second view was possible, it did not make the decision a crime.
“I am not holding any public post now. In any case, the LG is dealing with civil servants. The issue of control is with the Supreme Court now,” one of the advocates said.
Sisodia is at present in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody.
Earlier, in his bail application, Sisodia stated that he joined the investigation as and when called by the central agencies.
He further stated that no fruitful purpose would be served by keeping him in custody as all the recoveries have already been made, adding that the other accused in this case have already been granted bail.
The CBI on February 26 arrested Sisodia in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
The ED arrested Sisodia on March 9 evening in Tihar jail, where he was lodged in connection with the case being probed by the CBI.
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday extended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s judicial custody till April 3, by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the now-scrapped excise policy case.
On March 17, the court extended Sisodia’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody in the same case till March 22.
After the CBI arrested Sisodia on February 26, the ED also arrested him in the same case on March 9.
On March 6, Special Judge M.K. Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Court sent Sisodia to 14 days of judicial custody in CBI case, which expired on Monday. He is lodged in the national capital’s Tihar jail.
The court will also hear Sisodia’s bail application on Tuesday, in the same case being probed by the CBI.
During the last hearing in the ED case, the court was apprised by the ED that important details have come up during Sisodia’s custody and he had to confront with other accused persons.
The probe agency had informed the court that voluminous data from Sisodia’s email and mobile, etc. is also being forensically analysed.
Sisodia’s counsel, however, had opposed the central agency’s remand plea saying that there is not a whisper from the agency regarding the proceeds of the crime, which is fundamental to the case.
His lawyer had further contended that there is no justification to seeking extension of custody and that Sisodia was confronted only with four people during his earlier custody of seven days.
The ED had said that they need to unearth the modus operandi, the entire scam and confront Sisodia with some other people.
ED’s counsel Zoheb Hossain, while claiming that Sisodia was part of the “money laundering nexus” had said that the movement of tainted money through hawala channels was also being probed.
Hossain had submitted that the policy was formulated to ensure that certain private entities get huge benefits and that one of the biggest cartels was made to operate 30 per cent of liquor business in Delhi.
Referring to the meetings between restaurants’ association and Sisodia, the had ED alleged that relaxations were afforded to the restaurants in excise policy like reducing the legal age of drinking and other things.
The central agency had argued that Sisodia had destroyed the evidence.
“Within a span of one year, 14 phones have been destroyed and changed,” the agency had claimed.
“Sisodia has used phones purchased by others and SIM cards that are not in his name so that he can use it as a defence later. Even the phone used by him is not in his name,” the ED counsel had submitted.
He (Sisodia) has been evasive from the start, the ED had alleged.
There was a conspiracy behind framing the excise policy. The conspiracy was coordinated by Vijay Nair, along with others and the Excise policy was brought out for extraordinary profit margin for wholesalers, the ED had argued in the court.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday issued a notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over Hyderabad businessman Abhishek Boinpally’s plea against the trial court’s order denying him bail in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam case.
Boinpally had moved the High Court on March 14.
Appearing for Boinpally, his senior counsel apprised the bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma that his client’s son’s admission is hanging as both the parents have to appear in the school these days.
The court then issued notice to ED while keeping the issue of maintainability open and listed the matter for the next hearing on April 12.
During the last hearing, Boinpally’s plea was opposed by the ED saying that it lacks maintainability.
Boinpally’s counsel had contended that his client is in custody since October 2022.
Boinpally was a Director of Anoos Electrolysis & Obesity Pvt. Ltd, Anoos Health & Wellness Pvt. Ltd., Robin Distribution LLP, Agasti Ventures, SS Mines & Minerals, Master Sand LLP, Neoverse Realty Pvt. Ltd., Zeus Networking Pvt. Ltd and Valuecare Esthetic Pvt. Ltd.
On February 16, four others — Vijay Nair, Sarath Chandra Reddy, Sameer Mahendru and Benoy Babu — were also denied bail by the Special Judge, Rouse Avenue Courts, M.K. Nagpal, who held that the method adopted by the five of them for committing the offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) makes up for sufficient incriminating evidence.
As the ED has already made serious allegations of tampering evidence against them, the court had said that it will also be not possible to hold that the accused persons will not try to tamper with the evidence in the case if they are released on bail.
“Keeping in view the totality of facts and circumstances and the above discussion, this court is of the considered opinion that none of the applicants/accused deserves to be released on bail in this case at this stage of proceedings as the allegations made against them are quite serious and relate to commission of an economic offence of money-laundering defined by Section 3 and made punishable by Section 4 of the PMLA. Hence, their bail applications are being dismissed,” the court had said.
On March 16, a Delhi court extended another Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai’s ED custody till Monday in the same case.
Special Judge M.K. Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Courts had noted that the ED had gathered some new details after a confrontation with Butchi Babu Gorantla, Hyderabad-based chartered accountant, on March 15.
The probe agency has alleged that Pillai was involved in forming a cartel (now called South Group) of manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers which controlled more than 30 per cent of the liquor business in the national capital.
The ED named the cartel, South Group, which includes BRS leader K. Kavitha, Sarath Reddy, the promoter of Aurobindo Pharma, YSRCP MP from Ongole, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, his son Raghav Magunta and others.
The South Group was represented by Pillai, Boinpally and Butchi Babu, the agency has claimed.
Gandhinagar: The new National Education Policy (NEP) has been accepted by all and the whole country is working to implement it, unlike the NEPs in the past which created controversies owing to ideological links, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said. Addressing graduating students at the 4th convocation of the Central University of Gujarat on Sunday, Shah said the NEP 2020 will work to bring education out of the scope of narrow thinking, and teachers must read it “between the lines” to understand its implications.
“Normally, education policies have a history of being mired in controversies. There were two NEPs in the past and were always surrounded by controversies. Many commissions were also formed in between for the implementation of educational reforms, but they were always surrounded by controversies,” Shah said.
Referring to controversies, he said, unfortunately, we had a tradition of linking education policy with ideology and turning it into the mould of that ideology.
“But nobody could protest or make allegations against the education policy bought by Narendra Modiji in 2022. In a way, the entire society has accepted it and the whole country is moving forward to implement it,” he said.
Shah appealed to teachers to especially study the New Education Policy, because only when they read it “between the lines”, could they understand its implications.
He said the education policy is going to bring Indian education out of the scope of narrow thinking and offer a platform to the students right from their childhood till the end of their education.
“The aim of education is to (make a student) a complete human, and this NEP gives you a choice to become so. The task of the new education policy is to create such a citizen who is imbued with the feelings of national pride as well as the world welfare,” he said.
Shah also asked graduating students to take at least one pledge regarding their contribution to the country when it celebrates its centenary 25 years later.
“If 130 crore people take a pledge each, then it will be enough to make the country great. If each of 130 crore people walks one step, the country will walk 130 crore steps,” the home minister said.
He said the Modi government has also worked towards job creation, and its start-up policy has seen their number jump from 724 in 2016-17 to more than 70,000 in 2022.
As many as 107 Indian start-ups have become unicorns, he said, adding the number of patent applications also rose from 3,000 in 2014 to 1.5 lakh in 2021-22.
“Of the 24,000 patents granted, 23,000 are individual patents,” Shah added.
