PM inaugurates Kartarpur corridor, flags off first jatha of pilgrims & thanks Imran Khan for understanding India's sentiment

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the Kartarpur corridor here and flagged off the first batch of over 500 Indian pilgrims. PM Modi also thanked his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan for understanding India's sentiment on the issue of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor.

The corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in this Punjab district.

Source: ET

Ayodhya verdict: Disputed land goes to Hindus, Muslims to get alternate land

Nine years after the Allahabad High Court ruling, the Supreme Court on Saturday ruled that the Hindus would get the entire disputed 2.77 acres in Ayodhya.

This is the land on which the now demolished Babri Masjid once stood. The Muslims will get alternate land either in the surplus 67 acres acquired in and around the disputed structure by the central govt or any other prominent place.

The entire 2.77 acres will remain with the receiver and will be handed over to a trust to be formed in 3 months to build a temple. The Nirmohi Akhara is not the sebait, the court held. Instead it will get to be a member of the trust.

The court said that it was not ruling on faith but the fact that Muslim possession over the inner courtyard was always contested by the Hindus who continued to pray at the spot.

A bench led by CJI Ranjan Gogoi delivered the verdict. He was sitting alongside CJI designate S.A. Bobde, and Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S.A. Nazeer. The verdict was unanimous.

The Allahabad High Court had in 2010 partitioned the land between Hindus and Muslims in a 2:1 ratio.

The deity, Ram Lalla, and the sebait, the Nirmohi Akhara, had got two shares. The Uttar Pradesh Sunni central Wakf Board got a third of the share.

The land on which the now demolished Babri Masjid structure once stood went to the Ram Lalla. The Ram Chabutra and the Sita Rasoi went to the Akhara.

The Muslims were to get a share after adjustment by metes and bounds for exit and entry into each person's share.

Both parties were unhappy with the judgement and had appealed to the top court. The court had stayed the judgement.

The issue remained pending till BJP leader Subramanian Swamy -- though not a party -- pressed for a hearing.

Former CJI J.S. Khehar then took it up and even offered to personally mediate between the two sides.

He later backtracked when he realised Swamy was not a party to the case.

His successor former CJI Dipak Misra tried to hear the case but it was stymied by a plea by the Muslim side which insisted on a hearing to reexamine the Ismail Faruqui judgement which it said would prejudice its claims over the Babri Masjid.

The court eventually refused to reopen the case which had held that mosques were not essential to worship in Islam.

The CJI Misra had set up a three judge bench to hear the title suit. But CJI Gogoi rescinded that judicial order to set up a five judge bench to hear it. The case was heard for over 40 working days, possibly one of the longest in the court.

The Hindus had claimed that they had been continously worshipping at the spot where the masjid stood, a claim contested by the Muslims who claimed that a mosque stood on the spot since 1528.

source: ET

Microsoft Japan tested a four-day work week and productivity jumped by 40%

Microsoft tested out a four-day work week in its Japan offices and found as a result employees were not only happier – but significantly more productive.

For the month of August, Microsoft Japan experimented with a new project called Work-Life Choice Challenge Summer 2019, giving its entire 2,300-person workforce five Fridays off in a row without decreasing pay.

The shortened weeks led to more efficient meetings, happier workers and boosted productivity by a staggering 40%, the company concluded at the end of the trial. As part of the program, the company had also planned to subsidize family vacations for employees up to ¥100,000 or $920.

“Work a short time, rest well and learn a lot,” Microsoft Japan president and CEO Takuya Hirano said in a statement to Microsoft Japan’s website. “I want employees to think about and experience how they can achieve the same results with 20% less working time.”

source: theguardian

US, Canada, Australia approach WTO after India bans import of pulses

Canada, Australia and the USA have moved the World Trade Organisation (WTO), raising objections over ban on import of certain pulses by India to check falling prices in the domestic market.

They have also submitted fresh questions on the validity of the steps taken by India under global trade rules and asked New Delhi to justify the restrictions under the WTO rules.

India is the biggest producer and consumer of pulses and consumes about 240 lakh tonnes of pulses a year.

Vimal Kothari, Vice-President of the India Pulses and Grains Association, said India had reduced pulses' import from 60 lakh tonnes to 15-20 lakh tonnes.

"India is moving towards self-reliance in production of pulses. The import ban is necessary to provide the best prices to farmers. But moong and urad crops have been damaged due to excessive rain this year, which will be compensated by import," Kothari said.

SOURCE: BS

Air Quality Index; Delhi air pollution: Deadly smog envelops city, AQI breaches 858 at some places

The Air Quality Index, or AQI, is a system of colors and numbers used to communicate the air quality in a region. The AQI color scheme starts with green for healthy air through maroon for the unhealthiest level. Likewise, AQI numbers go from healthiest (0-50) to unhealthiest (300+).

"A child born yesterday in Delhi would have smoked 40-50 cigarettes on the first day of his or her life, said Arvind Kumar, a lung surgeon at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi."

• 
• The air quality index (AQI) reached as high as 858 at some areas in New Delhi at 6.30 am today after breaching 1,000 over the weekend
• The level of carcinogenic pollutants, which increases risk of stroke, heart disease and lung cancer, in New Delhi’s air was almost six times the reading in Beijing.

The air quality index, or AQI, reached as high as 858 at some areas in New Delhi at 6.30 am on Monday after breaching 1,000 over the weekend, according to website AirVisual, which monitors air pollution around the world. Readings above 300 are considered hazardous and anything below 50 is the safe level.

The level of carcinogenic pollutants, which increases risk of stroke, heart disease and lung cancer, in New Delhi’s air was almost six times the reading in Beijing, where air quality has seen a considerable improvement over the past years.
source: Livemint

Yogi Adityanath allots Rs 447 cr to buy land for Lord Ram statue, centre

The Yogi Adityanath government has allotted Rs 447 cr for acquisition of 61 hectares in Ayodhya to house the world’s tallest 251-metre high statue of Lord Ram. This is apart from the Rs 200 cr sanctioned earlier this year for carrying out technical studies for building the statue.

The state cabinet, while taking these decisions on Friday ahead of the much-anticipated Supreme Court verdict in the Ram Jamambhoomi case, has also “authorised” the chief minister to henceforth take any decision in respect of the Lord Ram’s statue. UP minister Shrikant Sharma on Friday said the cabinet approved a proposal to acquire 61 hectares in Ayodhya’s Mirpur village for Rs 447.46 crore where the Lord Ram statue, a digital museum, an interpretation centre, a library, a food plaza, parking, landscaping and other associated tourist facilities will come up. “This project is being modeled on the Sardar Patel statue project in Gujarat,” Sharma said. The Patel statue stands at 183-feet.

Sharma said that out of the Rs 200 crore approved earlier this year for carrying out a detailed project report, wind tunnel and design studies for the statue, Rs 100 crore has been released, implying that the work for the project can start now. Detailed studies of the soil strength and wind-speed at the site have to be conducted to ensure that the statue can be built here.

SOURCE: ET

First time in India's history, employment slumps 9 million in six years: Azim Premji University

Total employment in India dropped by 9 million between 2011-12 and 2017-18, a first in the country's history, a paper published by Azim Premji University says. The new academic paper titled 'India's Employment Crisis: Rising Education Levels and Falling Non-Agricultural Job Growth' said that employment fell from 474 million in 2011-12 to 465 million in 2017-18. "Total employment during 2011-12 and 2017-18 declined by 9 million. This happened for the first time in India's history," the study said.

The paper is written by Santosh Mehrotra and Jajati K Parida and published by the Centre of Sustainable Employment at the Azim Premji University.  Mehrotra teaches Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University while Parida is a Professor at the Central University of Punjab.

"The Indian economy is passing through an unprecedented phase in its employment history, in which total employment (Workforce) is declining, and open unemployed and disheartened Not-in-Labour Force-Education-Training" (NLET) youth (a reserve army) are rising massively," the paper added.

SOURCE: businesstoday

Opportunity to buy homes at reasonable rates, SBI mega property e-auction begins: How to register as a bidder

The State Bank of India will auction non-performing assets (NPAs) worth ₹700 crores this month to recover its dues from those borrowers. The bank will hold a mega e-auction on 5 November and also plans to hold a total of three auctions in this month.

The bidders can bid for the properties online after they get themselves registered online on the website of https://www.bankeauctions.com/.

The bidder interested in bidding should keep the following important points while participating in the bidding process.

The bidder should get themselves registered on the portal https://www.bankeauctions.com.

The bidder is required to create a login ID and password on the portal by providing the basic information. Registration on the portal is free. Bidder has to create the login account for participating online into e-Auction.

After filling up all the required details carefully, bidder has to click on Submit button in order to complete the registration process. Bidder can use his/her email ID as a login ID and the password which he/she has created at the time of registration for login purpose on the portal https://www.bankeauctions.com

Bidders can search / view the live auction events and can download the related documents without login on the portal. Bidders can search for the events using the reserve price, description of the event or with the name of the bank.articipate in the event, bidder is required to click on Participate Button available at the bottom of the page.

Participation Stage

Fill in the user ID (registered email) and Password to login on the portal. In case the bidder has forgot his / her password, the same can be retrieved by clicking on the link “Forgot Password"

After the acceptance of Terms and Conditions, bidder have to click on Participate button. Once the bidder click on Participate button, application will navigate the user to the participation stage (Uploading of KYC Documents, EMD Details and FRQ (First Rate Quote – Quote Price) etc.)

Bidders are required to upload the KYC / Annexures and proof of EMD by clicking on the link “Pay / Update " And “Upload Doc". After uploading all the required details bidder has to submit the Quote Price. Quote Price can be equal or greater than the reserved value of the property/asset. After filling up the quote price, click on Submit and then Final Submit in order to submit the final bids online.

The bidders cannot be able to make changes in the uploaded documents or the quote price after the final submission. If the bidders fails to click on Final Submit button within the stipulated date and time; not be able to participate in the auction.

Digital Signature Setting – In case of DSC enabled event.

Upload KYC Documents online for the respective event.

Participation in the auction on the auction day.

Ludhiana-based Regency Aqua Electro & Hotel Resorts Pvt. Ltd. and Kolkata-based Lovely International Pvt. Ltd. will be auctioned on November 18 while on November 29, the e-auction will take place of Sankalp Engineering & Pvt. Ltd. and Anjanay Rice Mill Pvt. Ltd. among others.

On November 7, e-auction of Bhopal-based Bhatia Global Trading Limited (BGTL) which has a due of ₹177 crore . It will be among several other assets is scheduled to be auctioned that day.

As per Bank's revised Policy on Sale of Financial Assets, SBI places accounts for sale to ARCs/ Banks/ NBFCs/ FIs, on the terms and conditions indicated there against.

All these accounts are to be auctioned under "Swiss Challenge Method", based on an existing offer in hand, who will have the right to match the highest bid.

In the latest Q2 results, SBI's fresh slippages halved to ₹8,800 crore from ₹16,000 crore on a quarterly basis.

The asset quality of the bank improved with gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio coming in at 7.19%, down 276 bps yearly and 34 bps sequentially. Net NPA ratio was at 2.79%, down 205 bps YoY and 28 bps QoQ. The bank was holding total provisions of ₹22,399 crore, which was 89.63% of total outstanding, as of September 30.

source: livemint