Vol. 67 No. 106 | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 1, 2024 | 31 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Quality at Value www.freepressjournal.in EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper cbc 2 22201/13/0101/2324 Government of India Will show spending restraint, no room for fiscal adventures NIRMALA’S RASOI Hindus can pray in Gyanvapi mosque cellar BISWAJEET BANERJEE / LUCKNOW A Varanasi district court has granted permission to the Hindu parties to conduct prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque. The court further directed that arrangements should be made for the puja and that it may be performed by a priest nominated by the Kashi Vishwanath Trust Board. Seven days have been given to provide the necessary fencing for this purpose. NATION VITALS FISCAL DEFICIT: The Union government's fiscal deficit touched Rs 9.82 lakh crore or 55 per cent of the annual Budget target at Decemberend 2023, according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts on Wednesday. In the corresponding period last year, the deficit was 59.8 per cent of the budget estimate of 2022-23. T he government cannot spend even one rupee without permission from the people of India. That permission is given via the representatives in the Lok Sabha who pass the budget proposal. But since a new Lok Sabha will be elected in a few months, the annual budget to be presented on Thursday will contain only unavoidable and inevitable expenditure plans, and an estimate of revenues. No major initiatives or fiscal adventures can be announced by the incumbent government as per convention. The incoming Parliament will have the prerogative to examine and pass a more detailed budget presented by the new government. Even then some contours around this budget to be passed by a vote on account, can be ascertained. The big factor is about fiscal rectitude. Every annual budget is in deficit, which is met by fresh borrowing. That borrowing increases the already high debt mountain, and also increases the interest burden. Indeed the single largest component of spending ÷Ajit Ranade is interest on the accumulated debt, which this year alone is 11 trillion rupees. The debt to GDP ratio is about 82 percent presently But . the International Monetary Fund has warned that it could shoot up to 100 percent if we don’t watch our annual deficit. The fiscal deficit for the present year is targeted to be nearly 18 trillion rupees. The saving grace is that we will not breach it, and budgeted target will be met. That is thanks to a healthy tax collection, especially direct taxes such as income tax and corporate tax. Combined with Goods and Services Tax (GST) the total tax collection this year could be 34 trillion rupees or 11.5 percent of GDP the highest it has been in past fifteen years. , The healthy tax collection could be due to higher incomes of the higher middle class (tax paying section of society) and higher profitability of companies. Interestingly the total national income (called nominal GDP) is going to be about 1.5 percent lower than what was anticipated. Hence the tax to GDP ratio is higher (with a lower denominator). Fiscal restraint is needed, because higher deficits increase the interest burden, and are inflationary Besides the govern. ment’s huge borrowing requirement (this year to the tune of 18 trillion rupees) sucks out loanable funds out the banks, hence not available to other borrowers. Eventually higher interest rates and inflationary environment are detrimental to high growth, which is the major point of economic policy The . policies should promote high growth to be mainly driven by private enterprise, which then can generate healthy tax revenues to be used for welfare, health, education, pensions and the elderly; also for coping with climate change. Such a prudent fiscal stance will call for controlling the welfarist spending tendency of the government. Go easy on competitive welfarism. India’s nominal GDP is about 300 trillion rupees and may rise to around 340 next year. The important thing is that this growth should be driven by higher consumer spending, more private capital spending (capex) and higher exports. It should not have to depend on aggressive government spending, given the severe fiscal constraints. Thankfully for past three years post pandemic, India has been growing at around 7 percent in real terms, and even maintaining this pace over the next decade will be a big achievement if accompanied by fiscal restraint and a resurgent export growth. CONTD. ON NATION Vote on Account SECOND HIGHEST GST: The Goods and Services Tax collection for January 2024 is the second-highest monthly collection ever, according to the Ministry of Finance. As per the Ministry data, the year-over-year growth in the 10 months was 11.6 percent, while the growth in the month in question was 10.4 percent. The gross GST revenue collected in January 2024 stood at Rs 1,72,129 crore, a remarkable 10.4 percent year-on-year growth, as against revenue of Rs 155,922 crore collected in January 2023. TARDY GROWTH IN INFRA: The eight key infrastructure sectors slowed down to a 14-month low of 3.8 per cent in December 2023, on account of poor performance of segments like crude oil, electricity, steel and cement, according to the official data released on Wednesday. THE FP BULLETIN RBI BARS ON PAYTM BANK T he RBI has prohibited Paytm Payments Bank Limited from accepting deposits or top-ups in any customer account, including wallets and FASTags, effective from February 29 onwards. Customers can, however, continue to utilise balances from their accounts, including savings and current, "without restriction (and) up to their available" limit, the RBI order said. In other words, a Paytm app will continue to operate till Feb 29 or till the available balance is exhausted. Essentially the RBI action is against the banking operations of Paytm, meaning customers can continue to use it as a digital payment option so long as their account is linked to an external bank. The order was passed in response to a plea by the Hindu side seeking worship rights in the 'tehkhana' (basement) of the disputed land housing the Gyanvapi Mosque. Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu petitioners, hailed the decision as a "turning point" and a "historic verdict" as it grants all individuals the right to perform puja in the designated area. Speaking exclusively to CNNNews18, Nagendra Pandey Chair, person of the Kashi Vishwanath HUSTLED OUT Soren resigns after 7-hr grilling; plants loyalist Champai Soren in CM’s chair; insisted he would sign the arrest memo only after stepping down DHEERAJ KUMAR / RANCHI Pursued relentlessly by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case related to a land scam, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested on Wednesday night after he resigned from his post following seven-hour grilling by the agency sleuths. After tendering his resignation, Soren requested Governor C P Radhakrishnan to appoint a loyalist and senior JMM minister Champai Soren as the new chief minister. Soon after meeting the Governor, Soren returned home where he was formally arrested. Champai was later formally elected leader in a meeting, attended by JMM and Congress MLAs. Sources said Soren had taken the stand that he would sign the arrest memo only after stepping down. The ED Officials then took him to meet the Governor. A Chief Minister can be arrested under the antimoney laundering rules if he evades summons thrice. Soren, who had evaded numerous ED summons in the Neither wife Kalpana, nor his sister in law became the new CM; Rather it is Champai Soren, also known as the tiger of Jharkhand A public interest litigation has been filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the Maharashtra government’s decision to grant Kunbi certificates to the Maratha community in the state, while agreeing to demands of the Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil. The PIL filed on Tuesday by one Mangesh Sasane, Chairman of 'OBC Welfare Foundation', states that the government’s decision of granting Kunbi certificates to the Maratha community night sought to amend the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Denotified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes & Special Backward Category (Regulation of Is- Par intruders cry torture by cops FPJ DESK / NEW DELHI F ive of the six people arrested in the Parliament security breach case on Wednesday told a court that they were being tortured by Delhi Police to accept their association with opposition parties. The submission was made before Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur, who extended the judicial custody of all the six accused till March 1. Five of the accused -Manoranjan D, Sagar Shar- ma, Lalit Jha, Amol Shinde and Mahesh Kumawat -- told the court that they were forced to sign about 70 blank papers. "Accused persons were tortured/given electric shocks to sign and confess (to) the commission of crime under the UAPA and their association with national political parties," they told the court. The court sought a reply from police in the matter and fixed February 17 for hearing the application. CONTD. ON NATION CO-OP BANK SCAM: EOW FILES 2ND CLOSURE REPORT FPJ NEWS SERVICE / MUMBAI The Economic Offences Wing filed a closure report last week, for the second time, in connection with Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam, claiming even after further investigation into issues raised by the complainant, the agency had found no evidence against the bank’s office-bearers. A special investigation team had, in October 2022, taken up further investigation into the allegations of several irregularities, considering issues raised by complainants and also the Enforcement Directorate, even after it had filed a closure report two years before, in September 2020. Last week, another closure report was filed. Special Public Prosecutor Ajay Missar said, “The team had again taken up the issues raised by the original petitioner and complainant in their protest petition, objecting to the closure report. CONTD. ON NATION ENCOUNTER Bombay HC split verdict on IT Act changes SPECIALIST PROMOTED URVI MAHAJANI / MUMBAI The Bombay High Court on Wednesday delivered a split verdict on a batch of petitions, including one by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, challenging the amended Information Technology (IT) Rules, which empowers the Central government to flag ‘fake, false and misleading’ news pertaining to the government on social media, through a Fact Check Unit (FCU). While Justice Gautam Patel ruled in favour of the petitioners Kamra, the Editors – Guild of India, News Broadcasters and Digital Association, and Association of Indian Magazines; Justice Neela Gokhale ruled in favour of PIL challenges Kunbi certificate would “eat into” the reservation of the Other Backward Classes (OBC). The plea challenges the five government resolutions (GR) issued from 2004 permitting the Marathas to seek Kunbi certificates. It has also challenged the constitution of the Justice (retired) Sandeep Shinde committee, formed to study the procedure of giving Kunbi (OBC) certificate to Marathas and the report the panel submitted to the government. The gazette notification issued by the state social justice department on January 26 alleged money laundering case linked to the Rs 600 crore land scam, had apprehended the arrest. After going ‘missing’ and remaining ‘incommunicado’ over the weekend, he had agreed to be questioned by the Central agency on Wednesday afternoon. Initially his wife Kalpana , Soren was expected to take over as his successor. But given the proximity of the state elections -- due in November -- the party had to drop the idea. The alliance has the support of 47 MLAs, including 29 of the JMM and 19 of the Congress. CONTD. ON NATION plans to contest the district court's ruling in the Allahabad High Court. Maulana Khalid Rashid, another prominent cleric and Imam of Tilewali Masjid in Lucknow said that they respect the court’s order and would challenge it legally “This is a . mosque, which was not built recently but hundreds of years ago and Muslims have the right to offer namaz. We will challenge the district court order in High Court,” he told this reporter. CONTD. ON NATION WHO WILL FACT CHECK THE FCU? ‘If printed material doesn’t need factcheck, why does it need one online?’ A s I have noted, the entire argument of the Union has more or less proceeded on the basis that all users are individuals. But, as we have seen immediately, that is entirely incorrect. Users are also entities such as news outlets and journals. Not only do they have their own fact-checking systems, but they and their individual writers publish in print and online. The decisive test must surely be that if the material in print cannot be subjected to FCU-checking and compelled deletion, there is no reason why, merely because the exact same material also appears online, it is susceptible to unilateral determination of fakeness, falsity or being misleading. – JUSTICE GAUTAM PATEL the government. The matter will be referred to the Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya for referring it to a third judge. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Cen- LAST WORD URVI MAHAJANI / MUMBAI Temple, said that the puja will begin in 2-3 days and once it starts, it will be performed daily “We are aspir. ing to perform puja in the whole Gyanvapi temple. A door will be built to protect the puja enclosure," he said. Madan Mohan, another Hindu advocate, echoed Jain's sentiments, asserting that there was no legitimate basis for halting the puja in the designated area. However, the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee announced suance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Rules, 2012. These rules prescribe norms and regulations for issuance and verification of caste certificates to people belonging to various categories. The petitioner claimed that earlier, the process of granting Kunbi certificate to the Maratha community was difficult but now with every agitation, a new decision is issued and the process is being eased. This is done just to ensure that every Maratha person gets a Kunbi certificate “through backdoor entry”, it CONTD. ON NATION adds. tral government, said that their FCU would not be notified for 10 days. The Union government promulgated certain amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary TAILPIECE RAJAN AT MATOSHREE F ormer governor of the Reserve Bank of India Raghuram Rajan called on Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and ex Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's bungalow "Matoshree" on Wednesday. The Thackeray family was present to welcome the noted economist. Both Rajan and Thackeray are trenchant critics of the economic policies of the Modi government. Even though it was described as a courtesy call, indications are that Rajan may be aspiring for a seat in the Rajya Sabha. Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, on April 6, 2023. On the one hand, Justice Patel asked who would factcheck the FCU, while on the other, Justice Gokhale said that to allege bias by FCU members merely because they were government appointees, was unfair. “Who, after all, is to factcheck the fact-checker? Who is to say if the view of the FCU is fake, false or misleading? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who will guard the guards themselves?),” Justice Patel said, in a 148page judgment. In a 92-page judgment, Justice Gokhale remarked: “ Alleging bias against the members of the CONTD. ON NATION DHARMESH THAKKAR MUMBAI ‘Encounter specialist’ Daya Nayak has been promoted as senior police inspector along with 21 other inspectors of the Mumbai Police force, an official said on Wednesday . The Maharashtra home department on Wednesday carried out a major reshuffle, transferring 58 Indian Police Service (IPS) and Maharashtra State Police Service officers. The mass transfers are in line with the Election Commission’s orders for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. Daya Nayak was serving as in-charge of Unit -9 of the crime branch. CONTD. ON NATION TEEN JUMPS OFF HIGH-RISE AISHWARYA IYER/ MUMBAI A 17-year-old college girl died by suicide reportedly after her family reprimanded her over her suspected involvement with a 26-year-old man. The minor, a resident of Kamraj Nagar in Ghatkopar, lived with her parents and elder brother in a 17-storey SRA building and was a firstyear junior college student. The matter came to light on January 23, when the Pant Nagar police received an alert about a suicide. The girl had flung herself off the high-rise, police said, CONTD. ON NATION