Economy

Modi Dupes Farmers: AICC Press Briefing By Randeep Singh Surjewala at Congress HQ

Key Points of Press Briefing

- In May 2014, using false promises PM Modi gained the support of the farmers, but, in last 4 years, farmers did not receive right MSP.

- Modi govt. is deliberately not disclosing to the public the guidelines of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. If this is not a betrayal to the farmers, then what is?

- According to the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices guidelines, MSP declared today is still not 50% more than the cost of agri products.

- While declaring MSP, Modi govt is neglecting these 3 important issues :
1. Diesel cost has increased by ₹11.
2. In last 6 months, fertiliser has become expensive.
3. Pesticides and Electricity is costlier than before.

In the case of Swiss banks depositing money by citizens and companies of any country, India reached 73 in 2017. In this case Britain remains on top. In 2016, India's position was 88th in this case.

According to a recent report of Swiss National Bank, in the year 2017, the deposits of Indians in Swiss banks increased by 50 per cent and it became almost 7,000 crore rupees. In 2016, it dropped by 44 percent and India's position was 88th.

In this list, the neighboring country Pakistan has been ranked 72st. Although it is less than its previous position, the money it deposits has decreased 21 percent during the year 2017. In the report of Swiss National Bank, this money has been shown as liability towards its customers. Therefore, it is not clear how much of that time is black money.

These official figures are issued annually by the Central Bank of Switzerland. These figures do not include funds deposited in the name of units from other countries by Indians, NRIs and others. It is often alleged that people of Indian and other countries deposit their illegal earnings to Swiss banks, which are considered as safe havens to avoid taxes.

Although Switzerland has signed a deal to share automatic information with many countries including India. With this, India will start getting the information of depositors in Swiss Bank automatically from January next year. It is notable that according to the money, India's position was 75th in 2015 and 61st in 2014. Britain is the first and USA is the second place in the list.

The top ten countries include West Indies, France, Hong Kong, Bahamas, Germany, Guernsey, Luxembourg and Cayman Islands. China ranked 20th in the list of BRICS countries, Russia's 23rd, Brazil's 61st, South Africa's 67th. In neighboring countries Mauritius is ranked 77th, Bangladesh's 95th, Sri Lanka's 108th, Nepal's 112th and Afghanistan's 155th place.

Between 1996 and 2007, India was among the top 50 countries on this list. Then in 2008, it was 55th, 59th in 2009 and 2010, 55th in 2011, 71st in 2012 and 58th in 2013.

Failed GST: AICC Press briefing by P Chidambaram, Manpreet Badal and Gaurav Vallabh

Money of Indians in Swiss banks rise 50 percent: AICC Press Briefing By Priyanka Chaturvedi and Gaurav Vallabh at Congress HQ

Key Points of Press Briefing

- After reports of an increase of Indian money in Swiss banks, we ask again, who is our finance minister? Why is the govt? protecting these black money hoarders at the expense of the common man?

- I would like to remind the real and fake Finance Minister of this country that Demonetisation helped PM Modi's 'Suit-Boot' friends to convert black money to white. Biggest example we saw is in the case of Amit Shah & Cooperative banks.

- Will the PM and FM answer to us why they are defending their friends who are holding foreign bank accounts?

Rupee All Time Low: AICC Press Briefing By RPN Singh at Congress HQ

During the Modi regime, the accumulated wealth of Indians in Swiss banks has increased 50 percent. For the first time in 4 years, the accumulated money deposited in the Swiss bank increased to one billion Swiss francs (7,000 crore rupees) last year. This figure shows an increase of 50 percent compared to a year ago.

This is revealed in the latest figures of Swiss bank's central bank. According to this, the money kept by Indians in Swiss bank accounts increased by more than 50 percent to Rs 7,000 crore (1.01 billion francs) in 2017.

Earlier, there was a steady decline in deposits of Indians in the three years here in the banks. In the compounding of Indians in Switzer Land, which is an identity for their banking secrecy, it is surprising that the visible increase in time is at this time, while the Indian government has been campaigning against black money holders abroad.

According to the annual data of Swiss National Bank (SNB), Indian wealth deposited in Swiss bank accounts declined by 45 percent in 2016 to 67.6 million francs (about 4500 crore rupees). This amount was the lowest since the beginning of publication of this figure since 1987.

According to the SNB data, the funds placed directly in Swiss bank accounts by Indians became approximately 6891 crore (99.9 million francs) in 2017. At the same time, the money kept by the representatives or the wealth managers was 112 crore rupees (1.62 million francs) during this period.

According to the latest data, Rs. 3200 crores in the form of customer deposits in the money deposited in Swiss bank accounts, Rs. 1050 crores through other banks. All these items have increased the wealth of Indians in the year ahead.

Indians' wealth in Swiss bank accounts increased by 12 percent in 2011, 43 percent in 2013 and 50.2 percent in 2017. Prior to this, in 2004, the fund raised 56 percent. These figures of SNB have been released at such times, while a few months ago, a new system of automatic exchange of information between India and Switzerland has been implemented. The purpose of this arrangement is to get rid of the problem of black money.

Meanwhile, the profits of Switzerland's banks increased by 25 percent to 9.8 billion francs in 2017. However, the deposits of foreign customers of these banks declined during this period. Before this, the profits were reduced to almost half of the 7.9 billion francs in 2016.

Bank Loot Scams: AICC Press Briefing By Randeep Singh Surjewala at Congress HQ

In India, oil marketing companies have increased the price of LPG cylinders. Increased the price of subsidized gas cylinders two rupees 34 paise and non-subsidized gas cylinder Rs 48.

In the capital Delhi, subsidized LPG cylinder has increased by Rs 2.34 to Rs 493.55. Non-subsidized gas cylinders has increased by Rs 48 and will be Rs 698.50.

In three other big metros of India, in Kolkata has been priced at Rs 496.65 and Rs 723.50 respectively. In Mumbai, the price has Rs 491.31 and Rs 671.50, and in Chennai it is Rs 481.84 and Rs 712.50 respectively.

Consumers get 12 subsidized cylinders in a financial year, whereas non-subsidized prices have to be paid for taking more than this. The price of subsidized LPG has been increased after two months and the price of non-subsidized cooking gas has been increased after five months.

The management of government banks in India started with a two-day strike of bank employees in protest against the proposal of two percent incremental salary of the Indian Banks' Association. This led to the disruption of banking services in government banks across the country. However, the private sector ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank are operating normally. Just some services like cheque clearance have been interrupted.

With the fall of the month of strike, the withdrawal of salary from the bank branches has also been affected, while some ATM machines are also likely to be affected. Apart from this, the effect of this strike can be seen on deposits in the branches, renewal of term deposits, work related to government treasury, currency market related etc.

All India Bank Employees Union's Secretary General CH Venkatachalam said that after the failure of several rounds of negotiations between the bank and its employees' associations, the Union Forum of Banking Union (UFBU) has opposed the proposed two percent increments. Decided to go on strike for the two days because last year salary increments of 15 percent were given. UFBU is a consolidated organization of nine associations of the employees' associations.

Ravindra Gupta, joint general secretary of All India Bank Officer's Confederation (AIBOC), said, "Proposal of this kind of increment is, in a way, an insult to the public sector bank employees. We had no choice but to go on strike."

He said that public sector banks ensure the success of all schemes like government's Mudra Yojna, Jandhana Yojana and notes ban, and in return, only two percent salary increments are offered to its employees. This is unjustified with bank employees who work hard to build the country.

Venkatachalam said that around 10 lakh bank employees across the country are participating in this strike. It is notable that there are about 85,000 branches of 21 public sector banks in India whose market share is about 70 percent. Most of the banks, including State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda, had already given information about the strike.

PM Modi talked about the Mudra Yojna on Tuesday to complete the four years of Modi government at the Center in India. During this whole conversation he calculated the achievements of this plan.

The Prime Minister of India, on one hand, is praising the Mudra Yojna, on the other hand, all money are being made as a bed loan under the Mudra Yojna.

Let me tell you that the bad loan has crossed the 11300 crore mark in the ongoing Mudra Yojna for the last three years. When a person asked for information under the RTI about this whole matter, there was a great disclosure in the information found. Actually this information has been given by the Finance Ministry in reply to RTI.

According to the finance ministry reply, till June 30, 2017, 39.12 lakh accounts of the Mudra Yojna have been transformed into NPA. According to the finance ministry, in these accounts, Rs 11,317.64 crore has become bad loans. Which is not a small amount.

Significantly, since the Modi government is in power, the NPA is continuously increasing.