VENKAIAH NAIDU SUGGESTS GOVT-OPPN TALKS TO END PARL STALEMATERajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Friday suggested to the governmentand the Opposition to talk to resolve the raging stalemate in the Housebefore he adjourned it till March 11.The Opposition has been stalling functioning of the House's proceedingssince March 2, the day it convened for the second leg of the current BudgetSession of the Parliament in trying to force a discussion on the recentviolence in Delhi which had communal overtones."I appeal to the government and the Opposition to talk and come with asolution," visibly concerned Naidu observed before allowing commencement ofthe Zero Hour. "People are watching," he added in the context of thecontinuing logjam in the House."What is happening in this House, and in the other House is unfortunate,"Naidu said, asking the members to concentrate on subjects that are taken fordiscussions and not divagate into irrelevancies, and fissiparous conduct.PICKPOCKET CAN'T BE SENT TO GALLOWS: ADHIRLeader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Friday saidthe suspension of seven party MPs from the Lok Sabha for disruptingproceedings was like sending a pickpocket to the gallows, only to be pannedby Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, who termed the analogy as strange andunfortunate.Chowdhury's pickpocket remark left some party MPs embarrassed and manyothers in splits. Arguing against the suspension of the seven Congress MPsfor the remaining Budget session, Chowdhury questioned on what basis hadsuch stringent punishment been given and demanded that it be reversed.Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi said, "It is strange to comparethe suspended MPs with pickpockets."Justifying the action against Congress MPs, Joshi said snatching papers fromSpeaker's table had never happened in the House in its history of more than70 years.PM ASSERTS FUNDAMENTALS OF ECONOMY STRONGPrime Minister Narendra Modi today said the global economy had been goingthrough a difficult phase but the fundamentals of the Indian economy werestrong and that would aid in meeting the $5-trillion target.Speaking at an event, he said his government was opening up more sectors ofthe economy to the private sector. "Simplification, rationalisation andtransparency are the mantras for opening banking, FDI or natural resourceallotment."The PM said more than Rs 11 lakh crore worth loans without bank guaranteeshad been given to first-time entrepreneurs under the Mudra Yojana.Modi also hit out at critics of his government's decisions such as the newcitizenship law and scrapping of special status for J&K, saying they hadhatred for people who walk the path of "doing the right things" and breakthe status quo.

SAUDI ARABIA DETAINS THREE SENIOR MEMBERS OF ROYAL FAMILYIThree senior members of Saudi Arabia's royal family, including the king'sbrother, have been arrested for unexplained reasons, US media report.Two of the men were among the kingdom's most influential figures.The detentions have been linked to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.In 2017 dozens of Saudi royal figures, ministers and businessmen wereconfined to the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh after the crown prince orderedtheir arrests.Mohammed bin Salman is considered the de facto ruler of the kingdom, afterhe was named crown prince by his father in 2016.The detentions took place early on Friday morning - he three men reported tohave been arrested are the king's younger brother Prince Ahmed binAbdulaziz, former crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, and a royal cousin,Prince Nawaf bin Nayef.If confirmed, this would be a significant move by Saudi Arabia's powerfulCrown Prince to consolidate his position.PAK AGAINST SECURITY ROLE FOR INDIA IN KABULForeign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said Pakistan does not want anysecurity role for India in Afghanistan as he accused New Delhi of playingthe role of a "spoiler" in the war-torn country, according to a mediareport.Addressing the Senate on Wednesday, Qureshi said Pakistan neither desires"any security role of India in Afghanistan" nor wants presence of militantorganisations - Al-Qaeda and the ISIS - in the landlocked country. Theforeign minister told the Upper House that India had always played role of aspoiler, the report said. "There were spoilers in the past and they are eventoday, within and outside Afghanistan, who want to get their ownobjectives," Qureshi said.India has been maintaining that care should be taken to ensure that anypeace process does not lead to any "ungoverned spaces" where terrorists canrelocate. India has been a key stakeholder in Afghanistan as it had alreadyspent around $2 billion in reconstruction of the war-ravaged country.48 HRS BAN ON TWO MALYALAM NEWS TV CHANNELS"Siding" with one community and being "critical towards Delhi Police andRSS" - these are the reasons cited in two unprecedented orders by the UnionMinistry of Information and Broadcasting banning two Malayalam newschannels, Asianet News and Media One News, for 48 hours starting 7.30 pmFriday for their coverage of the Delhi riots.Both the orders accuse the channels of having "highlighted the attack onplaces of worship and siding towards a particular community" during theirreporting on the riots.In the order against Media One News, the I&B Ministry said that the channel"questions RSS and alleges Delhi Police inaction," "seems to be criticaltowards Delhi Police and RSS" and focuses on "vandalism of CAA supporters".Media One Editor-in-Chief C L Thomas described the decision as the "biggestencroachment of a government on freedom of the media". "In the history ofIndia, such a ban has never happened. During the Emergency period, therewere restrictions on the media. Now the country is not going throughEmergency. The decision to bar TV channels is a warning to all media housesin the country that they should not criticise the government,'' he said.Media One is owned by Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited which is backed byJamaat-e-Islami.Asianet News is indirectly owned by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar.Asianet News Editor M G Radhakrishnan said: "We don't want to react at thismoment. We will take a collective look at the issue and come out with ourview later."Incidentally, the I&B Ministry had banned NDTV India in 2016 for a day forits reporting of the terror attack on the Pathankot air base while accusingit of sharing sensitive details. NDTV moved the Supreme Court against theorder, and was granted a stay.UP GOVT PLASTERS PHOTO, ADDRESS OF EX-IPS, ACTIVISTS BOOKED FOR CAA PROTESTSThe Lucknow administration has started putting up hoardings with photographsand addresses of those booked in cases of alleged vandalism and arson linkedto protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the city on December19.Among those shown in the posters are leading activists, including Congressleader Sadaf Jafar, Rihai Manch founder Mohammad Shoaib and Deepak Kabir,prominent Shia cleric Kalbe Sadiq's son Kalbe Sibtain Noori, and retired IPSofficer and activist S R Darapuri.VDO.AIMany of them said they would approach the courts against the UP government'smove because it poses a "serious threat" to their lives, amounts to gross"violation of privacy", and "violates the fundamental right to life andliberty".City Magistrate Sushil Pratap Singh says that the administration is planningto put up 125 such hoardings across Lucknow. Singh also said that a total ofRs 1.55 crore will be recovered from 57 people named in these cases.On Friday evening, UP Minister and BJP leader Sidharth Nath Singh tweeted:"#UP Name and Shame of rioters will put a deterrent under Yogi rule which isas per the law of the land. Those screaming r habitual to b on the wrongside & wish not to differentiate between 'Recovery and Conviction'."Questioning the government's move, Darapuri said: "With photographs andaddresses, what is the government and administration trying to do? This willput our lives at stake. This is being done to defame and intimidate us, andall those people who are protesting against the CAA and NRC."RBI UNVEILS ITS REVIVAL PLAN FOR YES BANK, SAYS SBI WILLING TO INVESTWorking to bail out the troubled Yes Bank, RBI Friday unveiled areconstruction scheme that suggested a clear possibility of the State Bankof India acquiring a 49 per cent equity stake in the private sector lender.The acquisition cost is likely to be around Rs 11,760 crore as per the facevalue of Yes Bank share fixed by the RBI.In the "Yes Bank Reconstruction Scheme, 2020," issued less than 24 hoursafter it superseded the board of the bank and appointed an administratorThursday, the central bank said: "State Bank of India has expressed itswillingness to make investment in Yes Bank and participate in itsreconstruction scheme". However, the RBI did not indicate whether otherlenders are involved in the scheme.The scheme states that the investor bank should agree to invest in theequity of the reconstructed bank (Yes Bank) to the extent thatpost-infusion, it holds 49 per cent shareholding in the bank at a price notless than Rs 10 - face value of Rs 2 and a premium of Rs 8.Setting conditions for the investment, the RBI said the investor bank shouldnot reduce its holding below 26 per cent before completion of three yearsfrom the date of infusion of the capital.While the authorised capital has been pegged at Rs 5,000 crore, the numberof equity shares will stand altered to 2400 crore shares of Rs 2 each,aggregating to Rs 4,800 crore, the scheme says.Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said bank's deposit and liabilitieswould remain unaffected as before and the restrictions on withdrawals wouldbe temporary. "We will not allow any institution to fall off the cliff... Iwant to assure you that," Sitharaman said, while mounting an attack on theprevious UPA govt for "laxity", which led to the Yes Bank's collapse.YES BANK LOAN GREW UNDER NDA, SAYS CHIDAMBARAMSoon after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attacked theCongress-led UPA for the Yes Bank mess, former Union Minister P Chidambaramtoday asked her how the loan book of the distressed bank miraculously jumpedunder the NDA government's watch.Will she (Sitharaman) please explain how the (Yes Bank) loan book jumped inthe last five years from Rs55,633 crore to Rs2,41,499 crore? P Chidambaram,Former Union MinisterChidambaram asked when overall bank credit during the above period grew byabout 10 per cent, how did Yes Bank's loan book grow by about 35 per cent?"I understand the Finance Minister has made a statement blaming the UPA.That's normal for a govt living in ignorance," he said, adding that the SBIshould take over the loan book of Yes Bank for one rupee, recover the loans,and simultaneously assure the depositors that their money will be safe andwill be returned. He also said that it is obvious that the Yes Bank crisishas been in the making since 2017 and the government did practically nothingexcept "talk to the RBI".ODISHA GOVERNMENT UNDER FIRE FOR DEPOSITING JAGANNATH TEMPLE FUNDS IN YES BANKA political storm broke out in the temple town of Puri on Friday a day afterthe RBI superseded the board of directors of troubled Yes Bank for 30 daysand capped deposit withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per depositor. The Jagannathtemple has funds amounting to Rs 545 crore in fixed deposits and Rs 47 crorein flexi deposits in the bank.Odisha government was forced to issue a clarification after it was corneredby leaders of its own party and that of the Opposition with concerns overthe temple's funds.Law Minister Pratap Jena said there was no reason to worry. "The money willnot be lost. We have spoken with the managing trustee of the Templeadministration.We have decided to transfer the deposit to a nationalisedbank," he said.RS 21,533 CRORE: VODA IDEA AGR ESTIMATE LESS THAN HALF OF DoT'S CALCULATIONVodafone Idea on Friday said that total adjusted gross revenue (AGR) duespayable by the company between financial year 2006-07 and 2018-19, accordingto its internal self-assessment, stood at Rs 21,553 crore. This amountincludes a principal AGR amount of Rs 6,854 crore, and the interest on AGRup to February 2020, the company said in an update with the exchanges.The self-assessed AGR dues of the telecom operator are less than half theAGR dues calculated by the government.The Centre had estimated that the combined entity of Vodafone Idea owed itas much as Rs 53,038 crore. Vodafone Idea has so far deposited Rs 3500 crorewith the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in two tranches of Rs 2,500crore and Rs 1,000 crore, respectively.On Friday, Vodafone Group's chief executive officer Nick Read met FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad overthe course of the day in two separate meetings. Read's meeting on Fridaywith government authorities comes close on the heels of hectic meetings byVodafone Idea chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, who had also, over the lastfortnight, met both Sitharaman and Prasad multiple times.Following the Supreme Court's judgment on October 24 last year, Read had -in a earnings conference call of the global telco - said that the situationin India was critical and that the company, which holds 49 per cent stake inVodafone Idea, would not commit any more equity in India as the "countryeffectively contributed zero value to the company's share price".INDICATORSSensex 37,577 (-894), Nifty 10,989 (-280), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores)43,609Nasdaq 8,576 (-163) Dow 25,865 (-257), S&P 2972 (-52)US$-Rs. 74.07, GBP-Rs. 96.25, Euro-Rs. 83.55, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.16, Can$-Rs.55.23, Aus$- Rs. 49.07GBP 0.76 /US$, Euro 0.88 /US$, Jap.Yen 105.55 /US$, Aus$ 1.50 /US$, Sing1.38 /US$, Bang Taka 83.16 /US$, Can$ 1.34 /US$, Mal Ring 4.18 /US$,Pak Re 153.49 /US$, Phil Peso 50.62 /US$, Russian Rouble 67.99 /US$, NZ$1.57 /US$, Thai Baht 31.46 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 24.60 /US$, Norway NOK 9.26/US$Bitcoin - USD 9,103Dollar Index 96.06 Brent Crude 45.27 BDI 599Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,675 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,416 /4,316, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 50,700THOUGHT FOR THE DAYGood ideas come to those who look upon a problem as something to be solvedand who go ahead and solve it. - William J. Reilly