7 coaches of Shaktipunj Express derail in UP, no casualties reported

Seven coaches of the Jabalpur- bound Shaktipunj Express derailed today in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, a railway official said.

"The accident occurred at around 6:25 AM and we have already cleared out the site," Railway ministry spokesperson Anil Saxena said.

"All passengers were put on the remaining coaches and by 7:28 AM all of them had left the spot. All of them are safe and no one was injured in the accident," he said.

The train was running at a speed of about 40 km/hr which, officials say prevented any injuries when the incident occurred.

This is the third such derailment in the state in less than a month.

On August 19, the Utkal Express had derailed in Muzaffarnagar district, killing 22 people and injuring 156.

About 100 passengers were wounded when 10 coaches of Kaifiyat Express train derailed after crashing into a dumper which strayed on to the tracks in Auraiya district on August 23.
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Modi shuffles Cabinet: Sitharaman new defence minister; Goyal gets railways

Nirmala Sitharaman was on Sunday promoted and appointed as India's Defence Minister in a surprise move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who elevated three others to the Cabinet and brought in nine new faces, including four former bureaucrats, in a reshuffle-cum-expansion of his ministry based on performance.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal, also promoted from Minister of State with independent charge to the Cabinet, got the railways portfolio, from which Suresh Prabhu was shifted to Commerce and Industry that was with Sitharaman. Prabhu had offered to quit after a major rail accident in Uttar Pradesh claimed 23 lives last month.

The promoted ministers and the new faces were administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind at a 35-minute ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, attended among others by new Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and family members of some of the new ministers.

Sitharaman became the second woman to head the Defence Ministry after Indira Gandhi when she was Prime Minister. The Defence Ministry was with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
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CM Yogi Adityanath orders 24 hour power in district headquarters across UP

After successfully providing uninterrupted 24-hour power supply at all the 'shaktipeeths' during Navratri recently, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday ordered 18-hour power supply in villages and 20-hour at tehsil level and in Bundelkhand region.

A meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Adityanath, the second since he assumed office last month, also decided that district headquarters will get 24-hour power supply, Power Minister Shrikant Sharma told mediapersons here after the three-hour-long meeting.

The chief minister directed the power department to ensure that defective or burnt transformers should be replaced expeditously in rural areas so that agricultural operations do not suffer, he said.

Sharma said the ambitious 'Power for All' pact will be signed by Adityanath and Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal on April 14 to meet the Centre's target of making the state energy efficient by 2018.

"It was the order of the Chief Minsiter that all Shaktipeeths are supplied 24-hour power during Navratris and we have been successful in it...Examinations are on and students should get power during the night so that they do not have to suffer," Sharma said.

The chief minister directed the officials to ensure uninterrupted supply to the villages from 6 in the evening to 6 in the morning so as to help the students prepare for exams.

"It is the dream of BJP chief Amit Shah and the Chief Minister that every house, every poor, and every village get power by 2018," Sharma said. (READ MORE)

After note ban, banks flush with cash but India Inc in no shape to borrow

“Demonetisation has made banks flush with funds, and they will lend it to productive sectors.” — Power Minister Piyush Goyal, November 26, 2016.

It won’t be quite as easy as Goyal said.

Rising non-performing assets (NPAs) and sluggish economic growth sparked a 60% decline in corporate borrowing over the last six years, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, inhibiting the anticipated lending bonanza to companies from banks after demonetisation.

Now, after the government scrapped 86% of India’s bank notes, by value, there are growing indicators of a further slowing.

Automobile companies are witnessing the sharpest fall in deliveries to dealers in 16 years, the Times of India reported, home sales have hit a six-year low, NDTV Profit reported, and bank credit to infrastructure companies declined steadily over the first eight months of 2016-17 and contracted 6.7 per cent in November, the Indian Express reported, quoting RBI data released on January 10, 2017.

So, the Rs 12.44 lakh crore that has now returned to the banking system may be difficult to lend to the corporate sector.

“Deposits can be deployed only if interest rates are cut. Without reducing interest rates, demand won’t rise,” said Nilanjan Ghosh, economist of the Observer Research Foundation, a think tank. “The assumption is that demonetisation has led to higher deposits, resulting in larger cash reserves, allowing banks to advance loans and earn interest. This, in turn, will impact profits, strengthening the core capital of banks.”(Read More)