Month: March 2020

Sonbhadra gold reserve: Barely known facts about Son Pahari

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh gained sudden prominence after news circulated that the area has a rich vein of gold. The Geological Survey of India (GSI), however, said that only 160 tonnes of gold can be brought out from the available 3,000 tonnes gold ore.

There is a saying in Sonbhadra — “Sau man sona, kona kona”, which means a total of 4,000 kg gold is hidden in the corners. The saying is directly linked to the Son Pahari and Agori Fort. Tribal king Bal Shah’s “Agori Fort” still exists in a shabby condition in the forest near Chopan Development Block’s Agori village.

A story can be heard from the tribals in this area that tribal king Bal Shah ruled here in 711 AD. Once the Chandel ruler attacked his state and Bal Shah had to flee. Bal Shah and his forces left the fort and took shelter in the Panari forest which is around 7 kilometre from here. They were also carrying “sau man” gold. Having no other option, the king had to hide the gold in this hill.

Since then people call it Son Pahari and the saying — Sau man sona, kona kona — became famous.

Social worker Rameshwar Gond, who also belongs to the tribal community, told IANS: “When the Chandel ruler got to know that Bal Shah and his soldiers were hiding here with the gold he launched another attack on them. But by then Bal Shah had been killed and eaten by wild animals. Bal Shah’s wife Jurahi was caught up the Chandel ruler who took her to Jugail village and killed her. ‘Jurahi Devi Temple’ named after Queen Jurahi still exists in the Jugail forest”.

“At that time, a man from the Kharwar community found Bal Shah’s sword and battle armour in a cave. He sold the sword but the armour is still present at the home of a man from the same community. People believe that Bal Shah’s treasure is still hidden in Son Pahari,” Gond said.

Environment activist Jagar Narayan Vishwakarma said that the Chandel king’s descendant Raja Aabhushan Brahma Shah has possession of Agori Fort. He lives in Rajpur in Sonbhadra district.

He said: “The shepherds have destroyed the fort in their search for the gold as the archaeology department did not take the responsibility to conserve it”.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Not Q3 GDP growth but revision of past data is the biggest worry

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian economy grew by just 4.7 percent in the October – December quarter. While the rate of growth is the slowest in over six years, it’s not very disheartening because economists mostly expected this number. What is truly unnerving is that the Q1 and Q2 numbers of the current year have been revised dramatically, and what’s worse is that they have been revised out of turn, but I will come to that in a bit.

First the trends from the Q3 GDP numbers:

1.  Not counting the government sector, the growth fell to 3.6 percent. The government sector represented by public administration and defence grew by 9.7 percent. Seen from the expenditure side, government final consumption expenditure grew by 12 percent. Governments do account for a lot in command economies like India and especially so in a downturn, but a non-government sector growth of 3.6 percent must worry us.

2. Another worrying number of is the 5.2 percent fall in capex in Q3. This is a serious contraction, but then investments are lumpy and we can wait before we worry.

3. The contraction in capex  is somewhat countered by the reasonable 5.8 percent growth in private final consumption. If this picks up, we may yet see capex grow, but will it?

4. Another positive is that agriculture has grown by 3.5 percent in real terms and by 13.7 percent in nominal terms. Clearly, agri inflation is helping. With a good rabi harvest predicted, rural India should gain if some of the higher food prices continues. However, not everyone agrees with this picture of improvement in rural conditions. Professor Himanshu points to the collapse in rural wages and wonders if there is much truth to the argument of improving terms of trade for agriculture. But at least some parts of rural India should be recovering , going by these GDP numbers.

Now to the worrying revision in GDP numbers.

1. Firstly why have the Q1 and Q2 numbers been revised? Heretofore revisions had been done only at the end of a year. Numbers are revised after the year is done for a variety of reasons. The quarterly figures are based on the quarterly results of listed companies. Unlisted companies don’t announce quarterly accounts. They only file annual numbers with the Registrar of Companies, after the year is done.

Also, there are several rounds of harvest arrivals. For a variety of reasons, therefore, the first revision to the annual GDP numbers come 10 months after the financial year ends. It is hence completely unusual for the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to revise the Q1 and Q2 GDP numbers while presenting the Q3 numbers.

2. What’s even more bizarre is the dramatic change in the numbers. For instance Q1 mining has been revised lower by over 6 percent. Even worse is construction which has been cut by over Rs 17,000 crores or 6 percent versus the earlier Q1 construction figure. While one can understand that the CSO is counting some items that got left out, such huge cuts are difficult to make sense of.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s press release gives no reasons for the premature revisions,

3. The changes in the Q2 numbers are even more shocking. On November 30, the CSO said Q2 exports were at 7.26 lakh crore. But on February 28 it said that Q2 exports were actually at 7.03 lakh crore. Where did the Rs 22,000 crore of exports vanish in three months?

The revisions are much worse when it comes to imports. In the November 30 release, the Q2 imports were put at 8.62 lakh crore. Now on Feb 28 they have been revised down to 7.8 lakh crore — almost 1 lakh crore less of imports. How come the numbers swing so wildly? What additional information did the CSO get that it has cut  imports and exports for Q2 so drastically.

4. With no one able to make sense of these dramatic changes in the current year’s GDP, some economists  are speculating that the CSO may have recast the Q1 and Q2 numbers only to secure a 5 percent GDP growth this year. If this guess is correct, it’s a bad sign.

Thus far we have doubted the efficiency of the CSO, but now there are worries that it may be cooking the books.

5. And finally, even the population number revisions look  bizarre: When the full-year GDP numbers for FY19 were reported on May 31, 2019, the population was estimated to have grown by 1.2 percent that year. The latest press release says population in FY19 grew by only 1 percent and yet it estimates that the FY20 population will grow by 1.1 percent. Can the pace of population growth fluctuate so much? A divergence of 0.2 percent in India’s incremental population is a huge calculation error. Such revisions to the population impact the per capita income calculation, which is the actual GDP number we should be watching. The per capita GDP in FY20 is estimated to grow by a pathetic 3.9 percent.

Too much is troubling in these revisions. But the most important question the CSO and the Mospi need to answer is why were the quarterly numbers revised out of turn.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India, South Asia see a rise in wellness tourism

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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As health and holidays come to be increasingly combined in the modern tourism sector, the rise of wellness tourism in India and South Asia is a trend many are taking notice of.

“Wellness travellers look for authentic experiences and life-changing holidays, they travel with the purpose of improving health and well-being through physical, psychological, or spiritual activities in an enjoyable resort setting,” Rahul Chaudhary, Managing Director, CG Hospitality explains to IANSlife.

“Travellers are expecting these experiences to give them somewhat a new outlook towards the world or themselves. Self-care and self-love are where this concept has evolved from. In addition to the self-care focused travellers, there is a huge surge in the travellers looking for creative awakening,” he added.

Travel experts say that although a spa “allows an individual to escape from their busy schedule and to invest time in own-self, and it is an ideal place where you disconnect yourself from the world and worries,” as shared Swati Balga, Aura Spa Manager at The Park Hyderabad, many also believe that a spa experience is only the beginning of wellness tourism.

As per Vijay Sharma, General Manager, Club Med Southeast Asia, wellness tourism has gained popularity among Indians who prefer travelling slow and taking relaxing vacations.

Guests are seen indulging in a host of amazing family activities with an objective of bringing urban families together to bond over unique moments of fun and adventure. While opting for holidays, travellers are mindful of selecting resorts that also cater to internal well-being.

Wellness tourism is beyond regular spa and thermal treatments to incorporate lifestyle improvement practices that render holistic well-being through travel, he added.

Why is this industry booming and how is it shaping up?

“In a steadily growing economy, where people constantly face a rapidly changing life, wellness tourism becomes even more important as it rejuvenates the body, mind, and soul through the detoxification offered by different health therapies. South Asians are embracing a life-well-lived mindset because they can afford it. They want to achieve and maintain the quality of not only life but a lifestyle,” Rahul Chaudhary said.

The definition of wellness tourism has certainly evolved from what it was a few years ago.

“Today, the focus is on transformational travel, something that one can take back after the holiday whether it is an everlasting memory or a good habit. Mental well-being is treated to be as important as physical wellness,” shares Neeraj Seth, Director of Marketing Communication and Public Relations at Kandima Maldives.

Finally, how is the industry shaping up?

As per Chaudhary, the wellness idea changes almost every aspect of travel and wellness tourism that will only grow faster in the years ahead because it sits at the powerful intersection of two huge, expanding industries: the $ 2.6 trillion tourism industry and the $ 4.2 trillion wellness market.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Coronavirus set to derail Indian mobile industry by mid-March

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The coronavirus outbreak which has hampered global tech giants’ 2020 plans leading to cancellation or postponement of global flagship conferences is set to hit supplies of smartphone components from China to India at least till the second quarter of this year.

While smartphone manufacturing has picked up in India over the past few years, the country is still dependent on China to a large extent for supplies of components.

According to Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, Counterpoint Research, India smartphone market will see at least 15 percent shortfall in shipments in the first quarter (January-March period).

“Whatsoever shipments were to arrive in India have come by February end but the problem will get bigger this month as Chinese manufacturing plants were almost shut last month. We are keeping a close vigil and are updating the industry situation very week,” Pathak told IANS.

“There will be impact to new devices to be launched in the first half which have facilities in China, as factories will not function properly. Components sourced from China will also be impacted as all factories will resume operation slowly and cautiously,” according to Peter Richardson, Research Director, Counterpoint Research.

Smartphone sales in China may also see a 30 percent drop during the lockdown period which is likely to last through the end of March.

“The negative impact from the supply chain side will last until the end of Q2 minimum,” said Richardson.

The tech industry saw this coming albeit slowly.

With new coronavirus or COVID-19 now spreading its tentacles across the world – 57 countries affected so far – tech giants have scrambled to cancel or postponed their flagship conferences one by one as large gatherings have been put on hold in some countries with several cities declaring state of emergencies.

The bigger worry, however, is the disruption of the global supply-chain that is set to impact the manufacturing — from smartphones to consumer electronics — by the middle of this month if the coronavirus cases keep swelling in numbers.

The worst is yet to come.

According to Harvard Business Review (HBR), the peak of the impact of Covid-19 on global supply chains will occur in mid-March, forcing thousands of companies to throttle down or temporarily shut assembly and manufacturing plants in the US and Europe.

“The most vulnerable companies are those which rely heavily or solely on factories in China for parts and materials. The activity of Chinese manufacturing plants has fallen in the past month and is expected to remain depressed for months,” said HBR in its report on Friday.

The SARS epidemic started in the Guangdong province in 2002 and led to 8,000 cases in 2003. During that year, the GDP of China represented 4.31 percent of the world GDP.

By contrast, the number of detected cases of Covid-19 has already passed 80,000 — with close to 3,000 deaths — and China represents about 16 percent of the world GDP — an almost four-fold increase, said the report.

Supply lead times will also have an impact.

“Shipping by sea to either the US or Europe takes, on average, 30 days. This implies that if Chinese plants stopped manufacturing prior to the beginning of the Chinese holiday on January 25, the last of their shipments will be arriving the last week of February.

“All this suggests that there will be a spike in the temporary closures of assembly and manufacturing facilities in mid-March,” said Pierre Haren and David Simchi-Levi in the report.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Oil prices fall as coronavirus spreads outside China

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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With the viral outbreak spreading to more countries, the price of oil has dropped precipitously as global demand weakens even further.

That has sent shares tumbling for oil giants like Exxon and Chevron while smaller producers with idling rigs continue to slash jobs.

Hundreds of new cases of the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease have been announced in recent days outside of China. The list of countries touched by the illness has climbed to nearly 60 as Mexico, Belarus, Lithuania, New Zealand, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Iceland and the Netherlands reported their first cases.

More than 85,000 people worldwide have contracted the illness, with deaths topping 2,900.

Oil industry analysts fear that what they thought was a contained disruption may instead lead to more travel restrictions and even less oil consumed.

“That was the fear all along, that the virus would not be contained in China, said Claudio Galimberti, head of demand, refining and agriculture at S&P Global Platts.

“There are entire cities, and in some cases regions, that are in a lockdown. When you begin to have a lockdown, people work from home, factories shut down, people don’t travel. The impact on oil is very, very bad.

Oil prices fell dramatically in mid-February, but had been steadily climbing back as the number of new cases of the virus in China slowed. In the last week, however, reports of the spreading virus knocked prices down.

The benchmark for US crude oil fell 16 per cent during the week, settling Friday at USD 44.76 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 14 per cent for the week to its lowest levels since July 2017, closing Friday at USD 50.52 a barrel.

Meanwhile, shares of Exxon Mobil tumbled to USD 49.82 on Thursday, reaching a 15-year low, before rebounding more than 3 per cent on Friday. Chevron Corp. shares hit their lowest level in nearly four years on Friday.

The Financial Times reported that Saudi Arabia is pushing for deep cuts in oil production to help stabilise prices in the face of falling demand. The newspaper, citing people familiar with the talks, said the Saudis propose to bear most of the brunt of a cutback of 1 million barrels per day but want Russia and other big producers to join them. Representatives of OPEC and allies like Russia plan to meet next week.

If demand for oil and the price of a barrel continues to fall, that may result in lower gasoline prices a potential bright side for consumers, who account for about 70 per cent of US economic activity.

Gasoline prices have been fluctuating in recent weeks, but nothing significant that could be attributed to the coronavirus, said Jeanette Casselano, director of public relations at AAA. Prices tend to rise for the summer driving season, but the effects of coronavirus on the price of oil could mitigate that.

Lower prices at the pump, however, aren’t necessarily good for the US economy overall. When energy prices fall, energy companies tend to cut back on investment and jobs. A freefall in gasoline prices led to a sharp drop in US business investment in 2016, for instance — one reason the country’s economic growth slowed to 1.6 per cent that year from 2.9 per cent in 2015.

When the coronavirus first hit, the Energy Information Administration predicted global oil demand would fall to 100.3 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2020, down about 900,000 barrels, or 1 per cent, from what was estimated in January.

The agency said it expects global oil demand to rise by 1 million barrels per day in 2020, which is lower than its growth prediction last month of 1.3 million barrels per day this year.

Those numbers were released in mid-February, before the number of reported cases outside of China began to rise significantly, so analysts expect estimates to get worse.

On Monday, ING head of commodities strategy Warren Patterson said he expects travel restrictions and factory shutdowns caused by coronavirus to shave 400,000 barrels a day from global consumption growth, which would take the industry to its lowest level of consumption in a decade.

The financial situation was deteriorating for the oil industry long before the coronavirus hit. Demand for oil was suppressed by ongoing trade tensions with China, concerns about climate change, growing adoption of renewable energy sources and steadily improving energy efficiency.

In the US, many oil and gas producers were already struggling under the financial pressure of low prices, caused in part by oversupply as companies figured out how to produce oil and gas more cheaply than ever before.

In the past five years, 208 oil producers have filed for bankruptcy protection after racking up approximately USD 121.7 billion in debt, according to law firm Haynes and Boone.

The strain has especially hurt smaller producers that relied on debt and an expectation of higher prices to repay their loans.

“The weakness in the commodity price has driven many companies to the point that they cannot refinance their debt or their lenders have lost patience with the longer-term downturn in the energy industry, said Charles Beckham, a partner at Haynes and Boone.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Heavy police deployment in Shaheen Bagh

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Delhi police made heavy deployment of security personnel in southeast Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area, where several women have been leading a protest on the road against the new citizenship law for more than two months, as a precautionary measure on Sunday, officials said.

The police deployment has come after a fringe right-wing group, Hindu Sena, gave a call to clear the Shaheen Bagh road on March 1. However on Saturday, with the intervention of police, they called off their proposed protest against the anti-CAA agitation in Shaheen Bagh.

“The proposed protest call was cancelled with timely intervention. But as a precautionary measure, we have made heavy police deployment here,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) RP Meena said.

Twelve companies, including two of female forces, have been deployed in Shaheen Bagh, 100 men each from four police districts have also been deployed along with the local police, the official said.

The Hindu Sena said in statement police pressured them to call off their protest on Sunday against the Shaheen Bagh agitation.

Shaheen Bagh, near Jamia Millia Islamia, has been a protest venue for a section of people opposed to the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens since December 15 last year.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Markets gloom to be short-lived as fiscal measures expected

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The gloom in the Indian equity markets might be short-lived as a number of global and domestic stimulus inducing factors are expected to give a boost to investors’ sentiments.

Supporting such a move is a technical fact that FIIs have net shorted 156,261 futures contracts on the Nifty.

A similar movement was seen in September 2019 when a slump was followed by a spurt, however, with a lag of some 20-30 days.

If the overall pattern repeats itself, then an up move is imminent.

“We witnessed short rollovers from the February series and further shorting was seen on the first trading session of the March series. FIIs aggressively shorted index futures in the last couple of weeks and as a result, their ‘Long Short Ratio’ in index futures reached to below 13 percent, which is lowest since April 2018,” said Jay Purohit, technical and derivatives analyst at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

“Technically, strong support for Nifty is placed in the zone of 11,000-11,100 points. The overall data clearly indicates that the market is hovering in oversold territory and a bounce towards 11,450-11,500 levels cannot be ruled out in coming weeks. However, sustenance at a higher level would be a challenge for the Bulls,” Purohit added.

According to Edelweiss Professional Investor Research’s Chief Market Strategist Sahil Kapoor, reversal signs such as the US Fed’s signals of an upcoming rate cut along with the EU’s expected fiscal supporting measures might give the much-needed boost to the global and Indian markets.

On last Friday, fears of widespread disruption to economic activities due to coronavirus caused a massive stock market crash. Dalal Street mirrored global stocks and headed for its worst week since the 2008 financial crisis.

The benchmark Sensex lost 1,448 points in a broad-based sell-off which saw none except FMCG major ITC withstanding the carnage.

The ‘Fear Index’ or volatility index jumped by 30 per cent to settle at 22.87 as fresh cases of coronavirus infection surged outside China.

Domestic investors were also cautious ahead of the 3Q FY2019-20 GDP data release on that day. The growth rate remained subdued.

Nifty Metal index plummeted 7 per cent, the most among the 11 Nifty sectoral indices. It was followed by IT, media and PSU Bank index. The pivotal banking and financial service sectors index closed over 3 per cent lower.

The Wall Street’s benchmark index Dow Jones Industrial Average closed (down 4 per cent) with record losses on Thursday. China’s Shanghai SE Composite Index was trading 3.71 percent lower while Japan’s Topix tumbled 3.6 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng plummeted over 3 per cent.

Besides, the futures markets pointed at no near-term relief for investors. FTSE 100 Index Futures pointed at a rough start. The index was down 3.44 per cent, NASDAQ 100 Future also traded lower by 1.29 per cent.

The coronavirus outbreak is likely to be declared a pandemic and focus is now shifting from China to South Korea, Iran, Italy and Japan where cases are escalating fast. Even Germany, Brazil and several other nations have joined the list, Moody’s said on Friday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the coronavirus outbreak has reached a “decisive point” and has “pandemic potential”.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Relief to consumers as fuel prices cut sharply on Sunday

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The fuel prices saw further decline as the price of petrol was cut by 17 paise and that of diesel by 21 paise on Sunday.

Petrol now costs Rs 71.71 per litre in Delhi, Rs 77.40 per litre in Mumbai, Rs 74.38 per litre in Kolkata and Rs 74.51 per litre in Chennai after the price cut.

Similarly, diesel costs Rs 64.30 a litre in Delhi, Rs 67.34 a litre in Mumbai, Rs Rs 66.63 a litre in Kolkata and 67.86 per litre in Chennai, according to Indian Oil Corporation website.

The prices were reduced after the international crude oil prices witnessed a downward trend due to slump in demand. The Brent also fell by $0.86 per barrel and was trading at $50.50 per barrel after coronavirus deaths and cases increased all over the world.

The retail prices of fuel are dependent on the international crude prices and the rupee-US dollar exchange rate as India imports almost 80 per cent of its crude requirements.

Domestic petrol and diesel prices are reviewed by oil marketing companies on a daily basis. Price revisions are implemented at the fuel stations with effect from 6 a.m.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Passport not mandatory for applying for citizenship: Calcutta High Court

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Calcutta High Court has ruled that it is not mandatory for foreigners to produce a valid passport and its particulars for processing of application for grant of Indian citizenship if he is able to satisfy the appropriate authorities the reasons for non-availability of the document.

Justice Sabysachi Bhattacharya passed the order while disposing off a petition by granting the petitioner liberty to file an application before the authority “as contemplated in Rule 11 of the Citizenship Rules 2009, upon furnishing explanation as to the non-availability of the passport”.

Bismillah Khan had filed the petition saying he was being denied the citizenship of India because of his inability to file an application under Section 5 (1) (c) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, apparently due to the mandatory requirement of furnishing a copy of the passport for such application.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that Khan was a Pakhtoon citizen and due to political turmoil in the said state, which subsequently merged partially into Afghanistan and partially into Pakistan, he, as a five-year old, had to migrate to India with his father in 1973.

Under such circumstances, the petitioner could not have any opportunity of having a valid passport, since they were refugees under distress, the counsel said.

The petitioner had previously approached a coordinate Bench of the court, wherein a single judge, passed an order on July 25, 2018, directing him to comply with the formalities required, as communicated by the secretary to the Government of India to the Secretary to the Government of West Bengal (Home), vide a letter dated December 7, 2017.

The court had then also given liberty to the petitioner to apply afresh before the appropriate authority under Section 5(1)(c) of the 1955 Act, having complied with all the formalities.

The petitioner then moved Bhattacharya’s court submitting that a complete application as directed by the Coordinate Bench cannot be possibly filed by his client due to the mandatory requirement of uploading a copy of his passport, which the petitioner does not have due to reasons beyond his control.

The counsel said Khan is married to an Indian citizen, has a daughter and living in India for close to half a century.

The counsel for the union of India submitted that in view of no application having been filed by the petitioner, there is no scope of granting such proposed application at the present juncture for the Union.

The counsel argued that it is mandatory to file an application in Form III for the application of the petitioner under Section 5(1)(c) of the Act to be considered at all.

In view of the petitioner not complying with the mandatory requirement of submitting a copy of his passport, the state government cannot, under the law, forward such application to the union government.

After hearing all sides, Justice Bhattacharya said although the rule “contemplates that an application shall not be entertained unless the application is made in Form III, such provision ipso facto does not make the availability of a passport a mandatory requirement”.

“..the Form given with the Rules or the Rules themselves cannot override the provision of the statute itself, under which the said Rules are framed, which does not stipulate such a mandate on the applicants for citizenship under Section 5 (1)(c) of the 1955 Act mandatorily to carry a passport”.

The court said although such provision is included in the Form, which has to be complied with by the applicant, “it is nowhere indicated in such Form that all the relevant particulars, including the particulars regarding passport of the petitioner have to be furnished mandatorily, along with a copy of a valid foreign passport, even in the event the petitioner, for valid reasons, is not in a position to produce such passport”.

Justice Bhattacharya ruled that under such circumstances, it cannot be held that the provision of producing a passport and its particulars is mandatory in nature and there has to be a relaxation in such requirement “in case the petitioner is able to satisfy the appropriate authorities the reasons for non- availability of such passport”.

“Unless such a leeway is given to the applicants, genuine persons who otherwise have all the formal documents indicating that they have been residing in India for a long time and have married a resident of India would also be unable to apply for Indian Citizenship despite having lived their entire lives and contributed to the economy and diverse culture of this country.”

He said such a scenario would be contradictory to the spirit of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

“In such view of the matter, the requirement of having a passport has to be read as optional in Form III of the Citizenship Rules, 2009 and the authorities are deemed to have the power to relax such 6 requirement in the event the applicant satisfied the authorities for genuine reasons why the applicant is not in a position to produce such passport,” the February 24 order said.

The court ruled that despite the provision of making applications online, a provision has to be made for persons who do not have all the particulars of their passport, which is read as optional, to file applications manually, which are to be treated as valid applications under Rule 5 of the Citizenship Rules, 2009.

The court also ordered that alternatively the necessary software be amended so that the online applications can be presented with or without passports, in the latter case furnishing detailed reasons as to non-furnishing of passports.

“Sanctioning of such forms, however, will be conditional upon the satisfaction of the relevant authorities about the reasons for the applicant not being able to produce her/his passport,” the order said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow