Shashi Tharoor’s selfie with six women MPs with ‘attractive place to work’ tweet sparks row

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday posted a selfie with six women MPs on Twitter with the caption “Who says the Lok Sabha isn’t an attractive place to work?”, triggering a controversy with many netizens accusing him of sexism. Tharoor later apologised for offending “some people” and said the “whole selfie thing” was done at the women MPs’ initiative in “great good humour and it was they who asked me to tweet it in the same spirit”.

“Who says the Lok Sabha isn’t an attractive place to work? With six of my fellow MPs this morning,” he said and posted a picture of himself with Supriya Sule, Preneet Kaur, Thamizhachi Thangapandian, Mimi Chakraborty, Nusrat Jahan Ruhi and Jyothimani. His tweet sparked controversy with many accusing him of “sexism” and “objectification”.

Who says the Lok Sabha isn’t an attractive place to work? With six of my fellow MPs this morning: ⁦@supriya_sule⁩ ⁦@preneet_kaur⁩ ⁦@ThamizhachiTh⁩ ⁦@mimichakraborty⁩ ⁦@nusratchirps⁩ ⁦⁦@JothimaniMP⁩ pic.twitter.com/JNFRC2QIq1

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 29, 2021

Reacting sharply, National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma tweeted, “You are demeaning their contribution in parliament and politics by making them an object of attraction. Stop objectifying women in parliament”.

You are demeaning their contribution in parliament and politics by make them an object of attraction. Stop objectifying women in parliament. https://t.co/RGdie3rPpJ

— Rekha Sharma (@sharmarekha) November 29, 2021

“Incredible that someone, as exposed to equality discourse, as @ShashiTharoor would attempt to reduce elected political leaders to their looks, and centre himself in the comment to boot. This is 2021, folks,” tweeted Karuna Nundy, a Supreme Court advocate.

Incredible that someone as exposed to equality discourse as @ShashiTharoor would attempt to reduce elected political leaders to their looks, and centre himself in the comment to boot. This is 2021, folks. https://t.co/aPJ3NK4sCW

— Karuna Nundy (@karunanundy) November 29, 2021

Responding to Nandy’s tweet, badminton player and Arjuna awardee Jwala Gutta tweeted, “Not really Karuna. I think we need to take a few things in a lighter note…and not see everything with a magnifying glass…And this was a compliment to all the women in the Parliament which is generally stereotyped!! Just my opinion.”

Commenting on Tharoor’s remark, a Twitter user said, “Women in the Lok Sabha are not decorative items meant to make your workspace ‘attractive’. They are parliamentarians and you are being disrespectful and sexist.” No man seems to be beyond casual everyday sexism, another netizen said.

After the online backlash, Tharoor tweeted, “The whole selfie thing was done (at the women MPs’ initiative) in great good humour & it was they who asked me to tweet it in the same spirit.” “I am sorry some people are offended but I was happy to be roped into this show of workplace camaraderie. That’s all this is,” the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.

The whole selfie thing was done (at the women MPs’ initiative) in great good humour & it was they who asked me to tweet it in the same spirit. I am sorry some people are offended but i was happy to be roped in to this show of workplace camaraderie. That’s all this is. https://t.co/MfpcilPmSB

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 29, 2021

However, TMC MP Mauhua Moitra defended Tharoor and tweeted “Not surprised that a bunch of ugly trolls attacking @ShashiTharoor on a non-issue to detract attention from this non-attractive government’s decision to not allow a discussion on the farm act repeal.

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

Flurry of NFOs in 2021: Expert view on the best products

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Year 2021 has been one of new fund offerings (NFOs). There were about 70 NFOs in the mutual fund world in FY22 and for the calendar year the count touched over 100.

To make sense of this big flurry of NFOs and talk about the good products out of these 70 odd launches, which investors can look to add to their portfolios, CNBC-TV18 spoke with Ashish Shanker, MD and CEO, Motilal Oswal Private Wealth.

Shanker said the bulk of the NFOs have happened in the equity space and a few in the international space, which tells us what investors want. Since fixed income returns have collapsed, more investors are looking towards equity to get that extra return in their portfolios and most of the mutual funds are following that trend. Moreover, these NFOs are happening parallel to the IPO frenzy, he said.

Click here: For the latest episodes of the special show money money money

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

COVID-19 super vaccine: Scientists eye ‘variant-proof’ formula amid Omicron threat 

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Scientists are working on a new generation of COVID-19 vaccines that will be effective against all future and possible variants of the virus. Amid the future threat of new variants possibly emerging through further mutations, vaccine developers are now trying to pin down how to make a vaccine that is effective against all variants.

The emergence of the Omicron variant, with its 50 plus mutations, has raised concerns over the effectiveness of the current generation of vaccines against the new variants and future mutations. While no solid scientific data exists for the effectiveness of current COVID-19 vaccines in use against the Omicron variant, nations have already started imposing travel restrictions in order to avoid a potentially new threatening outbreak.

Also read: Omicron variant threat: Too early to determine a course of action, say vaccine makers

While it will take two to three weeks for immunologists to understand whether, and how, the Omicron variant can escape the immune response generated by prior infections and/or vaccination, vaccine makers are already working to make changes to their vaccine templates to be more effective against the new variant.

“Moderna will rapidly advance an Omicron-specific booster candidate. This candidate is part of the company’s strategy to advance variant-specific candidates for a subset of variants of significant concern,” the company said in a statement on November 26.

Also read: Omicron poses “very high” global risk, world must prepare, says WHO

Pfizer and BioNTech have stated that they are working on similar boosters. But the threat of future variants still remains.

Globally, only 42.63 percent of the world’s population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while a further 11.39 percent are partially vaccinated. With the lion’s share of vaccines being administered in rich nations, there are nearly 3.5 billion individuals that still remain vulnerable to infections from COVID-19.

More infections further increase the chance of complex mutations, creating newer variants; so, unless most of the world population is vaccinated against the virus, the threats of future variants remain ever-present.

It is for this reason that scientists have begun working on ‘beta vaccines,’ which will provide protection against all future variants. Beta vaccines are named after beta coronaviruses, which is the group of viruses that include viral species that cause diseases like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and COVID-19.

Also read: States on high alert, issue new guidelines over Omicron threat

Norway-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) recently announced that it would be funding MigVax and the Vaccines and Infectious Disease Organizations of the University of Saskatchewan to work on the concept of ‘variant-proof’ vaccines. These vaccines will tackle ‘beta coronaviruses’ to offer protection against new variants of concern.

Different vaccine platforms, biomarkers and immunological techniques are being tested to see whether they can form the backbone for the ‘variant-proof’ vaccines.

But some experts say chasing after immunity against every possible variant can quickly become extremely costly and time-consuming. According to many health experts, the key to preventing future variants is vaccine equity, which means increasing the global vaccination rates for poor and middle-income countries.

Also read: Explained: What does Omicron variant mean for fully vaccinated

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

Reliance denies report of bidding for UK-based telecom major BT

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Reliance Industries has refuted stories in the media about its interest and bid for UK’s telecom major, BT.

A report in ET, earlier said that Reliance Jio was looking to expand its footprint in the United Kingdom and was interested in buying a stake in BT (formerly known as British Telecom).

A statement by Reliance has categorically denied the news and called the report baseless.

“We categorically deny any intent to bid for the UK telecoms group BT. The article is completely speculative and baseless,” read the statement to the exchanges.

Reliance’s shares rose 3.6 percent earlier in the day and closed 1.2 percent higher.

As per Reuter’s report, BT has declined to comment on the media report.

Reliance Jio, India’s leading telecom player, on Sunday announced up to a 20 percent hike in its prepaid tariffs starting December 1. Despite the increase, Jio has managed to keep the pre-paid rates lower than Airtel and Vodafone Idea, its main competitors.

Jio has its lowest rate for 28 days validity plan at Rs 91. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have increased the entry-level plan with 28 days validity to Rs 99.

Disclosure: RIL, the promoter of Reliance Jio, also controls Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com.

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

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Star Health’s IPO opens: Key things to know

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Star Health and Allied Insurance Company’s initial public offer (IPO) opened for subscription today, November 30. The IPO comprises fresh issuance of Rs 2,000 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of equity worth Rs 5,249 crore (5.8 crore shares) by promoters and existing shareholders. Chennai-based insurer Star Health has set a price band of Rs 870-900 for the IPO, which will conclude on Thursday, December 2. Star Health is backed by ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and PE firm Westbridge Capital.

ALSO READ: Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Akasa Air inks pact to buy CFM engines

Here are key things to know about the Star Health IPO:

Important dates: The bidding process for the Star Health IPO will begin on November 30, and conclude on December 2.

IPO price band: Under the Star Health IPO, shares will be available for bidding in a price band of Rs 870-900.

Lot size: Shares will be available for bidding in multiples of 16 units. At the upper end of the price band, one lot of Star Health shares will cost bidders Rs 14,400.

Fund utilisation: The company will use the proceeds from the fresh issuance to augment its capital base.

Investor categories: Out of the total issue size, 75 percent is reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), 15 percent for non-institutional investors and 10 percent for retail investors. The public offer includes a reservation of shares worth Rs 100 crore for employees.

IPO listing date: Shares are likely to be listed on stock exchanges BSE and NSE on December 10.

OFS: Safecrop Investments India LLP, Konark Trust and MMPL Trust, and investors Apis Growth 6 Ltd, Mio IV Star, University of Notre Dame Du Lac, Mio Star, ROC Capital Pty Ltd, Venkatasamy Jagannathan, Sai Satish and Berjis Minoo Desai will be selling shares under the OFS.

ALSO READ: India’s biggest IPOs of all time

Listed peers: Currently, SBI Life Insurance Company, HDFC Life Insurance Company, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company and ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company are among Star Health’s listed peers.

Company profile: Star Health and Allied Insurance Company is a major private health insurance company in the country. Its products target a variety of segments, including individuals, families, students, senior citizens and persons with existing medical conditions.

Financials: Star Health’s net loss stood at Rs 825.6 crore in the financial year 2020-21 as against a net profit of Rs 268 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. Its total income was at Rs 7,568.8 crore in FY21, up 36.3 percent on a year-on-year basis.

Catch latest stock market updates here

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

Amazon infuses Rs 650 crore in Amazon Wholesale (India)

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

US-based e-commerce giant Amazon has infused fresh capital to the tune of Rs 650 crore into one of its India units, Amazon Wholesale (India), according to regulatory documents. Amazon Corporate Holdings Private Limited and Amazon.com.incs Limited have made the Rs 650 crore investment in the wholesale B2B arm of Amazon India, documents filed with the corporate affairs ministry and shared by market intelligence firm Tofler showed. The date of allotment was October 26, 2021, it added.

Amazon India did not respond to emailed queries. According to the documents, a significant share of the funds (over Rs 649.94 crore) came from Amazon Corporate Holdings Pvt Ltd. The fresh funds will provide more arsenal to Amazon in India to bolster its wholesale B2B business in India. Amazon has been aggressively investing across various business units in India. These investments have been deployed towards expanding infrastructure and adding solutions to enhance consumer and seller experience.

Also Read | Amazon, Apollo Hospitals in talks for pharmacy business partnership

In October, Amazon had also infused fresh capital to the tune of Rs 1,460 crore into Amazon Seller Services – its marketplace that helps sellers to sell their products online in India and internationally.

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

Confident to end FY22 with revenue of Rs 800 crore: TD Power Systems

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

TD Power Systems reported its Q2FY22 earnings for the September-ended quarter. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Nikhil Kumar, MD of the company discussed the quarter gone by as well as the business outlook.

He expects to end FY22 with revenue of Rs 800 crore.

“We will be ending the year FY22 on a consolidated basis at around Rs 800 crore and manufacturing revenues will be in the region between Rs 690 crore and Rs 700 crore,” he said.

“FY22 has been one of the best years for the company since its inception,” he added.

The company has taken some price increases which will start kicking-in from Q4FY22 onwards.

Also Read: Reliance one of best stocks to play India story, expect it to test lifetime high soon: Gautam Shah

“These price increases will more or less offset the raw material price increases that we have experienced. So we should see the margin expanding from Q4FY22 and it will go into full effect next year,” he said.

The company will be around 11-12 percent EBITDA for FY22.

“About 80 percent of the company’s business is non-coal oriented. From an export point of view, it is even larger,” he noted.

For the full interview, watch the accompanying video.

Catch all market updates here.

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

Mauritius funds trim exposure to Adani Group companies

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Nine Mauritius-based funds have divested their exposure to Adani Green Energy, even as another Mauritius-based promoter increased its own stake in the renewables company.

Six of the nine companies are some of the biggest stakeholders in all Adani Group Companies, where they rarely sell their Adani Group shares.

Out of the funds, Elara India Opportunities Fund, Cresta Fund, Albula Investment Fund and APMS Investment Fund had parked over 90 percent of their managed fund value of $6.9 billion into Adani companies in June. Public records indicated that the six large Mauritius based funds have not been divested from any other Adani Group Company.

Also Read: MSCI to drop Adani Ports from climate indices for links with Carmichael project

Of these four, three are currently under investigation by the National Securities Depository Ltd, which froze their respective accounts. The four funds had previously invested in Winsome Diamonds and Jewellery, Sterling Biotech, Ruchi Soya Industries and Karuturi Global. Of these, owners of two companies are fugitives after defaulting on loans and the other two went bankrupt.

At the same time, Infinite Trade and Investments Ltd which is a promoter of Adani Green Energy, has purchased shares to bring the total promoter shareholding of the company to 60.14 percent from 56.29 in March. All four Adani companies are already close to the regulatory limit of 75 percent promoter shareholding for public companies.

Adani Green Energy is the big bet on renewables in the coming years from group chairman Gautam Adani, who is competing against Reliance Industries Limited’ CEO and MD, Mukesh Ambani’s dreams of building a green energy business to facilitate India’s journey to net zero.

Also Read: Adani Electricity to meet 30% of Mumbai power demand via renewable sources

Adani has already installed a renewable capacity of 20 gigawatts, while Reliance wants to establish 100 gigawatts of solar energy by 2030, and a Green Energy Giga complex. Adani plans to invest $20 billion across renewable energy generation, component manufacturing, transmission and distribution businesses.

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

Expect to see some supply chain disruptions globally in case of intense third wave: Blue Star

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

B Thiagarajan, MD at Blue Star does not see any kind of supply chain disruption problems till March 2022.

“Till March 2022, I am not seeing any problem. But if the third wave of COVID is going to be a severe one, one can very well visualise some more supply chain disruptions happening across the globe,” he said.

According to him, consumers have not yet started reacting to the new variant of COVID, Omicron.

Also Read: Explained: What does Omicron variant mean for fully vaccinated

“The good news is that there is no change in the energy level for December 31, 2021. Therefore, production is at full swing for Q4FY22 and the build-up to the summer season,” he said.

He continues to be optimistic.

While discussing how the demand is panning out for consumer products post the festival season, he said, “Demand was good during the festival season. Immediately after Diwali, there is always a lull. November is going on almost same as the pre-pandemic level. The next burst will be the Christmas, New Year week.”

Also Read: Unfamiliar but mild symptoms: South African doctor shares her observation on Omicron COVID variant

“From the air-conditioners point of view, we have to wait for the summer build-up for us or for the industry – February and March will be the huge months,” he added.

For the full interview, watch the accompanying video.

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