Indicated in first CoA meeting itself that I didn't want any payment: Guha

Technology
Noted historian Ramchandra Guha on Wednesday said he didn't expect to be paid for his tenure in the outgoing Committee of Administrators and had made this clear in the CoA's very first meeting.
Guha declined a payment of Rs 40 lakh along with another former CoA member, banker Vikram Limaye, who was to be paid Rs 50.5 lakh.
"I had indicated in the first meeting itself that I did not expect or want any payment," Guha told PTI.
Limaye has also refused to accept the payment due to him, citing the same reason, according to a source in the Board.
The Vinod Rai-led CoA, which demits office on Wednesday, was originally a four-member panel appointed by the Supreme Court on January 30, 2017.
The 61-year-old resigned from it in July 2017, citing personal reasons, while Limaye also put in his papers subsequently to take charge as the Managing Director and CEO of National Stock Exchange (NSE).
Guha's resignation letter later created a storm as he lambasted the BCCI for failing to address the conflict of interest issue with regards to players and coaches holding multiple positions.
He also criticised the handling of Anil Kumble as the then coach of the national team, saying that his tenure should have been extended.

 Kumble stepped down after a public fallout with captain Virat Kohli following the Champions Trophy in 2017. Guha had slammed the "superstar culture" in the Indian team...READ MORE

Congress president Sonia Gandhi meets D K Shivakumar in Tihar jail

Technology
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday morning met Karnataka Congress leader D K Shivakumar in Tihar jail and enquired about his welfare.
Shivakumar, 57, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on September 3 in a money laundering case. He is lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody.
According to sources, Gandhi was accompanied by Congress general secretary Ambika Soni.
Shivakumar, a seven-time MLA in Karnataka, was booked along with Haumanthaiah -- an employee at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi -- and others for alleged offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The case was based on a charge sheet filed by the Income Tax Department against them last year before a special court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and ''hawala'' transactions worth crores or rupees...READ MORE

Fastest growing economy? India to grow at 7.5% in FY20, says World Bank

Current Affairs

As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman prepares her budget, the World Bank reports Indias economy grew by 7.2 per cent in 2018-19 in contrast to the recent Indian Central Statistical Office (CSO) estimate of only 6.8 per cent growth during the period.
The Bank's Economic Prospects Report released on Tuesday forecast India's economy to grow by 7.5 per cent during this and the next two fiscal years, retaining its top spot as the fastest growing major economy. It would be helped by a "more accommodative monetary policy" and low inflation, it said.
The report retained the forecasts it made in January for India.
India's growth forecast is the brightest spot in a grim forecast for the world economy. The report said that the global growth rate was estimated at 3 per cent last year and is forecast to dip steeply to 2.6 per cent this year, before edging up to 2.7 per cent next year and 2.8 per cent in 2021.
India "is estimated to have grown 7.2 per cent in fiscal year 2018-19, which ended March 31", the report said. "A slowdown in government consumption was offset by solid investment, which benefited from public infrastructure spending".
The Bank said that the cut-off dates for data used in the report was May 23.
On May 31, the CSO said that India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth during the 2018-19 fiscal stood at 6.8 per cent, lower than the previous year's 7.2 per cent.The CSO said the Indian economy grew by only 5.8 per cent in the fourth quarter. That dragged down the fiscal year's growth rate.

 Finance Secretary Subash Garg attributed the slowdown to "temporary factors like stress in non-banking financial company (NBFC) sector affecting consumption finance".