Continuing the deflationary trend for fifth month in a row, wholesale inflation touched a record low of (-)2.33 per cent in March on cheaper manufactured goods and food items, prompting industry to renew its demand for further rate cut by the Reserve Bank.

Inflation in manufactured items slipped in to the negative territory, reflecting poor offtake of goods.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation has been in the negative zone since November 2014 mainly on account of cheaper food and fuel products.

It was at (-)2.06 per cent in February, (-)0.39 per cent in January, (-)0.50 per cent in December and (-)0.17 per cent in November. It was 6 per cent in March 2014.

Dr Jyotsna Suri, President, FICCI
Both WPI and CPI data for the month of March 2015 report inflation remaining at ease. The latest numbers indicate moderation in food prices even though possibility of upside risks from unseasonal rains remains imminent. However, this most likely will be counterbalanced with subdued demand conditions and soft commodity prices. As for tackling food inflation, an improved supply side response would be more appropriate. Further, the IIP numbers released last week reported a significant improvement in February 2015, which is encouraging. Going ahead, it will be imperative to support this buoyancy to assure a sustainable turn around in the industrial sector. We look forward to another round of downward revision in the repo rate in June 2015 or perhaps earlier.

Deflation in the manufactured products category was at (-)0.19 per cent, the lowest in over five years. Last time the rate of price rise in manufactured items had contracted in July 2009 at (-)0.2 per cent.

Inflation in food articles category stood at 6.31 per cent, and for fuel and power, it was (-)12.56 per cent.

With the decline in both wholesale and retail inflation, industry chambers have renewed their demand for further rate cut by the RBI to give a boost to manufacturing sector.

“Going ahead, it will be imperative to support this buoyancy in factory output to assure a sustainable turn around in the industrial sector. We look forward to another round of downward revision in the repo rate in June 2015 or perhaps earlier,” Ficci President Jyotsna Suri said.

Retail inflation, based on Consumer Price Index released last week fell, to a 3-month low of 5.17 per cent in March on the back of easing food prices.

Industrial output growth jumped to nine-month high of 5 per cent in February on better performance of manufacturing sector and higher offtake of consumer and capital goods.

The Reserve Bank, which has reduced repo rate by 0.5 per cent since January, refrained last week from further cut in its first bi-monthly monetary policy review in the current fiscal. The next review is due on June 2. MORE PTI JD CS SA 04151615

The January WPI inflation data has been revised downwards to (-)0.95 per cent as against the provisional estimate of (-)0.39 per cent.

Experts said the central bank is likely to place greater emphasis on retail inflation numbers, than the path charted by the one based on WPI.

“The sub-zero print for core-WPI inflation in March would have a limited impact on the timing and magnitude of rate cuts by the RBI. We continue to expect repo rate cuts to be limited to 0.50 per cent in the remainder of this calendar year,” ICRA Senior Economist Aditi Nayar said.

As per government data released today, inflation in onions, milk and protein-rich items like egg, meat and fish inched upwards, vegetables and fruits saw the rate of price rise decline during the month.

The rate of price rise in potato saw the steepest fall at (-)20.66 per cent in March, while for wheat it was (-)1.19 per cent.

Inflation in vegetables was 9.68 per cent in March, as against 15.54 per cent in February.

Inflation at record low, rate cut chorus gets louder

With deflation persisting for the fifth straight month on account of cheaper food and fuel products as well as manufactured items., corporates today said the trend is a clear pointer to the RBI to slash key rates further to revive consumer confidence and boost investment, crucial to kickstart growth.

“It is a clear pointer for the Reserve Bank and the Finance Ministry to shift focus completely towards growth.

Easing of interest rates and a host of other variables are needed to ensure India achieves the kind of growth as projected by the World Bank and IMF,” Assocham President Rana Kapoor said.

“The key challenge is revival in consumer confidence and restoration of investment appetite. The credit offtake remains subdued against the backdrop of high interest rates, slower pace of product demand and global benign economic environment.”

Inflation measured as the wholesale price index (WPI) stood at (-) 2.06 per cent in February, (-) 0.39 per cent in January, (-) 0.50 per cent in December and (-) 0.17 per cent in November. It came in at 6 per cent in March 2014.

Deflation was also visible in the manufactured products category where the rate of price rise dropped to a record low of (-) 0.19 per cent.

Inflation in food article category stood at 6.31 per cent, and for fuel and power, it was (-) 12.56 per cent.

“Continuous deceleration in WPI inflation is welcome and we expect disinflationary momentum to continue and macro-economic situation is strengthened further in coming times,” PHD Chamber President Alok B Shriram said.

The decline in inflation and a positive industrial output data would give room to the Reserve Bank to consider a cut in interest rates.

the Summit of the Americas last week. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington
@SabrinaSiddiqui

Wednesday 15 April 2015 09.55 BST

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Barack Obama will remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, the White House said on Tuesday, marking the president’s biggest move yet towards the resumption of diplomatic ties with Havana.
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The White House confirmed that Obama had notified Congress of his intention to remove Cuba from the list, reversing a designation that has been in place since 1982. The announcement came days after a historic meeting between Obama and Cuban president Raúl Castro on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Panama, in the first formal talks between the two countries’ leaders in more than 50 years.

In his letter to Congress, Obama wrote that the Cuban government “has not provided any support for international terrorism” in the past six months, and has “provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future”.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the US would continue to have differences with the Cuban government, “but our concerns over a wide range of Cuba’s policies and actions fall outside the criteria that is relevant to whether to rescind Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.

“That determination is based on the statutory standard – and the facts – and those facts have led the President to declare his intention to rescind Cuba’s State Sponsor of Terrorism designation,” Earnest said in a statement.

Cuba welcomed the move, adding that it “rejects and condemns” all acts of terrorism. A statement by Josefina Vidal, the Cuban foreign ministry’s chief of US affairs, said: “The Cuban government recognized the fair decision made by the president of the United States to eliminate Cuba from a list that it never should have been included on, especially considering our country has been the victim of hundreds of acts of terrorism that have cost 3,478 lives and maimed 2,099 citizens.”

Obama’s decision was made after a State Department review of Cuba’s presence on the terror list – one of several steps the president announced in December as part of his administration’s new policy toward the island nation. The slow pace of the review had been one of several sticking points among Cuban diplomats, thus holding up diplomatic progress and the possibility of reopening embassies in Havana and Washington after a 50-year estrangement.
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Cuba was placed on the list in 1982 for training and supporting communist rebels in Latin America and Africa, but the country has long since renounced direct military support for foreign militants and the US has not accused the island nation of actively supporting terrorism for years.

Recent State Department reports have criticised Cuba for offering safe haven to members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Farc, and the Basque separatist group ETA. But Cuba has distanced itself from ETA, and is currently hosting peace talks between Farc and the Colombian government.

The only countries that will now remain on the US terror list are Iran, Sudan and Syria.

Cuba’s removal from the list will also alleviate some of the economic sanctions on the island, thus opening up avenues to access US banking facilities that Cuban officials have said are necessary to reopen an embassy in Washington.

Ben Rhodes, the US deputy national security adviser, tweeted: “Put simply, POTUS is acting to remove Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism list because Cuba is not a State Sponsor of Terrorism.”

Secretary of state John Kerry said the department’s review focused on whether Cuba provided any support for international terrorism over the past six months, and whether the US has received assurances from the Cuban government that it will not support future acts of international terrorism.
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“Circumstances have changed since 1982 … Our Hemisphere, and the world, look very different today than they did 33 years ago,” Kerry said in a statement. “Our determination, pursuant to the facts, including corroborative assurances received from the Government of Cuba and the statutory standard, is that the time has come to rescind Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.”

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have 45 days to respond to Obama’s action, but it is unlikely they will seek to block the president from taking Cuba off the list. The move does not end other commercial, economic and financial restrictions under the US embargo on Cuba, as only Congress has the authority to end the freeze.

Senior administration officials told reporters in a conference call Tuesday that they remain optimistic about opening an embassy in Cuba, but acknowledged that obstacles remain. “We’re still not quite there yet,” one official said.

Although Republicans have sharply criticized Obama’s overtures to Cuba, polls show that nearly two-thirds of Americans support the reestablishing of ties. A broad majority of Americans are also in favor of lifting travel restrictions and ending the trade embargo, according to several surveys over the last few months.

Specialists on Latin America agreed that lifting the terror designation was a major step in the normalisation of relations between Washington and Havana.

Richard Feinberg, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution – and an architect of the first Summit of the Americas – said that the move was part of a process which would culminate in the re-opening of embassies in the the two capitals. Feinberg added: “It also suggests that the White House now sees the opening to Cuba as a political winner.”

Dr. Gregory Weeks, a Latin America expert who heads the political science department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, said that removing Cuba from the list was “symbolically a demonstration that the two countries were moving beyond the Cold War.”

“It’s a common sense move given the changing realities of global terrorism — that’s just not something that Cuba’s involved in,” he said. “It was obviously also a major obstacle to normalization of relations. Cuba has not been a security threat to the United States for many years.”

The news had not yet filtered out to the public in Havana, where the vast majority of people have little or not access to the Internet. But hopes in the Cuban capital had already been raised by Saturday’s meeting between President Raul Castro and Barack Obama.

“The relationship is getting better. I think it will take more time, but in one or two years I feel improved ties will make a big difference in our lives,” said fencing coach Eduardo Delgado, as he chatted with friends in a suburb of the city.

The group of youngsters were quick to credit Obama for the improvement in relations. “He is very intelligent, a real source of hope,” said 22-year-old legal student Dyron Hernandez. “Among Cubans, I think Obama is the most popular world leader right now.”

That view was widely echoed. “Obama is the best US president of my lifetime,” said 67-year-old Fria Nieve. “We must not expect too much because presidents alone do not make decisions, but we can hope for change once trade and travel picks up with a country that less than 100 miles away.”

The benefits of the rapprochement are already apparent. Foreign tourist numbers this year are already at the level of the whole of 2014. In Havana, local say almost all the hotels were booked out for the Easter holiday.

Pohela Boishakh – Bengali New Year: The Nabo Barsho of Bengal and Bohaag Bihu (Assam) is celebrated with great deal of enthusiasm and energy during the mid of April. This is the day of cultural programs, shopping, prayers and also considered as auspicious time for marriages. Pohela Boishakh celebrated by tribal people in hilly areas of Tripura and also in cities of other countries.

The hilly district of Darjeeling was filled with activity. People could be seen in their traditional attires dancing through the streets. In Assam Aflong, it was very special as Rewati Chetri went through the top ten finalist. The Grorkha community of Haflong Assam are very proud of her. In her Facebook Rewati has sent Greetings to all the Gorkhali community. Acccording to Gorkhali Calendar it enters Bikram Sambat 2072.

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The Delhi High Court today said it will not grant bail for the time being to two of the three convicts serving life term in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in which five members of a family were killed.

A bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Mukta Gupta said it will first hear arguments on their appeals against their conviction before passing any order on suspension of sentence.

“We have to deal with the appeals related to death of five persons here, so we need to go through the evidence throughly, we will not give bail today,” it said.

The court’s observation came while hearing the bail pleas of convicts Girdhari Lal and ex-councillor Balwan Khokar who have also challenged their conviction and award of life sentence by the trial court in May last year.

The court also noted that the bail plea of co-convict Balwan Khokar, who was also awarded life term in the case, has already been dismissed by it and hence, it will not grant the relief at this stage.

It, however, said that two other convicts, ex-MLA Mahinder Yadav and Kishan Khokkar, who were awarded three years jail term in milder penal provisions, will remain out.

Meanwhile, the court asked the prosecution to provide the copies of testimonies of prosecution witnesses, including that of complainant Jagdish Kaur. The trial court has relied upon them while convicting the accused.

It also directed the prosecution to provide the copy of the affidavit filed by Kaur before the Rangnath Misra Commission within two days.

The court said it will hear the bail pleas on October 10.

Besides Girdhari Lal, the trial court had also awarded life term to two others, Balwan Khokar and retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, in the case.

Senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was acquitted in the case.

Girdhari Lal and Balwan Khokar, in their appeals, “The trial court has been pleased to reach the conclusion that the statement of prosecution witness (PW-1) Jagdish Kaur is untrustworthy, unreliable, contradictory and full of improvements while deciding the involvement of co-accused Sajjan Kumar.

“But while deciding their case and others (Gridhari Lal, Balwan Khokar and Bhagmal), the trial court took a different view and wrongly appreciated the statement of PW-1 to be credible and trustworthy against them.”

The case, in which the five persons were held guilty, relates to the killing of five Sikhs – Kehar Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Raghuvender Singh, Narender Pal Singh and Kuldeep Singh – by a mob in Raj Nagar area in Delhi Cantonment. They were members of the same family.

An inter-ministerial committee, headed by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth, has been set up by the government to look at the possibility of declassification of all files related to death or disappearance of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose nearly 70 years back.

The first meeting of panel, which consists of representatives of the Ministries of Home and External Affairs, RAW, and Intelligence Bureau, is likely to take place tomorrow, official sources said on Wednesday.

The NDA government’s move came amidst growing demands for declassification of nearly 90 files which are yet to be made public. Interestingly, grandnephew of Bose, Surya Kumar Bose, had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Berlin on Tuesday and requested him to declassify all files related to events since his death or disappearance in Taiwan on August 18, 1945.

The issue of Netaji related files came to the fore last week when a controversy broke out following reports that his family was kept under surveillance by the Intelligence Bureau for 20 years, much of it during the tenure of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Sources said among nearly 90 classified files relating to Bose, around 27 are with the Ministry of External Affairs while rest with the Prime Minister’s Office.

There is no file related to the freedom fighter with the Home Ministry as all have already been declassified and handed over to the National Archives.

The committee will examine whether the declassification of the files will in anyway hamper India’s relations with some foreign countries and also review certain provisions of the Official Secret Act, sources said.