The searches since December 22, which resulted in Jain's arrest, also included searches at the trader's residential/factory premises in Kannauj, wherein about Rs 17 crore in cash, 23 kg of gold and 600 kg sandalwood oil having a market value of about Rs 6 crore have been recovered, the ministry said in a release.
The company is withdrawing from the blocks due to delays in clearances.
No lives were lost after cyclone Biparjoy made landfall. Preparations for Biparjoy were not only extensive, they were also telecast far and wide. Ahead of the cyclone's landfall, Shyam G Menon observes there was considerable publicity on how much the government was geared up to face the storm and its aftermath.
At a time when crude oil and natural gas prices are sky-high, public sector behemoth ONGC's haphazard planning and mismanagement in developing showpiece deep-sea KG-D5 block is costing the nation over Rs 18,000 crores due to the delayed output of oil and gas, government officials said. ONGC was originally to start gas production from the Cluster-II fields in block KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5) in June 2019 and the first oil was to flow in March 2020. But these targets were quietly shifted to end-2021 because of deferments in awarding the fragmented work packages of the project, two officials with direct knowledge of the matter said on condition of anonymity.
Earlier this year, the Union Cabinet gave the management of state-run companies the freedom to decide on divesting their subsidiaries. However, the very next day a meeting was held at the top level of the Government of India, for the presentation of proposals for more autonomy for state-run companies. Interestingly, no chiefs of any of these companies were invited. It is a problem that will stare the government in the face with the state-owned banks too, as talks have again begun for inviting strategic investments in these companies.
India's flagship overseas firm ONGC Videsh Ltd is likely to get a 20 per cent stake in the Khusk and Hosseineieh oil fields in Iran on nomination basis.
This is perhaps the first time that retail prices in India are higher than the global rates
In a bid to reduce the risk of heart ailments from intake of trans fat (TFA) packaged foods, the government is mulling a cap of 10 per cent on TFA in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, an autonomous statutory body administered by the ministry of health and family welfare, has come up with a draft on this that it has presented to the stakeholders. It plans to introduce the cap by January 2010.