Dramatic Owaisi arrest

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, who was arrested on the charge of not cooperating with the police in connection with the hate speech case against him, has been sent to 14-day judicial custody. Sources say Owaisi was arrested as the police officers were not convinced by the MLA’s explanation that he had gone to London for medical treatment. Owaisi was on 8th Jan’13 night taken to Nirmal in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh where an FIR has been registered against him for allegedly delivering a hate speech. Owaisi’s lawyer Shafiuddin Khan on Tuesday accused the police of arresting the MLA arbitrarily. He claimed that the MLA was not well and could collapse due the stress after his arrest. Akbaruddin Owaisi never wanted to evade the law, he had been cooperating. Owaisi had not eaten food since morning, he was not even given the medical report. We have not been informed by the police where Owaisi has been taken. Owaisi was not allowed to go to his house also, Owaisi had gone to London for re-evaluation and medical check-up. Two FIRs were registered suo motu at Adilabad and Nizamabad districts while a third case was registered by Osmania University police, following a court directive after Owaisi allegedly used inflammatory language against a particular community in December 2012. Owaisi has been booked under Sec 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) and Sec 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of IPC. The MIM legislator has also been booked under Sec 121 (waging or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India) of IPC. Meanwhile, Owaisi’s lawyer has filed three more petitions in the court demanding medical treatment and higher security for the MIM MLA.

 

 

Monsoon impact on Indian Agriculture

Monsoon rains in India, the world’s leading producer of some farm products, have been 23% below average since the four-month season began on June 1, delaying sowing of some summer-planted crops such as rice, lentils and oil seeds. The annual rains are crucial for farm output and economic growth as nearly half of the country’s arable land is rain-fed. The farm sector makes up about 15% of a nearly USD 2-trillion economy. Up till now, farmers had planted rice, the main summer crop, on 5.54 million hectares, down from 7.51 million a year earlier. Sowing is lagging in the top producing states of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Lower water levels in reservoirs and poor rains have also hit states such as Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Sowing has been picking up after rains in the past few days.

Patchy rains have hit lentils, popularly known as pulses in India. The country will have to step up imports from Australia, Canada and Myanmar if output drops again this year. Key growing states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh got less rain, but showers have improved since. Poor rains in the biggest coffee producing state of Karnataka could hurt the crop. Dealers say it will be difficult to meet the state-run Coffee Board’s output forecast of 325,300 tonnes. Showers have been 35% below average in the biggest rubber-producing state of Kerala. But the distribution of rains was good, helping the Rubber Board retain its forecast of a record output.Tea output was hit in the first five months due to dry weather conditions followed by heavy rains in the main growing areas. The weather condition is likely to trim output further.

 

Ybrant to be listed in BSE

Hyderabad-based digital marketing firm Ybrant announced that it is going to get listed on the BSE following itsmerger with LGS Global. The company said the face value of the share has been changed from Rs 10 to Rs 2 for accounting purposes and does affect shareholding of the investors.  Ybrant Digital had announced its merger with IT services firm LGS Global Ltd to create a global digital marketing powerhouse. The share exchange ratio for the merger was 6 equity shares of LGS of Rs 10 each, for every 1 equity share of Ybrant of Rs 10 each.  The merger is subject to regulatory approvals from Indian stock exchanges and the High Court of Andhra Pradesh.

The name of the amalgamated entity has now been changed from LGS Global Ltd to Ybrant Digital Ltd.

Ybrant Digital Ltd is all set to get listed on the BSE consequent to reorganisation of capital and fresh allotment of shares in the amalgamation. The board took cognisance of the amalgamation of Ybrant Digital and LGS Global as directed by the honourable high court of Andhra Pradesh. Trading of the stock ‘LGS Global‘ has been temporarily suspended due to the procedural reasons to accommodate the changes, The new Board of Directors of the company include Suresh Kumar Reddy M (Chairman and Managing Director) and Ramakrishna Vijay Kumar K (Executive Director). Ybrant Digital services global brands like Porsche, Ford, Swissair, Chevrolet, LaSalle and Lufthansa. Ybrant has, in the past, acquired US-based search engine and web portal company Lycos ($36 million) and three firms belonging to UK-based company Experian for $175 million. It has raised some $100 million in equity and debt from private equity funds, including Oak Investment Partners and GE Asia Pacific Capital and now Ybranthas purely become a global brand.