<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/55870022.cms" /> 
 Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> declared a war against black money on November 8, when he declared old currency notes of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 as illegal tender. Soon after the announcement, in a bid to convert black money into white, people went in a tizzy to buy gold ornaments and bars. 
 According <keyword id="3081813" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Surendra-Mehta">Surendra Mehta</keyword>, national secretary of <keyword id="2246442" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="India-Bullion-Jewellers-Association">India Bullion &amp; Jewellers Association</keyword> (<keyword id="2085341" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="IBJA">IBJA</keyword>), jewellers sold 15 tonnes of gold ornaments and bars, worth around Rs 5,000 crore, on the intervening night of November 8 and 9. 
 
IBJA has 2,500 jewellers registered with it from across the country. 
 "We estimate gold worth Rs 5,000 crore, or around 15 tonnes, was sold between 8 pm on November 8 and 2-3 am the next day, after the PM's <keyword id="3315394" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="demonetisation">demonetisation</keyword> announcement,” Mehta told ET. 
 
He also added that more than half of the sales happened in Delhi, UP and Punjab. He claimed that only 1,000 of around 6 lakh jewellers across the country had accepted Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in exchange for gold on the night of November 8. 
 
IBJA is now asking the government to take strict action against erring jewellers because they had brought a "bad, name to the entire trade, Mehta added. 
 
The figure of 15 tonnes is significant as it amounts to over a fifth of the monthly sales of gold in a normal year

People rushed to buy gold just after demonetisation announcement, gold worth Rs 5,000 crore sold on Nov 8-9

Patna, The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has formally announced its candidates for all but one of the 23 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, where the party is contesting as a constituent of the opposition '<keyword id="19941767" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mahagathbandhan" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Mahagathbandhan" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Mahagathbandhan">Mahagathbandhan</keyword>'. Party president <keyword id="19900762" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lalu-Prasad" source="keywords">Lalu Prasad</keyword>'s daughters - Rohini Acharya and Misa Bharti - are among the <keyword id="21255353" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="RJD-nominees" source="keywords">RJD nominees</keyword>. According to a release issued by RJD state president Jagdanand Singh late on Tuesday, Acharya will contest from Saran, a seat her father had won many times. Prasad represented the seat until his disqualification in 2013 when he was convicted in a fodder scam. Bharti, his eldest daughter who is enjoying her second term in the Rajya Sabha, will try her luck in the Patliputra Lok Sabha constituency. A party functionary said a candidate is yet to be announced for Siwan, where the RJD had for years been fielding the late Mohd Shahubuddin. As per the seat-sharing arrangement among partners of the 'Mahagathbandhan', the RJD has kept 26 of Bihar's 40 Lok Sabha seats, leaving nine for Congress and five for the Left parties. The RJD, last week, struck a deal with former Bihar minister Mukesh Sahni, whose Vikashsheel Insaan Party has been given three seats from its quota. Sudhakar Singh got the RJD ticket from the Buxar Lok Sabha seat, while Ali Asharaf Fatmi will contest from Madhubani and Surendra Prasad from Jehanabad. Other <keyword id="20596421" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="RJD-candidates" source="keywords">RJD candidates</keyword> include Kumar Sarvjeet (Gaya), Shrawan Kumar Kushwaha (Nawada), Bima Bharti (Purnea) and Archana Ravidass (Jamui). All the four have already filed their nominations. The party also nominated Jai Prakash Yadava from Banka, Lalit Yadav from Darbhanga and Chandrahas Chaupal from Supaul. Alok Kumar Mehta will contest on an RJD ticket from Ujiyarpur, Arjun Ai from Sitamarhi, Deepak Yadav from Valmikinagar, Ritu Jaiswal from Seohar and Kumar Chandradeep from Madhepura. The Lok Sabha elections to 40 seats in Bihar will be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1.

Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughters Rohini Acharya and Misa Bharti to contest in polls

Mumbai, Jan 17 () E-commerce giant Amazon's chief executive and world's richest person Jeff Bezos on Friday concluded his three-day India visit with meeting captains of Indian industry.
Among those who met included Reliance Industries chairman and richest Indian Mukesh Ambani, who is also into retailing, and a host of other c-suite honchos.
The meeting was held at a star hotel in South Mumbai this morning.
Others who were present included SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar, Godrej Group chairman Adi Godrej, Zarin Daruwala of Standard Chartered Bank, Xiaomi's India Head Manu Jain, Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy and Bank of America's Kaku Nakhate.
Retail and Fast Moving Consumer Goods players, including Kishore Biyani of Fture Group (where Amazon has an investment), Hindustan Unilever's Sanjiv Mehta, Nestle India's Suresh Narayanan and Proctor and Gamble India's Madhusudhan Gopalan were also present.
Sunil Mittal of Bharti Airtel was also present for the meeting wherein Bezos was accompanied by the head of Amazon in India, Amit Agarwal.
Among others were Infosys' Salil Parekh, HSBC's Surendra Rosha and Ola's Bhavish Agarwal.
 The business leaders posed for a group photo on the hotel's stairs before departing.
Bezos visited Rajghat in New Delhi on Tuesday, followed it up with a meet with small businesses on Wednesday and spent time with Bollywood celebrities on Thursday evening as part of the visit.
He has announced investments of USD 1 billion over the next few years and also create 1 million new jobs in India by 2025.
Bezos could not reportedly get an audience with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal stoked a controversy by stating that the e-commerce giant which is being investigated for predatory pricing is not doing India any favour by the investment. AA MKJ

Jeff Bezos meets industry captains, concludes 3-day India visit

New Delhi, Apr 14 () Donation platform GiveIndia on Tuesday said it has launched the 'India COVID Response Fund' (ICRF) with initial donations worth Rs 75 crore to support the on-ground COVID relief efforts being carried out by its network of verified non-profits.Some of the early donors to the fund include the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, Google.org, HSBC India, Omidyar Network India, UBS Optimus Foundation, Marico, Uber India (through Uber Care driver fund), Binny Bansal and A.T.E. Chandra Foundation.The fund will use a data-backed approach to identify the most critical areas of intervention and scale the relief efforts pan India, a statement said.The donation platform is aiming at creation of a larger corpus that can support up to 10 million people nationally, it added."Since we started fundraising for COVID relief work on March 22, we have received donations from more than 2 lakh people globally, raised Rs 75 crores, partnered with over 40 organisations, onboarded more than 100 non-profits, and these initial efforts will impact one million people," GiveIndia Director and ICRF Advisor Govind Iyer said.However, the on-ground requirement is much larger and the fund is an open platform for all to come together and support the most critical need of the hour, he added.Other partners in the collective are CSIP (Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy) from Ashoka University, Bridgespan, Indiaspora, Sattva, Dasra and IIFL Wealth, the statement said.An expert advisory group has been set up to guide fundraise and allocations, including Dr Devi Shetty, (Chairman, Narayana Health), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Chairman, Biocon), Sanjiv Mehta (Chairman, HUL), Surendra Rosha (CEO, HSBC India), Binny Bansal (Co-founder, Flipkart), Manoj Kohli (Country Head, Softbank) and Amitabh Chaudhry (CEO, Axis Bank).Shilpa Kumar (Investment Partner, Omidyar Network India), Ingrid Srinath (Director, CSIP, Ashoka University), Arun Seth (former Chairman-BT), Amita Chauhan (Chairperson, SVP Mumbai), Shailesh Haribhakti (CA), Haigreve Khaitan (Managing Partner, Khaitan &amp; Co), V Vaidyanathan (MD &amp; CEO, IDFC First Bank), Neeraj Aggarwal (Head APAC, BCG) and Karan Bhagat (MD &amp; CEO, IIFL Wealth) are also part of the effort."ICRF will focus on preventing the spread of the coronavirus, providing humanitarian aid, supporting our health workers and enabling the COVID-hit families to rebuild their livelihoods. GiveIndia will be working with and supporting non-profits across health, disaster relief, rural livelihoods, etc including Akshaya Patra, Goonj, HelpAge India, ActionAid, Oxfam, CRY, Srijan and many others through this fund," the statement said. SR RSN RUJ

GiveIndia starts India COVID Response Fund with Rs 75 cr in initial donations

New Delhi, Apr 8 () Civil rights activists Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde sought more time from the Supreme Court on Wednesday for surrendering to prison authorities in the Bhima Koregaon violence case citing the coronavirus pandemic.Going to jail at the time of the COVID-19 virus is "virtually a death sentence", they said.The apex court on March 16 had rejected anticipatory bail pleas of the activists, saying it cannot be said that no prima facie case is made out against them. It had however granted them three weeks to surrender themselves to the jail authorities.A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra reserved the order on the plea of the activists after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the probe agency, said that this was only a mechanism to buy time and both the accused are facing serious charges. The counsel for the accused said however that the activists are old having ailments and they be granted more time to surrender.Earlier, the apex court, while dismissing the anticipatory bail pleas of Navlakha and Teltumbde, had said their petitions cannot be maintained in view of the bar contained in 43D(4) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.Section 43D(4) of the UAPA bars grant of anticipatory bail to a person accused of having committed an offence punishable under this Act."The special leave petitions are, accordingly, dismissed. However, since the protection has been enjoyed by the petitioners approximately for one-and-a-half years, three weeks time from today is granted to them to surrender. The petitioners shall surrender their passport forthwith with the investigation agency/officer," the bench had said.Navlakha and Teltumbde had approached the apex court challenging the decision of the Bombay High Court by which it had refused to grant them anticipatory bail in the case.The top court had on March 6 extended till March 16 the interim protection from arrest granted to both the activists.The high court, while refusing to grant anticipatory bail to Navlakha and Teltumbde on February 14, had extended their interim protection from arrest for a period of four weeks to enable them to approach the apex court.The high court had refused to grant anticipatory bail to Navlakha and Teltumbde saying, "On perusal of all the material on record, it can be seen that there is prima facie evidence showing complicity of applicants (Navlakha and Teltumbde) in the crime."The high court, after perusing letters allegedly exchanged between the accused persons, had noted that Navlakha, Teltumbde and other accused like Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson and Sudha Bharadwaj prima facie had access to and connections with central committee members and leaders of the banned CPI(Maoist).Navlakha, Teltumbde and several other activists have been booked by the Pune Police for their alleged Maoist links and several other charges following the violence at Koregaon Bhima village in Pune district on January 1, 2018. All the accused have denied the allegations.According to Pune Police, "inflammatory" speeches and "provocative" statements made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017 had triggered caste violence at Koregaon Bhima the next day. The police alleged that the conclave was backed by Maoists.Teltumbde and Navlakha had approached the high court seeking pre-arrest bail in November last year after a sessions court in Pune had rejected their pleas. SJK ABA MNL SA

Bhima Koregaon: Activists seek time from SC to surrender for jail term due to COVID-19 pandemic

(Eds: Adding details from the order) New Delhi, Jun 18 () The Supreme Court Thursday stayed this year's Puri Rath Yatra, which is attended by lakhs of people from across the world and was to start from June 23, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and said "Lord Jagannath won't forgive us if we allow" it. A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices Dineesh Maheshwari and A S Bopanna said that in the interest of public health and safety of citizens, this year's Rath Yatra at Puri in Odisha can't be allowed. "Lord Jagannath won't forgive us if we allow this year's Rath Yatra to go on", CJI Bobde said, adding that as such a huge gathering can't take place during the pandemic. While the Rath Yatra festival, held over 10-12 days with lakhs of people participating, was scheduled for June 23, the 'Bahuda Jatra' (return car festival) was fixed for July 1. Three heavily built wooden chariots of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra are traditionally pulled by thousands of devotees over a distance of three kilometres twice during the nine-day festival of the Trinity at Puri. "Having regard to the danger presented by such a large gathering of people for the Rath Yatra, we consider it appropriate in the interests of public health and safety of citizens who are devotees to restrain the respondents from holding the Rath Yatra this year," the bench said. It said Article 25(1) of the Constitution itself confers the right to freely profess and propagate religion subject to health. "We accordingly direct that there shall be no Rath Yatra anywhere in the temple town of Odisha or in any other part of the State this year. We further direct that there shall be no activities secular or religious associated with the Rath Yatra during this period," it said. During the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the petitioner, an NGO, said that if Rath Yatra is allowed huge congregation of people will take place, exposing them to higher risk of infection by coronavirus. The bench observed that it is a serious matter. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said that it needs time till Friday to file the reply. A counsel appearing for an intervenor said the Odisha government has issued a notification that there shall be no public gathering till June 30. However, the bench said that it is restraining the respondents from holding the festival starting from June 23 and issuing notice on the plea and replies be filed in four weeks. The Chief Justice said he came to know recently that the word juggernaut is related to Lord Jagannath which means a force that cannot be stopped. Mehta said, "But, you stopped it today". The top court noted in its order that it is not disputed that the number of people, likely to gather for the annual Rath Yatra scheduled to be held from June 23, 2020, is going to be about 10 to 12 lakhs and the festivities normally continue for a period of 10 to 12 days. The top court's order came on a PIL filed by the Odisha-based NGO seeking cancellation or postponement of this year's Rath Yatra. Two pleas have been moved in the top court seeking to cancel or postponement of the historic 'Rath Yatra'. Besides the PIL filed by the NGO, 'Odisha Vikas Parishad', seeking stay on holding of the annual festival, an appeal has been moved by one Surendra Panigrahi of 'Bhartiya Bikash Parishad' against the Orissa High Court order of June 9 which had asked the state government to decide on holding the 'Rath Yatra' festival in line with the COVID-19 guidelines. The PIL said the religious congregation of such nature, which has been specifically prohibited by the state government vide its guidelines dated June 1 and June 7 and the guidelines dated May 30 of Ministry of Home Affairs, if allowed, will lead to "catastrophic" results and it will be very difficult on the part of the authorities to control the spread of the virus thereafter. It said that if the 'Rath Yatra' is allowed to happen on June 23, despite State Government's prohibition on holding religious gathering or congregations, lakhs of devotees from all over the country are going to gather for 'darshan' of Lord Shri Jagannath. "If such a massive gathering takes place members of the crowd will not be able to maintain adequate distance, which will make them all vulnerable to contracting COVID-19 infection," it said. It sought a direction to the Centre and the state government for not granting any permission for holding the 'Rath Yatra' festival. The appeal of Panigrahi also mentioned similar grounds for deferment of Rath Yatra. On June 9, the High Court on the PIL filed by Panigrahi has directed that the state government that in case it decides to hold 'Rath Yatra' festival at Puri in consistent with the Covid-19 guidelines, then it must also duly consider deploying machinery or other means like elephants to pull the chariots. The High Court had said that it is up to the state government to decide whether to allow the religious festival depending on the Coronavirus situation prevalent on the ground. If, however, any such decision is eventually taken, the state government shall ensure strict adherence to the directives issued by the Centre and the State's own orders containing additional guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus, the high court had said. MNL ABA SJK SA

You Searched For "Surendra Mehta" and got 6 results

People rushed to buy gold just after demonetisation announcement, gold worth Rs 5,000 crore sold on Nov 8-9

BI India Bureau

Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughters Rohini Acharya and Misa Bharti to contest in polls

PTI

Jeff Bezos meets industry captains, concludes 3-day India visit

PTI

GiveIndia starts India COVID Response Fund with Rs 75 cr in initial donations

PTI

Bhima Koregaon: Activists seek time from SC to surrender for jail term due to COVID-19 pandemic

PTI

SC says no to this year's historic Puri Rath Yatra due to COVID pandemic

PTI