167

#UpperHouse: Congress Bags 3 Rajya Sabha Seats In Rajasthan, BJP Wrests 3 in Karnataka

Congress notched a major victory in Rajasthan where all three party candidates for Rajya Sabha seats romped home, rebuffing the hopes of BJP nominee Subhash Chandra who was banking on cross-voting from Congress and Independents to score an upset.

The results in Karnataka were a leg-up for BJP which won three seats, bagging the third eyed by JD(S), because the Gowda outfit could not arrive at an understanding with Congress. Congress cornered its sole guaranteed seat of Jairam Ramesh. Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman was among the three BJP candidates for the Upper House who won.

166

#CreditFacility: Six Indian Banks Sue GVK in London For ₹12,114 Crore

Six Indian banks — Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, ICICI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Axis Bank — are suing GVK Coal Developers (Singapore) — part of the GVK Group — for $1. 5 billion (Rs 12,114 crore) plus interest, in the London high court.

The dispute is over a $1-billion loan and $35-million letter of credit facility that five of the banks lent to GVK in 2011, plus a $160-million loan lent in 2014, that the banks claim GVK defaulted on.

150

#DevelopmentProjects: PM Narendra Modi To Inaugurate In-Space Hq, Multiple Projects Worth Rs 3050 Crore In Gujarat Today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a one-day visit to Gujarat on Friday (June 10, 2022). During his visit, PM Modi will address a tribal gathering and launch a multi-speciality hospital in Navsari. The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the headquarters of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) in Ahmedabad to promote privatisation in the space sector. It will be a single-window nodal agency which will permit and oversee Space activities including the building of launch vehicles and satellites, as approved by the Union Cabinet in June 2020.

According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister`s Office (PMO), PM Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple projects today in Gujarat. 

At around 10:15 AM, Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple development initiatives during `Gujarat Gaurav Abhiyan` in Navsari.

149

#PowerMinistry: Seeks Funds For Coal-Fired Power Plants, But Banks Set To Say No

Taking a cue from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks are likely to decide against funding the working capital requirements of 13 imported coal-fired power plants — key to the Union power ministry’s proposal on revival of these units as part of an extended range of measures to tide over the continuing electricity shortage.

The units include three phases of Adani Power’s Mundra station, projects of Essar Power Gujarat and JSW Ratnagiri, and Tata Power’s Coastal Gujarat Power Ltd., most of which are currently shut down due to fuel-related issues and are categorised as non-performing assets on bank books.

This comes after the RBI, in a missive sent in mid-May, asked banks to exercise caution in lending to such power plants and also asked banks to furnish details on exposure to these 13 projects listed by the power ministry. Subsequently, in a meeting held in the last week of May, banks decided not to go ahead with the power ministry's proposal.

148

#UNSC: Five Countries Elected As Non-Permanent Members

Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland were elected to the UN Security Council as non-permanent members for the 2023-2024 term and will replace India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway at the horse-shoe table from January 1 next year.

The 193-member UN General Assembly held elections on Thursday to elect the five non-permanent members for the two-year term 2023-24.

For two seats in the Western Europe and other States category, Switzerland (187 votes) and Malta (185 votes) were elected, for two seats in African and Asia-Pacific States Mozambique (192 votes) and Japan (184 votes) were elected and for the one seat in the Latin American and Caribbean States category, Ecuador was elected with 190 votes.