Indian parliamentary proceedings have been adjourned until next week after opposition parties stepped up pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for a parliamentary investigation into the stock market rout in billionaire Gautam Adani’s companies.
Members from political parties led by Indian National Congress, the main opposition party, have been demanding a debate on alleged financial fraud by Mr Adani following a report by US short-seller Hindenburg Research.
As soon as the session opened on the second day of the Budget session, Congress and DMK members stormed to the well — the area where the speaker sits.
They called for a joint parliamentary investigation into allegations of purported corporate malpractice, “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud in Mr Adani's port-to-energy business empire.
Opposition members had demanded a discussion on the alleged fraud on Thursday as well, but the speakers of both houses rejected the request and adjourned parliament.
Earlier on Friday, 16 political parties met Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge to devise a joint strategy.
Congress has also planned nationwide protests on Monday to highlight alleged fraud that could affect millions of small investors in the country.
Fears for small investors
The Adani Group has received billions of dollars in investment from public-sector banks such as the State Bank of India and the country’s largest insurance company, Life Insurance Corporation of India, triggering fears that the slump in its shares over the past week will affect millions of small Indian investors.
But India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told a news channel on Friday that despite the free-fall in Adani Group's stock, public sector institutions were sitting on profits and that the country had a robust financial regulatory system.
“They [the SBI and LIC] have very clearly said that their exposure is very well within the permitted limits and that they are even now with the valuation falling as well, are still sitting over profits,” she said, in an interview with News18.
Opposition leaders have accused Mr Modi’s government of “forcing” the LIC and State Bank of India to invest in Adani companies.
“All the opposition parties unitedly want to discuss this extremely important issue as it affects the citizens of this country,” Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor said.
“Our government doesn't see the merit of it. So they are stalling. As a result, now we have lost two days.”
Mr Modi has long been accused of being close to Mr Adani and critics have claimed that he has supported the conglomerate's mercurial rise over the past few years.
Mr Adani, who did not finish formal education, on Friday denied that his achievements were related to Mr Modi, saying his “professional success is not because of any individual leader”.
“These allegations are baseless,” the tycoon told India Today, adding that their shared origins made him an “easy target” for such claims.
Both Mr Modi and Mr Adani are from western Gujarat state.
Meanwhile, Mr Adani, who was the third richest person in the world before the Hindenburg report was released, tumbled out of the world’s top 20 richest people list on Friday after shedding another $10.7 billion of his net worth, as the market value of his Group companies has halved in a rout that started last week, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
FA Cup quarter-final draw
The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Newcastle v Manchester City
Norwich v Derby/Manchester United
Leicester City v Chelsea
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Which honey takes your fancy?
Al Ghaf Honey
The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year
Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Company%20profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SPECS
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The Rub of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump and Other Pieces 1986-2016
Martin Amis,
Jonathan Cape
