The Evening Wrap: Adani advisor’s role in Environment Ministry panel sparks uproar

The inclusion of an advisor from Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) in an Environment Ministry panel created a political uproar on Tuesday, with opposition parties slamming the government for a perceived ‘conflict of interest’. Janardan Choudhary, a key advisor to Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL), was named as one of the seven non-institutional members by the Union Environment Ministry when it reconstituted the Expert Appraisal Committee for hydroelectricity and river valley projects in September. The AGEL’s 1,500 megawatt Tarali pumping storage project in Maharashtra’s Satara came up for consideration during the reconstituted EAC’s first meeting on October 17-18, according to the minutes of the meeting available on the Environment Ministry’s PARIVESH portal. Choudhary clarified to PTI that while he attended the October 17 meeting, he refrained from participating in the session focusing on the AGEL Tarali project. He said he serves as an advisor to AGEL and is not on the company’s payroll. Choudhary had a 36-year tenure with NHPC and retired as director (technical) in March 2020. He assumed the role of advisor to AGEL in April 2022. He also said he had disclosed his affiliation with the company to the Ministry before his appointment to the EAC. The primary function of the EACs is to offer recommendations to the Environment Ministry regarding project proposals after evaluating their potential impacts. Based on these recommendations, the ministry decides whether to reject the proposal or grant clearance with specific conditions to mitigate or compensate for the impacts. Latching onto the issue, political parties criticized the Narendra Modi government, questioning who appointed Choudhury to the EAC and why. “Adani Pradhan Sevak appointed Adani employee Janardhan Choudhury as a member of EAC under Environment Ministry. This committee has to approve 6 Adani projects (10,300 MW),” the Kerala Congress posted on its official X account. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi said on X: “Please don’t even mention conflict of interest etc. that applies for others not where friends with benefits are concerned.” “If an ethics committee can hold an elected member of parliament guilty for sharing email by calling it a national security and conflict of interest issue, how is a person working as an advisor to a private company, a company that has pending approvals in MoEFs NAC be allowed a seat on the NAC itself? No issues of conflict of interest applicable here? No reasons to investigate and find out how he made it there, who put him there & why is he the chosen one?” she said. TMC MP Mahua Moitra, facing possible expulsion from the Lok Sabha following recommendation by Ethics Committee a recommendation by the Ethics Committee, said, “Modiji’s Ministry of Environment appointed Adani employee Janardhan Choudhury as a member of EAC - 6 Adani projects totaling 10300 MW up for appraisal by this @moefcc committee.” Food prices up 1.1% but inflation in onions, pulses, paddy and cereals accelerate Wholesale prices remained in deflationary mode for the seventh month in a row in October, with the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) reflecting an inflation of -0.52% from -0.26% in September. Wholesale price inflation stood at 8.4% in October 2022, creating a high base effect for last month’s index. On a month-on-month basis, the WPI was up 0.4% in October. The wholesale food index was up 1.07% in October compared to last year, with food prices up 1% sequentially from September levels as well. But the trends within the food basket were divergent and runaway prices of some items like onions and pulses pose risks to the retail inflation trajectory which eased to a four-month low of 4.87% in October. While vegetable prices dropped 21%, inflation in paddy and cereals accelerated to 7.5% and 9.4% respectively, while pulses and onion inflation jumped to 19.4% and 62.6%, respectively. Fruits inflation picked up to 6.3% while milk inflation eased marginally to 7.9% from 8.6% in September. Manufactured products’ prices were unchanged from September levels and their year-on-year inflation rate moderated marginally from -1.3% in September to -1.1%. Fuel and power prices rose 0.65% from September levels, but were 2.5% below last year’s levels. Crude petroleum and natural gas inflation which hit an eight-month high of 15.6% in September, retreated to -2.2% in October. “The negative rate of inflation in October, 2023 is primarily due to fall in prices of chemicals and chemical products, electricity, textiles, basic metals, food products, paper and paper products, etc. as compared to the corresponding month of previous year,” the Commerce and Industry Ministry said. “Looking ahead, while global commodity prices, including crude oil continued to soften in the ongoing month, the uptrend in domestic prices of most food items as well as an unfavourable base is projected to lead to a turnaround in the WPI to a marginal 0.1% inflation in November after a gap of seven months,” reckoned Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA. Listen to today’s episode of the In Focus podcast How safe is our personal health data with the Indian government? Just about a month ago, Rescurity, an American cyber security firm, said that personal information of 815 million Indians was being sold on the dark web. This included details such as Aadhar numbers and passport details. The persons selling this information claimed that it was from the Indian Council of Medical Research or ICMR, the country’s premier scientific research body. This is not the first time ICMR has been subject a cyber attack – 6,000 such attempts were reported just last year. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences – AIIMS in Delhi has also been hit by cyber attacks – in one ransomware case, the hackers took over the servers, encrypted the data, and made it impossible for the hospital to access its own systems. Health data consists of sensitive, personal information and once stolen, can increase the risk of digital identity theft, online banking thefts, tax frauds and other financial crimes. India was ranked fourth across the world in all malware detection in the first of 2023, as per a survey from Resucurity. Even as this is going on, the Central government launched an ambitious Ayushman Bharat Digital Initiative in 2021. During the Covid-19 pandemic, our Aadhar and other details were used for both testing and vaccination services. So how safe is our health data with the government or private health organisations? How well does the Data Protection Act, that came into force this year protect this sensitive information? Is our right to privacy over our personal information being adequately safeguarded in India? NIA to investigate case of petrol bombs hurled in front of Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case in connection with the hurling of Molotov cocktails (petrol bombs) in front of the Raj Bhavan in Chennai, on October 25, 2023. According to police sources, the Central agency invoked provisions under the Explosives Substances Act in the incident, where an alleged lone suspect, ‘Karukka’ Vinoth, hurled two Molotov cocktails in front of the Raj Bhavan, causing damage to the police barricade. The suspect was overpowered by the Chennai Police who were on duty near the scene, and arrested. The 47-year-old habitual offender, who was earlier accused in several cases, including Molotov cocktail attacks on the Teynampet police station on August 12, 2015, and on a TASMAC shop on July 13, 2017, was detained under the Goondas Act. “We have no formal intimation yet on the NIA registering a case. So far our investigation, based on available evidence, has confirmed that ‘Karukka’ Vinoth is the only accused in this case. There is CCTV footage which shows that he walked alone from Teynampet to Raj Bhavan with four Molotov cocktails. On seeing the police approaching him, he hurled two petrol bombs, one on Sardar Patel Road and another in front of the main entrance,” a senior police officer said. The Guindy police registered a case based on a complaint lodged by the Head Constable who was present at the scene and booked ‘Karukka’ Vinoth under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and provisions under the Explosives Substances Act and the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Destruction and Loss) Act. After a formal request is made, the Chennai Police will hand over the case to the NIA for further investigation, the source said. Mahadev betting app case | Mumbai Police register case against Dabur group chairman, director Mumbai Police have registered a case against 32 people, including Director of Dabur Gaurav Burman and company chairman Mohit Burman, in connection with Mahadev betting app case under various Sections of fraud and gambling. According to the First Information Report (FIR), Mohit Burman has been listed as accused at number 16 while Gaurav Burman is at number 18 in the Mahadev betting app case. The FIR lists the names of 31 people while one unknown person is also mentioned is the list at 32. The FIR was registered on November 7 based on a complaint filed by social activist Prakash Bankar. Actor Sahil Khan’s name is accused number 26 in the FIR. Sahil Khan is accused of allegedly running another betting app related to Mahadev’s online betting app. “Sahil is not only accused of promotion but of earning huge profits by operating the app,” the FIR stated. Earlier, Sahil Khan was seen in a video of a party of online betting app in Dubai. Though it was described as a promotional video at that time, Sahil Khan’s troubles are going to increase due to his name appearing in the FIR as an app operator. This case has been registered for running a betting app named Khiladi. According to the information, social worker Bankar has claimed that people have been defrauded to the tune of ₹15,000 crore. The police have registered a case against under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, and 120 (B) of IPC. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating the Mahadev Book Online Betting App syndicate in which the promoters of the betting syndicate are allegedly sitting abroad and remotely running thousands of panels across India with the help of their friends and associates. According to the ED, it has already arrested four accused persons and seized proceeds of crime worth more than ₹450 crore and has filed a prosecution complaint against 14 accused persons. On November 2, the ED received intelligence input that large amount of cash is being moved to Chhattisgarh by the promoters of Mahadev App in relation to Assembly Elections scheduled on November 7 and 17, 2023. The ED conducted searches at Hotel Triton and another location in Bhilai and successfully intercepted a cash courier Asim Das who was allegedly sent from UAE, especially, to deliver large amount of cash for electioneering expenses of the ruling Congress party. The ED claims that from the questioning of Asim Das, from the forensic examination of the phone recovered from him, and by examination of an email sent by one of the high ranking accused of Mahadev network,many startling allegations have come forth, namely, that regular payments have allegedly been made in the past and so far around ₹508 Crore have been paid by Mahadev App Promoters to Bhupesh Baghel, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. In Brief: Indian defence authorities on November 14 sent back 39 soldiers of the Myanmar military who had taken refuge in Mizoram after their camp was overrun by ethnic armed groups aligned with the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar. Two choppers belonging to the armed forces carried out two sorties each to evacuate the soldiers from Champhai, the headquarters of Mizoram’s Champhai district bordering Myanmar, to Moreh in Manipur. Moreh is on the border with Myanmar’s Sagaing region. “The entire operation from evacuating the Myanmar soldiers to Moreh and sending them across towards Tamu (nearest Myanmar town from Moreh) was over by 3 p.m.,” an Army officer monitoring the exercise said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 14 November 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Adani advisor’s role in Environment Ministry panel sparks uproar The [inclusion of an advisor from Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) in an Environment Ministry panel created a political uproar]( on Tuesday, with opposition parties slamming the government for a perceived ‘conflict of interest’. Janardan Choudhary, a key advisor to Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL), was named as one of the seven non-institutional members by the Union Environment Ministry when it reconstituted the Expert Appraisal Committee for hydroelectricity and river valley projects in September. The AGEL’s 1,500 megawatt Tarali pumping storage project in Maharashtra’s Satara came up for consideration during the reconstituted EAC’s first meeting on October 17-18, according to the minutes of the meeting available on the Environment Ministry’s PARIVESH portal. Choudhary clarified to PTI that while he attended the October 17 meeting, he refrained from participating in the session focusing on the AGEL Tarali project. He said he serves as an advisor to AGEL and is not on the company’s payroll. Choudhary had a 36-year tenure with NHPC and retired as director (technical) in March 2020. He assumed the role of advisor to AGEL in April 2022. He also said he had disclosed his affiliation with the company to the Ministry before his appointment to the EAC. The primary function of the EACs is to offer recommendations to the Environment Ministry regarding project proposals after evaluating their potential impacts. Based on these recommendations, the ministry decides whether to reject the proposal or grant clearance with specific conditions to mitigate or compensate for the impacts. Latching onto the issue, political parties criticized the Narendra Modi government, questioning who appointed Choudhury to the EAC and why. “Adani Pradhan Sevak appointed Adani employee Janardhan Choudhury as a member of EAC under Environment Ministry. This committee has to approve 6 Adani projects (10,300 MW),” the Kerala Congress posted on its official X account. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi said on X: “Please don’t even mention conflict of interest etc. that applies for others not where friends with benefits are concerned.” “If an ethics committee can hold an elected member of parliament guilty for sharing email by calling it a national security and conflict of interest issue, how is a person working as an advisor to a private company, a company that has pending approvals in MoEFs NAC be allowed a seat on the NAC itself? No issues of conflict of interest applicable here? No reasons to investigate and find out how he made it there, who put him there & why is he the chosen one?” she said. TMC MP Mahua Moitra, facing possible expulsion from the Lok Sabha following recommendation by Ethics Committee a recommendation by the Ethics Committee, said, “Modiji’s Ministry of Environment appointed Adani employee Janardhan Choudhury as a member of EAC - 6 Adani projects totaling 10300 MW up for appraisal by this @moefcc committee.” Food prices up 1.1% but inflation in onions, pulses, paddy and cereals accelerate [Wholesale prices remained in deflationary mode for the seventh month in a row in October]( with the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) reflecting an inflation of -0.52% from -0.26% in September. Wholesale price inflation stood at 8.4% in October 2022, creating a high base effect for last month’s index. On a month-on-month basis, the WPI was up 0.4% in October. The wholesale food index was up 1.07% in October compared to last year, with food prices up 1% sequentially from September levels as well. But the trends within the food basket were divergent and runaway prices of some items like onions and pulses pose risks to the retail inflation trajectory which eased to a four-month low of 4.87% in October. While vegetable prices dropped 21%, inflation in paddy and cereals accelerated to 7.5% and 9.4% respectively, while pulses and onion inflation jumped to 19.4% and 62.6%, respectively. Fruits inflation picked up to 6.3% while milk inflation eased marginally to 7.9% from 8.6% in September. Manufactured products’ prices were unchanged from September levels and their year-on-year inflation rate moderated marginally from -1.3% in September to -1.1%. Fuel and power prices rose 0.65% from September levels, but were 2.5% below last year’s levels. Crude petroleum and natural gas inflation which hit an eight-month high of 15.6% in September, retreated to -2.2% in October. “The negative rate of inflation in October, 2023 is primarily due to fall in prices of chemicals and chemical products, electricity, textiles, basic metals, food products, paper and paper products, etc. as compared to the corresponding month of previous year,” the Commerce and Industry Ministry said. “Looking ahead, while global commodity prices, including crude oil continued to soften in the ongoing month, the uptrend in domestic prices of most food items as well as an unfavourable base is projected to lead to a turnaround in the WPI to a marginal 0.1% inflation in November after a gap of seven months,” reckoned Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA. Listen to today’s episode of the In Focus podcast How safe is our personal health data with the Indian government? [Just about a month ago, Rescurity, an American cyber security firm, said that personal information of 815 million Indians was being sold on the dark web](. This included details such as Aadhar numbers and passport details. The persons selling this information claimed that it was from the Indian Council of Medical Research or ICMR, the country’s premier scientific research body. This is not the first time ICMR has been subject a cyber attack – 6,000 such attempts were reported just last year. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences – AIIMS in Delhi has also been hit by cyber attacks – in one ransomware case, the hackers took over the servers, encrypted the data, and made it impossible for the hospital to access its own systems. Health data consists of sensitive, personal information and once stolen, can increase the risk of digital identity theft, online banking thefts, tax frauds and other financial crimes. India was ranked fourth across the world in all malware detection in the first of 2023, as per a survey from Resucurity. Even as this is going on, the Central government launched an ambitious Ayushman Bharat Digital Initiative in 2021. During the Covid-19 pandemic, our Aadhar and other details were used for both testing and vaccination services. So how safe is our health data with the government or private health organisations? How well does the Data Protection Act, that came into force this year protect this sensitive information? Is our right to privacy over our personal information being adequately safeguarded in India? NIA to investigate case of petrol bombs hurled in front of Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan The [National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case in connection with the hurling of Molotov cocktails (petrol bombs) in front of the Raj Bhavan in Chennai]( on October 25, 2023. According to police sources, the Central agency invoked provisions under the Explosives Substances Act in the incident, where an alleged lone suspect, ‘Karukka’ Vinoth, hurled two Molotov cocktails in front of the Raj Bhavan, causing damage to the police barricade. The suspect was overpowered by the Chennai Police who were on duty near the scene, and arrested. The 47-year-old habitual offender, who was earlier accused in several cases, including Molotov cocktail attacks on the Teynampet police station on August 12, 2015, and on a TASMAC shop on July 13, 2017, was detained under the Goondas Act. “We have no formal intimation yet on the NIA registering a case. So far our investigation, based on available evidence, has confirmed that ‘Karukka’ Vinoth is the only accused in this case. There is CCTV footage which shows that he walked alone from Teynampet to Raj Bhavan with four Molotov cocktails. On seeing the police approaching him, he hurled two petrol bombs, one on Sardar Patel Road and another in front of the main entrance,” a senior police officer said. The Guindy police registered a case based on a complaint lodged by the Head Constable who was present at the scene and booked ‘Karukka’ Vinoth under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and provisions under the Explosives Substances Act and the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Destruction and Loss) Act. After a formal request is made, the Chennai Police will hand over the case to the NIA for further investigation, the source said. Mahadev betting app case | Mumbai Police register case against Dabur group chairman, director [Mumbai Police have registered a case against 32 people, including Director of Dabur Gaurav Burman and company chairman Mohit Burman, in connection with Mahadev betting app case]( under various Sections of fraud and gambling. According to the First Information Report (FIR), Mohit Burman has been listed as accused at number 16 while Gaurav Burman is at number 18 in the Mahadev betting app case. The FIR lists the names of 31 people while one unknown person is also mentioned is the list at 32. The FIR was registered on November 7 based on a complaint filed by social activist Prakash Bankar. Actor Sahil Khan’s name is accused number 26 in the FIR. Sahil Khan is accused of allegedly running another betting app related to Mahadev’s online betting app. “Sahil is not only accused of promotion but of earning huge profits by operating the app,” the FIR stated. Earlier, Sahil Khan was seen in a video of a party of online betting app in Dubai. Though it was described as a promotional video at that time, Sahil Khan’s troubles are going to increase due to his name appearing in the FIR as an app operator. This case has been registered for running a betting app named Khiladi. According to the information, social worker Bankar has claimed that people have been defrauded to the tune of ₹15,000 crore. The police have registered a case against under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, and 120 (B) of IPC. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating the Mahadev Book Online Betting App syndicate in which the promoters of the betting syndicate are allegedly sitting abroad and remotely running thousands of panels across India with the help of their friends and associates. According to the ED, it has already arrested four accused persons and seized proceeds of crime worth more than ₹450 crore and has filed a prosecution complaint against 14 accused persons. On November 2, the ED received intelligence input that large amount of cash is being moved to Chhattisgarh by the promoters of Mahadev App in relation to Assembly Elections scheduled on November 7 and 17, 2023. The ED conducted searches at Hotel Triton and another location in Bhilai and successfully intercepted a cash courier Asim Das who was allegedly sent from UAE, especially, to deliver large amount of cash for electioneering expenses of the ruling Congress party. The ED claims that from the questioning of Asim Das, from the forensic examination of the phone recovered from him, and by examination of an email sent by one of the high ranking accused of Mahadev network ,many startling allegations have come forth, namely, that regular payments have allegedly been made in the past and so far around ₹508 Crore have been paid by Mahadev App Promoters to Bhupesh Baghel, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. In Brief: [Indian defence authorities on November 14 sent back 39 soldiers of the Myanmar military who had taken refuge in Mizoram]( after their camp was overrun by ethnic armed groups aligned with the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar. Two choppers belonging to the armed forces carried out two sorties each to evacuate the soldiers from Champhai, the headquarters of Mizoram’s Champhai district bordering Myanmar, to Moreh in Manipur. Moreh is on the border with Myanmar’s Sagaing region. “The entire operation from evacuating the Myanmar soldiers to Moreh and sending them across towards Tamu (nearest Myanmar town from Moreh) was over by 3 p.m.,” an Army officer monitoring the exercise said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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