The Rs 500 crore big fat Reddy wedding

While people queue up in lines waiting for their chance to withdraw money after Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetised the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, there is one family that seems to remain unaffected by it all.

In fact, he’s ensuring that nothing is too little for his daughter’s wedding.

The mining baron and former Karnataka minister, Gali Janardhana Reddy, has spared no expense or effort to make sure that his daughter Brahmini’s wedding is the biggest, fattest wedding that Bengaluru has ever witnessed.

In fact, remember he's the one who made one of the fanciest and most expensive cards -- all suited out with an LCD screening. 

Check out some of the images here. 

Brahmani Reddy will wed Rajeev Reddy on Tuesday in what is being billed as one of the most expensive weddings in India. 

For the wedding, Reddy has hired Bollywood set designers to come up with one of its kind mandaps and settings. The setting includes building King Krishnadevaraya’s palace, Lotus Mahal, Mahanavami Dibba, Vijaya Vittala Temple. 

The Bangalore Palace grounds, where the wedding is being held, has been transformed into a mini-town of Bellary with the focus on landmarks such as the Cowl Bazaar, Dhanappa Beedi street, the village in Bellary, and the school which Reddy studied in has also been recreated.

Horses, elephants, camels and chariots will lend even more pomp to the ceremony. 

Reddy’s childhood home ‘Hale Mane’ has also been recreated for the wedding. 

The wedding will see around 50,000 people including VIPs. Around 3,000 bouncers and 300 policemen have been deployed along with sniffer dogs and bomb squads for the wedding security. 

And if all that wasn't enough to blow your minds, reports state that Brahmini's wedding trousseau will comprise a Rs 17 crore saree, which she will wear on her wedding day. Accessorising it will be jewellery worth Rs 90 crore. 

Demonetisation: Cheaper loans likely

Will demonetisation lead to a rate cut, leading to higher quantum of lending?
Anup Roy finds out.
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

The jury may be still out on the effects of demonetisation, but a consensus is developing that it will bring down the interest rate.

Yields on the 10-year government bond, a benchmark of the prevalent rate in the economy, have fallen more than 25 basis points since Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes on November 8.

Banks opened on November 10 amid chaos, as people rushed to branches to exchange old notes and to withdraw up to the then limit of Rs 4,000 (It has since been increased to Rs 4,500).

The rest of the old notes will go directly to the banks as low-interest-earning current and savings account deposits.

The high-value notes made up Rs 14.1 lakh crore of the cash in circulation.

If a substantial portion of that comes back to the banks, there will be a massive spike in deposit base.

This will bring down the cost of funds for banks.

The lenders are trying to figure out where to put the cash.

Therefore, the deposits are being invested in bonds, leading to a spike in the prices of the papers.

Bond yields and bank lending rates have a direct relationship.

After the new methodology of lending rate calculation came in, any incremental drop in cost of funds, including through the fixed income route, has to be passed onto the customers.

'This durable increase in the deposit base will create more demand for government bonds and other high-rated bonds in an environment of tepid credit demand,' Fitch said in a statement.

'Additionally, benign retail inflation trajectory will aid investors' appetite for bonds,' Fitch noted.

As bond prices rise, yields fall.

Yields on the 10-year bonds had closed at 6.798 per cent on November 8, before the prime minister announced demonetisation. The yields closed at 6.53 per cent on Tuesday (November 15), falling 26 basis points.

Since the start of the month, yields have fallen 28.5 basis points. One basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

High-value notes made up Rs 14.1 lakh crore of the cash in circulation.

India seems to be the only major economy that is bucking a global bearish bond trend.

Rate cuts by banks could be as much as a full percentage point.

Banks have parked more than Rs 80,000 crore with the RBI in the past few days through various liquidity operations windows.

Interestingly, India seems to be the only major economy that is bucking a global bearish bond trend.

Since the start of the month, yields on German bunds have risen 12.50 basis points, on US 10-year bonds have risen 38.44 bps, on Turkey's bills have gone up 82.50 bps.

Yields on other emerging market bonds have shot up by at least 30 basis points.

The liquidity flush might force the Reserve Bank of India to sell bonds in the secondary market, so that liquidity can be absorbed.

This is the opposite of what the central bank has been doing so far.

To infuse durable liquidity into the banking system, the RBI had bought Rs 2 lakh crore of bonds from the secondary market in the past one year.

'The initial increase in banking system liquidity is likely to be so substantial that the RBI will have to resort to measures to mop-up of liquidity beyond its usual tool chest of daily- and term-reverse repos (both fixed and variable),' a Nomura report said.

'In fact, we do not rule out open market operation sales, possibly in short-term bonds,' the Nomura report added.

On a daily basis, banks have parked more than Rs 80,000 crore (Rs 800 billion) with the RBI in the past few days through various liquidity operations windows.

The liquidity conditions will also force the banks to lower rates.

State Bank of India Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya told Business Standard in an interview that her bank's margins would come under pressure due to the demonetisationexercise.

K V Kamath -- chairman of the BRICS countries' New Development Bank and former ICICI Bank CEO -- said in a television interview the rate cuts by banks could be as much as a full percentage point.

But will the lending rate cut translate into higher quantum of lending? Unlikely, said rating agency ICRA Ltd.

"Higher bank deposit mobilisation is unlikely to have a commensurate impact on lending in the near term, despite our expectation of some transmission to lower lending rates," said Karthik Srinivasan, co-head, financial sector ratings, ICRA.

The money might continue to be invested in bonds and the yields would continue to fall, taking interest rates of banks with them.

196 countries in 2 years: Will Cassie make a world record?

One look at her Instagram page and you're sure to go green with envy!

Cassie De Pecol, who was raised in rural Washington, Connecticut, USA is one lucky woman. At the age of 27 she has already travelled to 181 countries across the world. 

Her aim: To cover all 196 countries by the year end. Her mission is called Expedition 196. 

The good news is that she's expected to complete her mission in less than two months from now! And if she does it, Cassie will be the first documented woman to travel to all Sovereign nations. She will also be the fastest person to travel to all 196 Nations in less than three years and three months.

Thrilling isn't it?

The 27-year-old, who is travelling as a 'Global Citizen' and IIPT Peace Ambassador while advocating World Peace to Skal leaders and students, started on the expedition in 2015. 

She reportedly told the media, "As a young woman, I'd always dream to travel to as many countries as possible and make our world a better place."

Cassie is filming her journey for a documentary. The cost of her travel so far has been around $2,09,060, most of which is being raised through sponsorship. She has been getting free accommodation in exchange of social media posts. 

Here's what her projected route (given below) was at the start of the expedition.

 

Take a look at her incredible journey through her Instagram pics :)

IMAGE: That's Cassie with her bags all packed, ready to head out on her incredible journey.

All photographs: Kind Courtesy Expedition_196/Instagram

IMAGE: Take a look at her passports! 

IMAGE: Cassie soaking in the beauty of Odessa, Ukraine -- one of her favourite cities on the expedition.

IMAGE: 'I really don't know how much more beautiful this scene could get here at #Plitvice Lakes in #Croatia,' she captioned this pic. 

IMAGE: Cassie is all smiles as she poses with the Tiger's Nest in Bhutan in the background. 

IMAGE: She's having a blast skiing in Colarado. 

IMAGE: Cassie at the Bryce Canyon in Utah with its crimson-colour rock formations. 

IMAGE: The Milky Way, Palau makes for a stunning location. Cassie also had a mud bath in the blue waters of the Palau. 

IMAGE: She can't stop raving on Instagram about this successful selfie she took at Lake Bled, Slovenia, without rolling off the boat. 

IMAGE: She goes click, click, click at Theth, a village in Albania's Shkodra region. 

IMAGE: At the Church of Saint John the Baptist at Chesme Palace, Russia. It looks like it has been made of candy canes :)

IMAGE: That's her at Iceland. 'The sun rose at 11:30 am and set at 3:30,' she wrote along with this pic. 

IMAGE: 'The things I've learned in my travels to over 85 countries across 6 continents in my life, have opened up my eyes to an educational experience that college never exposed me to,' she captioned this pic of her at Panama. 

IM

Kohli on demonetisation: 'Greatest move in the history of Indian politics'

'For me, it's the greatest move I have seen in the history of Indian politics by far, hands down.'

India's Test skipper Virat Kohli described Modi government's demonetisation move as the greatest in the country's political history.

"For me, it's the greatest move I have seen in the history of Indian politics by far, hands down. I have been so impressed by it. It is unbelievable," Kohli said on Wednesday, on the eve of the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam.

With Indian Government's move to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes from circulation in a bid to flush out money hidden from the tax man, Kohli said he could now put his autograph on them and distribute to his fans.

"I was taking out my old money while paying my hotel bill in Rajkot. I forgot that it's not of any use anymore. I could have actually signed on it and given it to people. It's that useless now," he said on a lighter note.

Time to Isolate and Disintegrate Pakistan

'India should stop claiming that a united Pakistan is in India's interests.'
'Pakistan's break-up is a necessity for peace and progress in the region,' says Major General Mrinal Suman (retd).

It is India's great misfortune that it has been cursed with a neighbour like Pakistan.

A nation born out of hatred needs hatred for its continued sustenance.

Over a period of time, like a cancerous tumour, hatred for India has made deep inroads into Pakistan's national psyche.

It has been devouring its vitals, hurling it into the abyss of a failed State.

In its obsession to harm India, Pakistan has chosen the path of self-destruction.

All nations have certain core values like ensuring THE safety, wellbeing and health of its citizens.

Unfortunately, Pakistan's core values are negative in nature.

These values are based on the sole principle of 'hate and hurt India.'

Due to decades of indoctrination and brainwashing, most Pakistanis suffer from an extremely brutal, sadistic and vicious anti-Indian streak.

One may not fully agree with former Australian Test umpire Darrell Hair's description of Pakistani cricketers as 'cheats, frauds and liars.' But the fact is that the world considers Pakistan to be an untrustworthy and deceitful nation.

Pakistan has made duplicity to be its national policy.

Treachery is in the Pakistani DNA.

Quite rightly, the whole world considers Pakistan a rogue State.

Independent Pakistan started its track record with treachery.

Despite having signed a 'standstill agreement' with the state of Jammu and Kashmir, it unleashed raiders on the hapless Kashmir Valley.

In April 1965, it launched a surprise attack on Kutch. Later that year, it infiltrated its forces into Kashmir, expecting a local uprising against India. It also provided sanctuaries to underground elements of North-Eastern India.

After its defeat in 1971, Pakistan has been exporting terror to India in every possible manner.

The Line of Control has always been a hotbed of Pakistan's nefarious activities.

The recent attack on Uri and India's strong response through surgical strikes has reignited the conflict.

Both sides have been resorting to intense fire. Border villages are suffering acute damage. This firefight has the potential to get more confrontational.

'Be patient with a bad neighbour: He may move' is a famous Egyptian proverb. Unfortunately, such hopes cannot be entertained with respect to a bad neighbouring country.

India has to live and deal with Pakistan. But how? What are India's options?

Option 1: Seek Peace through Mollycoddling Pakistan

A small but vociferous segment is of the view that India, being a bigger nation, should act in a more generous manner to assure Pakistan of Indian sincerity in resolving contentious issues.

It suggests the demilitarisation of Siachen. As Pakistan has no presence on the glacier, demilitarisation implies 'unilateral vacation of Siachen by India.'

It is felt that such a gesture will bring about a reduction in Pakistan's hostility towards India.

Some go to the extent of suggesting that India should resolve the Kashmir tangle to Pak satisfaction.

Similar arguments are put forward by the enthusiasts of Track-II diplomacy and initiatives like 'Aman Ki Asha.'

Advocates of this soft option are those influential Indians who have been cultivated by Pakistan through what is commonly referred to as 'biryani diplomacy.' They are frequently taken on fully paid trips, ostensibly for seminars and group discussions. Lavish hospitality generates bonhomie. Soon, they start echoing the Pak stance to mislead the Indian public.

Many advocate stronger cultural ties with Pakistan. Shah Rukh Khan feels 'Politics between the two countries should be handled by the politicians... creative people have nothing to do with it.'

Sunil Gavaskar is of the view that recommencement of India-Pakistan matches will help better relations. He does not want sports to be mixed with politics.

Sponsors of Ghulam Ali's concerts claim that music has no boundaries.

Sadly, they forget that Pakistan is waging a war against India and killing Indians. It is not playing any politics.

Over the last seven decades India has taken various initiatives to make Pakistan see the benefits of a rancour-free relationship.

Every Indian prime minister has made liberal conciliatory gestures.

The Ceasefire in 1948.

The return of the Haji Pir Pass in 1965.

The repatriation of 93,000 PoWs under the Simla Agreement in 1971.

Granting Most Favoured Nation status are some of them.

All failed.

While the Indian leadership was trying to break thew ice through 'bus diplomacy' in February 1999, the Pakistani military was busy planning the notorious Kargil incursion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's out-of-the-box gesture of birthday stop-over at Lahore was followed by a fierce terrorist strike at the Pathankot airfield.

Disappointingly, Pakistan remains incorrigible as a devious and cunning neighbour.

Expecting a change of heart is nothing but self-delusion.

Issues like Kashmir and Siachen are merely a manifestation of Pakistan's infinite hostility towards India.

Were India to hand over Kashmir to it on a platter and withdraw from Siachen, Pakistan will invent newer issues to keep the pot boiling.

Option 2: Persist with the Current Policy

An influential section of the India intelligentsia wants the current policy to continue. It finds no need for change.

An editorial in a leading Indian daily newspaper read, 'Since 1990 India has had a consistent policy towards Pakistan: Let them hit us with whatever they can, we will harden our defences but not retaliate in kind.' According to the editor, the said policy has been 'remarkably successful.'

Since 1990, Kashmir has seen a loss of nearly 50,000 lives, including civilians and security/police personnel.

Indian security forces have captured a huge cache of Pakistan supplied weapons from the terrorists in the last 15 years. It includes more than 34,000 AK-47 rifles, 5,000 grenade launchers, 90 machine guns, 12,000 revolvers, 350 missile launchers, 100,000 grenades and 63,000 kg explosive.

Even anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns have been seized.

Continuance of the current policy of enduring Pakistani aggression without riposte is proving highly expensive in human lives and expenditure.

India's over-indulgence and conciliatory gestures have emboldened Pakistan into considering India to be a soft State. It has increased its intransigence and hardened its anti-India attitude.

Option 3: Isolate and Disintegrate Pakistan

Devious countries like Pakistan do not believe in international conventions and shamelessly flout them. The only language they understand is of strength and retribution.

In the short term, India must make it amply clear to the Pakistan government that every anti-India mischief would invite immediate reprisal and that no transgression will go unpunished.

In addition, diplomatic relations should be downgraded. All concessions like MFN should be withdrawn. Rail and road contacts should be suspended.

There can be no cultural ties with a country that wages war against India.

India's long term objective should be to isolate Pakistan internationally and trigger its disintegration.

Isolation of Pakistan will not pose a major challenge.

Pakistan has already acquired notoriety as the prime breeding ground of terrorism in the world. Pakistanis are looked at with suspicion the world over. Consequently, most hide their true identity and pretend to be from India.

A proactive policy should be followed to make friends with the countries who feel threatened by the growth of terrorism in Pakistan.

Leveraging its enormous economic clout, India must make it clear to the world that any nation that supports Pakistan's anti-Indian policies cannot claim to be India's friend.

Using its formidable influence, India should have Pakistan expelled from the cricketing world.

If South Africa could be debarred for apartheid, why should Pakistan not be banned for promoting terrorism? As cricket is a national obsession, it will hit Pakistani psyche hard.

Raising the Balochistan issue was a master stroke and a game changer.

If Pakistan can cultivate a Kashmiri separatist constituency within India, India can cultivate a separatist Baloch constituency in Pakistan.

If Pakistan can dedicate its Independence Day to Kashmir, India can dedicate its Independence Day to Balochistan, Gilgit, Baltistan, and Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

Expectedly, the world at large has displayed great understanding of India's stand. Not a single country has faulted India for its statement on Balochistan.

India should also support independence of other provinces like Sind. Pakistan must be splintered into as many countries as possible. The aim should be to reduce Pakistan to its current Punjab province.

Peace is a two-way process. Both parties have to desire it. India cannot be friends unilaterally while Pakistan pursues a path of vicious hostility.

Pakistan was created on the ideology that the 'pure' cannot coexist with the infidel; it is naive to expect Pakistan to have a change of heart.

If Pakistan adopts a conciliatory stance, it would amount to negating the two-nation theory, the raison d'etre for its very creation.

It is time India stops living in a fool's paradise.

Pakistan will always be a devious and cunning neighbour. It should never be forgotten that deceit, betrayal, duplicity and perfidy are synonymous with Pakistan. Therefore, it will be in India's interests to reconcile to an antagonistic Pakistan and tailor its approach accordingly.

In world affairs, timidity is considered a sign of impotence, and not sagacity.

Rogue States like Pakistan only understand the language of retribution.

Having failed to make Pakistan see the benefits of a rancour-free relationship, India has no reason to be apologetic.

India should stop claiming that a united Pakistan is in India's interests. There cannot be a more blinkered view. Pakistan's break-up is a necessity for peace and progress in the region.

Surgery is generally considered to be ultimate course of treatment for fatal tumours. Malignancy-afflicted Pakistan is no exception.

India must help trigger the required implosion.

Mamata leads march to Rashtrapati Bhavan to oppose demonetisation

Mamata leads march to Rashtrapati Bhavan to oppose demonetisation :  West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee leads an almost-united opposition to knock on President Pranab Mukherjee's door to protest the demonetisation woes. The NC and BJP ally Shiv Sena joined Mamata Banerjee today marching towards Rashtrapati Bhavan.  They will be presenting a two-page memorandum to the President on how the move has caused immense hardships to the common people. 

The main opposition party -- the Congress -- refused to play ball, insisting on exhausting other options available in a Parliamentary democracy. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal however decided to sit it out. 


A meeting of Opposition leaders, convened by Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad to thrash out a "joint strategy' to corner the Narendra Modi-led government, decided to raise the issue in Parliament first, at its Winter Session  today. 


"There was a feeling that we should not meet the President on the very first day," Azad, Leader of the Opposition in  Rajya Sabha, told reporters after the meeting of Opposition parties, which was attended by representatives of the Trinamool Congress, BSP, SP, CPM, JD(U), CPI, RJD, JMM, NCP, DMK and RSP.

Pak holds military exercise close to Indian border

Pakistan is conducting a military exercise in a strategically located area bordering India, with Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif and the army chief reviewing the readiness of the army and the air force to deal with any situation amid growing tension with India.

The manoeuvres are taking place near border close to Bahawalpur town in Punjab province.

Officials said that Prime Minister Sharif is the chief guest at the exercise.

Army chief General Raheel Sharif will also witness the exercise.

Helicopter gunships and ground troops will take part in the exercise, which comes just days after seven Pakistani soldiers were killed along the Line of Control.

The exercise shows the state of readiness of Pakistani military to deal with any situation arising out of recent tension with India, according to security officials.

Prime Minister Sharif had on Tuesday said that Pakistan cannot be bullied by Indian "tactics" and its restraint should not be "misunderstood" as weakness, warning that his country was fully capable of defending against "any belligerence".

Expressing grief over the death of the seven soldiers, Sharif had said deliberate escalation of tension along LoC by Indian forces is a threat to regional peace and security.

"It is also a futile attempt of the Indian authorities to divert the world's attention from the worst kind of atrocities they are committing" in Kashmir, he had said.