With a nationwide movement of rolling strikes and protests having started to tail off as it enters a second week, unions were hoping for a new jolt to regain momentum by bringing hundreds of thousands of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/thousands-of-paris-police-deployed-over-yellow-vest-clash-fears-250913">demonstrators</a> back out onto the street.

Former investment banker Macron has said he wants to streamline the Byzantine <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/frances-prime-minister-defies-unions-with-pension-overhaul-267718">state pension system</a> with its tangle of special privileges, and use incentives to prod people to work until 64, instead of the average retirement age now of 62.

Eight of Paris' 14 metro lines were closed and the rest had a limited service, apart from two lines that run automated trains. Suburban commuter trains were heavily disrupted. Roads were thick with pedestrians and the streets crammed with bicycles and electric scooters as people tried to get to work.

The unions and Macron are each hoping to push the other to back down before Christmas, with the prospect that continuing strikes over the holiday would alienate an increasingly frustrated public.

"It wasn't me that started the pension reform, but I feel like I've been taken hostage. It's frustration turning to annoyance," said Johan Boyet, caught in the morning commute on Paris's central Boulevard Haussmann.

The state railway operator, SNCF, urged travellers not to show up at stations hoping to travel, with 80 percent of<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/french-trains-disrupted-by-wildcat-strike-257097"> trains out of action</a> in the region around Paris. At some stations in the past two weeks, police and security guards had to stop commuters trying to fight their way onto overcrowded trains.

"Passengers are tired, our employees who aren't striking are tired," the head of SNCF in the Paris region, Alain Krakovitch told BFM TV. "My responsibility is to spread the word to avoid putting passengers in an unsafe situation."

Morning traffic queues in the Paris area totalled 300 km, though congestion subsided to normal by the end of the morning rush, with many workers having set off early or stayed home.

Numbers turning out for protests have waned since the start of the standoff but unions forecast a big turnout on Tuesday, with all the major unions taking part in the same demonstration for the first time.

Opponents of the pension reform have been buoyed by the departure of the government's pension reform tsar, Jean-Paul <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/day-5-of-public-transport-chaos-as-french-strike-bites-267076">Delevoye</a>. He stepped down on Monday after it emerged he had failed to publicly declare more than a dozen posts he held in addition to his main job.

The unions are seeking to make a major show of force on Tuesday, because as Christmas approaches, the risk increases that the strikes could backfire. Strikes have already disrupted Christmas shopping.

A survey by pollster Ifop published on Monday in the Figaro newspaper showed that 55% of people believed it was unacceptable for the strikes to continue over the holiday.

With a nationwide movement of rolling strikes and protests having started to tail off as it enters a second week, unions were hoping for a new jolt to regain momentum by bringing hundreds of thousands of demonstrators back out onto the street.

With a nationwide movement of rolling strikes and protests having started to tail off as it enters a second week, unions were hoping for a new jolt to regain momentum by bringing hundreds of thousands of demonstrators back out onto the street. Former investment banker Macron has said he wants to streamline the Byzantine state pension system with its tangle of special privileges, and use incentives to prod people to work until 64, instead of the average retirement age now of 62. Eight of Paris' 14 metro lines were closed and the rest had a limited service, apart from two lines that run automated trains. Suburban commuter trains were heavily disrupted. Roads were thick with pedestrians and the streets crammed with bicycles and electric scooters as people tried to get to work. The unions and Macron are each hoping to push the other to back down before Christmas, with the prospect that continuing strikes over the holiday would alienate an increasingly frustrated public. "It wasn't me that started the pension reform, but I feel like I've been taken hostage. It's frustration turning to annoyance," said Johan Boyet, caught in the morning commute on Paris's central Boulevard Haussmann. The state railway operator, SNCF, urged travellers not to show up at stations hoping to travel, with 80 percent of trains out of action in the region around Paris. At some stations in the past two weeks, police and security guards had to stop commuters trying to fight their way onto overcrowded trains. "Passengers are tired, our employees who aren't striking are tired," the head of SNCF in the Paris region, Alain Krakovitch told BFM TV. "My responsibility is to spread the word to avoid putting passengers in an unsafe situation." Morning traffic queues in the Paris area totalled 300 km, though congestion subsided to normal by the end of the morning rush, with many workers having set off early or stayed home. Numbers turning out for protests have waned since the start of the standoff but unions forecast a big turnout on Tuesday, with all the major unions taking part in the same demonstration for the first time. Opponents of the pension reform have been buoyed by the departure of the government's pension reform tsar, Jean-Paul Delevoye. He stepped down on Monday after it emerged he had failed to publicly declare more than a dozen posts he held in addition to his main job. The unions are seeking to make a major show of force on Tuesday, because as Christmas approaches, the risk increases that the strikes could backfire. Strikes have already disrupted Christmas shopping. A survey by pollster Ifop published on Monday in the Figaro newspaper showed that 55% of people believed it was unacceptable for the strikes to continue over the holiday.

Strikes, protests as French unions seek momentum to halt pension reform

Lhasa: 60th anniversary of Tibet democratic reform

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/sunil-arora-takes-charge-as-new-chief-election-commissioner-of-india-180847">The Election Commission</a> will make a fresh push for electoral reforms with the government, including making the filing of false declaration a ground for disqualification and putting a cap on expenditure by candidates in legislative council polls, in the coming days.

According to highly-placed sources in the poll panel, the EC top brass, at the planned meeting with Legislative Secretary G Narayana Raju after the end of the winter session of Parliament, will also ask the government to make bribery during the poll period a cognisable offence.

The winter session of Parliament will end on January 8.

While the Law Ministry is the administrative ministry for the EC, the Legislative Department is the nodal unit for issues related to the poll panel.

The sources said, the Commission would also ask the ministry to take a call on its demand to extend constitutional protection to the two election commissioners on the lines of the Chief Election Commissioner.

The President appoints the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners after the Law Ministry initiates the file for their appointment.

A Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from the office only through impeachment by Parliament. The President can remove the ECs based on the recommendation of the CEC.

In its report on electoral reforms submitted in March&nbsp;2015, the Law Commission had proposed extending constitutional protection to the two ECs.

The EC had been pushing to extend constitutional protection to the election commissioners.

Another proposal that the EC would press for is making electoral law gender neutral for armed forces personnel.

As of now, an army man's wife is entitled to be enrolled as a service voter, but a woman army officer's husband is not, according to the provisions in the electoral law.

But a bill pending before the Rajya Sabha proposes to replace the term 'wife' with 'spouse', thus making the provision of gender neutral.

Members of the armed forces, central armed police forces, personnel of state police forces posted outside their state and employees of the Centre&nbsp; 
posted outside India are eligible to be enrolled as service voters.

"Much depends on Parliament. The bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha... It is a major electoral reform for service voters ahead of the Lok Sabha polls... We want government to get it passed at the earliest," an EC official said.

Referring to the issue of filing the false declaration, the sources said, as of now, it attracts a six months' jail term. But the EC wants to make it into an "electoral offence", they said.

Conviction in an electoral offence is a ground for disqualification. "Jail term of six months does not instil fear. Disqualification would," another official explained.

As of now, candidates contesting legislative council elections don't have a bar on campaigning expenses, which, the EC wants to put a cap on.

The expenditure should be half of what is allowed for candidates contesting assembly polls. Every state has a different expenditure limit based on its size, a number of voters and assembly seats.

As of today, bribery in elections is a non-cognisable offence where an investigation cannot take place without a magistrate's permission. The EC wants to make it a cognizable offence and bring in the category of "serious" crimes like murder, dowry, death,and rape.&nbsp;

The Election Commission will make a fresh push for electoral reforms with the government, including making the filing of false declaration a ground for disqualification and putting a cap on expenditure by candidates in legislative council polls, in the coming days.

The Election Commission will make a fresh push for electoral reforms with the government, including making the filing of false declaration a ground for disqualification and putting a cap on expenditure by candidates in legislative council polls, in the coming days. According to highly-placed sources in the poll panel, the EC top brass, at the planned meeting with Legislative Secretary G Narayana Raju after the end of the winter session of Parliament, will also ask the government to make bribery during the poll period a cognisable offence. The winter session of Parliament will end on January 8. While the Law Ministry is the administrative ministry for the EC, the Legislative Department is the nodal unit for issues related to the poll panel. The sources said, the Commission would also ask the ministry to take a call on its demand to extend constitutional protection to the two election commissioners on the lines of the Chief Election Commissioner. The President appoints the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners after the Law Ministry initiates the file for their appointment. A Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from the office only through impeachment by Parliament. The President can remove the ECs based on the recommendation of the CEC. In its report on electoral reforms submitted in March 2015, the Law Commission had proposed extending constitutional protection to the two ECs. The EC had been pushing to extend constitutional protection to the election commissioners. Another proposal that the EC would press for is making electoral law gender neutral for armed forces personnel. As of now, an army man's wife is entitled to be enrolled as a service voter, but a woman army officer's husband is not, according to the provisions in the electoral law. But a bill pending before the Rajya Sabha proposes to replace the term 'wife' with 'spouse', thus making the provision of gender neutral. Members of the armed forces, central armed police forces, personnel of state police forces posted outside their state and employees of the Centre posted outside India are eligible to be enrolled as service voters. "Much depends on Parliament. The bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha... It is a major electoral reform for service voters ahead of the Lok Sabha polls... We want government to get it passed at the earliest," an EC official said. Referring to the issue of filing the false declaration, the sources said, as of now, it attracts a six months' jail term. But the EC wants to make it into an "electoral offence", they said. Conviction in an electoral offence is a ground for disqualification. "Jail term of six months does not instil fear. Disqualification would," another official explained. As of now, candidates contesting legislative council elections don't have a bar on campaigning expenses, which, the EC wants to put a cap on. The expenditure should be half of what is allowed for candidates contesting assembly polls. Every state has a different expenditure limit based on its size, a number of voters and assembly seats. As of today, bribery in elections is a non-cognisable offence where an investigation cannot take place without a magistrate's permission. The EC wants to make it a cognizable offence and bring in the category of "serious" crimes like murder, dowry, death,and rape.

Make false disclosure an 'electoral offence': Election Commission to tell Law Ministry

The Indian government on Monday radically liberalised the foreign direct investment (FDI) regime with the objective of providing major impetus to employment and job creation in India, as 100 per cent FDI was approved in the sectors of aviation, food, defence and pharmaceuticals. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Modi hailed a sweeping liberalisation of rules on foreign direct investment on Monday, saying they will make Asia&#39;s third-largest economy the most open in the world. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
&quot;Key reform decisions were taken at a high level meeting chaired by the PM, which makes India the most open economy in the world for FDI,&quot; Modi said in a tweet. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
In a second tweet, he said the changes would provide a &quot;major impetus to employment and job creation in India.&quot; &nbsp; 
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
It has now been decided to permit 100% FDI under government approval route for trading, including through e-commerce (1/2)
&mdash; PMO India (@PMOIndia) <a href="https://twitter.com/PMOIndia/status/744826441750163456">June 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="~/platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script> 
This is the second major reform after the last radical changes announced in November 2015. Now most of the sectors will be under the automatic approval route except a small negative list. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Launching the second set of liberalisation of foreign investments, the government relaxed the norms in host of sectors including single brand retail trade (SBTR), broadcasting carriage services, private security agencies and animal husbandry.&nbsp; 
Welcoming the landmark decision to open up the FDI regime, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said the relaxation of local sourcing norms under single brand retail trading for advanced technology products would encourage global brands to build up their participation in the country.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;Taken together, the FDI rules announced today will attract big new investments across key sectors such as food processing, defence production, pharmaceuticals and civil aviation, among others, thereby adding to growth and employment,&quot; Director General of CII Chandrajit Banerjee said in a statement.&nbsp; 
 
Changes introduced in the policy include increase in sectoral caps, bringing more activities under the automatic route and easing of conditionality for foreign investment. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
These amendments seek to further simplify the regulations governing FDI in the country and make India an attractive destination for foreign investors. &nbsp;&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
It was decided to permit 100 per cent FDI under government approval route for trading, including through e-commerce, in respect of food products manufactured or produced in India. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
In the defence sector, foreign investment beyond 49 per cent has now been permitted through government approval route, in cases resulting in access to modern technology in the country or for other reasons to be recorded. The condition of access to &#39;state-of-the-art&#39; technology in the country has been done away with. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
FDI limit for defence sector has also been made applicable to Manufacturing of Small Arms and Ammunitions covered under the Arms Act, 1959, of India. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
For private security agencies, FDI up to 49 per cent permitted under automatic route and FDI beyond 49 per cent and up to 74 per cent will be permitted through the government approval route. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
The extant FDI policy on pharmaceutical sector provides for 100 per cent FDI under automatic route in greenfield pharma and FDI up to 100 per cent under government approval in brownfield pharma. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
The extant policy on airports permits 100 per cent FDI under the automatic route in Greenfield Projects and 74 per cent FDI in Brownfield Projects under automatic route. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
With a view to aid in modernisation of the existing airports to establish a high standard and help ease the pressure on the existing airports, it has been decided to permit 100 per cent FDI under automatic route in Brownfield Airport projects. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
As per the existing FDI policy, foreign investment up to 49 per cent is allowed under automatic route in scheduled air transport service/domestic scheduled passenger airline and regional air transport service. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
It has now been decided to raise this limit to 100 per cent, with FDI up to 49 per cent permitted under automatic route and FDI beyond 49 per cent through government approval. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Monday&#39;s amendments to the FDI policy are meant to liberalise and simplify the FDI policy so as to provide ease of doing business in the country leading to larger FDI inflows contributing to growth of investment, incomes and employment. &nbsp;&nbsp; 
India&#39;s economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das said the manufacturing sector and job generation will get a boost with dual clearances no longer needed. &nbsp; 
 
&quot;With this liberalisation, we expect manufacturing activity to come in, more activity in defence products. The driving force behind the whole thing is that all this investment should facilitate creation of jobs,&quot; he told reporters here.&nbsp; 
The decision on FDI liberalisation was a follow-up to the decisions which were taken last November when a whole lot of reforms were announced. &nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
&quot;Wherever approval is given by the regulator, the companies will not need to the approach the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for clearance,&quot; he said.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
(Agencies) &nbsp; 
&nbsp;

Foreign direct investment will be possible in sectors like food, defence, pharmaceuticals and aviation through the automatic approval route

The Indian government on Monday radically liberalised the foreign direct investment (FDI) regime with the objective of providing major impetus to employment and job creation in India, as 100 per cent FDI was approved in the sectors of aviation, food, defence and pharmaceuticals. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. Modi hailed a sweeping liberalisation of rules on foreign direct investment on Monday, saying they will make Asia's third-largest economy the most open in the world. "Key reform decisions were taken at a high level meeting chaired by the PM, which makes India the most open economy in the world for FDI," Modi said in a tweet. In a second tweet, he said the changes would provide a "major impetus to employment and job creation in India." It has now been decided to permit 100% FDI under government approval route for trading, including through e-commerce (1/2) — PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 20, 2016 This is the second major reform after the last radical changes announced in November 2015. Now most of the sectors will be under the automatic approval route except a small negative list. Launching the second set of liberalisation of foreign investments, the government relaxed the norms in host of sectors including single brand retail trade (SBTR), broadcasting carriage services, private security agencies and animal husbandry. Welcoming the landmark decision to open up the FDI regime, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said the relaxation of local sourcing norms under single brand retail trading for advanced technology products would encourage global brands to build up their participation in the country. "Taken together, the FDI rules announced today will attract big new investments across key sectors such as food processing, defence production, pharmaceuticals and civil aviation, among others, thereby adding to growth and employment," Director General of CII Chandrajit Banerjee said in a statement. Changes introduced in the policy include increase in sectoral caps, bringing more activities under the automatic route and easing of conditionality for foreign investment. These amendments seek to further simplify the regulations governing FDI in the country and make India an attractive destination for foreign investors. It was decided to permit 100 per cent FDI under government approval route for trading, including through e-commerce, in respect of food products manufactured or produced in India. In the defence sector, foreign investment beyond 49 per cent has now been permitted through government approval route, in cases resulting in access to modern technology in the country or for other reasons to be recorded. The condition of access to 'state-of-the-art' technology in the country has been done away with. FDI limit for defence sector has also been made applicable to Manufacturing of Small Arms and Ammunitions covered under the Arms Act, 1959, of India. For private security agencies, FDI up to 49 per cent permitted under automatic route and FDI beyond 49 per cent and up to 74 per cent will be permitted through the government approval route. The extant FDI policy on pharmaceutical sector provides for 100 per cent FDI under automatic route in greenfield pharma and FDI up to 100 per cent under government approval in brownfield pharma. The extant policy on airports permits 100 per cent FDI under the automatic route in Greenfield Projects and 74 per cent FDI in Brownfield Projects under automatic route. With a view to aid in modernisation of the existing airports to establish a high standard and help ease the pressure on the existing airports, it has been decided to permit 100 per cent FDI under automatic route in Brownfield Airport projects. As per the existing FDI policy, foreign investment up to 49 per cent is allowed under automatic route in scheduled air transport service/domestic scheduled passenger airline and regional air transport service. It has now been decided to raise this limit to 100 per cent, with FDI up to 49 per cent permitted under automatic route and FDI beyond 49 per cent through government approval. Monday's amendments to the FDI policy are meant to liberalise and simplify the FDI policy so as to provide ease of doing business in the country leading to larger FDI inflows contributing to growth of investment, incomes and employment. India's economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das said the manufacturing sector and job generation will get a boost with dual clearances no longer needed. "With this liberalisation, we expect manufacturing activity to come in, more activity in defence products. The driving force behind the whole thing is that all this investment should facilitate creation of jobs," he told reporters here. The decision on FDI liberalisation was a follow-up to the decisions which were taken last November when a whole lot of reforms were announced. "Wherever approval is given by the regulator, the companies will not need to the approach the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for clearance," he said. (Agencies)

Radical reform: India allows 100% FDI in key sectors

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