News digest: Insider trading, PNB scam, fake news, home food, and more

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Sebi's key policy proposals for 2018-19 to escalate war on insider trading

 
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is set to intensify its drive against individuals who misuse unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI) to make illicit gains from the stock market. Trading based on UPSI is among the most serious offences in the stock market. Sebi has stepped up on improving its surveillance mechanism after prescient messages, related to the financial results of several blue-chip companies, including Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and Tata Motors, were being circulated on WhatsApp. Read more
 
Govt begins process to procure 110 fighter jets for IAF for $9-13 bn

The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Friday initiated the procurement of 110 fighter aircraft for its depleted combat force — now languishing at 31 fighter squadrons against a desired strength of 42. When in service, these fighters will fill six squadrons. The order would be worth between $9-13 billion (Rs 584-844 billion) making it the world’s biggest international fighter buy. Single engine fighters would cost about $80-85 million each, while twin engine fighters would cost closer to $120 million apiece. Read more
 
How home chefs are opening doors to strangers looking for authentic cuisine

Would you like some lemon with that, asks Shubha Thimmaiah Hemant, as her guests dig into a plate of chilli pork. High on heat fuelled by green chillies, a guest tells Hemant the starter is “lemony enough”. What you taste isn’t lemon, says Hemant, it’s country vinegar. Locally known as kachampuli, it is made by fermenting the tropical Garcinia gummi-gutta fruit. No matter which city she travels to, the banker-turned-fulltime chef hauls along bottles of kachampuli. “It is an absolute must for authentic Coorg cuisine,” she says. Read more

 
Right vs Wrong: Arundhati Roy, Mohandas Pai funding fake news busters

While the Narendra Modi government at the Centre burnt its fingers over an unsuccessful attempt to 'rein in' mainline media over alleged fake news dissemination, India’s nascent fake news busting business is finding high-profile takers. Three of them – OpIndia, Alt News and Boom Live – stand out prominently for the intensity of their coverage and the hawk (if sometimes jaundiced) eye they keep on fact-checking news and calling out the so-called fake news. Read more
 
PNB Scam: CBI grills former RBI deputy governor H R Khan

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday questioned former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Harun Rashid Khan in connection with the Rs 130-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, involving Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, and the relaxation of gold import rules in 2014 by the erstwhile UPA government allegedly to the benefit of private traders. Read more