Justin Trudeau rescinds India dinner invite to Sikh separatist

Justin Trudeau s state visit to India has been overshadowed by revelations that a businessman convicted of trying to assassinate an Indian minister in the 1980s was invited to several official events. The week-long tour of the subcontinent has been dogged by suggestions the Canadian prime minister is being snubbed by his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi over Canada s alleged indulgence of Sikh separatists aiming to create an independent state within India for the religious minority. The Canadian high commission in Delhi confirmed on Thursday it had sent and has now rescinded an official dinner invitation to Jaspal Atwal a former member of a Sikh organisation regarded by India as a terrorist group. Atwal was convicted in 1986 of trying to kill Malkiat Singh Sidhu then a minister in the Punjab government who was on holiday in Canada at the time. Sidhu survived the attempt but was later assassinated in India. Photos were circulated on Thursday showing Atwal posing with Trudeau s wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau at an event in Mumbai earlier this week. Trudeau told journalists he took the matter very seriously. The individual in question should have never received an invitation he told reporters in Delhi. The person and department responsible will take full responsibility for his actions. His office clarified Atwal was not part of https://wrapbootstrap.com/user/kkmyntra Trudeau s official delegation. A Canadian MP Randeep Surai admitted organising the invitation. I should have exercised better judgment and I take full responsibility for my actions he said in a statement. On Wednesday Trudeau met Amarinder Singh the chief minister of Punjab state which was the centre of decades of violent clashes bombings and assassinations between Sikh separatists and the Indian state. About 80 000 people are estimated to have died in the conflict including the former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi who was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguard after ordering Indian troops into Amritsar s Golden Temple one of Sikhism s most revered spiritual sites. The campaign was crushed in India by 1993 but its embers have been fanned by Sikh diasporas especially in Canada where Punjabi migrants and their descendants have become a rich voting block. About 1.4 million Canadians claim Indian descent. Trudeau has previously boasted that his cabinet has more Sikhs than Modi s and Canadian Sikh activists have succeeded in passing bills in provincial legislatures describing the anti-Sikh riots that followed Gandhi s assassination as a genocide terminology India balks at. In past months dozens of Sikh temples in Canada have banned Indian officials from visiting in their official capacity. After meeting Trudeau Singh s administration released a statement saying it had received categorical assurance that Canada rejected the idea of creating a separate Sikh state. Citing the separatist movement in Quebec Trudeau said he had dealt with such threats all his life and was fully aware of the dangers of violence which he had always pushed back with all his might the statement said. Indian commentators have been watchful of any signs of frostiness between the two governments highlighting the fact Modi sent a junior minister to greet Trudeau when he landed in India on Saturday. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) I hope PM @JustinTrudeau and his family had a very enjoyable stay so far. I particularly look forward to meeting his children Xavier Ella-Grace and Hadrien. Here is a picture from my 2015 Canada visit when I d met PM Trudeau and Ella-Grace. pic.twitter.com/Ox0M8EL46x February 22 2018 Others pointed to the fact Modi a prolific social media user had not greeted Trudeau on Twitter as he had sometimes done with other leaders. India s ministry for external affairs denied suggestions of a snub. Modi and Trudeau will meet on Friday. Topics Justin Trudeau Canada India Narendra Modi Americas South and Central Asia news Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Google Share on WhatsApp Share on Messenger Reuse this content
NEW DELHI: India has been ranked 81st in Transparency International s Global Corruption Perception Index 2017. While it maintained its score at 40 on a 100-point scale where anything below 30 is considered seriously corrupt its ranking changed from 79th last year partly because Vanuatu one of the countries added to the rankings this year was rated higher and partly because others improved. A Transparency International release also characterised India as among the worst regional offenders in the Asia Pacific region on grounds of journalists activists opposition leaders and even staff of law enforcement or watchdog agencies being threatened or even murdered. In this it was clubbed with the Philippines and Maldives. These countries score high for corruption and have fewer press freedoms and higher numbers of journalist deaths the report added. Interestingly Pakistan with a score of 32 and China with 41 are perceived to be more corrupt than India. Russia is more corrupt than all three counties with a score of 29. New Zealand and Denmark were ranked as the cleanest countries in the 2017 list as in 2016 with scores of 89 and 88 respectively. Syria South Sudan and Somalia were ranked as the most corrupt countries with scores of 14 12 and 9 respectively. Of the three countries that were tied with India in 2016 Belarus has moved up to 68th with a score of 44 and China to 77th with a score of 41. Brazil in contrast has slipped to 96th with a score of 37. Of the other Brics nations Russia was at the 135th place with a score of 29 while South Africa was 71st having dropped seven places from 2016. Countries with the poorest protection for press and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also tended to have the lowest ranks on the index. The analysis which incorporates data from Committee to Protect Journalists showed that in the last six years 9 out of 10 journalists killings of journalists happened in countries that score 45 or less on the index.
NEW DELHI: India may be going digital but high-speed internet on mobile phones still remains a challenge even on 4G. Despite telecom companies announcing massive rollout of 4G services the average network speed in India remains the slowest across countries having substantial telecom networks lagging even Pakistan Algeria Kazakhstan and Tunisia. According to a list prepared by mobile analytics company OpenSignal 4G download speed in India is the slowest across 88 countries spanning six continents. This is despite the fact that 4G has been expanding at a rapid pace across the country and networks are being upgraded from slower 2G services. On an average the 4G speed in India has been measured at 6 mbps (actual experience could be much lower) whereas subscribers in neighbouring Pakistan enjoy internet at a more than double speed of 14 mbps. Algeria is ranked second-last at 9 mbps. According to OpenSignal subscribers in Singapore get the fastest downloads on 4G at 44 mbps followed by the Netherlands at 42 mbps. In Norway the 4G download speed is 41 mbps while South Korea gets 40 mbps. OpenSignal analysed more than 5 000 crore measurements (collected between October 1 and December 29 of 2017) of speed from over 38 lakh smartphone and tablet users across six continents. Giving out reasons for a slower network speed in India despite a wider 4G reach the study blamed capacity constraints on network. Though 4G is available for around 86% of the time people access the internet 4G networks lack the capacity to deliver connection speed much faster than 3G it said. The telecom industry in India is staring at a financial nightmare with most of the companies either deep in the red or just managing to stay profitable. The onslaught of fierce competition from 4G-only Reliance Jio saw Vodafone and Idea Cellular slip into losses while Airtel saw profits shrink massively. Companies that provide network infrastructure to mobile companies said in private that most of the operators are slow in making fresh investments for augmenting capacities. The sector is in a financial mess. We have seen slippage in investments which are drying up due to losses one of the top infrastructure providers said requesting anonymity. Infographics: India s 4G download speeds are the slowest While Jio has launched pan-India 4G services others were literally forced to follow suit. Airtel is also giving 4G on a pan-India basis while Idea Cellular covers the country except Delhi and Kolkata. Vodafone is currently giving the service in 17 circles. Subscribers complain that they do not get promised 4G download speeds although companies make tall promises. Internet is often very slow and buffers on many instances a customer of a top telecom company said. Concerns over poor service and slower speed have also been raised by the government as it has started offering a variety of services online and is pushing digital payments in a big way. Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan has said the government is mindful of the slow internet speed experienced by internet users in many parts of the country. Read this story in Marathi Rajan Mathews DG of industry body Cellular Operators Association of India said it is wrong to blame telecom companies for poor services. Average spectrum holding by companies in India is around 26 MHz compared to 50 MHz across top economies. Also he said telecom companies face problems in laying optical fiber as well as deploying towers. Read this story in Bengali
Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar today said India will emerge as a model for the rest of the world once it completes economic political and social transitions. He was addressing the 46th Panjab University Colloquium-cum-3rd Shenmar Memorial Oration here today according to a release of the Panjab University (PU). The theme was New India@2022 . The programme was organised in collaboration with the Department of Social Work PU the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Institute for Development and Communication (IDC) the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). Kumar further said that by successfully completing these three transitions India will emerge as model for the rest of the world. Development becomes a mass movement when there will be shift from public-private partnership (PPP) to public-private-personal partnership (PPPP) Kumar said. He highlighted India s development process outlined country s experiences since Independence and laid out a future vision for achieving a New India by 2022. He articulated upon insight into creation of space and ecosystem for dynamic entrepreneurship. Rajiv Kumar highlighted that for 2022 there was a need to have a resolve to have India free from poverty dirt and squalor corruption terrorism casteism and communalism. He further stressed For looking ahead our economy will need to take into account new and unique challenges and opportunities such as the fourth industrial revolution India s democratic dividend in shifting from competitive populism to good governance and the changing global landscape.
NEW DELHI: The government is readying to shed between 51% and 100% stake in Air India and has listed four possible options for divestment in the national carrier in the draft inviting expressions of interest. The EoI document is likely to be out by the first week of March. There are four options in the EoI draft the government can keep 49% 26% 24% or 0% stake in Air India post divestment said a senior aviation ministry official who did not wish to be identified. The alternative mechanism headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley formed to guide the ailing airline on privatisation could also look at options beyond this the official said. The draft expression of interest also talks about barring the future owners from firing employees immediately after takeover he said. The issuance of the EoI document on Air India will kick-start the process of privatisation of Air India which the government wants to finish by the end of 2018. The EoI will also mention the combination of companies that will be sold by the government. While Air India will include its core aviation assets packaged with low-cost subsidiary Air India Express and AI-SATS a ground handling joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) Alliance Air and the ground handling and engineering subsidiaries will be sold separately. All non-core assets such as the Air India building in Mumbai and other offices will not be part of the sale and become part of the special purpose vehicle (SPV) which will also house the working capital debt of the company the official said. Air India has a total debt of Rs 52 000 crore of which about Rs 33 000 crore is on account of working capital loans which will be transferred to the SPV EThad first reported on October 2 2017. Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had earlier told ET in an interview that Air India liabilities would be more than the projected Rs 52 000 debt as the national carrier owes money to its vendors too. The airline has debt and dues to be paid to vendors. The airline owes money to (vendors) like oil marketing companies the Airports Authority of India and many more. Now when you add the dues with debt total liabilities would be much more. The fact is that the finances of Air India are bad. It is a good airline otherwise. In this existing form it is highly unlikely that anyone will pick it up he said. IndiGo is the only Indian carrier that has officially shown interest in buying Air India while the government has said that an unnamed foreign carrier has also evinced interest. The Tata Group which has stakes in Vistara and AirAsia India has also been mentioned as a possible suitor. Other companies such as Bird Group and Celebi both of which are involved in ground handling have shown interest in that part of Air India s business.
NEW DELHI: A day after expressing disapproval of extension of emergency by 30 days in Maldives India on Thursday called for release of all political prisoners. The MEA spokesperson said India did not see any valid reason for extension of emergency. We continue to watch the situation and continue to urge the government of Maldives to release political prisoners release the chief justice implement Supreme Court orders and restore normal functioning of institutions of democracy the spokesperson said. The Indian statement coincided with an equally sharply worded response from the Maldives foreign ministry which criticised India s statement of Wednesday saying it ignored the facts and ground realities with regard to the ongoing political developments in Maldives . The assertion by the Government of India that the extension of the state of emergency by the People s Majlis was unconstitutional is a clear distortion of facts Other than implementing the necessary measures stated in the decree imposing the state of emergency it ensures no other restriction on the daily lives of the people it said. However India has persisted in its call to restore normalcy in Maldives. It is our sincere desire to see that democracy in Maldives is restored and situation returns to normal. This we feel is also the desire of the people of Maldives. We are dismayed that the Maldives government has extended emergency for a further period of 30 days the MEA spokesperson said. Meanwhile Maldives minister Shainee refuted reports that Male had rejected UN mediation between the ruling party and opposition. He said it was the president who had requested for UN participation. The UN has always insisted on initial engagement between parties for it to engage meaningfully which the government is trying to do but opposition keeps blocking the minister said. There is no doubt that the Maldives is experiencing one of the most difficult periods in the history of the nation. It is therefore important that friends and partners in the international community including India refrain from any actions that could hinder resolving the situation he said.
Persisting with its displeasure over the extension of emergency in the Maldives India said today it does not see a valid reason for the Maldivian parliament to do so and maintained that it continues to watch the situation in the island nation. Yesterday India had expressed deep dismay over the Maldivian parliament accepting President Abdulla Yameen s recommendation to extend the state of emergency by another 30 days in a manner New Delhi dubbed as a matter of concern . We do not see any valid reason for doing so. We of course continue to watch the situation and would continue to urge the government of Maldives to release political prisoners release the chief justice implement the Supreme Court order and restore the normal functions of the institutions of democracy external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. Kumar said that India s sincere desire is to see that democracy in the Maldives is restored and the situation resumes to normal. This is also the desire of the people of Maldives he added. The declaration of emergency earlier this month in the archipelago known for his turquoise waters and beaches saw the nation plunging into a political crisis. President Yameen declared emergency on February 5 after the Supreme Court ordered the release of a group of Opposition leaders who had been convicted in widely-criticised trials. Among them was exiled ex-president Mohamed Nasheed. The court said his trial was unconstitutional. There has been international condemnation of the Maldivian government s moves including the imposition of emergency.
Ride hailing firm Uber today said it will continue to invest in India as it looks to grow business in the incredibly important and core market by up to 10 times in a decade. On his maiden trip to India Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi indicated that he would not go by the advice of investors like SoftBank who want the US-based firm to scale back to countries where it already has a strong market position. Refusing to disclose how much Uber has invested in India he said it is a lot and that investment is going to continue. For Uber India is a loss-making proposition but it will continue to invest in the market because it believes in it he said at a media round table at the start of his two-day visit during which he is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders. Asked if SoftBank which is also an investor in rival and India s market leader Ola has asked Uber to focus on the profitable market Khosrowshahi said the company s strategies are decided by the board. While SoftBank may have an opinion their s is not the only opinion in the room he said. And it is my belief that we as a company need to have a balanced profile in terms of growth and investment. Developed markets like the US will continue to get investments and will be profitable but Uber should actively invest in markets like India and Latin America because of their sheer size he said. These markets have huge growth ahead for Uber he said. Uber has some 3 lakh driver partners in 29 cities in India he said. We think we can increase by 5x 10x over the next 10 years. That will require investment he said. In India at this point my firm belief is that the greatest value that we can create is to continue to invest and grow our product. SoftBank Vision Fund which recently became Uber s largest shareholder with the formal closing of a USD 9.3 billion investment giving it 15 per cent stake has reportedly stated that Uber should focus on recovering its market share in the US and growing in key European markets to have a faster path to profitability. While India remains Uber s largest market outside of the US it is also the biggest cost for the company. Asked if Uber was subsidising rides in the country to capture the market Khosrowshahi said anytime you are creating a market you actually have to pay to build up liquidity. For instance Uber Pool the ride-sharing platform where two more passengers share a car to travel to same or different destinations is a losing proposition but the company believes in the product as it will help solve traffic as well as road congestion problems he said. We are investing in Indian market because we believe in the long-term viability of this market... we consider it incredibly important market for us the core market for us he said. The Indian market Khosrowshahi said is demanding in terms of pricing and if Uber was to succeed here it can shape products globally. India can essentially be a laboratory for us. Uber he said accounts for less than 1 per cent of miles driven in the world and is an alternative to taxis. What we really want is to be alternate to car ownership he said adding problems of traffic and pollution that India faces can be solved with its http://www.great-quotes.com/user/kkmyntra pioneering share rides. He said operations in India are not profitable but India accounts for more than 10 per cent of Uber s trips globally. I expect (India) to account for higher and higher trips going forward he said. Uber accounts for less than 1 per cent of the USD 5 trillion transportation industry globally and capturing higher share requires investments in big markets with population that have lot of growth ahead of them. Uber CEO pledged to continue investing aggressively in Southeast Asia. We expect to lose money in Southeast Asia and expect to invest aggressively in terms of marketing subsidies etc Khosrowshahi said. From a competitive standpoint we think we can improve...We are cautiously optimistic and are leaning forward to invest he said. Khosrowshahi who took the helm in August after former CEO Travis Kalanick was asked to step down amid a litany of regulatory problems driver and consumer scandals and court cases said a new work ethics code has been implemented in the company that has just one norm - we do the right thing. Period.

CBI busts global WhatsApp group on child porn; arrested admin is an unemployed commerce graduate from UP

By: PTI | New Delhi | Updated: February 23 2018 7:17 am The Central Bureau of Investigation carried out searches at five locations in Delhi Mumbai and Noida and Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh.(Representational Image) The CBI on Thursday claimed to have busted an international child abuse pornography racket operating on a WhatsApp group and arrested its alleged administrator an unemployed youth from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh. After registering a case of alleged violation of Information Technology Act the CBI carried out searches at five locations in Delhi Mumbai and Noida and Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh officials said. Nikhil Verma http://realitysandwich.com/u/kfrecharge/profile/ son of a worker in a jewellery shop who is pursuing his graduation in commerce and is currently unemployed was arrested. During the investigation the agency has been able to find that there are 119 members of the group who were getting these disturbing pictures and videos to satiate their perverted lust they said. The members of the group spread globally including the US China New Zealand Mexico Afghanistan Pakistan Brazil Kenya Nigeria and Sri Lanka among others the officials said. During the searches the CBI recovered mobile phones laptops and hard discs and other digital devices they said. Verma was booked along with four others accomplices Nafees Reza and Zahid of Delhi Satyendra Om Prakash Chauhan of Mumbai and Adarsh of Noida. The agency which acted on its own intelligence toiled for nearly three months without using any WhatsApp surveillance to track down the accused merely on the basis of field work of obtaining corroborating evidence the officials said. According to them it was a classic police investigation where sleuths travelled to localities from where IP addresses of the computers and mobile phones used to upload and circulate child pornography videos a heinous offence under the law. A thorough background checks behavioural analysis was done by the agency based on local inputs of the suspects before proceeding to act against them they said. The officials said accessing producing recording uploading or circulating child abuse videos or picture are serious offences under Information Technology Act and attract a punishment up to seven years and a fine of Rs 10 lakh. The agency is carrying on with its investigation to locate other members and the group present in India and abroad they said. For all the latest India News download Indian Express App Tags: CBI No Comments.
WhatsApp Messenger is a free cross-platform end-to-end encrypted instant messaging app available for Android and other smartphones. It uses phone s Internet connection (4G/3G/2G/EDGE or Wi-Fi as available) to make voice calls one to one video calls; send text messages documents PDF files images GIF videos user location audio files phone contacts and voice notes to other users using standard cellular mobile numbers. WhatsApp was incorporated in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum both former employees of Yahoo!. WhatsApp Inc. based in Mountain View California was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for approximately US 19.3 billion.WhatsApp is these days working on a new feature that will allow users to stream YouTube within the app itself. Presently the video links sent from YouTube open and take over the entire screen and launch the YouTube app. The new update will now allow users instead of shifting completely from one app to the other view the shared YouTube videos in picture-in picture-out mode inside the Whatsapp chats.As on July 19 2017 China partially blocked the popular messaging service as authorities tightened their grip on the internet ahead of a major leadership reshuffle in Beijing.On August 11 2017 WhatsApp rolled out a new update which lets users add a colourful background to text status. The functionality is similar to the one on Facebook where a selection of background color options pops up when typing a new status update.
Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday sealed the Brady House Branch of the Punjab National Bank in Mumbai as multiple probe agencies continue their probe into the Rs 11 515 crore fraud according to officials.The CBI pasted an official notice outside the branch in Fort -- the bank s flagship lending window in Mumbai and its second largest national outlet.All have been barred from opening or entering inside this branch without prior permission of the CBI or the CBI Special Court or the CBI Competent Authority.Accordingly all operations at the Brady House Branch came to a grinding halt and several bewildered staffers were seen waiting outside it for further orders from their bosses.The action came two days after the Special CBI Court in Mumbai remanded to police custody till March 3 three accused in the PNB fraud including two former staffers.The accused includes retired PNB Deputy Manager Gokulnath Shetty Single Window Operator Manoj Kharat and authorized signatory of the prime accused Nirav Modi s group companies Hemant Bhatt.The three were the very first arrests to be in the sensational case so far by the CBI from different parts of Mumbai and Raigad. More arrests are expected soon officials have indicated.Besides these the CBI earlier named 10 other directors and officials as accused in the scam which has created a nationwide furore.The prime accused diamond trader Nirav Modi and other associates fled the country in early January before the massive financial fraud came to light. CommentsClose X The multi-pronged action by the CBI Enforcement Directorate and others comes five days after PNB admitted to unearthing a fraud amounting to Rs 11 515 crore involving Mr Modi s companies and certain other accounts in the Brady House Branch.The fraud which includes money-laundering among others concerns the Firestar Diamonds group in which the CBI last week booked Nirav Modi his wife Ami brother Nishal Modi and Mehul Choksi.
NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Rotomac owner Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul Kothari in the alleged loan default to the tune of Rs 3 695 crore. The CBI officials said that Vikram Kothari and his son who were called for questioning were arrested after they failed to cooperate with the investigation. Vikram Kothari his son Rahul Kothari and wife Sadhana Kothari are directors of the Rotomac Global Pvt Ltd. The CBI had registered a complaint against Kothario on February 18 based on the complaint filed by the Bank of Baroda which is one of the banks in a consortium that extended loans to the Vikram Kothari-led Rotomac group. Bank of Baroda filed a compliant against Kothari fearing he might flee the country. The Kotharis allegedly owe an amount of Rs 3 695 crore to a consortium of banks which includes principla along with interest and liabilities. The CBI action against the Kotharis comes at a time when the agency is investigating the Rs11 400 crore PNB bank fraud in which fraudulent Letters of Undertaking were extended to diamond merchant Nirav Modi-led group of companies. (With inputs from PTI)
MUMBAI: Bank of Baroda (BoB) has denied the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) assertion that it had not acted in time in the Rotomac fraud. The bank has said that it spent months in legal battles to declare the borrower a wilful defaulter and in investigations to establish fraud. The CBI had alleged that the lender which had an exposure of Rs 435 crore to the Vikram Kothari-promoted Rotomac Global waited for two years after declaring the account a non-performing asset (NPA) before it approached the agency with a criminal complaint. The CBI said that BoB had filed a first information report (FIR) on Sunday only after the Nirav Modi swindle came to light. BoB MD P S Jayakumar said The process of declaring an account as fraud requires forensic audit and a strong proof. Therefore the statement that we waited for two years from the date of loan becoming an NPA to lodge a complaint of fraud with the CBI is not true. He also said that the process of initiating a criminal complaint against the borrower had started before the Nirav Modi fraud came to light. Public sector banks have collectively lent Rs 2 919 crore to the Rotomac group with Bank of India as the lead lender. Other large lenders are Indian Overseas Bank Union Bank of India Allahabad Bank Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of Maharashtra besides BoB. While BoB declared the company an NPA in February 2016 the account was not an NPA with other lenders as the borrower was repaying only some banks. It was only after a lenders meeting in June last year that Bank of India filed a suit in the Debt Recovery Tribunal - Allahabad and initiated the process of declaring the borrower company directors and guarantors as wilful defaulters. Jayakumar said A wilful defaulter is someone who has sources of funds to repay a loan but does not. A borrower who had provided personal guarantee but had two businesses one of which he is losing money while the other venture is profitable will be an example of a wilful defaulter.
ALSO READ CBI arrests ITDC official in bribery case Rotomac case: IT dept. attaches 14 bank accounts India Tourism Development Corporation standalone net profit rises 54.50% in the December 2017 quarter Illegal confinement of girls:HC seeks CBI s reply on parents plea Tourism ministry to host cultural gala to mark R-Day span.p-content div id = div-gpt line-height:0;font-size:0 The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested a senior manager of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 60 000.It was alleged that the senior manager had demanded the bribe to clear pending bills of Rs 20 lakh of a contractor. CBI laid a trap and caught the accused red-handed while demanding and accepting the bribe of Rs. 60 000 from the complainant. Soon after that searches were conducted at the premises of the accused an agency spokesperson said.The accused was produced before the designated court in Delhi earlier today.Further investigation is underway.(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday criticised the Central Bureau of Investigation for not helping it enough to understand the agency s case against the accused in the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh.Since February 9 the court has been hearing petitions filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Sheikh s brother against the discharge of several police officers in the 2005 case. It is the primary duty of a prosecuting agency to place all evidence on record before the court Justice Revati Mohite-Dere said according to PTI. However in this case despite the court s repeated queries the CBI has chosen to argue only on the role of the two officials whose discharge it has challenged. Without the CBI s assistance the bench is still unclear on the prosecution s overall case the judge said. The court has now asked the agency to submit details of all the witnesses statements in the case.On February 12 as well the bench had rebuked the CBI for witnesses turning hostile. It had asked the agency to specify the measures it was taking to protect witnesses. Some of them have turned hostile Justice Revati Mohite-Dere had said. Is this the seriousness with which CBI is conducting the trial? The CBI has filed two petitions challenging the discharge of Dalpat Singh Rathod a constable with the Rajasthan police and NK Amin who was with the Gujarat Police. Sohrabuddin s brother Rubabuddin Sheikh has also filed pleas contesting the release of former Deputy Inspector-General of Gujarat DG Vanzara Rajasthan IPS officer Dinesh MN and Gujarat IPS officer Rajkumar Pandiyan.Out of 38 accused in the case 15 have been discharged including Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah. Shah was the home minister of Gujarat when Sheikh a wanted criminal and his wife Kausarbi (couple pictured above) were allegedly shot dead in police custody in November 2005.
A Special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Bhopal on Tuesday sentenced five people to seven years in jail after convicting them in connection with the Vyapam scam The Indian Express reported. This is the first conviction in cases related to the scam since the Central Bureau of Investigation took over the probe in 2015.The Vyapam scam refers to the alleged irregularities in various admission and job recruitment examinations conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board also known as Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal or Vyapam. Though FIRs in the scam had been filed from around 1995 the racket finally https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/kkpigeon came to light in May 2012 when an invigilator at a test for veterinary colleges realised that one of the candidates was not who he claimed to be. On investigation the police found a long trail of such scams spread across various districts in the state.The court on Tuesday convicted a constable from Morena district Narottam Yadav his father Bhagwan Singh Yadav and a relative Avinash Singh impersonator Rishabh Agrawal and middleman Prabhat Mehta. Agrawal impersonated Narottam Yadav at an examination centre in Madhya Pradesh s Rewa and had also tampered documents to ensure Yadav was selected and posted as a constable. Special CBI Judge SC Upadhyay also fined the accused Rs 6 500. The accused did not want to get jobs for themselves but also wanted to provide jobs to other candidates the judge said while refusing to be lenient. Had this scam continued for some more time the social fabric of the country would have been destroyed. He added: The students would have stopped studying and used their mental faculties to illegally grab the posts they wanted. In such a situation even if they accused they did not have any criminal background they don t deserve sympathy.

CBI Court Discharges Former Gujarat DGP PP Pandey in Ishrat Jahan Case

Ahmedabad: Former top Gujarat police chief PP Pandey will no longer be an accused in the 2004 Ishrat Jehan fake encounter case a court in Ahmedabad said today.Mr Pandey has been charged along with other former police officers with conspiracy illegal confinement and murder in the Ishrat Jehan case by the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI.Mr Pandey is the first accused to be discharged in the case. He spent 19 months in jail before being let out on bail in February 2015.19-year-old Ishrat Jehan and three others were killed in June 2004 near Ahmedabad by Gujarat police officers who said they were Lashkar terrorists planning to assassinate Narendra Modi who was then Chief Minister.Mr Pandey is currently out on bail. He had argued in his petition for discharge that the statements of two witnesses against him are contradictory. He had https://www.docracy.com/userprofile/show?userId=0vdgvkkgou5 also referred to his reinstatement in the police force and promotion as Director General of Police.He had claimed that none of the 105 witnesses examined by the court had named him and he had no direct or indirect involvement in the case . CommentsClose X Mr Pandey resigned last year in April after his promotion was challenged in the Supreme Court.The CBI s first charge-sheet in 2013 named seven Gujarat police officers including Mr Pandey DG Vanzara and GL Singhal.
Written by Satish Jha | Ahmedabad | Updated: February 21 2018 2:39 pm Gujarat DGP P P was discharged in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case on Wednesday (Express Photo/Javed Raja/File) A special CBI court on Wednesday discharged former Gujarat DGP P P Pandey in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. Pandey currently out on bail was the seniormost serving IPS officer when he was arrested in 2013 by the CBI in connection with the case. Special CBI judge J K Pandya pronounced the order granting relief to Pandey. This is the first instance in the Ishrat Jahan case in which an accused has been discharged from the trial. The 1980-batch IPS Pandey was arrested in July 2013 by the CBI and spent nearly 19 months in jail. He was released on bail in February 2015 following which he was reinstated in the state police. He retired last year. Pandey along with retired IPS D G Vanzara IPS officer G L Singhal DSP (retired) N K Amin Deputy Superintendent of Police (retired) Tarun Barot and two other policemen was chargesheeted by the CBI for conspiracy murder and kidnapping of 19-year-old Mumbai girl Ishrat Jahan her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two alleged Pakistani nationals in 2004. The CBI claimed in the chargesheet that they were killed in a staged encounter. Apart from Gujarat police officers four IB officers including former special director Rajinder Kumar were chargesheeted. CBI had opposed Pandey s discharge. In a written response the agency told the court that there were eye-witnesses who corroborated the role of Pandey in the conspiracy and how he met the two deceased Ishrat Jahan and Javed Sheikh who were in prior custody. The CBI reply had stated Further on 13.06.2004 he along with DG Vanzara and Rajinder Kumar was talking about Lashkar-e-Taiba operation. Despite knowing the fact of prior illegal detention P P Pandey allegedly gave information to J G Parmar that he received specific information from personal sources about fidayeens. Investigations revealed his active involvement in the conspiracy. For all the latest India News download Indian Express App IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd Tags: Ishrat Jahan Damodar BiswalFeb 21 2018 at 3:32 pmPandey was accused because he was close to the then state administration.Congress Govt. at the center put him behind bar becuse of politics.(3)(10) Reply Ashok DhingraFeb 21 2018 at 3:27 pmJai Modi Baba ki.(5)(14) Reply SSuperior Sunni Arab MuslimFeb 21 2018 at 3:26 pmThis terrorist Ishrat was roaming with 2 palistani and one Indian terrorist muslims and providing them legitimacy as a silent cell while they were looking to spread terrorism. I am glad she was shot dead. Hope all terrorists are shot dead. No place for negotiations with brown inferior muslims.(9)(9) Reply JjosephFeb 21 2018 at 3:24 pmSpecial CBI court! Integrity doubtful! Jai Hind. While on the subject for publicity purpose may I invite readers to view my video - Homage to Pandit Nehru by p g joseph - in (duration: 20 plus minutes).(7)(1) Reply Pais HilaryFeb 21 2018 at 3:17 pmExpect Pandey to be recommended for a special presidential police medal during the next Republic Day.(15)(4) Reply Load More Comments
Ahmedabad: A special CBI court on Saturday concluded the hearing on a discharge application filed by former Gujarat director general of police PP Pandey in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case with Judge JK Pandya reserving the order for 16 February. Pandey currently out on bail had contended that the statements of two witnesses against him were contradictory and that none of the other 105 witnesses examined by the court had named him. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had named him as an accused in its chargesheet without obtaining the mandatory sanction from the Centre Pandey s lawyer told the court. File image of Ishrat Jahan. PTI He also referred to Pandey s elevation as the in-charge DGP (even when the case was pending against him) as one of the grounds for discharging his client from the case. Pandey had resigned in April 2017 after his appointment as the in-charge DGP was challenged in the Supreme Court. The CBI had opposed his discharge plea saying it had enough evidence to prove that he was part of the conspiracy to carry out the alleged fake encounter. Ishrat Jahan s mother Shamima Kauser and Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai s father Gopinath Pillai were made respondents by the court in the matter on their request. Both opposed Pandey s application saying if he was discharged it would obstruct the investigation. Ishrat Jahan a 19-year-old college girl from Mumbra near Mumbai her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai Zeeshan Johar and Amjad Rana were killed by Ahmedabad crime branch officials in the alleged fake encounter on 15 June 2004. Pandey was the head of the city crime branch then. The Gujarat police had claimed that Ishrat and the others were terrorists with links with Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
AHMEDABAD: A special CBI court on Saturday completed hearing and reserved its order till February 16 on a plea filed by former DGP P P Pandey seeking a discharge in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case. The court also kept its decision pending on an application filed by two central IB officials questioning a lower court s decision to issue summons to them after taking cognizance of additional chargehseet filed by CBI in 2014. Pandey who was head of the city crime branch at the time of the encounter questioned the evidence as well as raised the issue of want of prosecution sanction in his case. Since he had been a government employee he cannot be prosecuted without proper sanction from the government he had argued. In the second application two IB officials Rajeev Wankhede and T S Mittal challenged the magisterial court s decision to issue summons by taking cognizance of the chargesheet against them even though the central government denied permission to CBI to prosecute them. They submitted that the court cannot take cognizance of the chargesheet without prosecution sanction. In December a magisterial court had issued summons to four IB officials two others being IB s special director Rajinder Kumar and his former subordinate M K Sinha. This happened after CBI intimated the court that the Centre had denied sanction to prosecute the four intelligence officials according to the provisions of Section 197 of the CrPC. For some four years the court had not taken cognizance of the chargesheet after the investigation agency said that it was waiting for prosecution sanction. Ishrat Jahan was shot dead along with three others - Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar - on June 15 2004 by Ahmedabad crime branch sleuths in the outskirts of the city. After the killings cops said the deceased were Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives who were on their mission to kill then chief minister Narendra Modi.
ALSO READ Order on ex-IPS officer Pandey s discharge plea on Feb 16 Ishrat Jahan case: Court reserves order on IB officers plea IB officials challenge summons by court in Ishrat Jahan case Journalists challenge order gagging media in Sohrabuddin case No prima facie evidence against IPS officer in Sohrabuddin case: Lawyer span.p-content div id = div-gpt line-height:0;font-size:0 A special CBI court today discharged former Gujarat in-charge DGP P P Pandey in the 2004 alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan and three others in which he was an accused. Special CBI court judge J K Pandya allowed Pandey s discharge application on the ground that there was no evidence against him related to the kidnapping and murder of Ishrat Jahan and three others. The CBI which investigated the case had accused Pandey who then headed the Ahmedabad crime branch as being involved in the alleged fake encounter. The court today said that no witnesses accused Pandey of the murder and kidnapping of the victims. It also said that the witnesses evidences were contradictory as they gave different evidences to different investigating agencies. The court also held that being a government servant permission to prosecute Pandey was not taken by the investigating officer from the state before filing of the charge sheet against him as per section 197 of the CrPC. In the first charge sheet filed by the CBI in 2013 seven Gujarat police officers were named as accused including IPS officers P P Pandey D G Vanzara and G L Singhal facing charges for kidnapping murder and conspiracy. The CBI had named four IB officials including IB s special director Rajinder Kumar and officer M S Sinha in supplementary charge sheet which still awaits the Centre s sanction. The city crime branch officials had gunned down 19-year-old college girl Ishrat Jahan from Mumbra in Maharashtra her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Zeeshan Johar and Amzad Rana in an alleged encounter on June 15 2004 on the outskirts of the city.(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sohrabuddin Sheikh Ishrat Jahan Kuldeep Singh Salim a common thread binding all four of them is that they are among people who were allegedly killed in fake encounter cases in India. Of the four names mentioned one may have come across the former two which turned into high-profile cases involving political leaders. The latter two were one of the many human rights violation cases mentioned in one of the annual reports of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Representational image. AFP As per an RTI query filed Firstpost found that 1 782 cases of fake encounters were registered in India between 2000 and 2017 of which only 1 565 cases have been disposed of so far. Fake encounters are essentially staged confrontations between the police or military forces and victims who the security officials believe to be culprits . According to data received from the NHRC based on the complaints and intimations it received Uttar Pradesh accounted for an alarming 44.55 percent (794 cases) of the cases registered across all states. Following Uttar Pradesh the next five states which account for the highest number of fake encounter cases are Andhra Pradesh Bihar Assam Jharkhand and Manipur. However each of them registered less than six percent of all the cases registered since 2000 - Andhra Pradesh (94 cases; 5.27 percent) Bihar (74 cases; 4.5 percent) Jharkhand (69 cases; 3.87 percent) Assam (69 cases; 3.87 percent) and Manipur (63 cases; 3.53 percent). The National Capital reported 40 cases while Jammu and Kashmir reflects 22 cases during the same period. The RTI reply did not reflect any data for Goa Arunachal Pradesh Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim and Lakshadweep. The most number of cases registered since 2000 was in the year 2012 with 226 fake encounter incidents reported of which only 195 were disposed with 31 cases pending. In the last seven years alone NHRC recorded 725 cases between 2010 and 2017. Fake encounter cases in this decade alone account for 40.68 percent of the total number since the dawn of the 21st century in India. Over the last five years states registered less than 60 cases per year except for in 2015 when the number shot up to 140 cases. In 2017 19 fake encounter cases were registered of which only 10 have been disposed of till now. State-wise representation of number of fake encounter cases reported between 2000-2017. In 2016 the Union home ministry identified 106 districts in 10 states affected by left-wing extremism (LWE) which included Andhra Pradesh Telangana Bihar Chhattisgarh Jharkhand Maharashtra Odisha Uttar Pradesh West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. An analysis of the fake encounters cases in these states shows that after Uttar Pradesh Andhra Pradesh showed the next highest number of registered cases (94). While Uttar Pradesh has 51 of 794 cases pending Andhra Pradesh has 54 pending cases from the 94 registered in the state. fake encounters Infogram Monetary relief recommended The NHRC does not provide any financial relief but recommends it to government agencies involved. As per Section 18 of the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 the commission is empowered to recommend compensation damages or interim relief to the families of the victim or complainant. Between 2013 and 2017 the NHRC recommended financial relief of Rs 60.07 crore to the affected parties in fake encounter cases. During this period the top five states where the human rights body recommended monetary relief are Andhra Pradesh (Rs 71.3 lakh) Assam (Rs 5.8 crore) Bihar (Rs 2.38 crore) Jharkhand (Rs 3.2 crore) Manipur (Rs 3.54 crore) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 13.23 crore). After Uttar Pradesh Assam received the highest monetary recommendation of Rs 5.8 crore for 64 cases in the past five years.
AHMEDABAD: Justice Abhilasha Kumari of Gujarat high court was elevated on Tuesday and transferred as the Chief Justice of the Manipur high court. Sources said Justice Kumari will likely take charge as CJ at the Manipur HC on February 9 only to remain in the office for 13 days as she is retiring on February 22. She was considered for promotion as a chief justice last year too. Justice Kumari is a native of Himachal Pradesh. She is the daughter of former HP chief minister Virbhadra Singh and married into the erstwhile royal family of Bhavnagar. After graduating from Delhi University she obtained a law degree from Himachal Pradesh University. She joined the Bar in 1984 and practice in the HP high court. She was the additional advocate general for Himachal Pradesh till her elevation as HC judge in December 2005. One month later Justice Kumari was transferred to Gujarat high court. She took oath as a permanent judge in September 2006. Justice Kumari was part of the division bench along with Justice Jayant Patel who resigned last year after his transfer to the Allahabad high court from the Karnataka HC thereby being denied the opportunity to become the Chief Justice which heard petitions seeking a CBI probe in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case. The bench constituted a special investigation team (SIT) and monitored the probe before directing the CBI to take up investigation in the controversial case. Gujarat High Court Advocates Association (GHAA) president Asim Pandya said that the Bar proposes to give the judge a farewell. She is a good judge. She had cordial relations with Bar members. She was very receptive. She used to take down every fact of a case and give good judgments Pandya said.
Apart from Alwar and Ajmer in Rajasthan another constituency where the BJP has a high stake in the upcoming by-elections is Uluberia in West Bengal. With the vote share of the CPM and Congress sliding down in recent elections the fight for the Uluberia Lok Sabha seat in Howrah district is clearly between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress. Voting is on January 29. According to the last census in 2011 the constituency had a Muslim population of almost 45%. It has witnessed a rise in pro-Hindu organisations backed by the RSS in the area over the past few years. There has also been a sharp escalation in political skirmishes between the BJP and TMC. Among the four mainstream political parties TMC Congress CPM and BJP the only party that has fielded a Hindu candidate is the BJP. Its nominee Anupam Mallick is a senior RSS functionary in the area. The state s ruling TMC has fielded Sajda Ahmed. Her husband Sultan Ahmed whose death has necessitated the bypoll was the face of TMC s minority wing and had won the semi-urban seat in 2009 and 2014. The Congress has put up Madassar Hossain Warsi while http://kkjabong.myblog.de/ CPM s candidate is Sabiruddin Molla. There are also at least five independent candidates in the fray. While the ruling party has its MP Abhishek Banerjee nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the star campaigner here the BJP has senior leaders like Kailash Vijaywargi Dilip Ghosh Rahul Sinha Mukul Roy and central minister Babul Supriya campaigning in the area. In the 2014 election the TMC had secured a 48.12% vote share compared with around 11% for the BJP. The CPM had received almost 31% of the votes and the Congress just around 5%. Emboldened by a phenomenal increase of its vote share in the recent Sabanag assembly bypoll the BJP has gone all out to score a good number in Uluberia as well. In a masterstroke the BJP fielded Ishrat Jahan one of the petitioners in the triple talaq case as a star campaigner in the constituency to woo progressive Muslims. Jahan who joined the party this month is from Howrah district and she campaigned extensively in the areas with high Muslim population. We want to give a message to all that we do not do religion and caste-based politics like other parties a senior BJP leader said on the condition of anonymity. All mainstream parties have fielded Muslim candidates to appease Muslims. But we will not do that. Instead we have Ishrat with us who appeals to progressive Muslims and tell them that the BJP wants development for all. The TMC is relying on the legacy of Sultan Ahmed. He was one of those few TMC leaders who remained very accessible to people. Ahmed has led several fronts of minorities and spearheaded the movement against uniform civil code and the triple talaq bill.

Uttar Pradesh attracts investments worth Rs 4.28 lakh cr: CM Yogi Adityanath

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh mein aapka swagat hai. Yeh pradesh sambhaavnaaon ka pradesh hai. Yahan nivesh kariye. Sarkar saari suvidhaayein dene ko taiyyar hai said chief minister Yogi Adityanath welcoming former Mauritus President and Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth and his wife Sarojini ambassadors of The Netherlands Czech and Finland delegates from Japan and Thailand Mahindra group chairman Anand Mahindra and Dr Naresh Trehan and a host of top industry honchos at the dinner table on Tuesday. Governor Ram Naik Union minister of commerce and industry Suresh Prabhu were also present while Union home minister Rajnath Singh also joined the guests. CM Yogi had thrown a dinner on the eve of the two-day Investors Summit 2018. The CM met every one with warmth and played a perfect host even receiving many dignitaries on the gate itself and seeing off many of them. As most top industrialists started arriving many of them even made it 5 Kalidas Marg the official residence of the CM to attend the dinner. While enjoying the food from a fivestar hotel the guests also held discussions with ministers present as hosts. Health minister Siddharthnath Singh said that most delegates not only gave positive signals but also expressed their keenness to invest in the state. Many of them were of the view that the situation in the state has changed for good said Singh quoting few industrialists. A 7-member delegation from US-based Metronics which deals in cardiac care was also present said Singh. Max Hospital MD and CEO Rajit Mehta Appollo Hospitals MD Ashok Bajpai Cadila Pharma CMD Rajeev I Modi were also present. Among other top industrialists Torrent group chariman emeritus Sudhir Mehta ReNew Power CEO Sumant Sinha ITC CEO Sanjeev Puri World Bank s Rashmi Shankar and Tarun Sahni of Triveni Group attended the dinner.
Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit 2018: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the summitLucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in Lucknow today to inaugurate the two-day http://doodleordie.com/profile/kkpaytm Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit which is being attended by around 5 000 people including industry leaders from India and abroad chief ministers union ministers policy makers and academics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in a tweet praised Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath s leadership saying that the state s progress journey has got a strong impetus .A total of 30 sessions have been planned for the two-day summit to be attended by many central ministers. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been personally overseeing the preparations for the investors summit. Here are the LIVE Updates from the Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit 2018:Feb 21 201815:56 (IST)Prime Minister announces Rs 20 000 crore defence industrial corridor in BundelkhandPrime Minister Narendra Modi announced that his government will establish a Rs 20 000-crore defence industrial production corridor in Bundelkhand a region divided between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh which will generate 250 000 jobs and bring development to one of the most impoverished regions of the country.Feb 21 201815:42 (IST)Mukesh Ambani vows additional Rs 10 000 crore investment in Uttar PradeshReliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani speaking at the UP Investor Summit assured that Jio s digital revolution will make maximum contribution to the development of Uttar Pradesh and announced four commitments in this regard including investment of another Rs 10 000 crore by Jio in the next three years.Feb 21 201815:34 (IST) Uttar Pradesh has signed 1 045 pacts worth Rs 4.28 lakh crore on the first day of the UP investors summit Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said today.Feb 21 201812:59 (IST)Adani Group to invest Rs 35 000 crore in Uttar PradeshAccording to a report by news agency PTI the Adani Group said today at the Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit that it will invest Rs 35 000 crore in Uttar Pradesh in the next five years in different sectors.Gautam Adani of Adani Group said that energy logistics solar power roads and agriculture were among the core sectors that the group was looking to invest in.Feb 21 201812:48 (IST) Can there be competition between Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra? Prime Minister Narendra Modi recounted his visit to Maharashtra and said that the Maharashtra government had kept a target of having a trillion dollar economy. PM Modi then asked if there could be competition between Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh as to which state could first achieve the target of being a trillion dollar economy.Can there be a competition between Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra to achieve the target of trillion dollar economy first?: PM Shri @narendramodi at #UPInvestorsSummitpic.twitter.com/hPYzGlexRG- BJP (@BJP4India) February 21 2018Feb 21 201812:43 (IST)Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at the Uttar Pradesh Investors SummitPM Modi has started to speak at the Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit. He commended the Uttar Pradesh government for being the Number One in milk sugar cane and potato production. PM Modi said that there were a lot of values in Uttar Pradesh but in modern times value-addition was needed.He said that 70 per cent of the population of Uttar Pradesh was of working age saying that Uttar Pradesh had a lot of potential .He added saying that potential policy and planning will bring progress to the state.Feb 21 201812:09 (IST)BJP MLA Lokendra Singh who was on his way to 2018 UP Investors Summit dies in a road accidentBJP MLA Lokendra Singh was on his way to attend the Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit when he met with a road accident in Sitapur. The lawmaker s SUV crashed with a truck coming from the opposite direction.Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his death in a tweet.Anguished by the demise of BJP MLA from Noorpur Shri Lokendra Singh Ji due to an accident. His service towards society and role in building the BJP in UP will always be remembered. My thoughts are with his family and supporters in this hour of grief.- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 21 2018Feb 21 201812:04 (IST)Yogi Adityanath delivers a speech at the Uttar Pradesh Investors SummitUttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is speaking at the 2018 UP Investors Summit. He welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the summit and thanked him for his attendance.Chief Minister Adityanath also said that investors should not face any difficulties in investing in Uttar Pradesh. He congratulated all participants of the summit and hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi s vision for New India .Feb 21 201811:25 (IST)Yogi Adityanath comments on the 2018 Uttar Pradesh Investors SummitChief Minister Yogi Adityanath had yesterday spoke about the Investors Summit. He said that the perception of Uttar Pradesh has changed from the last 9 to 10 months. He said that the perception of Uttar Pradesh had earlier since the past 15 years been negative largely because of corruption and crime. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that his government was responsible for eliminating this perception of the state.He said that investors were now getting confidence in doing business in the state and that their investments would be safe.He said not a single crime in the state had occurred since he took charge of the government.Feb 21 201811:16 (IST)Industry leaders ministers policy makers and academics to attend summitThe 2018 Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit is being attended by a wide range of functionaries. A total of 30 sessions have been planned for the two-day summit.The summit will be attended by central ministers Rajnath Singh Nirmala Sitharaman Ravi Shankar Prasad Smriti Irani Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan.Industry leaders including Gautam Adani Mukesh Ambani Subhash Chandra N Chandrashekharan Anand Mahindra Kumar Mangalam Birla and Shobana Kamineni are scheduled to speak during various sessions. Business leaders from Mauritius Japan The Netherlands Finland Czech Republic Thailand and Slovakia are also in Lucknow to participate in Yogi Adityanath s flagship event.Feb 21 201811:06 (IST)Mukesh Ambani says Jio is largest investor in Uttar Pradesh over Rs 20 000 crore investmentAt the UP Investors Summit Mukesh Ambani has said that Jio has invested Rs 20 000 crore in Uttar Pradesh saying that it is one of the largest investors in the state.Mr Ambani also said that Jio will be present in every UP village by the end of this year.No more content CommentsClose X
If there is a big message to be read in the Bharatiya Janata Party s choice of candidate for the upcoming bye-election to Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat it is this: despite making Adityanath the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh the leadership is unwilling to give him a significant voice in the party s affairs. Upendra Shukla the candidate is among the BJP leaders in Gorakhpur who had to stay out of electoral politics for over a decade because they had angered Adityanath by trying to diminish the political influence of Gorakhnath temple in the region. Adityanath is the temple s chief priest. BJP leaders said Adityanath wanted the party to field someone closely associated with the temple in Gorakhpur but was snubbed. The seat fell vacant when Adityanath resigned to take over as the Uttar Pradesh chief minister last March. His deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated the Phulpur parliamentary seat. Both constituencies go to bye-polls on March 11. Adityanath first tried to persuade Swami Chinmayanand to contest from Gorakhpur an aide of the chief minister claimed. In a meeting held at the temple on February 14 Swami Chinmayanand politely turned down the offer saying he might not be a suitable candidate because he was an outsider. He said Yogiji should field someone who belonged to Gorakhpur and who could take along all major caste groups in the constituency. Chinmayanand a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee s government is originally from Gonda in eastern Uttar Pradesh. He was a disciple of Avaidyanath Adityanath s predecessor as the chief priest of Gorakhnath temple as well as MP from Gorakhpur. Chinmayanand has represented Badaun (1991) Machhlishahr (1998) and Jaunpur (1999) in Parliament.Turned downAfter Chinmayanand refused to contest Adityanath tried to get the BJP leadership to field Swami Kamalnath who acts as the chief priest in the absence of Adityanath. On February 18 Adityanath flew to Delhi where he had a meeting with BJP chief Amit Shah and the party s UP president Mahendra Nath Pandey the aide said. He proposed the name of Swami Kamalnath but Amit Shah turned down his proposal and suggested the name of Upendra Shukla. The proposal was immediately seconded by Mahendra Nath Pandey. Despite Adityanath expressing reservations Shukla s candidature was finalised. In 2006 Shukla had contested the bye-election to Gorakhpur s Kauriram Assembly seat as an independent candidate after being denied a ticket by the BJP. He divided the BJP s vote and helped defeat the party s nominee Shital Pandey an Adityanath loyalist. Shukla garnered 17 635 votes which resulted in Pandey losing to the Samajwadi Party s Ram Bhual Nishad by 10 629 votes. The defeat of his loyalist however did little to stop Adityanath from strengthening his grip on the BJP organisation in northeast Uttar Pradesh. Shukla stayed with the BJP but was kept out of electoral politics. Inside the BJP the nomination of Shukla a Brahmin leader is seen as an attempt to create a parallel power centre to Adityanath in the region. It could also be seen as an outreach to Brahmins the largest upper caste group in not just Gorakhpur but across the state. Shukla is the BJP s first Gorakhpur candidate in three decades from outside Gorakhnath temple which is believed to wield considerable influence on the region s voters. From 1991 to 1996 the constituency was represented by Avaidyanath won had also won it as a Hindu Mahasabha candidate in 1989. Avaidyanath was succeeded by Adityanath who won five straight terms until 2014.
The two-day Uttar Pradesh investor summit will surpass all expectations about how much investment will come to the state says chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the event in Lucknow on February 21. It will be attended by President Ram Nath Kovind cabinet ministers including Rajnath Singh Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari. Business tycoons Mukesh Ambani Gautam Adani and Anand Mahindra are also expected to participate. With just days left for the event the CM talked to Himangshu Watts and Vasudha Venugopal . Edited excerpts: What were the challenges that you had to face while putting together the investor summit? UP is the largest state in the country and also the biggest marketplace. It should have been the place that investors flock to but in the last 15 years the image of the state worked against this. The foremost thing for us was to change that image of UP. For that we started teamwork and used technology to curb corruption. Another thing is that we addressed the law and order issue that had completely failed. Our entire focus was on that. For an investor that he doesn t have to be a victim of corruption in bureaucracy and that his property is safe are very important. In ease of doing business we have jumped from 17th to 7th position. This is because of the changes we brought in the last ten months. In the case of law and order in the last ten months there hasn t been any major riot or kidnapping or any incident that must worry an investor. And the message that we are working has gone out. I start work at 3am every day and the meetings go on for long hours into the night at times. Besides creating a safe environment to attract investors we are also bringing in the necessary reform in policy. As of now notifications for change in 14 policies have already gone out. I think over 700 MoUs can get signed. What are the big projects that could be announced in your summit? I can tell you that the investor summit in UP will be better than any other summit held in the country. We have had a lot of people showing interest in our core focus areas. How much investment are you expecting? We will surpass all expectations. The summit is for big businesses but the state s MSME sector has been hard hit in the last few years. What are you doing for the small and mid-level businessmen? Every area in UP is traditionally known for producing at least one item that is the best at least in the country. But it is unfortunate that in the last 15 years the leadership of the state choked the soul of the state. We have the best and maximum number of youth here. The good thing is we are No.1 in production of food grains sugar in connectivity we are coming up with two more expressways and the Centre has already agreed for the Jewar airport. We were No.1 in MSME but the traditional produce of UP was never given any importance. This is the first time we celebrated UP Days after 68 years. We started with one district and one product to honour the state that has been everything for us. The PM was an inspiration for us. All the schemes that he started be in skill India or Jan Dhan I used to think about the possibilities about connecting them with our people working in the MSME sector. During my meetings I asked district officials to resolve their issues. I realised no one gives money to poor people starting their own business. We have 16 500 bank branches in the state SC/ST women can get up to Rs 1 crore as loan youth could get up to Rs 1 lakh. I went to Mumbai to talk to the heads of banks and asked them why they were not implementing these central schemes in UP. Now in 75 districts there is enthusiasm to increase participation in government schemes because people have faith in our intent. Your website for the investor summit has photographs of big industrialists. Have you spoken to them personally? Yes of course. All of them are coming. I went for the Mumbai roadshow myself. There were six roadshows in the country. In Mumbai I met Ratan Tata Mukesh Ambani the Hinduja brothers (Kumar Mangalam) Birla. I listened to their concerns how businessmen were harassed in the state. The people who should be honoured were harassed. They told us they had sworn to themselves that they will never set foot in UP but now they know that the situation has changed. They are assured that the state government is very serious about its promises. They have already sent in their proposals. The PM is coming too and it is under his guidance that everything is being done. Even the President is coming for the closing ceremony. When will the Jewar airport be completed? In the coming three months we would have acquired our land. We will hold a big event there. There will be an international airport and logistics hubs. I will make the announcements during the investor summit. We have big plans for the project. The national healthcare policy is being seen as the Modi government s biggest pro-poor move. Its success also depends on how a state like UP implements it. What is your plan? The day it was announced I was the happiest. I had asked the health department four months ago to design a health insurance programme for the poor. After that the next day itself I went to Delhi and I spoke to the finance minister. I had told him whatever you decide of the Centre-state partnership in this be it 30-70 65-45 or 80 -20 let s go for it because I believe that a state like UP needs a scheme like this. We have already done homework on it and we will maximise the use of all our resources to ensure the programme is implemented well here. On an average every day I have to give money to at least 150-200 people to address health concerns for some surgery or operation. We do it procedurally by insisting on the income certificate. The scheme will benefit all of those people who don t have access to my office and that is a huge number considering our villages. How do you see the Kasganj incident? The incident at Kasganj was an accident. There was no curfew imposed. The accident in a way also happened because the focus that day was on the Republic Day parade and on ensuring there were no untoward incidents due to the release of Padmavaat. Kasganj happened because two groups that had old animosity towards each another got into a fight. The inquiry was done in an impartial but in a very stern way. Reports are pointing to violations in police encounters. Your comments. There has been no fake encounter in UP. Not even one. The Noida incident that you are talking about the SSP had instantly said that media reports calling it an encounter were wrong. It was because a disagreement had taken place between the two. The inquiry was on and people responsible for the crime also got arrested. Do you think we would have okayed an inquiry if it were an encounter or filed an FIR? Rest of what is happening in UP I can say is necessary. Every week there were at least two riots and kidnapping had become an occupation in itself. The criminals had houses of big leaders always open for them. Whose houses? That everybody knows who were the ones getting benefitted by the support of gangsters. Today nothing of that sort can happen. Sabki jawabdehi tai hai (everyone s accountability is fixed in this government). Over 10 lakh students have opted out of the education system because of your drive against copying in board exams. How do you plan to address this issue? What we are looking at is simplifying the way education is seen today. Clearing the exams by copying is not going to help the students in any way. We will give them jobs in other sectors. We are going for a complete overhaul of the education system in the state primary and secondary both. From April it will be CBSE books for all students alike. The primary schools will have NCERT books along with subjects on our culture traditions and about the great people the state and the country have produced. It is very necessary that our children learn about where we come from and what this land represents. We want the children to never worry about exams. We will create an environment for that. Even the PM has written a book on it. We want to be very strict about the copying mafia. An inquiry has already begun. We want to give maximum importance to vocational education. We have managed to enrol 6 lakh youths in courses of which 1.4 lakh could also be placed in various units and enterprises. We want the energy of the youth to be diverted in useful work that can be of use to him if he is not interested in academics. A person who is struggling to fill up a form but is actually capable of working can actually help out in the manufacturing of our traditionally famous items.
LUCKNOW : BJP s candidate for Gorakhpur parliamentary bypoll Upendra Shukla is the first in 29 years who is not from Gorakhnath temple. Upendra (57) is known to be more close to Shiv https://grabcad.com/robert.vadra-1 Pratap Shukla of the anti-Yogi camp and it seems he has mended his relations with Yogi Adityanath . A senior BJP strategist told TOI that Shukla is in fact Yogi Adtiyanath s choice. He said that Yogi now knows that he would need the backing of RSS and party in state and national level politics and hence did not want any disturbance. With the 2019 Lok Sabha elections being the next target for both BJP and chief minister Yogi Adityanath Shukla the win or loss in Gorakhpur would have a direct impact on Yogi s political journey. The main responsibility of ensuring Shukla s win from Gorakhpur now rests on Yogi Adityanath. If Yogi is able to convince voters that Shukla is his choice BJP is likely to win easily. Yogi was five-time consecutive MP from Gorakhpur seat since 1998 after his Guru Late Mahant Awaidhnath abdicated the seat after remaining on it since 1989. A BJP leader close to CM said that since Yogi has shifted to larger canvass of politics Hindu Yuva Vahini an organisation backed by him would not suffice and he would need the backing of RSS and BJP and hence he would toe party line when needed.
The BJP today announced its candidates for the Lok Sabha by-elections next month fielding seasoned organisational leader Upendra Shukla for Gorakhpur and former Varanasi mayor Kaushalendra Singh Patel for Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh. The two seats in Uttar Pradesh fell vacant after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya resigned from the Lok Sabha following their appointments last year. The choice of Shukla is seen as an outreach by the party to Brahmins who are the largest upper caste community in the state and have been its traditional supporters. Priests of Gorakhpur-based Gorakhnath temple had been representing the constituency since 1989. Mahant Avedyanath its head priest and Adityanath s guru won it for the first time then on Hindu Mahasabha ticket and later in 1991 and 1996 as a BJP candidate. Adityanath represented Gorakhpur in the Lok Sabha five times on a trot since 1998 before he took over as chief minister. He became the temple s head priest following his guru s death. The BJP also announced its candidates in Bihar naming Pradeep Singh as its nominee for the Araria Lok Sabha by-poll and Rinki Pandey for the Bhabua assembly by-election. Singh a former Araria MP had lost to RJD s Taslimuddin in 2014. The by-elections are scheduled to be held on March 11. Tomorrow is the last day for candidates to file nomination.
AGRA: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath will be meeting Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat here Agra on Friday. Though RSS functionaries claimed that the meeting is just a formal one over lunch BJP state leaders told TOI that CM would apprise the sarv sanghchalak about the performance of his government which will be completing one year in office next month. Talking with TOI Mritunjay Kumar media adviser to the chief minister said Yogi is scheduled to visit Agra on February 23 and after meeting with the RSS chief he will head for Mathura where he will celebrate Rangotsav (festival of colours). Sources said RSS chief Bhagwat is likely to share his feedback on the Yogi government and the two will also discuss the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019. The RSS chief has already commenced his UP tour and is presently in Varanasi where he is meeting with RSS workers of eastern UP to understand the public perception about the BJP and work accordingly for the party for the 2019 polls. Prant Pracharak Agra Harish said Bhagwat will arrive in Agra on February 21. The next day he will be meeting with Sangh workers of the Braj region. Apart from meeting Yogi on February 23 he will be holding meetings with Sangh members. On February Bhagwat will be addressing more than 25 000 swayamsevaks from in and around Agra. Harish said this is an exercise to boost workers confidence to carry on the good work they have been doing and give directions relating to their work.
LUCKNOW: Accusing the opposition of sympathising with criminals Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today declared in the state Legislative Council that police encounters in the state would not stop. Speaking in the House during the Zero Hour Adityanath pointed toward the opposition and said everybody knew who gave patronage to criminals. A total of 40 dreaded criminals have been gunned down in 1200 encounters and this will continue the chief minister said. He was replying to Devendra Pratap Singh s (BJP) question on propriety pertaining to the February 13 directive of Chairman Ramesh Yadav asking the Yogi Adityanath government to get a CBI probe conducted into three cases including of two police encounters. It is unfortunate that some people are showing sympathy toward criminals. This is dangerous for democracy. The Noida incident which took place on February 3 in which Jitendra Yadav was hit by a bullet was not a police encounter and police does not count it as an encounter. Even the person affected had endorsed it Adityanath said. The chief minister urged the Chair to consider the questions raised by Devendra Pratap Singh. To this Leader of Opposition Ahmed Hasan (SP) said the Chair had already directed the government to get a CBI probe conducted. Now it can either recommend a CBI probe or may not do so. What is the relevance of the objection Hasan asked. Later Chairman Ramesh Yadav said he would reserve his decision on the question of propriety raised by Singh.

Narendra Modi says Maharashtra will become India's first trillion-dollar economy

MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday reiterated that India aspires to and is moving towards a 5 trillion economy over the next few years with sustained comprehensive and holistic development. Inaugurating the first mega global investors summit Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018 here he said the country is on the firm path of development simultaneously with the development of the states. We are working towards becoming a member of the Five Trillion Dollar club Modi said. He also said Maharashtra would become the first state in India to become a Trillion Dollar economy in the next few years while addressing a gathering of over 200 captains of Indian and global companies at Bandra Kurla Complex here. Modi noted his government has taken a slew of steps to ensure all-round development of India with an ecosystem omprising a development-friendly investor-friendly governance with minimal governmental interference. Indian states are now policy-driven governance is performance-driven with full accountability a transparent ecosystem various norms are being eased the government is changing laws where needed and scrapped more than 1 400 old or outdated laws and for new or modified laws care is being taken to ensure they are simplified he said. In recent years various states of India have also competing among themselves to attract maximum https://disqus.com/by/kkmyntra/ foreign investments as per their needs and requirements including Assam he said. On Maharashtra Modi said during the past three years this state has initiated unprecedented measures to lure foreign investors on all fronts led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The state s reforms have transformed business huge improvements in its rating in Ease of Doing Business changed the work culture problems are being resolved in a timebound manner debottle-necking has been achieved with inter-departmental cooperation all of which have reflected on its development he said. He added that last year Maharashtra led other states on various parameters in infrastructure development rankings it got 51 percent of all FDI in India during the Make In India initiative of February 2016 it secured more than Rs 400 000 crore investments and work on half of them is underway. Besides the state has initiated mega-infrastructure projects like Navi Mumbai International Airport Mumbai Trans Harbour Link 350 km of Metro Rail and similar Metro Rail in other cities like Pune and Nagpur taking up the 700 km Mumbai-Nagpur Communication Expressway etc which will create between two to two-and-half million jobs and give a fillip to rural development. Modi also cited the various measures and budgetary provisions to construct roads bridges metro rails and airports across the country to help realize the aspirations of the people and fulfill the vision of a New India . Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said Mumbai is both his janmabhoomi (birthplace) and his own karmabhoomi (are of action) where the start-up company was established by his father the late visionary Dhirubhai Ambani with a seed capital of Rs 1 000 and one employee. Today Reliance employs over 350 000 people. It s the largest wealth-creator for India . Reliance always invests in India s Big Dreams in building businesses of the future with Indian talent and Indian youth he said in his address. He said Mumbai is also home to Jio the newest tech-startup in the Reliance family and when the PM unveiled his vision for a Digital India it also became Jio s own mission. He announced that now Reliance will take the Jio Movement forward with an even more ambitious new initiative for New India and New Maharashtra by setting up the country s first-ever Integrated Industrial Development Area for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Maharashtra.
Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that Maharashtra will become the country s first trillion dollar economy. Speaking at the Magnetic Maharashtra Global Investors Summit in Mumbai PM Modi said Maharashtra s development was representative of the changes in the country.The BJP-led government s budget reforms have created a new work culture and are transforming the socio-economic landscape of the country PM Modi said at the event. Our budget is not limited to outlay its focus is on outcome. Our reforms in budget making and presentation have created a new work culture and are transforming the socio-economic landscape he said. We are moving in a direction where the state is policy driven governance is performance driven government is accountable and democracy is participative he said at the event in suburban Bandra. We are working in times of disruptions and discontent PM Modi added.In the last three and half years the government has transformed the country from being a fragile five nation to one now aspiring USD 5 trillion GDP he said.In the last three and half years the government has transformed the country from being a fragile five nation to one now aspiring for 5 trillion GDP he said.A country progresses only when it has a vision and works for inclusiveness PM Modi said. Potential policy planning and performance leads to progress. He said the government in the last three years has repealed 1 400 laws and the new ones are being written with the intent of simplification not to complicate (things).On investments he said there is a healthy competition among states to attract investments as per their strengths. What started with Gujarat is visible all across the country now. I congratulate Maharashtra government for the work on ease of doing business and making it easier for investors he said.The Samruddhi corridor between Mumbai and Nagpur will help boost agriculture and agriculture-based industries he said. CommentsClose X On the centre s development initiatives PM Modi said We will create 1.5 lakh wellness centres in bigger gram panchayats .Besides PM Modi said 10.5 crore people have been accepted under the MUDRA scheme and Rs 4.60 lakh crore has been disbursed to small businesses.
NEW DELHI: At a time when NDA partners are unhappy with BJP over a host of reasons Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his party s very DNA is democratic and it believes in taking all friends along since the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee s rule. Speaking at the inauguration programme of BJP s state-of-the-art headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg on Sunday Modi emphasised that BJP and its predecessor Jan Sangh have been involved in all movements aimed at protecting nationalism post-Independence. BJP s DNA is cent per cent democratic Modi said adding that all aspirations of the party are framed within the democratic ethos and underlined that these democratic values of BJP have been very useful in taking others along. In a multi-party system it was natural to have coalition politics. Joining hands or walking out for selfish reasons is different. But to take friends along a different attitude is required. Under the leadership of Atalji (then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee) a successful experiment of taking all partners along balancing regional aspirations and awakening a new hope was done. This experiment also succeeded under BJP s leadership Modi said. The fundamental reason for its success is that democracy is in our veins and we are moving ahead with this he added. The prime minister also referred to the role of some political parties during the freedom struggle and those formed after the Independence. He hailed Jan Sangh for espousing an ideology and thought with clarity and facing all obstacles and challenges in its path. We have never left those ideals and values. After Independence all movements of national interest having a nationalist and patriotic hue were led by Jan Sangh and BJP. We are proud of that. Our party is steeped in nationalism PM Modi said. He lauded the contribution of BJP veteran LK Advani among others to the growth of the organisation. BJP chief Amit Shah said the new headquarters is equipped to conduct video conferencing with all state and district offices of the party and telecast speeches and programmes of its senior leaders. The new headquarters spread over 1 70 000 square feet and having modern facilities has conference rooms plush office rooms for its office-bearers all the paraphernalia for the BJP IT Cell and its social media team.
Pakistan has billed India Rs 2.86 lakh as route navigation charges for Indian Air Force aircraft used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a stopover in Lahore and visits to Russia Afghanistan Iran and Qatar an RTI response shows. The data gathered by activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra through his RTI application show that till June 2016 Indian Air Force aircraft were used for the Prime Minister s visits to 11 countries--Nepal Bhutan Bangladesh Afghanistan Qatar Australia Pakistan Russia Iran Fiji and Singapore. Batra gave a copy of the RTI responses received from August last year to January 30 2018 to PTI. During one such visit on December 25 2015 Modi had a brief stopover in Lahore at the request of then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The stopover took place when Modi was returning from Russia and Afghanistan. For this a bill of Rs 1.49 lakh has been issued as route navigation charges records accessed under the RTI Act from the Indian High Commission in Pakistan show. Modi was received by Sharif with a warm hug at the tarmac of the Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore when he made the unexpected stopover on his way back home following a day-long trip to Afghanistan after concluding a two-day visit to Russia. Modi was accorded a red carpet welcome as the PM s special Indian Air Force Boeing 737 plane touched down at 4.50 pm. He then took a helicopter to Sharif s Raiwind palatial residence on the outskirts of Lahore to attend Sharif s birthday celebrations. A bill of Rs 77 215 was imposed as route navigation charges by Pakistani authorities when Modi used an IAF aircraft to visit Iran on May 22-23 2016 and Rs 59 215 when he visited Qatar on June 4-6 2016 the RTI response shows. For both visits he flew over Pakistan. The records were part of a response collected from various missions of India on the expenditure incurred on the visits of Modi on IAF aircraft between 2014 and 2016. According to the data collected a total of about Rs 2 crore has been spent on foreign visits of the Prime Minister during the period for the use of IAF aircraft. Generally an Air India aircraft is hired for the foreign visits of the VVIPs -- the President the Vice President and the Prime Minister -- for which the national carrier sends the bill. The bills for the Prime Minister s visits are borne by the External Affairs Ministry. The bills submitted by Indian missions in these countries include charges for fuelling ground handling airport charges dearness allowance paid to the staff hotel stay catering and mobile for the crew transport hiring captain s imprest and other charges.
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the BJP s new headquarters on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg spread over 1.70 lakh square feet on Sunday in the presence of party chief Amit Shah former BJP chiefs several Union ministers and office-bearers. While Modi lauded Shah and his team for building the multi-storeyed three-tower HQ in 18 months the party chief said the building was bigger than the office of any political party in the world. He added that the new headquarters was fitted with the latest communication technologies and had a spacious social media office. The PM could address a state executive sitting here he said. Former party chiefs L K Advani Murli Manohar Joshi Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari besides Union minister Sushma Swaraj were on the dais at the event. Modi said the BJP and its forerunner Jana Sangh had since independence led all agitations in national interest adding that democracy was the party s core value which enabled it to take along allies successfully. The PM said Jana Sangh was founded because after independence a need was felt to have one or two more strong national parties. After independence Bharatiya Jana Sangh and then BJP led all agitations in national interest in the country. And we are proud of it he told the gathering. That is why BJP was dyed in the colour of patriotism and was always willing to struggle and sacrifice for the cause of the nation Modi said. At a time when some NDA allies have spoken about their differences with the BJP the PM recalled the work of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. Vajpayee was successful in taking allies along while navigating regional aspirations and sparking anew hope in the country Modi said adding The root cause for this is that democracy is in our blood. That is why we are moving ahead while taking everyone along to the best extent possible. The new building may be the work place for the party but its area of work should be the country s boundaries Modi said adding that party workers should be its soul. Shah said BJP was on course to have its office in almost every district of the country in a year s time. He said he had done his research and came to know that with an area of over 1.70 lakh sq feet the BJP office was the biggest of any political party in the world. The party and its crores of workers would work together to realise the PM s dream of a new India he said while paying tributes to departed party leaders andworkers.
By Amulya Ganguli For the Bharatiya Janata Party s supporters the growing belief that the party is no longer as favourably placed as before must be both bewildering and disheartening. They must be wondering what could have gone wrong when the BJP was looking forward to not only a comfortable victory in 2019 but was also planning to celebrate the 75th year of India s independence in 2022. The talk of a New India under the BJP s near-permanent control was in the air with both Nitish Kumar and Omar Abdullah from two opposite sides of the political spectrum saying that Narendra Modi faced no challenge. Yet the scene has changed. What is more it has happened so over a rather short period of time. Among the reasons for it may be the BJP s electoral setbacks in first the Chitrakoot assembly byelection in Madhya Pradesh in November last year the near-defeat it faced in the Gujarat assembly polls in the following month and finally the huge margins by which it recently lost three byelections in Rajasthan. Before these contests the successes of the Congress s student wing in the Delhi University and of a leftist union in the Jawaharlal Nehru University student union elections over the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) the saffron brotherhood s student wing were significant pointers to the emerging trends. The new scenario has now led to conjectures about a fall in the BJP s number of Lok Sabha seats to 200/220 from the present 282 in a House of 545. Since these figures have been mentioned by a saffron scribe it is obvious that assessments on these lines are currently on in the BJP. Another scribe has identified the absence of effective speakers other than Modi as one of the factors behind the BJP s slide in popularity. Perhaps one of the first to say openly that the Modi magic was fading was a Shiv Sena spokesperson who also noted the change in Rahul Gandhi s body language and his transformation into a credible leader. Not long after the Sena decided not to align with the BJP in 2019. BJP s old ally is not the only party to begin thinking of greener pastures. The Telugu Desam Party too has expressed its displeasure over the neglect of Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget. To forestall a rupture BJP has offered Shiv Sena 144 seats in Maharashtra in an assembly of 288 seats but the generous gesture is more indicative of the BJP s nervousness than of magnanimity. So what went wrong for a party which was riding high during the first three years of its tenure? First and foremost reason is its failure to usher in the promised achhe din or better days because of a sluggish economy. The scene might have been better but for the twin blows of demonetisation which dealt a blow to small businesses and the shambolic rolling out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which also unsettled the traders and businessmen. The second reason is the widespread rural distress which eroded the BJP s influence in Gujarat. As a party essentially of urban lower middle class areas the BJP s connection with the countryside has never been very strong. In its Jan Sangh days the party once even forgot to adopt a resolution on agriculture till the lapse was noticed at the last minute. Modi is now said to have sought the advice of farming experts to reach out to the cultivators. But the move is unlikely to pay immediate political dividends. To compound the BJP s problems the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) the Sangh Parivar s labour wing has raised the red flag over the disappointing Union Budget. Another explanation for the BJP s woes is undoubtedly the inability to control the saffron goons who have been running amok to impose their diktats on diet inter-faith romance and film scripts among other things. The rampages of the cow vigilantes have hit the meat and leather industries and resulted in ageing cows being let loose by their owners to roam the countryside and city streets to forage on their own. Hence the proposal to impose a fine on the guilty owners. The result is the prevalence of an atmosphere of intolerance of the kind which made a section of the intelligentsia return the awards which they had once won in protest against the deteriorating state of affairs in the country. Perhaps the BJP s only solace at the moment is that its opponents haven t been able to get their act together. Moreover the fissures in their ranks are palpable with a rift in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) over whether to align with the Congress in an anti-BJP front and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) teaming up with the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka on the eve of the assembly elections. There are also said to be reservations among the senior opposition leaders about accepting Rahul Gandhi as the leader of an alliance. Karnataka will be the next big electoral battle for the BJP. If it can dislodge the ruling Congress in the state it will be able to brush aside the party s setbacks in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Otherwise the road to 2019 will seem steeper. (Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today dedicated the first phase of the Rs 7 900-crore 4th terminal project of the JNPT to the nation which will raise the cargo handling capacity of the nation s largest container port by 50 per cent. The fourth terminal project seeks to double JNPT s capacity to nearly 10 million standard container units and will make it the 33rd biggest port globally. In contrast the global export powerhouse China already has 15 ports with over 20 million TEUs capacity. The nation s largest port JNPT has a capacity of 4.8 million standard container units capacity now and with this inauguration 2.4 million standard container units are added. On completion of the second phase by 2022 which will also have a capacity of 2.4 million standard container units total capacity will go up to almost 10 million. Inaugurating the first phase of the fourth terminal of the JNPT to be operated by the Singapore Ports through a remote control Modi who also laid the foundation stone for the first phase of the Rs 16 700-core Navi Mumbai international airport here said his government is focusing on port-led development. If we have to carve out a place for ourselves in a globalised world we need to enhance our waterways Modi said. The Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) has invested Rs 4 719 crore in the first phase of terminal at Uran through its subsidiary Bharat Mumbai Container Terminal (BMCT). The work on the terminal began in 2015. The overall capacity of the first phase which entails a 1-km-long berth mostly built on reclaimed land can handle three ships simultaneously is 2.4 million standard container units. PSA Group chief executive Tan Chong Meng said the port is targeting to handle 500 000 TEUs in 2018 and then add further. He said the JNPT which awarded the fourth terminal to the PSA in May 2014 after long delays has struggled with capacity till now due to which ports like Mundra in the private sector have been able to attract more traffic. Because of this capacity constraint cargo movements have been sought to move to other places. Perhaps not their first choice to do so. They would prefer to go through Mumbai as this city has a very big hinterland Meng said. Now that the capacity has been added government will also be able to seek investments for the economy he added and underlined the need to have the pricing power for operators. The first phase took a lot of energy we learnt a lot he said without elaborating. The project has been executed with the support of Singaporean banks Meng said adding that features like a longer berth and modern cranes which can handle larger ships distinguish it from other terminals of JNPT located off the financial capital s eastern coastline. Expressing reservations about the BMCT being seen as a new kid on the block despite adding 50 per cent to the capacity he said there is a need for all the stakeholders to work together. BMCT is not built for its own sake it is built for the sake of the whole port of Mumbai. If BMCT has a good reputation the whole port of Mumbai will have a good reputation he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday dedicated the first phase of the Rs 7 900-crore 4th terminal project of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to the nation which will raise the cargo handling capacity of the nation s largest container port by 50 percent. The 4th container terminal at @JNPort is a vital step towards port-led development. pic.twitter.com/SyEOtmj9sw Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 18 2018 The fourth terminal project seeks to double JNPT s capacity to nearly 10 million standard container units and will make it the 33rd biggest port globally. In contrast the global export powerhouse China already has 15 ports with over 20 million TEUs capacity. The nation s largest port JNPT has a capacity of 4.8 million standard container units capacity now and with this inauguration 2.4 million standard container units are added. On completion of the second phase by 2022 which will also have a capacity of 2.4 million standard container units total capacity will go up to almost 10 million. Inaugurating the first phase of the fourth terminal of the JNPT to be operated by the Singapore Ports through a remote control Modi who also laid the foundation stone for the first phase of the Rs 16 700-core Navi Mumbai international airport said his government is focusing on port-led development. If we have to carve out a place for ourselves in a globalised world we need to enhance our waterways Modi said. File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Reuters The Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) has invested Rs 4 719 crore in the first phase of terminal at Uran through its subsidiary Bharat Mumbai Container Terminal (BMCT). The work on the terminal began in 2015. The overall capacity of the first phase which entails a 1-km-long berth mostly built on reclaimed land can handle three ships simultaneously is 2.4 million standard container units. PSA Group chief executive Tan Chong Meng said the port is targeting to handle 5 00 000 TEUs in 2018 and then add further. He said the JNPT which awarded the fourth terminal to the PSA in May 2014 after long delays has struggled with capacity till now due to which ports like Mundra in https://www.discogs.com/user/kkmytata the private sector have been able to attract more traffic. Because of this capacity constraint cargo movements have been sought to move to other places. Perhaps not their first choice to do so. They would prefer to go through Mumbai as this city has a very big hinterland Meng said. Now that the capacity has been added the government will also be able to seek investments for the economy he added and underlined the need to have the pricing power for operators. The first phase took a lot of energy we learnt a lot he said without elaborating. The project has been executed with the support of Singaporean banks Meng said adding that features like a longer berth and modern cranes which can handle larger ships distinguish it from other terminals of JNPT located off the financial capital s eastern coastline. Expressing reservations about the BMCT being seen as a new kid on the block despite adding 50 percent to the capacity he said there is a need for all the stakeholders to work together. BMCT is not built for its own sake it is built for the sake of the whole port of Mumbai. If BMCT has a good reputation the whole port of Mumbai will have a good reputation he said.