Racism against Northeast students reduced due to PM's outreach: Assam CM

 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said the progress took place due to the PM’s outreach to the region

Giving credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the reduction in “discrimination against students of the northeast”, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said the progress took place due to the PM’s outreach to the region in the last few years.

The remarks of the Chief Minister came while addressing a press conference on Wednesday where he said that such discrimination against the students has “gone down to a huge extent”. “If you look at the last 2-3 years, because of PM Modi’s huge outreach to the northeast now racial discrimination against students of the northeast has suddenly gone down to a huge extent,” Sarma said.

Later in the day, the Assam CM took to Twitter to laud PM Modi’s “visionary leadership”, and said that he has “repositioned India as a strong global power”. “A new wave of growth & development has swept across NE in the past 8 years under Adarniya @narendramodi ji’s guidance. On behalf of the people of Assam, I express my heartfelt gratitude to Hon’ble PM for unlocking NE’s potential, making it new engine of India’s growth,” he tweeted…Read More

PM Narendra Modi releases Rs 21,000 crore in 11th instalment of PM-KISAN

 During the Sammelan, Prime Minister sought feedback about the various welfare programmes being run by the government from public representatives across the country

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday released Rs 21,000 crore to more than 10 crore beneficiary farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi PM-KISAN scheme. The Tuesday transfer is the 11th instalment under the PM-KISAN scheme. PM Modi arrived in Shimla on Tuesday to participate in the ‘Garib Kalyan Sammelan’. He interacted with beneficiaries of different government schemes at the event to mark the eighth anniversary of the NDA government at the Centre. The event is being held at Ridge Maidan in Shimla.

During the Sammelan, Prime Minister sought feedback about the various welfare programmes being run by the government from public representatives across the country. According to Prime Minister’s Office, the endeavour of the Sammelan was to make the reach and delivery of government programmes more efficient so as to improve the ease of living of the citizens of the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government completed its eight years at the Centre on May 30…Read More

Patel statue will become symbol of relationship between India, Canada: PM

 This statue of Sardar Patel in Sanatan Mandir will not only strengthen our cultural values but also become a symbol of the relationship between the two countries: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the statue of Sardar Patel will become a symbol of the relationship between the two countries — India and Canada. Addressing the Sanatan Mandir Cultural Centre (SMCC) at Markham in Ontario in Canada on the occasion of inauguration of Sardar Patel’s Statue there through a video message, he said: “This statue of Sardar Patel in Sanatan Mandir will not only strengthen our cultural values but also become a symbol of the relationship between the two countries.”

Conveying his greetings on Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav and Gujarat Day, he said Indians might live anywhere in the world for any number of generations but their Indian-ness and loyalty towards India never diminishes. Indians, the Prime Minister said, work with full dedication and integrity for the country, and carry their democratic values and sense of duty with them….

Waning demand for LIC IPO highlights fiscal challenges for PM Modi

 Life Insurance Corporation of India’s board on Saturday approved selling a 3.5% stake for about Rs 210 billion ($2.8 billion), far lower than the Rs 500 billion estimated before Russia invaded Ukraine

India’s decision to go ahead with a much-reduced target for its vaunted life insurer’s initial public offering, as skittish investors continue to pull money from the South Asian nation, is adding to the risks threatening the nation’s fiscal deficit target.

Life Insurance Corporation of India’s board on Saturday approved selling a 3.5% stake for about 210 billion rupees ($2.8 billion), far lower than the 500 billion rupees estimated before Russia invaded Ukraine. Anchor investors had been reluctant to commit as the war eroded demand for equities, according to people with knowledge of the matter, with foreign funds withdrawing more than $16 billion from Indian stocks this year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs inflows because crude oil prices — one of India’s largest imports — have surged. Costs have risen so much that it’s becoming unsustainable for the administration to keep charging taxes on fuel that have been key to bridging a budget deficit. Leaving pump prices high risks stoking inflation and potential social unrest that is already roiling neighboring nations as the region emerges from the pandemic….LIC ipo Date

PM Modi says project to build 3 cr houses over, will empower women

 PM Narendra Modi on Friday announced the completion of 3 crore ‘pucca’ houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for the poor and said that the houses have also become “symbol of women empowerment”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced the completion of 3 crore ‘pucca’ houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for the poor and said that the houses have also become the “symbol of women empowerment”.

“We have made an important step in our resolve to provide pucca house to every poor of the country. The construction of more than three crore houses has been possible only with the participation of the people. These houses with basic facilities have also become a symbol of women’s empowerment today,” tweeted PM Modi in Hindi.

Under the PM Awas Yojana (rural), the construction of 2.52 crore houses has been finished. For this, the amount of Rs 1.95 lakh crore was sanctioned. As many as 58 lakh houses have been constructed under the PM Awas Yojana (urban) so far. An amount of Rs 1.18 lakh crore was sanctioned for the purpose. Every house comes with basic facilities including the gas connection under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, water connection and electricity.

PM Modi pays tributes to Jagjivan Ram on his 115th birth anniversary

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday paid tributes to former deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram, a foremost Dalit leader of his time

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday paid tributes to former deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram, a foremost Dalit leader of his time, and said the nation will always remember his “remarkable” contribution during the freedom movement and after Independence. Born in Bihar in 1908, Ram was a freedom fighter and served as a minister in governments led by Jawaharlal Nehru and later India Gandhi.

He quit the Congress to protest against Emergency and served as a deputy prime minister in the Janata Party government. Modi tweeted, “Tributes to Babu Jagjivan Ram Ji on his birth anniversary. Our nation will always remember his remarkable contribution be it during the freedom movement or after Independence. He was widely admired for his administrative skills and concern for thr poor…

Plastic nationalism: Can India really shelve Visa and Mastercard for RuPay

 Ater card platforms suspended Russian clients’ access to merchants overseas, the link between plastic and politics has acquired a more serious dimension.

Long before the war in Ukraine, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided that international card networks could be used as instruments of statecraft — and that he should channel the rising economic power of his country’s 1.4 billion people to resist the dominance of Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and American Express Co. “Everyone cannot go to the border for the security of the nation,” Modi said in a 2018 speech. “If you develop a habit of using RuPay card … that will also become a medium to serve the nation.”

Like Russia’s Mir and China UnionPay Co., RuPay is a homegrown card network, promoted by the National Payments Corporation of India since 2012. New Delhi has pushed it so aggressively over the last few years that a worried Visa Inc. has complained to the U.S. government about the lack of an even playing field in India, according to Reuters. Mastercard has grumbled as well. Meanwhile, Discover Financial Services’ Diners Club as well as Mastercard and American Express have gotten into regulatory trouble with the Reserve Bank of India over data localization rules….

Govt launches Operation Ganga to rescue Indians stuck in Ukraine

 The International Council of the Red Cross (ICRC), which deals with conflict-torn regions, will start operations from Monday and India is in close touch with it

To quicken the process of rescuing the Indians stranded in Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, as part of Operation Ganga, on Sunday outlined new steps, including opening fresh exit points judged safe for them to leave the country. The government will pay for the operation entirely. Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to this in Varanasi during an election campaign meeting, where he said India was making every effort to get its citizens out of Ukraine.

However, India continued to stay neutral on the conflict and suspended judgement on who was responsible for the war. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has been in touch with his equivalent in Moldova, which has a border with Ukraine. He has also spoken to ministers in neighbouring countries.

The exit route from Moldova is less choked than the ones from Poland, which are jammed by Ukrainians seeking to flee from the war. Shringla said around 4,000 Indians were in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions in East Ukraine, as well as Odessa and the Crimea, where fighting is most intense. These regions are also close to the Russian border, just at a distance of 70 km, and teams from the Indian embassy are at the border points, ready to evacuate Indians as soon as a window opens and there is respite from the fighting….

PM Modi to deliver 'State of the World' special address at WEF today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the ‘State of the World’ special address at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Davos Agenda today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the ‘State of the World’ special address at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Davos Agenda on Monday According to Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), PM Modi will address the WEF at 8:30 pm IST via video conference on Tuesday, the office said in a press release. The virtual event will be held from January 17-21.

Several heads of state will address the event including Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and EU Commission’s chief Ursua von der Leyen. The event will also witness the participation of top industry leaders, international organisations and civil society, who will deliberate on critical challenges being faced by the world today and discuss how to address them.

Vaccination pace in children shows youth's sense of responsibility: PM Modi

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday lauded the “sense of responsibility” of the country’s youth and said it manifested in the pace of Covid-19 vaccination in the 15-18 years age group

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday lauded the “sense of responsibility” of the country’s youth and said it manifested in the pace of Covid-19 vaccination in the 15-18 years age group that has covered over two crore children since its rollout this month. Virtually inaugurating the 25th edition of the National Youth Festival here, Modi also said his government’s recent decision to increase the legal marriage age of women to 21 years was for the betterment of “our daughters” and ensure that they had a career and also the time.

Hailing the pace of vaccination of the 15-18 years age group, he said this showed the “sense of responsibility” of the youngsters, especially witnessed during the pandemic period. “The role of the youth in the success of our covid vaccination programme is being witnessed altogether at a different level. We are seeing that the youth in the 15-18 years age group are getting themselves vaccinated at a quick pace. In such a short time, over two crore children have been vaccinated. This exemplifies the sense of responsibility in today’s youth and my confidence in a bright future of the country is further strengthened,” he said.

Jaishankar-Wi meet: India, China agree on 5-point plan to resolve standoff

The Indian Army and the Chinese PLA have been locked in a tense standoff in multiple areas along the LAC in eastern Ladakh since early May

India and China have agreed on a five-point plan for resolving the prolonged border face-off in eastern Ladakh that included abiding by all existing agreements and protocol on management of the frontier, maintaining peace and tranquility and avoiding any action that could escalate matters. The two countries agreed to the plan during talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on Thursday evening on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet.

The Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army(PLA) have been locked in a tense standoff in multiple areas along the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in eastern Ladakh since early May. The Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) issued a joint press statement early on Friday featuring five points which were agreed by both the sides at the “frank and constructive” discussions by the two ministers.

“The two foreign ministers agreed that the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side. They agreed, therefore, that the border troops of both sides should continue their dialogue, quickly disengage, maintain proper distance and ease tensions,” it said…India China Border Row

Covid-19 has not affected ambitions, aspirations of 1.3 bn Indians: PM Modi

“India a country of political stability and policy continuity with commitment to democracy and diversity,” Modi said

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that although the coronavirus pandemic was unexpected and was testing the country’s resilience, health and economic systems, it had not affected the ambitions and aspirations of 1.3 billion Indians. In his keynote address at the third leadership summit of the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) via videoconferencing, PM Modi said: “India was among the first to advocate face covering as a public health measure and to create a campaign about social distancing.”

Saying that the world believed in India, Modi added: “India has undertaken far-reaching reforms to make business easier and red-tapeism less.” He also said that India offered a trasparent and predictable tax regime, which supported honest taxpayers.

ALSO READ: LIVE: Pandemic has not affected aspirations of 1.3 bn Indians, says Modi

“India a country of political stability and policy continuity with commitment to democracy and diversity,” he noted. US Vice-President Mike Pence had a fireside on Monday, the first day of the week-long summit titled “US-India Week: Navigating New Challenges”….

MPs unite against Facebook over ‘political bias’, seek action against execs

The meeting was attended by 13 MPs of the BJP and four from opposition parties

Facebook was subject to tough questioning by Members of Parliament at a meeting of the Standing Committee attached to the Ministry of Information and Technology, on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by 13 MPs of the BJP and four from Opposition parties. Almost all members criticised the US-based social media giant for political bias.

The BJP MPs wanted to know why 2.6 million pages of BJP-related posts were taken down, erased, or tampered with by the company. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey who has aggressively questioned the practices at Facebook, lashed out at the organisation, along with Anil Agarwal (BJP), Sanjay Seth (BJP) and Mahua Moitra (Trinamool Congress).

As proceedings of Parliamentary committees are covered by Parliamentary privilege, very little information was forthcoming from Facebook on how the organisation defended itself. Those who attended the meeting on its behalf were Ajit Mohan, vice-president of the company, and S Purohit, the legal advisor. Facebook said its deposition would be submitted in writing to the MPs.

Unconfirmed reports suggest some MPs also voiced the demand that executives in Facebook India should be stripped of their positions. Another meeting, for which Facebook will be summoned, is on the cards.Two activists of net neutrality — journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, also the author of The Real Face of Facebook in India, and Nikhil Pahwa, founder of digital news portal Medianama — also addressed the Standing Committee.

India-Japan summit likely next month, to focus on boosting trade ties

The annual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe is likely to take place early next month

The annual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe is likely to take place early next month and its broad focus would be further expansion of the already close strategic and trade ties between the two countries, people familiar with the development said on Monday. Abe's visit to India for the annual summit in Guwahati in December last year was cancelled in the wake of massive protests rocking the capital city of Assam over the amended citizenship law.

The next month's summit will be a virtual one and preparations are underway for it, the people cited above said. In the India Japan summit, the two sides are expected to seal a military pact on reciprocal access to military bases for logistics support, they said.

The pact will allow militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases and facilities for repair and replenishment of supplies besides facilitating scaling up of overall cooperation. In the summit, the two sides are expected to review the entire spectrum of bilateral defence ties, including the long-pending issue of supply of the US-2 amphibious aircraft by Japan to India.

What a 38-year-old turmeric scandal says about India's business environment

The Supreme Court ended the 38-year saga of an alleged turmeric forger, who was arrested in 1982 and, eventually, sentenced to a month in jail and a 500 rupee ($6.70) fine

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is eager to convince global companies and investors that India is a business-friendly alternative to China. A top court ruling this summer told another story, highlighting the infamous judicial delays that threaten to stymie businesses and scuttled deals. The Supreme Court ended the 38-year saga of an alleged turmeric forger, who was arrested in 1982 and, eventually, sentenced to a month in jail and a 500 rupee ($6.70) fine. After a decade, the top court reversed his conviction; the two lower courts took around 14 years each to render verdicts.

The lifespan of the turmeric case is extreme but not unique among the nearly 40 million cases pending across the country’s three-tiered judicial system. Among cases in 25 state high courts, roughly 173,000 have been pending for more than 20 years, and roughly half of those for more than 30, government data showed. The World Bank ranks India in the top one-third of countries for overall ease-of-doing-business, but when it comes to enforcing contracts -- a measure of legal efficiency -- the south Asian nation lands in the bottom 15 per cent, worse than Pakistan, Syria and Senegal...Read More

 

PM Modi unveils ‘fundamental reforms’ for taxpayers

PM Modi has launched taxation reforms. Faceless assessment, taxpayer charter starts from today, faceless appeal to begin from Sep 25. Stay tuned for live updates on latest news

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a new platform, ‘Transparent Taxation Honouring the Honest’, aimed to carry forward the journey of direct tax reforms. The focus of the tax reforms has been on reduction in tax rates and on simplification of direct tax laws. Several initiatives have been taken by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to bring efficiency and transparency in the functioning of the Income Tax (IT) department, according to officials.

Stay tuned for the latest news of the day

Taxpayer must pay tax because that is how system works, says PM Modi

Taxpayer charter comes with responsibilities for taxpayers too. The taxpayer must pay tax because that is how the system works, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi…

Key highlights of PM Modi’s speech

Faceless assessment, faceless appeal and taxpayer charter part of new platform ‘Transparent Taxation – Honoring the Honest’

Policy-driven governance minimises grey areas, cutting discretion,

Faceless assessment, taxpayer charter starts from today, faceless appeal to begin from Sep 25

Fundamental reforms were needed in Indian tax systemEffort is to make tax system seamless,

painless and faceless

India among nations with lowest corporate tax

Read Full Story on Dundamental Reforms

At least eight dead in Ahmedabad’s Covid hospital fire, PM expresses grief

PM Modi spoke with Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and city mayor Bijal Patel regarding the situation

Eight patients at a private Covid-19 designated hospital died after a fire broke out in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad early Thursday morning. on Thursday,. “Fire broke out at the Shrey Hospital in Navrangpura area of Ahmedabad during the early hours of Thursday,” said an official. Around 40 other Covid-19 patients at the facility were rescued and shifted to a civic hospital in the city, he said. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief at the loss of lives in the fire accident and said the administration is providing all possible assistance to the affected. “Saddened by the tragic hospital fire in Ahmedabad. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon,” the prime minister tweeted.

Modi spoke with Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and city mayor Bijal Patel regarding the situation. “Administration is providing all possible assistance to the affected,” he said. An ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund would be given to the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the hospital fire in Ahmedabad, the PMO said in a tweet…Read More

Security beefed up on UP-Nepal border for Ayodhya bhumi pojan event

The Sashastra Seema Bal and the Uttar Pradesh Police have intensified patrolling along the 551 km-long India-Nepal border, ahead of Prime Minister’s scheduled visit to Ayodhya for Bhumi Puja

The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Uttar Pradesh Police have intensified patrolling along the 551 km-long India-Nepal border, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Ayodhya for Ram Temple Bhumi Puja on Wednesday. According to senior police officers, a tight vigil is being maintained on movement along the border and people living in villages adjoining the border have been asked to alert security officials if they come across any suspicious activity or element in their area.

The security arrangements across the state, especially in Ayodhya and on the Indo-Nepal border, has been beefed up after intelligence agencies warned of a possible terror attack in August. The Pilibhit police has installed five barriers at different checking points along the 56 km-long Indo-Nepal border in the district to prevent infiltration bid by anti-social elements in the Indian territory. An additional barricade has been erected on the Pilibhit-Lucknow highway for checking of suspicious vehicles.

Deputy inspector general of police, Bareilly range, Rajesh Pandey, who has been camping in Pilibhit for the past three days, said: “I have been monitoring policing during Eid and Raksha Bandhan, but I have also held the string of security and vigilance myself since Tuesday considering the high-profile ceremony in Ayodhya.”

PM Modi to hold review meeting with banks, his first since Covid outbreak

Agenda not known yet, but meeting via video conferencing likely to be on credit flow especially to MSMEs

Current Affairs: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold a meeting with the chief executives of state-owned and private banks on Wednesday. This is the first meeting that the Prime Minister (PM) is going to hold with the brass of financial institutions after the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting will be held through video conferencing, a bank executive said.

“The agenda of the meeting hasn’t been circulated yet. But it is expected that the PM will discuss credit flow to the economy, especially the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and map the progress of the government’s Covid-19 package,” another bank executive said, requesting anonymity.

A finance ministry official said that the announcements of the government so far relied heavily on restarting economic activities with the help of financial institutions and the PM wants to take stock of the progress. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is also expected to attend the meeting. Apart from major public sector banks, top executives of some private lenders such as Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and the Indian Banks’ Association are also expected to be present in the meeting on Wednesday.

PM Modi to launch ‘high-throughput’ Covid-19 testing facilities in 3 cities

Facilities will ramp up testing capacity in the country and help in strengthening early detection and treatment

Current Affair : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday launch ‘high-throughput’ Covid-19 testing facilities in three cities — Noida, Mumbai and Kolkata — via video conferencing. According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), these facilities will ramp up testing capacity in the country and help in strengthening early detection and treatment, thus assisting in controlling the spread of the pandemic.

“These three high-throughput testing facilities have been set up strategically at ICMR-National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research, Noida; ICMR-National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai; and ICMR-National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, and will be able to test over 10,000 samples in a day,” PMO said in a release.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, along with Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh are expected to participate in the event. India reported a spike of 48,661 coronavirus cases, taking the total Covid-19 cases to 13,85,522, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.