Huzurabad bypoll born out of vengeance: Y.S. Sharmila

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Huzurabad bypoll born out of vengeance: Y.S. Sharmila

YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) founder and newly-emerged opposition leader in Telangana, Y.S. Sharmila on Saturday branded the forthcoming Huzurabad bypoll as an election born out of vengeance.

Sharmila was referring to the Telangana Assembly constituency which fell vacant in the light of former health minister Etala Rajender resigning in protest after major differences cropped up between him and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

Rao stripped Rajender of his ministerial portfolio, following allegations of land encroachment, resulting in the latter exiting the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and jumping ship to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Delhi in the presence of the party’s senior national leaders recently.

After these developments, Sharmila hinted that the bypoll was aimed at extracting revenge on each other by Rajender and Rao.

Consequently, she declared that her party will not contest the forthcoming Huzurabad bypoll.

“Is there any use of the Huzurabad election? We will not contest Huzurabad bypoll,” said Sharmila.

She reasoned if contesting the bypoll would bring jobs to the unemployed or three acres of land to Dalits?

“If it is promised that these things will be done, then we will also contest the election,” she said.

Sharmila asserted that she grew up in Telangana and is well aware of its culture.

“I ate sheer korma at a friend’s house for Eid and also relished food for Bathukamma and Bonalu festivals at another friend’s place. You are asking about my religion. Everybody will have their religion. You have your religion and I have my religion,” she responded to a reporter’s query.

Sharmila went on to question the reporter if she was invited to cover the press conference as a television channel’s journalist or a journalist belonging to a religion?

“What work do you have with religion? I have my religion, you have your religion. Who cares what you do at your home or what I do at my home,” she added.

KCR directs TRS MPs to fight for Telangana’s interests

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KCR directs TRS MPs to fight for Telangana’s interests

Telangana Chief Minister and TRS President K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday directed his party MPs to fight for the state’s interests in river water sharing during the Parliament session beginning Monday.

He presided over Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Parliamentary Party meeting to discuss the strategy to be adopted during the session.

KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, gave direction to the MPs on the issues to be raised in the Parliament. He mentioned several issues.

He made it clear to the MPs that as far as the irrigation waters are concerned, no injustice should be meted out to Telangana under any circumstances.

He suggested that whenever situation demands, the MPs in both the Lok Sabha and thee Rajya Sabha should fight for the state’s rights in river water allocations.

KCR also asked the MPs to fight for the pending issues relating to the commitments made by the Centre during the bifurcation of the State. He advised the MPs to submit memoranda to the ministers concerned in this regard. He instructed the MPs to meet the concerned minister to solve the problems with regard to civil supplies.

Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar, TRS Parliamentary leader Dr K. Keshav Rao, Lok Sabha leader Nama Nageswara Rao, Rajya Sabha members Captain Laxmikanth Rao, J. Santosh Kumar, K.R. Suresh Reddy, B. Prakash, B. Lingaiah Yadav, Lok Sabha members B.B. Patil, P. Ramulu, K. Prabhakar Reddy, G. Ranjit Reddy, P. Dayakar, B. Venkatesh Netha, M. Srinivas Reddy and others attended the meeting.

Skill, reskill and upskill: Modi’s strategic call for ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’

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Skill, reskill and upskill: Modi’s strategic call for ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’

Underlining the importance of skills in the Indian culture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday exhorted the stakeholders to continuously “skill, reskill and upskill” to achieve ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India) goal, and that India providing smart and skilled manpower solutions to the world should be at the core of strategy of skilling our youth.

He said skill development of the new generation is a national need and is the foundation of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ to take India forward from 75 years to 100 years.

Taking note of huge demand for reskilling due to fast changing technology, the Prime Minister emphasised that there is need to expedite it, recalling how “our skilled workforce helped us in fighting an effective battle against the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic”.

While speaking on the occasion of the World Youth Skill Day, the Prime Minister called for giving momentum to the Skill India Mission by capitalising on the gains of the last six years.

Modi further stressed the link between the importance given to skill development and ‘upskilling’ and progress of the society.

He dwelled on the traditions of celebrating skills like Vijayadashmi, Akshya Tritiya and Vishvakarma Puja where skills and the vocational implements are worshipped. Citing these traditions, the Prime Minister called for due regard for skilled professions like carpenters, potters, metal workers, sanitation workers, horticulture workers and weavers.

The Prime Minister noted that due to long periods of slavery, importance of skills in our social and education system got diluted.

The Prime Minister pointed out that while education tells us what to do, skill guides us in the actual operational implementation, and this has been the guiding principle of Skill India Mission. He expressed happiness that more than 1.25 crore young persons have been trained under ‘Pradhanmantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna’.

Stressing the need for skills in everyday life, the Prime Minister said that learning should not stop with earning. “Only a skilled person will grow in today’s world. This is applicable to both people and countries.”

The Prime Minister also referred to the vision of Babasaheb Ambedkar, saying “he placed great emphasis on skilling the weaker section”.

Modi said that the nation is fulfilling this visionary dream of Babasaheb through the Skill India Mission.

For example, he said, programs like ‘Going Online As Leaders’ (GOAL) are helping the tribal population with areas like art and culture, handicraft, textiles and digital literacy among tribal areas leading to entrepreneurship development among the tribal population. Similarly, Van Dhan Yojna is effectively connecting the tribal society with new opportunities.

“In the coming days, we need to make such campaigns more widespread and make ourselves and the country Aatmanirbhar through skilling,” concluded the Prime Minister.

Cabinet approves continuation of Ayush Mission

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Cabinet approves continuation of Ayush Mission

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the continuation of the National Ayush Mission as a centrally sponsored scheme from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2026 with financial implication of Rs 4,607.30 crore (Rs 3,000 crore Central share and Rs 1,607.30 crore state share).

Launched on September 15, 2014, the National Ayush Mission is being implemented by the Ayush Ministry with the objectives of providing cost-effective Ayush (ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and homoeopathy) services, with universal access through upgrading Ayush hospitals and dispensaries, co-location of Ayush facilities at primary and community health centres and district hospitals, and strengthening institutional capacity at the state level through upgrading AYUSH educational institutions.

It also aims at setting up of new upto 50 bedded integrated Ayush hospitals, Ayush public health programmes and operationalization of 12,500 Ayush health and wellness centres to provide services of a holistic wellness model based on Ayush principles and practices so as to empower masses for “self-care” to reduce the disease burden, and out of pocket expenditure.

The mission seeks to address the gaps in health services through supporting the efforts of state/UT governments for providing Ayush health services/education in the country, particularly in vulnerable and far-flung areas. Special focus is given for specific needs of such areas and for allocation of higher resources in their annual plans.

Jagan raised expectations but has failed to deliver: TDP

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Jagan raised expectations but has failed to deliver: TDP

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo and former Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday slammed Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, saying that he raised a lot of expectations before coming to power but has not delivered on anything.

“The CM raised a whole lot of expectations with his countless promises before the elections but now he was leading the people to the cremation grounds,” said Naidu.

He lamented that people in the state are reeling under the rising prices of sand, liquor, cement and other items.

“People gave a massive victory to the YSRCP thinking that CM Jagan would work miracles to uplift their living standards. But now, what this Chief Minister ushered in was universal corruption and punishment to people through hikes in current (power) charges, RTC fares, diesel prices etc..,” he noted.

On Wednesday, the former chief minister visited Machilipatnam and slammed the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) for ‘destroying’ the economy and financial condition of the state for the narrow personal gains of the ruling party leaders.

“In the past two years, the personal family treasury of CM Jagan Mohan Reddy is overflowing with ill-gotten funds while the treasury of the state has become empty. The profits of Bharati Cements soared to the skies while the tiny incomes of the poorer sections and middle classes got wiped out,” Naidu claimed.

He also questioned Reddy on why he was not wearing a mask and what example he was setting for the people.

Referring to the Rs 100 fine fixed for not wearing a mask, the TDP chief asked how many penalties should be levied on the CM for allegedly repeatedly failing to wear a mask.

“A young man was beaten to death for not wearing a mask in Chirala. On the other hand, Reddy was not leading the people by example in this respect,” he added.

TRS membership reaches 61 lakh

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TRS membership reaches 61 lakh

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s membership has reached 61 lakh, a senior party leader said on Wednesday.

TRS General Secretary Palla Rajeshwar Reddy claimed that the TRS is the only regional party in the country to have such a large number of members.

He told reporters, after a meeting of party Secretaries, that digitalisation of details of 48 lakh members had already completed, and those of the remaining members will be completed by July 20.

He said that the TRS has started construction of party offices in 31 districts. The work has been completed in 24 districts. The work in remaining seven districts is nearing completion.

Chief Minister and TRS President K. Chandrasekhara Rao will inaugurate the party office in every district.

Rajeshwar Reddy said the party will constitute committees from village to state level in the next two months.

He said the party would reach out to every worker and remain accessible to them. The TRS will also take steps to remain active over social media platforms.

The meeting, presided over by party’s Working President K.T. Rama Rao, discussed various issues to further strengthen the party.

Rajeshwar Reddy said the government has already filled 1.30 lakh vacancies in the government. He thanked the Chief Minister for taking steps to fill another 50,000 vacancies, saying this move would solve the problem of unemployment.

No political funding to Cong by pvt power cos: Punjab CM

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No political funding to Cong by pvt power cos: Punjab CM

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday hit out at the opposition AAP and SAD for “lying blatantly” on the issue of political funding from private power companies, saying unlike the illegal donations made to these parties by various shell companies, the funds provided to the Congress had nothing to do with the Punjab election.

Political donations by certain power companies were made not to the Punjab Congress but to the AICC, back in 2009 and 2014, with no connection whatsoever to the incumbent government in the state, said the Chief Minister, slamming both the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for spreading a “carnage of lies” in a desperate attempt to mislead the people ahead of the 2022 Punjab Assembly election.

The power purchase agreements (PPAs) in question were signed by the previous SAD-BJP government, and were legally binding so that his government could not rescind the same without heavy penalties on the cash-strapped state, he added.

His government, said the Chief Minister, was exploring legal recourse to neutralise ill-effects of the PPAs without further burdening the state’s exchequer, “which the Akalis, along with their BJP allies, had milked dry to fill their own pockets,” the Chief Minister said in a statement.

In fact, he added, as per media reports, the Akalis led by the Badals had taken more than Rs 100 crore in political funds and declared a measly Rs 13 crore, putting the rest in their personal pockets.

As for AAP, the donations taken by Arvind Kejriwal’s party during the 2014 election were already under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate as, unlike the funds donated to AICC by the private power companies, these were neither accounted for nor declared, he said.

Media reports recently said the ED had registered a case pertaining to four cheques amounting to Rs 50 lakh, allegedly given to AAP during the 2014 Delhi Assembly election. Last year, Delhi Police had registered a case of forgery and cheating against the four companies.

While his government was busy working on solutions to address the problems “donated” to the people of Punjab by the Akalis, the party was busy wasting time on creating law and order problems in the state amid the Covid pandemic, thus multiplying the problems of the people, said the Chief Minister.

AAP also seemed to be in total collusion, choosing not to question the controversial and anti-people decisions of the previous SAD-BJP government in Punjab, but instead contributing to the troubles of the state’s people, he added.

The Chief Minister challenged both the parties to declare all their political funding of the past 10 years so that the people of Punjab would know the truth behind their claims and counter-claims.

Don’t get bogged down by expectations, PM tells Tokyo-bound athletes

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Don’t get bogged down by expectations, PM tells Tokyo-bound athletes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked the Tokyo Olympics-bound Indian sportspersons not to get bogged down by the pressure of huge expectations and try and put up their best performance without bothering about the results.

“Don’t take pressure of winning, just tell yourself one thing that we will do our best. I will say it again ‘cheer for India’. I am sure you will touch new heights,” Prime Minister Modi told the 126 members of the Indian contingent and their family members during an interaction on Tuesday evening.

He said his government has provided all the facilities and support to the sportspersons and as a result athletes in such large number have qualified for Tokyo Olympics.

“Just like we have to combine hard work with good strategy to win in sports, the government has also done the same. We set up a committee, athletes were helped with the TOPS scheme. The development from before is being felt by you all. You sweat for the country and the flag and for that, the country stands strong beside you. We tried our best to help the athletes train, we listened to them, which is why we could bring so much betterment in such less time. With Khelo India and Fit India, things got better and the result is that a huge contingent is going to the Olympics this time.

“A lot of sports are such in which India has qualified for the first time. You have been practicing to win and we don’t doubt it all. I can see you all and say with conviction that winning will become new India’s habit. When you will wave the flag in Tokyo, the world will see. Don’t take pressure of winning, just tell yourself one thing that we will do our best. I will say it again ‘cheer for India’. I am sure you will touch new heights. I thank you all and I wish you all the very best. I salute your families. Thank you very much.”

He said he could not host them at his official residence in New Delhi, as had been done in past, because of the Coronovirus pandemic but promised to host them when they return from Tokyo.

“All the athletes and families, we spoke virtually today but I would have loved to have hosted you all in Delhi. Due to corona, we couldn’t do that. A lot of athletes are training abroad. Once you are back, I promise to meet you all in person. Corona changed a lot — Olympic year, your way of preparation. In Tokyo, the environment will be different. The nation got to know today how much you have worked hard for the country even in these tough times. I asked the country to cheer for you all and it makes me happy that the country is cheering for you. I have seen a lot of images on #CheerforIndia, the whole nation is cheering for you. Everyone is going to pray for you. I wish you all the very best,” he added.

He said the Tokyo-bound sportspersons were a reflection of new India.

“I see you all together and I see some things common – confidence, positivity, discipline, dedication and commitment. You are a reflection of new India. You come from all of India, some started in field, some in academies but all of you are part of Team India. You are going to represent the country, and this spirit is the image of India. You play with all your spirit, work more on your technique.”

The Prime Minster interacted with individual sportspersons, finding out about their progress, their trials and travails, the sacrifices their family have made to help them reach the top in their chosen sport. He extended his best wishes to each one of them for the Olympics.

He asked tennis star Sania Mirza about what does it take to become a tennis player? Sania replied that one needs “a lot of hard work and talent to make it big. Family’s support and dedication is also important and destiny does play a role. But there is no substitute for hard work and talent”.

She said things have improved a lot since she started and now we have better infrastructure and hoped that there will be more tennis players.

He asked Vinesh Phogat whether being part of a famous family means extra pressure. Vinesh replied: “There is pressure and expectation but I feel that is important and we push more due to expectation. There is no pressure, I will do well and hope to win a medal.”

He inquired with Vinesh about her recovery process the injury that ended her Rio Olympics dream in the quarterfinals. Vinesh said support of family, friends, federation and SAI helped her in those tough times.

“It is tough but as a top-level athlete, you have to be mentally strong. The family plays an important role but also the federation and SAI, and you don’t want to disappoint them. We can’t stop, this is how I think.”

The Prime Minister asked Commonwealth Games gold medallist table tennis player Manika Batra how did she get the thought to help underprivileged kids play TT. Manika told him that she saw talent in them and felt that they can do well if she helped them.

“I have seen you paint your nails with the National Flag. Why do you do that?,” he asked. Manika replied that she wants the flag close to her while playing and seeing the flag on her serving arm inspires her.

The Prime Minister asked reigning world champion in badminton and Rio Olympic silver-medallist, PV Sindhu, if she is staying away from mobile phone and ice creams just like before Rio when coach P Gopichand had taken away her mobile phone and did not allow her to eat ice creams.

Sindhu replied she had to take care of her diet and therefore she is not having ice cream much. The PM offered to have ice-cream with her when he hosts the medallists after they return from Tokyo.

He told star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra not to get bogged down by the pressure of expectations and inquired about how he kept himself motivated during his long layoff due to a shoulder and elbow injury in 2019.

He also interacted with hockey team captain Manpreet Singh, athlete Dutee Chand, five-time world champion MC Mary Kom, table tennis player Sharath Kamal, young shooters Saurabh Chaudhury and Elavenil Valarivan, who hails from Maninagar, which was Modi’s constituency when he was an MLA in Gujarat.

Stalin urges FM to exempt duties on muscular atrophy drugs

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Stalin urges FM to exempt duties on muscular atrophy drugs

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has written a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, requesting her to exempt Customs duty, Integrated GST (IGST) or any other taxes on the import of life-saving drugs for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy.

In the letter, a copy of which has been made available to the media, Stalin pointed out that Tamil Nadu itself has around 90 to 100 cases of spinal muscular atrophy on an annual basis.

He said that gene therapy for this genetic disorder costs over Rs 16 crore per person, adding that the duties on this drug increase its cost.

He said the parents of the children who are affected by this disease are not in a position to bear the cost of this drug as a single dose treatment (Zolgensma), or multiple-dose treatment (Spinraza) or gene- therapy treatment are way too expensive. He said the Risdiplam oral syrup is also very expensive.

Citing that the Union government had recently waived tax on the import of this medicine for a child suffering from spinal muscular atrophy, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister called upon the Union Finance Minister to consider the matter with urgency.

India and Vietnam review relations as Modi wishes Vietnam’s new PM

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India and Vietnam review relations as Modi wishes Vietnam’s new PM

Extending his wishes to his newly appointed Vietnam counterpart Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday expressed confidence that the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries would continue to become stronger under his able guidance.

Modi welcomed the fact that both countries share a similar vision of an open, inclusive, peaceful and rules-based Indian Ocean Region, and hence the India-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership can contribute to promote regional stability, prosperity and development.

In this context, a statement issued from Prime Minister’s Office said, the Prime Minister also noted that both India and Vietnam were presently fellow members of the UN Security Council.

Prime Minister Modi pursued India’s opinion in a telephonic conversation with the Vietnam Prime Minister earlier this morning.

Modi thanked PM Chinh for the valuable support provided by the government and people of Vietnam during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in India.

The leaders agreed that both countries should continue consultations and cooperation to support each other’s continuing efforts against the pandemic.

Both Prime Ministers reviewed the state of bilateral relations and shared their views on different areas of cooperation.

Noting that year 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the leaders agreed to celebrate this auspicious milestone in a befitting manner through various commemorative activities.

Prime Minister Modi also invited PM Chinh to undertake an official visit to India at an early suitable date.

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