PM Modi attends ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Divas’ celebrations in Bhopal

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PM Modi attends ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Divas’ celebrations in Bhopal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday participated in the ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Divas’ celebrations in Bhopal.

He reached the Jamburi maidan, where over two lakh people had gathered from across Madhya Pradesh to celebrate the birth anniversary of tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda.

Upon reaching, Modi inspected a tribal museum, their handcrafts and interacted with senior citizens of the communities.

People had started reaching the venue since early morning by special buses and vehicles from different districts. Those from far away places had reached the capital last night only.

The tribal groups were spotted in their traditional attires.

Soon after Modi ascended the dais, he was welcomed by Union and state cabinet ministers. A traditional folk dance was performed by a group of tribals.

Spread over five acres, Jamburi maidan was choc-a-block with people.

After addressing a packed gathering here, Modi left for Habibganj railway station which has been renovated at a cost of Rs 100 crore and renamed Rani Kamlapati station and dedicated it to the nation.

All India DGP conference in Lucknow from Nov 19

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All India DGP conference in Lucknow from Nov 19

The first all-India conference of Directors General of Police (DGP) and Inspectors General (IG) will be held at the Police Headquarters in Lucknow from November 19 to 21.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the chief guest, while the three-day meet will also have Union Home Minister Amit Shah and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in attendance.

The conference is being organised by the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

According to official sources, on the inaugural day, Shah will be the guest and will give away medals.

The Prime Minister will attend the meet on November 20 and 21 and also give medals besides addressing the conference.

About 80 officers of the rank of DGPs and IGs from states and other forces will attend the conference.

Key security issues such as left-wing extremism, terrorism, cybercrime, crime against women, the Covid-19 pandemic and other challenges will be discussed at the meet.

Each state DGP will give a presentation and several committees of IGs have been formed to hold sessions on key topics.

Meanwhile, preparations are being held on war-footing for the event.

CCTVs are being installed and a separate force of about 2,000 cops drawn from Lucknow police Commissionerate has been prepared for security.

Night-vision drones will also be deployed.

Rahul says Hinduism & Hindutva are different

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Rahul says Hinduism & Hindutva are different

After a controversy erupted over remarks made by senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid in his new book ‘Sunrise Over Ayodhya: Nationhood in Our Times’, the Congress seems to have got into more trouble with Rahul Gandhi saying that Hinduism and Hindutva are different things.

Speaking virtually at a party function he said, “Is there something common between Hindutva and Hinduism, what is the difference between Hinduism and Hindutva. If they are the same why they have different names — why then use name of Hinduism, and not Hindutva.”

He asked “is there something common between what Guru Nanak, Kabir, Gandhiji and King Ashoka said about the Hindutva ideology? The difference between Hinduism as we know it & Hindutva? Are they same thing? Can they be same thing? They are obviously two different things.”

Rahul Gandhi said the RSS has overshadowed the Congress ideology. “Today whether we like it or not, the divisive, hateful ideology of the RSS-BJP has overshadowed the loving, affectionate and nationalistic ideology of the Congress. We have to accept it. Our ideology is alive, it’s vibrant but it has been overshadowed.”

He said we have to train groups of people who have understanding of the ideology and connect with the issues and we have to explore and understand and develop a group of people who understand the difference between these and apply these differences to issues.

The debate on Hindutva is already in the public domain and the Congress is facing flak from the BJP. A passage from a chapter titled ‘The Saffron Sky’ from Khurshid’s book reads: “Sanatan Dharma and classical Hinduism known to sages and saints were being pushed aside by a robust version of Hindutva, by all standards a political version similar to the jihadist Islam of groups like ISIS and Boko Haram of recent years.”

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad disagreed and said in a statement, “We do not agree with Hindutva as political ideology distinct from composite culture of Hinduism, but comparing Hindutva with ISIS and Jehadi Islamist is factually wrong and an exaggeration.”

Meanwhile, Vineet Jindal, a Delhi-based lawyer, on Thursday filed a complaint with the police against Khurshid for the remarks made in his book, demanding an FIR be lodged against Khurshid under Sections 153, 153A, 298 and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code.

YSRCP announces 11 candidates for Legislative Council polls

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YSRCP announces 11 candidates for Legislative Council polls

Andhra Pradesh’s ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) on Friday announced 11 candidates for the upcoming Member of Legislative Council (MLC) elections under Local Authorities’ Constituencies (LACs) quota.

Veteran leader and former Union Minister of State Ummareddy Venkateswarlu has been renominated by the YSRCP. He was the YSRCP floor leader in the Legislative Council and his term had ended in June this year.

Raghu Raju of Vizianagaram, Varudhu Kalyani and Vamshi Krishna Yadav of Visakhapatnam, Anantha Babu of East Godavari, Talasila Raghuram and Mondithoka Arun Kumar of Krishna, Ummareddy Venkateswarulu and Murugudu Hanumantha Rao of Guntur, Thumati Madhava Rao of Prakasam, Barath Krishna of Chittoor and Y Siva Rami Reddy of Anantapur are the candidates announced by the ruling party.

Earlier, YSRCP announced Palavalasa Vikrant of Srikakulam, Ishaq Basha of Kurnool and DC Govindar Reddy of YSR Kadapa district as nominees under the MLA quota.

Government Advisor (Public Affairs) Sajjala Rama Krishna Reddy told reporters that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy continued his endeavour to widen the social base by allocating six seats to Backward Classes and Minorities and one seat to Schedule Caste Madiga.

He pointed out that of 18 members who are currently in legislative council, 11 people belong to BC, SC and minorities and added that once the recently announced candidates win the elections, 18 out of 32 members in Legislative Council would be from BC, SC and Minority classes.

He said for the first time in the history of the Legislative Council there will be four members belonging to Minorities.

Elections to 11 seats of the Legislative Council from LACs quota are scheduled to be held on December 10.

Elections to three seats from Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) quota will be held on November 29.

Bengal govt to bring resolution against extension of BSF jurisdiction

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Bengal govt to bring resolution against extension of BSF jurisdiction

The West Bengal government is planning to bring a resolution in the Assembly against the extension of jurisdiction of the BSF in the state.

After Punjab, West Bengal will be the second state to bring such a resolution.

Earlier on Friday, the Union Home Secretary held a meeting with the state officials over infiltration and fencing of border.

The Central government had last month amended the BSF Act to authorise the border guarding force to undertake search, seizure and arrest within a 50 km stretch, up from the existing 15 km, from the international border in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam.

Both Punjab and West Bengal have opposed the move.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposing the move and asked him to revoke the decision immediately because, according to her, it will have an effect on the federal structure of the country.

“See what took place at the border… ‘Law and order’ is a state subject. It’s not there in the BSF Act. There will be miscommunication between the police and BSF. We will discuss in the Assembly under Rule 185 and will place the demand to revoke extension of BSF jurisdiction,” Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Partha Chatterjee said.

Chatterjee was referring to the incident at Sitai in Coochbehar where three persons including one Indian and two Bangladeshis have been killed in the BSF firing.

“There is no need for this kind of decision. There is no need for this kind of extension. This is an effort to put a hand on the state’s jurisdiction,” MLA of Dinhata in Coochbehar, Udayan Guha told the assembly on Friday.

Alleging that BSF is hand in glove with the smugglers and infiltrators, Guha said: “They have a fencing in Coochbehar which is secure and hard to cross. They only open the gates three times for an hour each time. Now in this condition how can infiltrators enter without their help? The Central government should try to control its forces first without trying to overstep into the jurisdiction of the state.”

Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Adhir Choudhury also said that the state government should make it clear to the Centre that they are unwilling to accept the move of the MHA and for which an assembly resolution is much needed. He said that the people of the bordering districts will not feel safe with the enhanced power of BSF.

PM launches 2 customer centric initiatives of RBI

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PM launches 2 customer centric initiatives of RBI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched two innovative customer centric initiatives of the RBI — Retail Direct Scheme and the Reserve Bank-Integrated Ombudsman Scheme.

Addressing the event via video conference, the Prime Minister said that these schemes, will expand the scope of investment in the country along with making capital markets easily accessible and more secure for investors.

The Retail Direct Scheme has given small investors in the country a simple and safe medium of investment in government securities, he said.

Similarly, he cited the Integrated Ombudsman Scheme as giving a shape to the ‘One Nation, One Ombudsman System’ in the banking sector.

Besides, the Prime Minister emphasised the citizen centric nature of these schemes.

He said that one of the biggest touchstones of any democracy is the strength of its grievance redressal system.

Furthermore, he pointed out that Retail Direct Scheme will bring in the middle class, employees, small businessmen and senior citizens with their small savings directly and securely in government securities.

As government securities have the provision of guaranteed settlement, this gives assurance of safety to the small investor, he said.

On the banking sector, the Prime Minister said that in the last seven years, NPAs have been identified with the focus on resolution and recovery.

He said that Public Sector Banks have been recapitalised, one after the other reforms have been carried out in the financial system and public sector banks.

Additionally, Modi said to further strengthen the banking sector, cooperative banks have been brought under the purview of the RBI.

Due to this, the governance of these banks is also improving and the trust in this system is getting stronger among the depositors, he added.

In addition, the Prime Minister said that ‘UPI’ has made India the world’s leading country in terms of digital transactions in a very short span of time.

In just seven years, India has jumped 19 times in terms of digital transactions.

Amit Shah to visit UP on Nov 12 to fine tune poll strategies

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Amit Shah to visit UP on Nov 12 to fine tune poll strategies

Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls, Union Home Minister and former BJP National President Amit Shah, with his ear to the ground, is preparing a victory guide to replicate 2017’s landslide win in the state.

Shah who will visit Uttar Pradesh on Friday, is scheduled to meet around 700 party leaders in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and brainstorm election strategies with them. He will also hold a rally in Azamgarh, the parliamentary constituency of opposition Samajwadi Party’s (SP) supremo, Akhilesh Yadav.

In November, Amit Shah is scheduled to make two important visits to Uttar Pradesh, one of which is going to start on November 12 and continue for two days.

In this meeting, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, election co- incharge, state in-charge, state president, state organization general secretary, regional presidents, district presidents and in-charges of all 403 assembly seats, will be involved. The BJP’s election preparations, including the membership campaign, as well as its future strategies will also be decided.

On the second and last day of the tour, Amit Shah will visit other districts and address various election rallies. On November 13, he will inaugurate the All India Official Language Conference in Varanasi and then leave for Azamgarh. Shah will also address a rally after laying the foundation stone of the state university in Akhilesh’s bastion.

He is also expected to inaugurate Khel Mahakumbh in Basti district organised by MP Harish Dwivedi and then address a rally there.

After holding several brainstorming sessions and rallies, the Home Minister will return to Delhi from Gorakhpur airport on Monday .

Amit Shah is considered to be the key election strategist of Uttar Pradesh, as during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when the BJP along with Apna Dal won 73 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, Amit Shah was the National General Secretary.

Also, during the Legislative Assembly polls in 2017 and Lok Sabha elections 2019, Amit Shah had proved his mettle as the national president.

PM Modi asked me not to bother about Bitcoin scandal: Bommai

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PM Modi asked me not to bother about Bitcoin scandal: Bommai

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked him not to bother about the Bitcoin scandal in the state.

After meeting Modi at the Prime Minister’s Office, he said that discussion on the Bitcoin scandal did not come up in the meeting. “When I started telling him about the scandal, he cut me short asking me not to bother about all this,” he claimed.

Modi asked him to continue serving the people with more dedication and courage, Bommai said.

“The meeting with the Prime Minister went off very well. We discussed a lot of issues. He was especially keen on administration and our decisions during the last 100 days. How things could be made better was also deliberated upon,” he said.

Bommai said that he had extended an invitation to the Prime Minister to attend four programmes in December. “The Prime Minister happily agreed for a Karnataka visit. He asked me to split the programmes and assured he would visit the state twice,” he added.

The Prime Minister has agreed to lay the foundation stone for the Railway Suburban Project, and inaugurate the Ambedkar School of Economics and other projects in Bengaluru.

He said Modi appreciated the scholarship scheme aimed at the farmers’ children. He said this project should succeed as Karnataka is the only state which has farmers’ data in digital format. He expressed his desire to emulate the scheme in the entire country, he underlined.

The Transparency Act brought by the state government was liked by the Prime Minister who called it a “revolutionary” step. There was also a long discussion on implementation of National Education Policy (NEP), Bommai said.

“On losing Hangal bypoll, the Prime Minister advised to take winning and losing in the same way and asked me to set a target for 2023 general elections and win people’s hearts,” Bommai said.

Bommai also said he met BJP President J.P. Nadda and discussed upcoming elections in the state. “I also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday. It was a brief meeting,” he said.

Asked if they discussed the Bitcoin scandal, Bommai said that being the Home Minister, Amit Shah would have more information on the issue than him.

PM to launch 2 innovative customer centric initiatives of RBI on Friday

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PM to launch 2 innovative customer centric initiatives of RBI on Friday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch two innovative customer centric initiatives of the Reserve Bank of India on Friday via video conferencing. These initiatives include the RBI Retail Direct Scheme and the Reserve Bank-Integrated Ombudsman Scheme.

The RBI Retail Direct Scheme is aimed at enhancing access to the government securities market for retail investors. It offers them a new avenue for directly investing in securities issued by the Government of India and the State Governments. Investors will be able to easily open and maintain their government securities account online with the RBI, free of cost.

The Reserve Bank-Integrated Ombudsman Scheme aims to further improve the grievance redress mechanism for resolving customer complaints against entities regulated by RBI. The central theme of the scheme is based on ‘One Nation-One Ombudsman’ with one portal, one email and one address for the customers to lodge their complaints.

There will be a single point of reference for customers to file their complaints, submit the documents, track status and provide feedback. A multi-lingual toll-free number will provide all relevant information on grievance redress and assistance for filing complaints.

The Union Finance Minister and RBI Governor will also attend the event.

Kerala Oppn MLAs ride bicycles to Assembly in protest

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Kerala Oppn MLAs ride bicycles to Assembly in protest

The legislators belonging to the opposition Congress-led UDF on Thursday reached the Assembly on bicycles to register their protest against the Pinarayi Vijayan government for not reducing taxes on petroleum products.

Following the reduction done by the Centre, petrol price per litre came down by Rs 12.27 while diesel price fell by Rs 6.30 and the average price of one litre petrol in the state was Rs 103.80 and diesel stood at Rs 91.59, while in neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, their respective governments decided to reduce the state’s portion in the tax component.

The Center’s ‘Diwali gift’ came on November 4, but Kerala Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal ruled out further reduction in the taxes. He said that it was the Centre which had raised the taxes, while the state government never increased them, and hence Kerala was not duty bound to reduce tax.

On Thursday morning more than a dozen legislators from the Congress party and its allies cycled through the roads followed by a battery of press photographers.

“Both the Centre and the state have been taking on the people on account of the fuel prices. We have been for long demanding the State government to come to the rescue of the people. Other prices are spiralling on account of the rising fuel rates and the state government is a silent spectator. We will continue our protest against the state government for their callous attitude,” said Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan, who led the cyclists.

On the floor of the House also the Opposition took up this issue.

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