by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of reducing the power generation capacity of government-owned power firms between 2012-16, while buying electricity from private players at a much higher rate.
Keeping up at his 22 questions in the countdown to the Gujarat Assembly polls, as promised, Gandhi said: “22 salon ka hisaab, Gujarat mange jawaab. Gujarat ke haalat par Pradhanmantri Narendra Modi se tisra sawal (as he directed his third query at Modi on Gujarat’s condition).
“Between 2012-16, why did you fill the pockets of four private companies by buying electricity worth Rs 62,549 crore?
“You reduced the capacity of government-owned power companies by 62 per cent and then bought electricity from the private companies for Rs 24 which was available for Rs 3?
“Why did you waste people’s hard-earned money,” he asked.
Gandhi’s question comes in the wake of the party’s strategy to pose one question to Modi everyday till the polls kick off in Gujarat.
On Thursday, Gandhi hit out at the Prime Minister for Gujarat’s rising debt of “Rs 2,41,000 crore”, which he said was due to Modi’s “mismanagement and publicity”. He asked why the people of the state should be punished for it.
On Wednesday, the Congress scion asked about Modi’s 2012 promise of providing 50 lakh new homes to the people of the state.
Gujarat has been under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-rule for over two decades.
Polling for the 182-member Gujarat assembly will be held in two phases on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will take place on December 18.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Describing Aadhaar as a major “power” to bring about an “irreversible change” in the common man’s life, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the Unique Identification Number will now be used in cases involving benami properties.
“By linking Aadhaar to Mobile and Jan Dhan, we have created such a system that could not have been imagined few years back.
“In last three years, with the help of Aadhaar, crores of fake names have been removed from the system. Now it is going to be a big weapon against benami properties,” Modi said while addressing the inaugural session of the Hindustan Times Summit.
He said that the country saw a “behavioural change” after demonetisation, which helped in converting to a “clean and healthy economy”.
“For the first time after Independence the corrupt people are scared of transacting in black money. They are scared of being caught. The black money which was earlier base of parallel economy, has now become part of formal economy,” he said.
“Such an irreversible change is getting boost from Aadhaar. Aadhaar is such a power through which this government want to ensure rights of poor. It is also playing a big role in providing subsidised ration, scholarships, medicines, pensions and other government subsidies,” he said.
He said the day the country would adopt maximum transactions via digital addresses, “organised crime would come to an end to some extent”.
Modi said “big transformations” do not come easily and for it “hauling up of the entire system was needed”.
“We can increase our ease of doing business ranking from 142 to 100 only when we take initiatives for big transformation,” Modi said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that there has been a “positive change” in the mindset and self-confidence of the people ever since his government came to power in 2014.
“If we see the country as a living entity then the positive attitude that has come to India, was never before,” Modi said while addressing the inaugural session of the Hindutan Times Summit.
Earlier the youth, women, farmers and the poor had minimal faith in the country’s resources, Modi said and added that now they trust the government and its resources.
Emphasising that the citizens of India in 2014 not just voted to change the government, Modi said that people wanted and therefore voted for “change in system that will be permanent, stable and irreversible”.
“Every where in the country, someone had to fight with the system day and night. I am trying and have committed that there will be irreversible change — ease of living will improve,” said Modi.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Rahul Gandhi
Dahod (Guajrat) : Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that demonetisation was a “magical” scheme by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that turned all the black money into white.
Addressing the “Adivasi Adhikar Sabha” (Meeting for tribal rights) in this Gujarat district, he said that while the common man stood in long bank queues for days, the rich got their old currency exchanged through the backdoor.
“There is another magic by Modiji and it is demonetisation. You all stood in bank queues, but did you see any suited-booted gentleman standing in the queue? You did not, and I will tell you why,” Gandhi said.
“It is because all the suited-booted guys entered the banks from the back door, sat in air-conditioned rooms and got their lakhs and crores exchanged. All the thieves thus got their black money converted into white through magic,” he said.
Modi had on November 8 last year announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
Gandhi also attacked Modi over not fulfilling the promises he made to the tribal people.
“Modiji did not give a penny to the tribals, but he granted your land, which you call mother, worth Rs 33,000 crore to Tata’s Nano project. But the interesting thing is that I do not see any Nano cars on the roads in Gujarat or elsewhere,” he said.
Gandhi emphasised that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governemnt had allocated Rs 35,000 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme that provided sustenance to millions across the country.
“And here, Modiji gave this much amount to just one industrialist in one single state. Be it land, be it electricity or be it Narmada’s water, everything is being given to just 5-10 select people,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi visited residences of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Madhusudan Mistry who has lost his son and that of former MP and AICC Secretary Mirza Irshad Baig who passed away recently, to convey his condolences.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, News, Politics
New Delhi : In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to create a “New India” over the next five years, the government on Friday said it had identified 115 backward districts for rapid transformation by 2022.
Senior level government officials, at the rank of Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary, have been nominated as ‘Prabhari’ officers for each district, an official statement said.
A detailed briefing of these officials was held under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha on Friday, which was also attended by secretaries of important Central ministries.
In his keynote address, Sinha expressed confidence that nominated officers would accept this challenge and succeed in their mission.
Terming this as an important initiative to make a difference in the lives of millions of citizens in these districts, he advised the Prabhari officers to immediately form a team with state representatives and bring convergence in their effort.
Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant emphasised that for dramatic improvement in Human Development Index, transformation of these backward districts was urgently required.
He said the government was committed to make all round efforts to achieve these objectives in partnership with states.
Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba said if these districts were transformed, there would be tremendous improvement in security environment of the country.
He said while 35 districts have been selected on the basis of reported violence by Left Wing Extremists, 55 districts are affected by Left Wing Extremism and another 15, including districts in Jammu and Kashmir and northeast, are affected by terrorism.
—IANS
