India at 70: Rahul Gandhi to speak at Berkley today

He will offer reflections on contemporary India & the path forward for the world's largest democracy

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi will express his views on ‘India at 70: Reflections On The Path Forward’ at the University of California, Berkeley, on Monday. The Institute of International Studies’ Berkeley Research on Contemporary India Program and the Institute for South Asia Studies are sponsoring the event. “Rahul Gandhi has led the reorganisation of India’s Congress party since becoming the vice-president of the party in 2013. 

At UC Berkeley, he will offer his reflections on contemporary India and the path forward for the world’s largest democracy. He follows in the footsteps of his great grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, who delivered a historic speech at Berkeley in 1949,” the university said on its website. A group called Sikhs For Justice has called upon the university to withdraw the invitation to Gandhi, citing the Congress’ alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Bullet train project on track

The ground-breaking ceremony for the ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor, commonly referred to as the bullet train project, will be performed in Ahmedabad on Thursday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe. It will be held at a ground near the Sabarmati railway station. 

Both leaders are expected to stay in Ahmedabad for three days, starting Wednesday. The train is expected to cover 508 km in two hours, with an operating speed of 320 kmph. It is expected to become operational by 2023. The corridor is coming up at an estimated Rs 98,000 crore, and 81 per cent of it will be in the form of a loan from Japan.

Modi will again visit his home state on September 17 to celebrate his birthday and pay a visit to the Sardar Sarovar dam to participate in the Narmada Yatra.

Odisha Assembly session ends this week 

The eight-day monsoon session of the Odisha Assembly, which began on September 7, will end on September 16. The hallmark of the session was clashes between the government and the Opposition. The session had six official and two private members’ days.