Page 130 - Congress

Cong demands NEET-UG be conducted again, all 'leak scams' investigated

The Congress demanded Saturday that the medical entrance exam NEET-UG be conducted again and all "paper leak scams" thoroughly investigated under the Supreme Court's supervision. Amid the growing clamour for the cancellation of the controversy-ridden NEET-UG 2024 over alleged malpractices, the Centre and the National Testing Agency told the apex court on Friday that scrapping it without any proof of large-scale breach of confidentiality would be counterproductive as it could "seriously jeopardise" lakhs of honest candidates. The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses, and the Union education ministry have been at the centre of media debates and protests by students and political parties over alleged large-scale malpractices ranging from question paper leaks to impersonation in the test held on May 5. In a post on 'X' in Hindi, Congress president ...

Highlights: PM Modi's goal for high-income India by 2047 unlikely to be achieved, says Martin Wolf

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Congress postpones programme to felicitate new Lok Sabha MPs from UP

Congress postponed its programme to felicitate the newly-elected Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh that was scheduled for Friday. UP Congress chief Ajay Rai told PTI that the programme has been postponed but did not give any reason for the postponement. Party sources, however, said that they did not want the programme to be held in Lucknow on the day senior party leader Rahul Gandhi visited Aligarh and Hathras to meet the family members of the stampede that killed 121 people. The Congress, which had contested the recently-concluded Lok Sabha election with the Samajwadi Party, has won six seats from UP, which sends 80 MPs to the Lower House -- the highest for any state. Rai said that a fresh date for the programme will be decided soon. All party candidates who had contested the elections will be called for the programme, he said. Rahul Gandhi, who won the Lok Sabha elections from Rae Bareli seat, had earlier this morning visited the families of the stampede in Aligarh and ...

'Centre sabotaging education': Cong slams govt over delay in Class 6 books

The Congress on Friday slammed the Centre over the delay in publishing new Class 6 textbooks, alleging the Education Ministry is "sabotaging" the education of children. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh hit out at the government over the issue, saying that either the "rot runs deep", or the incompetence scales new heights everyday. In a post on X, he said, "After sabotaging the examination process through the incompetent National Testing Authority, the non-biological PM's Education Ministry is sabotaging the education of our children." "Even as the school year has begun, the NCERT - the National (read Nagpur) Council of Educational Research and Training - has failed to publish new textbooks for Science, Mathematics, and Social Sciences for Class 6 students," Ramesh said. The textbooks themselves have not been finalised by the National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC), he said. Ramesh pointed out that printing will take another 10 to 15 days. Officia

BRS suffers major setback as six party MLCs join Congress in Telangana

In a major setback to the opposition BRS in Telangana, six party MLCs joined the ruling Congress late on Thursday night in the presence of state Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. Bharat Rashtra Samithi continues to suffer from desertions, with several leaders, including six MLAs, leaving the party after its defeat in the Assembly polls last year. The six MLCs who switched over to the Congress are: Dande Vithal, Bhanu Prasad Rao, M S Prabhakar, Boggarapu Dayanand, Yegge Mallesham and Baswaraju Saraiah, Congress sources said. AICC in-charge of party affairs in Telangana Deepa Dasmunsi and other leaders were present when the BRS MLCs joined the Congress at the residence of CM Revanth Reddy, who is also the PCC president. According to the Telangana Legislative Council website, BRS has 25 members and Congress four. There are four nominated MLCs, two members from AIMIM, one each from BJP, PRTU, and one independent, while two seats are vacant in the 40-member House. The MLCs joined the ..

Rahul Gandhi leaves for Hathras to meet stampede-affected families today

An FIR has been registered on the incident naming organizers of the prayer meeting but 'Bhole Baba' has not been named yet

News updates: Team India take victory lap around the Wankhede Stadium

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Average vote share of LS poll winners in 2024 came down to 50.58% : ADR

The winners of Lok Sabha elections 2024 won an average of 50.58 per cent votes, down by 2 per cent as compared to the last general elections, according to an analysis by the poll rights body ADR. Among the elected MPs with declared criminal cases, 42 per cent won with a vote share of 50 per cent and above, the ADR report said. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) have released a comprehensive analysis of the vote share in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, examining 542 out of 543 constituencies. The Surat constituency in Gujarat was excluded from the analysis as its candidate was elected unopposed. Winners in the 2024 elections secured an average of 50.58 per cent of the total votes polled, a decrease from 52.65 per cent in 2019. Notably, 279 winners (51 per cent) achieved more than half of the total votes in their constituencies, while 263 winners (49 per cent) failed to reach the half-way mark. Among the major parties, the BJP had 75 out of

ED arrests two in money laundering case linked to Chhattisgarh liquor scam

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has arrested two liquor businessmen in connection with its money laundering probe into an alleged excise scam of Chhattisgarh that is estimated to have generated over Rs 2,100 crore of slush funds. Arvind Singh and Trilok Singh Dhillon were arrested on July 1 at the central jail in Raipur and later a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court sent them to ED custody till July 6, the federal probe agency said in a statement. The two were lodged in jail after the Chhattisgarh Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) arrested them in the case sometime back. The money laundering case of the ED stemmed from an EOW/ACB FIR filed in January and had named 70 individuals and companies, including former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma, former chief secretary Vivek Dhand and others. The alleged scam, where the ED has pegged the proceeds of crime at Rs 2,161 crore, purportedly took place between 2019-2022 when the Congress was in power in

PM Modi did not speak a word on Manipur, turning back on state: Cong

The Congress on Wednesday hit out at the government over its second MP from Manipur not having been allowed to speak before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address in Lok Sabha, saying the PM repeated his old allegations, cracked jokes and took jibes but did not have the patience to listen to the voice of the legislator from the violence-hit state. The Opposition party also alleged that it seems the prime minister is deliberately "turning his back" to the plight of Manipur. In his nearly 135-minute speech replying to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address in the Lower House, Modi was faced with continuous slogan-shouting on the Manipur issue by opposition members. Just ahead of the PM's address, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and the Congress had demanded that its MP from outer Manipur, Alfred Arthur, be allowed to speak. Addressing the media, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said, "We saw very sad scenes in the Lok Sabha. The Congress and Rahul Gandhi want

News updates: Lal Krishna Advani admitted to Apollo Hospital; under observation, stable

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Parliament highlights: RS adjourned sine die after Motion of Thanks to President's Address passed

Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha news updates: Here are the highlights on the developments related to the Parliament here

PM Modi breaks silence on Manipur: 'Leave behind politics, restore peace'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes his first remarks on Manipur in Rajya Sabha today, assures Parliament of decline in violence and schools reopening

BJP MLA Jamwal targets Himachal CM, calls him biggest contractor of lies

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is the biggest contractor of lies but his actions would not help the Congress to win the bypoll, Bilaspur (Sadar) MLA and BJP co-incharge of the Hamirpur assembly bypoll Trilok Jamwal said on Wednesday. "Sensing his party's defeat in all the three seats, including Hamirpur, the home district of the chief minister, Sukhu is making false allegations and accusations against BJP candidates," the MLA said in a statement issued here. Bypolls will be conducted for three assembly seats -- Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagargh -- on July 10. The seats fell vacant after three Independent legislators, who voted in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajya Sabha elections, resigned and later joined the saffron party. The BJP has fielded all the three former MLAs from their respective seats. "If (Sukhvinder Singh) Sukhu says that during the Congress tenure, Ashish Sharma took contracts worth crore from him, then should it be understood that contracts are

Spread violence, hatred; don't understand basic Hinduism, Rahul targets BJP

The BJP people who spread violence and hatred do not understand the basic principles of Hinduism, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday as he hit out at the ruling party for what he described as a "violent attack" on the party's office in Ahmedabad. Workers of the BJP and the Congress hurled stones at each other outside Gujarat Congress headquarters in Ahmedabad on Tuesday during a protest against the remarks made by Gandhi in the Lok Sabha. In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, "The cowardly and violent attack on the Gujarat Congress office further strengthens my point about the BJP and the Sangh Parivar. The BJP people who spread violence and hatred do not understand the basic principles of Hinduism." "The people of Gujarat can clearly see through their lies and will teach the BJP government a decisive lesson. I am saying it again -- INDIA is going to win in Gujarat!" the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said. Several workers and leaders from both sides we

Uproar in Rajasthan Assembly as Cong targets BJP govt over Guv's address

The opposition Congress on Wednesday created a ruckus in the Rajasthan Assembly, accusing the BJP government of violating constitutional provisions by not holding the Governor's address at the commencement of the Budget Session. Speaker Vasudev Devnani, however, gave a ruling that since it was the second session of the year, the governor's address was not required. As soon as the House assembled at 11 am on the first day of the Budget Session, the leader of the opposition Tikaram Jully raised the issue of the session not commencing with the Governor's address. He also accused the government of not following constitutional provisions. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel said the governor's address is held in the first session after assembly elections and the first session of the year. But the Budget Session was the second session of the year, he said as he accused the leader of the opposition of misinterpreting the constitutional provision. The Speaker too gave the ruling

Nepali Congress panel discusses govt formation & future course of action

A key committee of the Nepali Congress met on Wednesday to discuss Nepal's current political situation and the party's future strategy, a day after the Himalayan nation's largest political party struck a power-sharing deal with the CPN-UML to form a new government. The Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) chairman K P Sharma Oli finalised an agreement on Monday night to form a new government to replace the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'. The meeting of the Nepali Congress Central Work Performance Committee started at 9 am at party president Deuba's residence at Budhanilkantha to discuss the current political situation and the party's future strategy. The meeting will review the latest political situation in the country and discuss the future course of action, said former foreign minister Narayan Prakash Saud. The meeting will also discuss the agenda and modality of formati

News updates: 116 killed in stampede at religious event in UP's Hathras

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Parliament session highlights: PM Modi condoles the Hathras incident in Parliament

Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha news updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is delivering his reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address in the Lok Sabha

Selective expunction defies logic, expunged remarks be restored: Rahul

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla over portions of his speech in the House having been expunged, saying "selective expunction" defies logic and that the remarks be restored. In his first speech as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi had launched a no-holds-barred attack on the BJP, accusing the leaders of the ruling party of dividing people on communal lines. Certain remarks he made during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address in the Lok Sabha on Monday were later expunged. In his letter to Birla, Gandhi said while the Chair derives powers to expunge certain remarks from the proceedings of the House but the stipulation is only those kinds of words, the nature of which have been specified in Rule 380 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha. "I am, however, shocked to note the manner in which considerable portions of my speech have been simply taken off from the proceedings