Page 25 - Modi Govt

From RSS worker to Union minister, ex-Haryana CM Khattar begins new innings

From being an RSS worker once to being hand-picked as chief minister in 2014 to being replaced with his confidante ten years later, 70-year-old Manohar Lal Khattar has seen it all. He joined the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh as a permanent member in 1977 and stayed with it for 17 years before he was made a member of the BJP in 1994. In 2014, he became the MLA for the first time and was tapped to become the chief minister of Haryana by the BJP. Ten years later, in March 2024, he was replaced by his confidante Nayab Singh Saini, to allow him a chance to become a Member of Parliament. Contesting his first Lok Sabha polls from Karnal, Khattar defeated Congress's Divyanshu Budhiraja by an impressive margin of over 2.35 lakh votes. According to some accounts, Khattar is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who he worked with in the 1990s in party organisation. Khattar, a bachelor, worked for almost 40 years as an RSS pracharak. In 1996, Khattar started working with Modi, wh

Meet Nirmala Sitharaman, feisty defender of Modi govt to filling big shoes

Nirmala Sitharaman, who joined the likes of Arun Jaitley and Manmohan Singh by serving a full term as Finance Minister and is credited with carrying forward second-generation reforms, created a record by being the first woman to be sworn in as minister for the third consecutive term of the Modi government. Being a fiery spokesperson of the BJP, she was inducted into the Cabinet when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of the NDA government in 2014. As a staunch defender of the Modi government's economic policies and executor, she created a record when she was appointed as the first female Raksha Mantri, or Defence Minister, in 2017. Prior to that, she was industry and commerce minister. When her mentor Arun Jaitley took ill, Sitharaman was given the charge of the finance portfolio in the newly re-elected Modi government after the 2019 general elections, when BJP won its highest seats of 303. She became the first full-time woman Finance Minister in Independent India. Earlier, ..

Dharmendra Pradhan returns to LS after decade, joins Modi cabinet

About a fortnight shy of his 56th birthday, Dharmendra Pradhan, the towering figure of Odisha BJP, staged a triumphant return to the Union Cabinet on Sunday. His re-entry into the hallowed halls of power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's aegis is not merely a routine reshuffle but a spectacle of political theatre as he became the lone warrior from Odisha to take oath as an Union minister for the third time. Son of a doctor and former Union minister Debendra Pradhan, Dharmendra was born on June 26, 1969 and gained the fame of being known as the 'Ujjwala Man' across the country. During his tenure as a Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Pradhan was instrumental in making Modi's PM Ujjwala Yojana successful under which the poor women were given free of cost cooking gas cylinders. Dharmendra Pradhan has created a history for being the longest serving Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas in the history of independent India. He joined as the Minister of State (In-charge) in 2014, he

Modi takes 3rd time oath as PM in white kurta, churidar with blue jacket

Modi paired his dress with black shoes for the swearing-in ceremony at the forecourts of the Rashtrapati Bhavan

Narendra Modi sworn in for third consecutive term as India's Prime Minister

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the third Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee to have a third term in the post

Will keep working as BJP worker: Outgoing Union minister Anurag Thakur

His name not on the new BJP-led NDA government's list of ministers, outgoing Union Minister Anurag Thakur said Sunday he would keep working as a BJP worker and contribute to fulfilling PM-designate Narendra Modi's resolve to make India a developed country. Thakur congratulated Modi and his "team of ministers" and said all those who have been picked for ministerial positions in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government are "very competent". They will make "every possible effort" to take the country on the path of progress, the outgoing information and broadcasting minister said. In the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, Thakur was reelected to the Lower House of Parliament from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh. "I am a party worker first. The people of Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh have elected me to the Lok Sabha for the fifth consecutive time. Being elected to the Lok Sabha for the fifth time is itself a great honour," he told reporters here when asked if he would be .

Modi will be 'weak prime minister' in his third term: Congress' Alka Lamba

Narendra Modi will be a "weak prime minister" in his third term as the BJP did not get the majority on its own in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Alka Lamba said on Sunday. "A weak prime minister is taking oath, this PM does not have the majority. The autocrat is falling weak. He was asking for 400 seats to change the Constitution. He did not even get the majority," Lamba, who was here to interact with the Mahila Congress leaders and workers, told PTI Videos. She claimed the opposition achieved a "victory" in saving democracy in the country. "He (PM Modi) won't be able to crush democracy. He won't be able to deny the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the country. This is our victory," Lamba added. Asked about the results on five Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, Lamba said it was satisfactory as the INDIA bloc won two seats. "In Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP won two seats, INDIA won two seats while an Independent won one seat. If we talk about Kashmir, BJP di

Transgender community, sanitation workers to attend Modi's oath ceremony

About 50 people from the transgender community have been invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi and the new cabinet of ministers to them give blessings. Before the ceremony, BJP MP and former Social Justice and Empowerment minister Virendra Kumar felicitated the community members at his residence. "This is a part of Prime Minister Modi's call of 'sabka saath sabka vishwas and sabha prayas'. Including people from transgenders in the ceremony is to enhance the inclusivity message of the PM," Kumar told media. This is the first time that people from the transgender community are formally invited for the swearing-in ceremony, he said. These participants have made contribution in the empowerment of the transgender community, Kumar added. Sonam Kinnar from the UP BJP unit said she along with 50 members of the community have come here to give blessings to the new government. "We are saddened that PM Modi did not receive the number of seats a

TDP leader confirms two ministerial posts, other allies to also join govt

Telugu Desam Party leader Ram Mohan Naidu will be sworn in as a Cabinet minister and another party MP Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani as a minister of state in the Modi 3.0 government, a party leader confirmed. TDP leader and industrialist Jayadev Galla posted congratulatory messages to the two leaders amid indications that other allies such as Ram Nath Thakur and Lalan Singh of the JD(U), Chirag Paswan of the LJP (R), Jitan Ram Manjhi of HAM(S), Jayant Chaudhary of the RLD are being considered as ministers. An aide of Manjhi claimed that he has been informed that he will be inducted in the government. Sources have said that allies will get representation in the government in which the BJP is expected to keep key portfolios like home, defence, finance and external affairs. BJP bigwigs like Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Jyotiraditya Scindia are being seen as natural choices for Cabinet berths besides S Jaishankar. However, there has been no official comment fro

Full list of world leaders invited to Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony

Top leaders of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal, Mauritius, and Seychelles are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi chosen as NDA leader, shares '10 year roadmap' for govt

NDA government updates: Alliance partners Nitish Kumar, Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan among others extended their formal support to Modi as the leader of the NDA in a key meeting on Friday

Lok Sabha elections: Modi 3.0 in coalition, BJP in Kerala. 10 key takeaways

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu have emerged as the kingmakers in the elections as the BJP only secured 240 seats, which is below the 272 majority mark

'Win, defeat part of politics': Modi tells outgoing cabinet in final meet

Narendra Modi chaired the final meeting of the outgoing union cabinet on Wednesday, a day after Lok Sabha election 2024 results were announced

World leaders congratulate Modi ahead of third term as Prime Minister

Over 50 world leaders have congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he is set to take oath this week for a third straight term at the top office following the National Democratic Alliance's victory in the Lok Sabha polls. From India's neighbourhood and extended neighbourhood, presidents of Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Iran, Seychelles and prime ministers of Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Mauritius have sent congratulatory greetings to Modi. In a post on X, Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong described the victory of the NDA alliance as "historic" and said he was looking forward to working with his Indian counterpart to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two nations next year. "Congratulations @narendramodi on the historic victory by the NDA for the third consecutive term. Look forward to working with you to deepen the Singapore-India partnership and to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties next year," Wong said on X. Among G20 ...

Modi resigns from office, to take oath as PM for the third time on June 8

Lok Sabha elections: Narendra Modi's BJP is expected to form a government for the third time with the help of its coalition partners, the JD(U) and the Telugu Desam Party

Bastion breached, new leaders emerge: 10 Lok Sabha seats that matter

A look at key Lok Sabha constituencies that sprung a surprise in the 2024 polls

Modi govt revived banking sector, Rs 10 lakh cr bad loans recovered: FM

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the Modi government has turned around the banking sector through various reforms and improved governance which has led to banks recovering more than Rs 10 lakh crore from bad loans between 2014 and 2023. She said the Enforcement Directorate has investigated around 1,105 bank fraud cases, which resulted in the attachment of Rs 64,920 crore worth of proceeds of crime. As of December 2023, assets amounting to Rs 15,183 crore have been restituted to the Public Sector Banks (PSBs). "Recently, India's banking sector achieved a significant milestone by recording its highest-ever net profit, crossing Rs 3 lakh crore. The banking sector turned around due to PM Shri @narendramodi's strong and decisive leadership. Our government atoned for the UPA's sins in the banking sector through comprehensive and long-term reforms," Sitharaman said in a post on X. She said there has been no leniency in recovering bad loans, especially from large ...

Modi govt repeatedly blocked farmers from making any profits, alleges Cong

The Congress on Thursday accused the Modi government of repeatedly blocking India's farmers from making any profits in the last 10 years and claimed that the pattern of policy making has been to not allow farmers to earn well when prices rise and leave them to fend for themselves when prices crash. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a day he held a rally in Hoshiarpur on the last day of campaigning. "After peddling lies about the Father of the Nation yesterday, the outgoing PM is in Hoshiarpur for his final campaign event. Our last set of questions to him before the people of India, that is Bharat, bid him a long-awaited farewell," Ramesh said in his post on X. "If not India's kisaans, will the outgoing PM guarantee MSP to Russia's farmers? Will the PM raise the 50% cap on reservations for Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs? Why does Adampur Airport offer only one flight route? Why has the Modi Sarkar failed to address the severe staff

Modi 'playing with' national security by bringing in Agnipath scheme: Cong

The Congress on Monday accused the Modi government of "playing with" national security and the future of the youth, and asserted that the military recruitment scheme would be scrapped when it comes to power at the Centre. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Agnipath scheme is the contribution of the "outgoing prime minister". "This is playing with national security and the future of the youth. Before Agnipath, about 75,000 youth were recruited (annually) into the armed forces and now that has been reduced by one-fourth," Ramesh said in a video statement posted on X. He said that under the Agnipath scheme, training is given to the youth for six months and they are told to go and take on China and Pakistan at the borders. Ramesh recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi's June 2020 statement, which the Congress describes as a "clean chit of China", and claimed that it had reduced India's negotiating power. "We should remember that the three chiefs of the army, navy and air

State-owned companies outperform pvt firms, here's why it's a problem

State firms have done better than India's benchmark Sensex index for three years straight, and look likely to do so again this year