Page 29 - Modi Govt

Govt raises Rs 16,500 cr by selling stakes in companies in FY23-24

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambition of privatising state-run firms has taken a back seat due to general elections that start on April 19

Should I-T babus or voters decide the fate of the Congress?

It can be nobody's case that I-T Department must not do its job. However, blindly following bureaucratic rules cannot be allowed to tamper with democratic processes on the eve of the general election

Highlights: Corrupt person, howsoever big, will face action, says PM Modi

LIVE updates: Opposition protests against CM Kejriwal's arrest, BJP unveils lineup of leaders for Tripura LS polls, and more. Catch all the latest updates from across the globe here

PM's guarantee like Chinese goods, only meant for polls: Tejashwi Yadav

In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday claimed that his guarantee is like Chinese goods and is only meant for polls, as he urged people not to fall for the BJP's "propaganda" in the Lok Sabha polls. Addressing the INDIA bloc rally at the Ramlila maidan here, Yadav alleged that an "undeclared emergency" was prevailing in the country and asserted that the opposition will not let the RSS agenda to be implemented in the country. Yadav also sang lines from a Govinda-starrer movie with a play on the lyrics "tum toh dhokebaaz ho, vaada karke bhool jaate ho", to allege that Prime Minister Modi did not fulfil his promises made in the last election. The former Bihar deputy CM charged that the Enforcement Directorate, CBI and IT department are cells of the BJP. "Cases have been slapped on me, my father, mother, sisters. We are not the ones to get scared. The manner in which Hemant Soren ji and (Arvind) Kejriwal ji have been arrested (has been

Uddhav Thackeray slams BJP over electoral bond issue, Bawankule hits back

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday attacked the BJP over the electoral bonds issue, terming it "Bhrasht Janata Party" and said that its real face has been exposed before the people. The former Maharashtra chief minister also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the BJP's 'Modi Ka Parivar' campaign, saying he does not understand the meaning of "parivar" (family) as one has to take responsibility of a 'parivar'. "When I was the chief minister during Covid, I made a resolve that 'mera parivar, meri zimmedaari' (my family, my responsibility). There is only you and the chair in your 'parivar'," Thackeray said at a press conference. The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief, who is in Delhi to take part in the INDIA bloc's 'Save Democracy' rally, claimed the BJP does not have any real issue now as its "mask is off" with the details of electoral bonds coming to light. "It has emerged that the BJP is the most corrupt party. It is the 'Bhrasht Janata Party'. Their real face has been ...

India moving towards autocracy: Thackeray as he appeals people to throw BJP

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, at the INDIA bloc rally here on Sunday, claimed the country was moving towards becoming an "autocracy" as he appealed to people of the country to throw the BJP out of power. Addressing the INDIA bloc's rally at the Ramlila Maidan here, he hit out at the BJP and said, "We are not here for an election campaign, we are here to save democracy... you level allegations and send people to jail. What kind of government is this?" he said. "When two of our sisters are fighting, how can the brother stay behind? So we are here for our sisters, Kalpana ji and Sunita ji. Not just us, the whole country is with you," Thackeray said, referring to former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana Soren and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal. Both Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren have been arrested by federal agencies in different cases of corruption. "Some time ago, we had this doubt that our nation is moving towards an ...

Lok Sabha polls: South will help reach Modi target of 370, says Gadkari

Avowing abiding confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's goal of 370 seats, BJP leader Nitin Gadkari says the additional seats to its current strength of 288 will come from gains in southern India in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. In a wide ranging interview with PTI at his residence in Nagpur, Gadkari said there is "no doubt" in his mind that the BJP-led NDA alliance will cross 400 seats and that Modi will take over as prime minister for a third term because of the solid work done by the government in the last 10 years. He dismissed allegations that the Modi government is weaponising central probe agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate and CBI to weaken the opposition, saying BJP's rivals should make efforts to overcome adversity by winning the confidence of the people. Is it our responsibility to make the opposition weak or strong? When we had just two MPs and were weak, we never got any package out of sympathy, Gadkari, who is seeking a third Lok Sabha term from ...

Modi govt trying to make Congress party bankrupt: AICC gen secy Venugopal

The Congress on Friday sharply reacted to the Income Tax Department's notice to the grand old party to pay a penalty of over Rs 1,750 crore and said the officials were being used as the "gundas" of the ruling BJP. Addressing the media here, AICC general secretary in-charge of the organisation, K C Venugopal, lashed out at the Narendra Modi-led BJP government and accused it of trying to "financially strangulate" the opposition parties during the election time. Venugopal said the Modi government was trying to make the Congress party bankrupt. The Income Tax Department has served a notice to the Congress to pay over Rs 1750 crore, hours after the Delhi High Court had rejected its petitions challenging the tax reassessment proceedings against it. "Usually, the political parties are exempted from paying taxes. However, this penalty is in the name of delay in filing returns. The Narendra Modi government is doing this with the specific purpose of bankrupting the Congress party at a time w

Cash-strapped Pakistan needs to get India onboard on trade matters

The problem is that Pakistan needs India far more than India needs Pakistan. The Indian economy is stable and India remains deeply reluctant to open its markets to other developing countries

PM Modi to kick start Lok Sabha polls campaign in UP from Meerut on Mar 31

Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases beginning April 19. Uttar Pradesh, which sends the maximum number of MPs, 80, to Parliament, will vote in all seven phases

Youth understands BJP can't provide employment, says Cong leader Priyanka

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday attacked the Centre over the issue of unemployment, saying the youth has understood that the BJP cannot provide employment and her party has a concrete plan for providing jobs to them. Citing the India Employment Report 2024 released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Institute of Human Development (IHD), Gandhi pointed out that out of the total unemployed people in India, 83 per cent are youth. "The share of educated youth in the total unemployed was 35.2% in 2000. In 2022, it has almost doubled to 65.7%," she said. "On the other hand, the Prime Minister's Chief Economic Advisor is saying that 'the government cannot solve the problem of unemployment'," the Congress general secretary said. This is the truth of the BJP government, she added. "Today every youth of the country has understood that BJP cannot provide employment. Congress Party has a concrete plan to provide employment to the youth," she said. Gandh

EAM meets Malaysian counterpart, discusses 'multifaceted' bilateral ties

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday held a "productive and frank" discussion on the "multifaceted" bilateral ties between India and Malaysia and regional and international issues with his Malaysian counterpart Mohamad bin Haji Hasan here, the Malaysian foreign ministry said. Jaishankar is in Kuala Lumpur on the third and last leg of his three-nation tour to Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia. He met the Malaysian Foreign Minister Hasan here and held a "productive and frank discussion, including exchanging views on the multifaceted dimensions of Malaysia-India bilateral affairs as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest," the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in an official statement. The ministers also discussed the exchange of high-level visits and the convening of the 7th Joint Commission Meeting of Malaysia and India on a mutually agreeable date. This was the first meeting between Jaishankar and Hasan since the latter took offic

Arvind Kejriwal's arrest: HC warns lawyers of severe consequences

Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice Manmohan on Wednesday cautioned lawyers against staging protests on court premises against the arrest of Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, saying the consequences would be "severe". The Aam Aadmi Party's legal cell has called for a protest in district courts here on Wednesday following Kejriwal's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case. "Consequences would be severe for organising protest in court. Courts cannot be withheld. Courts cannot be stopped. We cannot take away someone's right to approach the court," Justice Manmohan said. "If someone does it, they would do it at their own peril," he asserted. The issue was mentioned before a bench of the acting chief justice and Justice Manmeet P S Arora by advocate Vaibhav Singh who said that court premises cannot be used for political purposes. Justice Manmohan said he would take up the issue tomorrow, hoping that "sen

Modi govt has taken many women-centric decisions, says FM Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has consciously taken several women-centric policy decisions for their emancipation and empowerment. Reeling out some of the decisions, she said, permanent commissioning of women officers, entry of girls in Sainik School, raising maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks, and Poshan Abhiyan benefitting 10 crore women are some of them. To promote entrepreneurship among women, she said, the government is providing credit facilities under the PM Mudra Scheme without collateral and at a concessional rate. So far, she said, 70 per cent of loans sanctioned belong to women category and 30 crore beneficiaries are enrolled. Besides, she said, 80 per cent of the funds under Stand Up India have gone to women and there is 10 per cent reservation under Fund of Fund being run by SIDBI for women-led startups. She expressed happiness that 20 startups out of 111 unicorns are led by women. Talkin

Highlights: Congress releases 7th list of five candidates for LS polls

Latest news updates: Catch all the news updates from around the world here

CPR CEO Yamini Aiyar quits two months after govt annuls FCRA permit

Yamini Aiyar, the CEO of Centre for Policy Research, will step down from her current role on March 31. Dr Srinivas Chokkakula, a senior fellow at the think tank, will succeed Aiyar

India making a mistake believing 'hype' about growth, says Raghuram Rajan

Rajan said it was "nonsense" to talk of that goal "if so many of your kids don't have a high school education" and drop-out rates are high

EAM's Singapore visit boosted efforts to deepen strategic partnership: MEA

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's visit to Singapore and his meetings with the country's top leadership presented an opportunity to take stock of the progress in several areas of cooperation and further deepen the bilateral Strategic Partnership, an official statement said. Jaishankar was in Singapore from March 23 to 25 during which he called on Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong. They exchanged views on deepening engagement in the identified pillars of bilateral cooperation, including fintech, digitalisation, green economy, skills development and food security, India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Monday. Jaishankar also held discussions with his counterpart Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, on bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest. He had several bilateral engagements with the leadership and senior ministers of the Cabinet and discussed ways to further the strateg

LS polls: BJP to go solo in Punjab, says state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar

The BJP will contest the Lok Sabha polls on its own in Punjab, the party's state unit chief Sunil Jakhar said on Tuesday. The announcement came amid a buzz over talks between the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP for re-stitching their alliance for the parliamentary polls. Polling for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held on June 1, the last phase of the seven-phase elections. "The BJP is going to contest the Lok Sabha elections alone in Punjab," Jakhar said on X. He said this decision was taken by the BJP following feedback from people and party workers. "The works done by the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are not hidden from anyone," Jakhar said. The BJP leader also added that in the last 10 years, produce of farmers was procured at minimum support price.

EAM Jaishankar, Singapore's trade minister discuss semiconductors, space

EAM Jaishankar also engaged in discussions with prominent corporate figures from the country who offered positive feedback on India's growth story