Page 119 - Politics
Odisha declares 4th Saturdays as holidays
Odisha government employees will now get holiday on the fourth Saturday of every month, besides the second Saturday. In an order on Saturday, the government also announced new office hours which will be half an hour more than the existing hours. Offices will function from 10 am to 5.30 pm with half an hour lunch break from 1.30 pm to 2 pm. Currently, duty hours in most offices are 10 am to 5 pm with an hour lunch break between 1 pm to 2 pm. The new timings are not applicable to vacation departments, the order said. The announcement came hours after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held a meeting of senior officers at the state secretariat here. Noting that a government wins the trust of people by doing good works, Patnaik said, "We have now reached a certain stage in development and governance from where we should take a leap to the next level. People's aspirations should motivate us to provide effective service." "I write your (officers) performance appraisal reports. ...
Fadnavis to embark on 'rath yatra' for Maha poll campaign
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will undertake a 'rath yatra' (a tour in a special vehicle) across Maharashtra to campaign for Assembly polls, the BJP said Saturday. The state polls are due in October. The decision was taken at the meeting of the state BJP executive here. Revenue minister and senior party leader Chandrakant Patil said Fadnavis' campaign tour will start in August and the date will be announced later. "During the rath yatra, our slogans will be 'Fir Ek Baar Shivshahi Sarkaar' (Once again saffron alliance government) and 'Abki Baar 220 Ke Paar' (This Time 220-plus)," Patil said. Another party leader said Fadnavis will try to cover all 288 Assembly constituencies during the tour, highlighting the achievements of his government. Fadnavis, who addressed the meeting, said decisiveness was his party's strength. "We are here for politics of performance! Decisiveness is our strength, we are not for populist measures, but working hard on actual ...
Yeddyurappa says no mid-term polls;asks coalition govt to quit
Ruling out any mid-term polls, Karnataka BJP President B S Yeddyurappa Saturday said the Congress-JD(S) coalition government would not survive for long because of internal differences and asked it to quit if they were not able to govern the state. "I have already said this clearly as the state president. We are 105 MLAs. There are more than 20 disgruntled (MLAs) in Congress-JD(S). If you don't have the capability to run the administration, resign," Yeddyurappa said. Speaking to reporters here, he said voters of the state would not agree for another election, 13 months after the assembly polls. "Taking such decisions with selfish motives is not right. Resign and go home, we will run the administration- I have already said this... According to me, this government will not survive for long if you look at their infighting," he added. Yeddyurappas statement comes a day after former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda Friday said there was no doubt there would be ..
'Cong would have won 15-16 LS seats if no tie up with JD(S)'
Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily Saturday said the party would have won 15 to 16 seats in the Lok Sabha polls had there been no tie up with JD(S) and that trusting the alliance was a 'mistake." "Hundred per cent...not only here (Chikkaballapur).. in various constituencies...if there was no alliance, 15-16 seats Congress would have definitely got," he said. Moily was replying to a question on whether he would have won in Chikkaballapur if there had been no alliance. Speaking to reporters in Chikkaballapur, he said that trusting the coalition was a mistake. "Our people (Congress) also opposed (me).. that is very clear." Asked about the reasons for those in Congress opposing him, he did not divulge much details, saying it maybe because of power or money. Moily, a former union minister, was the joint candidate of the ruling Congress-JDS coalition. He was defeated by BJP's B N Bache Gowda in Chikkaballapur by 1,82,110 votes. Congress and JD(S) that had faced the polls in
Process to recruit village volunteers on June 24
: The Andhra Pradesh government will spend Rs 1,200 crore per annum to employ about four lakh volunteers from villages to take the benefits of government service to the doorstep of beneficiaries in rural areas. The process for recruiting the volunteers would begin on June 24 once a formal notification is issued and the selection process through personal interviews would be completed between July 11 and 25. Induction and training for the selected volunteers would be conducted from August 5 to 10 and they would start functioning from August 15, coinciding with the country's independence day, a government order issued by Chief Secretary L V Subrahmanyam said Saturday. The volunteers set-up would be akin to the Janmabhoomi Committees under the previous Chandrababu Naidu government, official sources said. The Y S Jaganmohan Reddy government is now bringing in a new set-up in the name of 'Village Secretariat' in every village, under which the volunteers would function. Each ..
Trump says will be Iran's 'best friend' if it renounces nuclear arms
US President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would be Iran's "best friend" and that the Islamic republic could be a "wealthy" country if it renounced nuclear weapons, amid soaring tensions between the two nations. "We're not going to have Iran have a nuclear weapon," Trump told reporters outside the White House as he prepared to depart for Camp David for meetings on the situation with Iran, which downed a US drone earlier this week. "When they agree to that, they're going to have a wealthy country. They're going to be so happy, and I'm going to be their best friend. I hope that happens." "Let's make Iran great again," he added. Trump disclosed Friday that he called off a US military strike on Iran at the last minute, saying it would be a disproportionate response to Thursday's downing of the unmanned US aircraft over the Strait of Hormuz. "Everyone was saying I'm a war-monger, and now they say I'm a dove," Trump said Saturday as he was peppered with questions about the Iran ...
No one was able to withstand PM Modi's wave, Cong survived: Salman Khurshid
Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid said that popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was such that no other leader or party was able to withstand it in recently concluded Lok Sabha elections."What I know today is that elections were straight and in the elections the popularity of Narendra Modi was such that no one was able to withstand it. You call it Tsunami in which washed away everything along with it," said Khurshid while talking to reporters here on Saturday.He said that Congress managed to survive the Modi wave."But still we survived and are alive," he said."If I refuse to accept the popularity of Prime Minister then it means that I am refusing the elections," he said.In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the Congress was only able to marginally increase its tally from 44 (in 2014) to 52 in the 540-odd-member lower house.
Fadnavis to take out Rath Yatra across Maharashtra
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will take out a 'Rath Yatra' across all assembly constituencies in the state ahead of the Assembly polls.The 'Rath Yatra' will be carried out with slogans such as "Fir Ek Baar Shivshahi Sarkaar" and "Abki Baar 220 Ke Paar" and will start in the month of August.Earlier, speaking at a function, Chief Minister Fadnavis referred to Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as his "elder brother" at Shiv Sena's foundation day event held in the city.The Shiv Sena chief too had said that there were no more differences between the two allies and they were ready to take on the opposition in the coming elections.In the 2014 state elections, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won 185 out of the total 288 seats.The two parties are aiming for 220 plus seats in the elections scheduled to be held in October.
V Vijayasai Reddy appointed Special Representative of Andhra government at AP Bhavan
Andhra Pradesh government has appointed the senior leader of YSR Congress party and Rajya Sabha MP V Vijayasai Reddy as "Special Representative of Government of Andhra Pradesh at AP Bhavan, New Delhi" with immediate effect on Saturday.He shall be assigned the rank of Cabinet Minister.Reddy is also the YSRCP parliamentary party leader.YSRCP won 22 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh.The party also stormed to power in the state as well by winning 151 seats in the 175-member Assembly.
UK: Jihadi Jack's parents found guilty of funding terrorism
The parents of a Muslim convert, popularly known as 'Jihadi Jack', were on Saturday found guilty of funding terrorism after they sent money to their son in Syria.John Letts and Sally Lane from Oxford sent approximately USD 284 in September 2015 to their son who fled to Syria to join the Islamic State (IS).However, the couple has been acquited of sending around $1900 to Jack in December 2015.They have received 15 months imprisonment which has been suspended for 12 months.Dubbed Jihadi Jack, Jack converted to Islam at the age of 16. In 2014, he dropped out for his school in Oxford and moved to Syria to join the IS.He then married an Iraqi woman and had a son.In 2017, he left the IS but was captured and is in Kurdish jail in Northern Syria.
Youth Akali Dal reminds Sidhu of his promise to resign if Rahul loses from Amethi
In a bid to corner Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, the Youth Akali Dal has asked him to respond to the posters asking to keep his promise of quitting politics if the Congress president Rahul Gandhi loses his traditional bastion of Amethi.In one of the biggest upsets in this year's Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi lost from Amethi parliamentary constituency by 55,120 votes to BJP's Smriti Irani. The seat was considered a stronghold of the Nehru-Gandhi family.Posters asking Sidhu to keep his promise of quitting politics were seen at different places in the city on Saturday.Youth Akali Dal district president Gurdeep Singh Gosha said: "During the Lok Sabha elections, Sidhu had announced that he would resign and leave politics if Rahul does not win from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.""It is high time the Cabinet Minister should respond to the people as posters asking for his resignation were seen in the city and other districts as well," said Gosha.Sidhu at the time of campaigning for the Lok ...
Jaishankar hosts dinner for Ambassadors, Heads of Missions
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday hosted a dinner for Heads of Missions (HoMs) here.This is the first direct interaction of Jaishankar with HoMs after taking over the charge of the Ministry of External Affairs.The 'dinner diplomacy' comes days ahead of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Japan to attend the G20 summit.After taking the office last month, Jaishankar has held a strings of bilateral meetings. Last week, he held a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Javed Jarif.Known for his diplomatic skills, Jaishankar, a former Foreign Secretary, flew to Bhutan to further widen bilateral relations only a week after assuming the charge at the South Block.
Mauritania votes as 1st peaceful transfer of power expected
Mauritanians on Saturday went to the polls as the outgoing president's preferred successor faced five opposition candidates in this West African nation threatened by Islamic extremism. It is expected to be the country's first peaceful transfer of power. One candidate of sub-Saharan African descent wants to improve race relations in a country where activists estimate tens of thousands of people still live in slavery despite the practice being banned by the government for decades. Amnesty International has called on the next president to end rampant human rights abuses in this coastal Sahara Desert nation of 4.5 million people. "Anyone who dares to stand up against slavery, discrimination and other human rights violations and abuses is at risk of arbitrary arrest, unlawful detention and even torture," said Kine Fatim Diop, a West Africa campaigner for the rights organization. Mauritania has suffered five coups since independence from France in 1960 and has been led by military rulers ...
DMK leader asks Stalin to offboard Cong for TN civic polls
A senior DMK leader Saturday asked party chief M K Stalin not to take on board key ally Congress for the local body polls, expected to be held shortly and instead go it alone. K N Nehru, a former State Minister and DMK's district secretary, addressing a protest demonstration here, said tall claims were being made by Congress leaders on getting maximum number of seats from DMK for the local body polls. "A Congress functionary has claimed to get 35 wards in south Chennai. Another wants 50 seats elsewhere. If this is their mindset, what will be left for DMK workers? "Where will we go? Should we stand on the road?"he asked. Hence "I am telling our president; to be of proper use to the people, it will be better for us to face the local body elections alone." The Tiruchirapalli district party stalwart asked how long could the party be "palanquin bearers".."we are carrying them (Congress) on our shoulders." He, however, made it clear that this was his own view and not that of ...
Iranian hackers wage cyber campaign amid tensions with US
Iran has increased its offensive cyberattacks against the U.S. government and critical infrastructure as tensions have grown between the two nations, cybersecurity firms say. In recent weeks, hackers believed to be working for the Iranian government have targeted U.S. government agencies, as well as sectors of the economy, including oil and gas, sending waves of spear-phishing emails, according to representatives of cybersecurity companies CrowdStrike and FireEye, which regularly track such activity. It was not known if any of the hackers managed to gain access to the targeted networks with the emails, which typically mimic legitimate emails but contain malicious software. The cyber offensive is the latest chapter in the U.S. and Iran's ongoing cyber operations targeting the other, with this recent sharp increase in attacks occurring after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the Iranian petrochemical sector this month. Tensions have escalated since the U.S. withdrew from the
PM Modi deliberates on employment, agriculture with economists, experts ahead of Budget
During the meeting held under the theme 'Economic Policy - The Road Ahead', the participants shared their views in five distinct groups on the economic themes."Prime Minister Narendra Modi today attended an interactive session with over 40 economists and other experts, organised by NITI Aayog on the theme 'Economic Policy - The Road Ahead," an official release said.It said the Prime Minister thanked participants for their suggestions and observations on various aspects of the economy.The economic themes discussed at the meeting are critical in the government's efforts to boost growth, increase employment and growth and improve the quality of life of people.The Central government aims to double farmers' income by 2022 and has been emphasising on the judicious use of water for long.The meeting was held in the run-up to the presentation of this year's Union Budget on July 5 with the government looking at ways to boost growth and employment generation.The meeting came in the backdrop of ..
Delhi BJP appoints district-level conveners, co-conveners for month-long membership drive
The Delhi BJP Saturday appointed district-level conveners and co-conveners for a month-long drive to enlist 10 lakh new members in the party. The membership campaign will be launched on July 6, the birth anniversary of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, and will conclude on August 11. Delhi BJP general secretary and head of the campaign Kuljeet Chahal said the conveners and co-conveners of all the 14 BJP district units have been appointed and the block-level conveners and co-conveners will be appointed in the coming week. The campaign assumes significance since it is being launched ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls scheduled early next year, he said, adding new members will be enrolled both online and offline. In 2015, such a campaign was initiated in which old members were re-enrolled as primary members. "We have the target of enrolling 10 lakh new members in Delhi who will work to strengthen the organization," Chahal said. Emphasis will be laid on enrolling new members on the booths where ...
Oppn slams Pak govt's move to form CoI to probe how national debt rose by Rs 24,000 bn in 10 yrs
Pakistan's opposition leaders Saturday slammed the government's move to form a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to probe how the national debt increased from Rs 6,000 billion to Rs 30,000 billion rupees in last ten years. Prime Minister Imran Khan recently announced that the government would form a commission to investigate how cash-strapped Pakistan's debt increased by Rs 24,000 billion between 2008 and 2018, during the successive five-year period of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) regime. The Pakistan government on Friday notified the formation of the 11-member Commission of Inquiry, headed by the Deputy Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Hussain Asghar. Opposing the move, senior PML-N leader and daughter of jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz demanded the probe should begin from the year 1999 - when former Pakistan Army chief General (retd) Pervez Musharraf came to power and also include the loans taken .
Finish development works in 781 unauthorised colonies within 5 months: Kejriwal
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday directed officials to complete development works in at least 781 unauthorised colonies in the city within the next five months.He made the comments while chairing a high-level meeting with PWD minister Satyendar Jain and senior officials.The Chief Minister directed officials to submit a weekly report on the progress of development works and would himself monitor the same, according to an official statement.Kejriwal was also informed during the meeting that the deadlines for various projects were extended due to the Model Code of Conduct during the Lok Sabha elections.A provision of Rs 1,500 crore in the budget has been made by the Delhi government for the development of the unauthorised colonies."The Chief Minister asked officials to ensure that financial resources do not become a constraint in the development of these colonies," the statement said.Kejriwal claimed that DDA did not ensure the city state's proper development, saying that
Over 56k people get Rs 553 cr medical help from Maha CM fund
The Maharashtra Chief Minister's Relief Fund has disbursed Rs 553.92 crore to 56,318 needy people for medical requirements since 2014, when the Devendra Fadnavis government took over. The figure for the last 10 months alone is Rs 106 crore disbursed to 10,582 people, a senior official said. In a statement issued Saturday, Fadnavis said, "The state government offers financial help to patients through Ayushman Bharat and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana. But those who cannot avail these two schemes usually get help from chief minister's relief fund." Fadnavis said total amount disbursed between 2009-14, when a Congress-NCP government was in power, was Rs 40.56 crore to 16,000 needy people. "Our government disbursed monetary help to not only more people, but also raised the amount of financial help from Rs 25,000 initially to Rs one lakh and further to Rs three lakh," he said. When contacted, a senior official working in the chief minister's office said there was no .