Page 198 - Politics
Karnataka government to waive all farm loans in one go
Following reports of loan-waiver gaffe, Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy-led Karnataka government has decided to waive all eligible farm loans taken from nationalised banks in one go.On Wednesday, an order by the state government was issued after reports came to fore that money credited into bank accounts of 13,988 farmers was withdrawn by banks after farmers were found ineligible for loans during an audit.The news rattled that state government, with affected farmers alleging that the Kumaraswamy dispensation government had deposited money only to win votes and withdrew it after losing in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.The Kumaraswamy-led JD(S) government, after coming to power in 2018 had announced partial farm loan waiver amounting to Rupees 34000 cr in its inaugural budget session. The amount for each loan waiver was limited to 2 lakhs which was to be paid initially in four instalments.The new announcement means the government has to release about Rs 4,617 crore at one time
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi calls an all-party meet on June 16
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has called an all-party meet in Parliament on the morning of June 16, a day before the commencement of Parliament session.After the all-party meet, a meeting of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders will take place in the evening in the Parliament to discuss strategies for the upcoming session.BJP parliamentary party executive committee meeting will also be held in the evening later that day.The first session of the 17th Lok Sabha will be convened from June 17 to July 26 during which the Union Budget will be presented by the new government on July 5.The government will table an "important bill" to bring reforms in Labour Laws during the upcoming session of Parliament. A total of 44 old Labour Laws will be kept in four categories while some other old laws will be abolished.It will also be the first bill to be introduced in Parliament during the second term of Modi government.The government is likely to table the Bill in Parliament ...
Shah holds key meeting of BJP office-bearers
BJP President Amit Shah on Thursday chaired a meeting with party leaders including state chiefs to discuss the schedule for organizational elections, membership drive and other related issues such as possibly finding his successor.
Seetharam unanimously elected Andhra Assembly Speaker
Thammineni Seetharam of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) was on Thursday unanimously elected as the Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
Israel PM thanks Modi for India's vote against Palestinian group
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for voting in favour of a decision introduced by the Jewish state that objected to granting consultative status to a Palestinian group at the UN's Economic and Social Council. In a rare move, India on Tuesday voted in favour of Israel in the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to deny the Palestinian non-governmental organisation 'Shahed' the observer status, after Israel said the organisation did not disclose its ties with Hamas. Thank you @NarendraModi, thank you India, for your support and for standing with Israel at the UN, Netanyahu said in a tweet on Wednesday, almost a week after the June 6 vote. It is the first time that India has voted on a resolution at the UN that is being perceived as pro-Israel. India's position on the Middle East Peace Process has been consistent and clear. India supports a negotiated solution resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of ...
Japan PM meets Iran supreme leader seeking to ease US tensions
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Thursday, seeking to ease tensions between Tehran and Washington during the first visit by a Japanese premier since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Tokyo is a key ally of Washington and has also traditionally enjoyed good ties with Tehran. "Meeting with Mr. @AbeShinzo, the Prime Minister of Japan," said a tweet on Khamenei's official English-language Twitter account accompanied by a photograph of the two men. Iran has been locked in a bitter standoff with the United States since US President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal in May last year. Washington has since reimposed crippling unilateral sanctions -- which have forced Tokyo to halt its once-substantial purchases of Iranian oil -- and launched a military buildup in the Gulf. There have also been rising tensions in the Gulf region, with Saudi Arabia on Thursday warning Iran of "grave consequences" after Tehran-linked Huthi Yemen ..
Government calls all-party meet before Parliament session
The government has convened an all-party meeting on June 16, a day before the first session of the newly elected Lok Sabha, informed sources said on Thursday.
MHC comes down heavily on TN State Government on water scarcity in Chennai
Coming down heavily on the Tamil Nadu Government, the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the state government to submit details of the steps that it has taken to fulfil daily water requirements of people in the city.A Division Bench of Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad directed Additional Government Pleader E. Manoharan to submit details by June 17.The bench further inquired from the State Government about the status of desalination plants that they had constructed along the East Coast Road and other places in the state.This comes against the backdrop of a severe drought in the state leading to an acute water crisis causing distress to locals.
PM Modi to begin bilateral visit to Kyrgyzstan on Friday, says Indian envoy
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin his bilateral visit to Kyrgyzstan on June 14 after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit ends in Bishkek, Indian Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Alok Dimri said on Thursday."The Prime Minister's bilateral visit to Kyrgyzstan will begin on June 14. He will inaugurate a business forum and hold delegation-level talks with Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov," Dimri told ANI.The envoy said that bilateral relations between India and Kyrgyzstan have become stronger since 2015 after Modi's historic visit to Central Asia.The Kyrgyz President had visited New Delhi in 2016 and also attended the Prime Minister's swearing-in ceremony on May 30."The Indian government has invested a lot of energy in building up the bilateral relations. There are a lot of expectations attached to the new chapter that has begun after the Prime Minister's victory in the general elections. The historic mandate that he won, has made the Prime Minister a world leader," Dimri
Meeting of BJP national office bearers, party state-heads underway
A meeting of BJP national office bearers and state presidents is underway at the party headquarters on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg here.Union Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah is presiding over the meeting, which is taking place after the party registered a landslide victory in Lok Sabha elections.Raman Singh, Vasundhara Raje Scindia, JP Nadda, Bhupender Yadav, Manoj Tiwari, Dilip Ghosh, Uma Bharti, Ram Madhav and Kailash Vijayvargiya are among the several leaders present at the meeting.On Wednesday, BJP had reconstituted its Parliamentary Party Executive Committee with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as its members.Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has been appointed as the Deputy leader of the party in Lok Sabha. Thawar Chand Gehlot has been appointed as the Leader of the Party in Rajya Sabha with Piyush Goyal as his deputy, according to a statement released by the party.The Committee was constituted on Tuesday, the party ...
UK group warns of Oman Sea incident as Japan PM visits Iran
A UK maritime safety group warned Thursday of an unspecified incident in the Gulf of Oman and urged "extreme caution" amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran and a high-stakes visit by the Japanese prime minister to Iran. Iranian media claimed without offering any evidence that there had been an explosion in the area targeting oil tankers. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which is run by the British navy, put out the alert but did not elaborate on the incident. It said it was investigating. Cmdr. Joshua Frey, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said his command was "aware" of a reported incident in the area. He declined to elaborate. "We are working on getting details," Frey told The Associated Press. Benchmark Brent crude, apparently reacting to the incident, rose in early trading Thursday to over USD 61, a 2.3% increase. Iranian state television's website, citing the pro-Iran Lebanese satellite news channel Al-Mayadeen, said two ...
Congress denies 10 MLAs wanted to join BJP
The war of words between BJP and the Congress over horsetrading of legislators intensified on Thursday, after state Congress President Girish Chodankar accused his BJP counterpart Vinay Tendulkar of 'lying'.
Saudi warns Iran over Yemeni rebel airport attack
Riyadh accused its arch-foe Tehran on Thursday of ordering a Yemeni rebel missile strike which wounded 26 people at a Saudi airport and warned of "grave consequences". "The continuation of the Iranian regime's aggression and reckless escalation, whether directly or through its militias, will result in grave consequences," deputy defence minister Prince Khaled bin Salman tweeted. Yemen's Huthi rebels hit the civilian airport in the popular mountain resort of Abha in the southwest of the kingdom on Wednesday, damaging the arrivals hall and forcing its closure for several hours. "We will confront the Huthi militia's crimes with unwavering resolve," said Prince Khaled, a son of King Salman. "Their targeting of a civilian airport exposes to the world the recklessness of Iran's escalation and the danger it poses to regional security and stability." Iran and the Yemeni rebels both follow arms of the Shiite branch of Islam but Tehran has always denied providing more than moral support to the .
Japan PM meets Iran leader on mission to ease tensions
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Thursday as he sought to ease US tensions on the first visit by a Japanese premier since the 1979 revolution. "Meeting with Mr. @AbeShinzo, the Prime Minister of Japan," said a tweet on the leader's official English-language Twitter account accompanied by photograph of the two men.
Tripura government launches new program to distribute sugar through PDS
The Tripura government on Thursday, launched a new program to distribute sugar through the Public Distribution System (PDS) here at an event in Agartala town hall.In the inauguration, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb in presence of Manoj Kanti Deb, Minister for Food, Civil Supply and Consumer Affairs (FCS & CA), MP Pratima Bhowmik and MP Rebati Kumar Tripura and other officials distributed packets of sugar to consumers of ration shops as part of the state government's bid to give sugar to consumers of fair price shops in order to provide relief to poorer sections of people.Chief Minister Biplab Deb commended the work of the Department of Food, Civil Supply, and Consumer affairs and said that in the last 14-15 months, the Tripura government is now among the top five states in Public Distribution System in India.The Chief Minister criticized the previous Left Front government by saying that the then government never wanted anything to work systematically but when people of the state .
Modi hai to mumkin hai: Pompeo hails leader of world's most populous democracy
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised Indian Prime Minister as a "new kind of leader for the world's most populous democracy", and quoted Narendra Modi's election slogan in Hindi, "Modi hai to mumkin hai" ("Modi makes it possible"), at a summit here.
Jagan Reddy to chair YSRCP parliamentary party meet on June 15
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy will be chairing a parliamentary party meeting of his political outfit's newly elected MPs in New Delhi on Saturday.The Chief Minister is expected to arrive in the national capital on Friday and the meeting is scheduled to begin next morning at 10.All the 22 Lok Sabha MPs and 2 Rajya Sabha MPs from the party will be attending the meeting.The meeting which is taking place two days ahead of the commencement of the parliamentary session, is likely to witness discussions on the strategy to be followed in the House.As per sources, the YSRCP chief is likely to guide the party MPs on issues like special status for Andhra Pradesh, assurances given at the time of state bifurcation and other state-specific issues.Reddy will also attend the NITI Aayog meeting to be held later in the day at Rashtrapati Bhavan. He is likely to make a representation on the aid to be given to the state.In the Andhra Pradesh Assembly ...
Govt, intel agencies must take suitable action to prevent attacks in future: Cong
The Congress on Thursday urged the Modi government and intelligence agencies to take suitable action to prevent terror attacks in the future, a day after five CRPF personnel were killed in a terrorist strike in south Kashmir. Two motrocycle-borne terrorists, believed to be from the Jaish-e-Mohammed group, fired at a CRPF patrol party on the Khanabal-Pahalgham road in Anantnag district, killing five personnel from the paramilitary force and injuring three others on Wednesday. "Disturbing to learn that 5 brave CRPF Jawans have been martyred & 4 Jawans injured in a terror attack in Anantnag. My salutations to the valour of our Jawans. Government and intelligence agencies must take suitable action so that attacks be curtailed in future," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted. A joint team of the bravo company of CRPF's 116th battalion and state police were deployed for a picket duty in the area when the attack took place. The patrolling party of the CRPF fought the ...
Trump says would take foreign info on 2020 presidential opponent
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would be willing to accept information from a foreign country on his opponent in the 2020 election race, after years of denying Moscow helped him win office. Trump team contacts with Russians during the 2016 presidential race led to special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into possible collusion and obstruction of justice, as well as several similar and ongoing efforts in Congress. The Russia issue has consumed the Trump presidency for the past two years, and his new remarks suggested he still sees nothing wrong with a US political candidate accepting help from a foreign power. "I think you might want to listen... there's nothing wrong with listening," Trump said when asked by ABC News what he would do if a country such as Russia or China offered him such information. He denied the suggestion that that would amount to foreign meddling in a US election. "It's not an interference, they have information -- I think I'd take it," Trump said. "If
Trump Jr grilled by US senators, says unconcerned about perjury
Donald Trump Jr wrapped up a return interview Wednesday with US lawmakers who questioned him about his contacts with Russians, with the president's eldest son dismissing concerns he may have perjured himself in his 2017 testimony. The 41-year-old appeared relaxed as he emerged from a three-hour closed-door session with the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of the Republican-led panel's two-year investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. Trump Jr, who helms the Trump Organization collection of businesses that his real estate billionaire father ran for decades, earlier told reporters there was "nothing to correct" from his previous comments to the committee. After his interview, he maintained he had been consistent. "I don't think I changed anything of what I said because there was nothing to change," Trump Jr said. "I'm glad that this is finally over (and) we're able to put some final clarity on that." Asked if he was worried about perjury, Trump Jr