New Delhi, Dec 14 (ANI): The 11th edition of Delhi Dialogue commenced on December 13. Retno LP Marsudi, Foreign Minister of Indonesia, drew attention towards Mahatma Gandhi's ideologies on his 150th birth anniversary during the address. She also mentioned that India and ASEAN have stood united for centuries due to the shared ocean."India and ASEAN have stood united for centuries due to our shared ocean. For India, for ASEAN and for Indo-Pacific region, the ocean is our future and prosperity," said Marsudi. The theme for this year's Delhi Dialogue is "Advancing Partnership in Indo-Pacific" and is being organised with the assistance of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries.
New Delhi, Dec 14 (ANI): Spotify free and Premium users will now be able to ask Amazon Alexa to play podcasts of their choice. Until now, users were able to ask Alexa to play music, but not podcasts. As the official blog notes, the feature is currently live for Amazon Alexa users in the US. To enable the feature, ensure you set Spotify as your default podcast and music provider in the Alexa settings. Then, you can simply say "Alexa" followed by the command with the podcast name on Spotify for a hands-free listening experience. Users can also request specific podcast, restart an episode, request the latest episode, navigate by time frame and more using Alexa.
New Delhi, Dec 14 (ANI): Editor at Asian News International, Smita Prakash during the book launch event of Amit Khanna, stated that she got her first break through Amit Khanna. Speaking at the event, Smita Prakash said, "It has got something for everybody. For students of media, it is absolutely a must, I think. I got my first break in television from Amit Khanna." Bollywood celebrities and other known personalities attended the book launch of the noted lyricist Amit Khanna. The book 'Words Sounds Images: A History of Media and Entertainment in India' was released on December 13 in Delhi. Javed Akhtar, Jaya Bachchan reached the book launch event. Rajat Sharma, Smita Prakash and Prasoon Joshi also attended the book launch.
New Delhi, Dec 13 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) women Members of Parliament moved to Election Commission against Rahul Gandhi over his 'Rape in India' remark. Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani said that they have registered objection against the remark of Rahul Gandhi to Election Commission. "Election Commission has assured us that they will follow the legal procedure and do justice," BJP leader further added.
Nagpur (Maharashtra), Dec 13 (ANI): Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari while talking to ANI highlighted Citizenship Amendment Act's motive and said, "People of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Christian communities who don't find place in any other country, will be given citizenship." "We're neither against Muslims nor are we asking anyone to go to Pakistan. There's nothing to worry. Rumours are being spread," he added.
Amaravati (AP), Dec 13 (ANI): Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mekathoti Sucharitha announced that Andhra Pradesh Cabinet has approved the enactment of the Andhra Pradesh Criminal Law (Amendment) Act. "We seriously believe speedy justice and stringent punishments are critical in this aspect. It resulted in our government in enacting 'Disha Act 2019' which provides stringent penal provision, time bound investigation and trial all within 21 days in special courts in every district," said Home Minister. Andhra Pradesh 'Disha Act' enables quick trial and judgments in cases of rape and acid attacks in which there is clinching evidence against the accused.
Kufri (HP), Dec 13 (ANI): Tourists thronged Himachal Pradesh's one of the favourite tourist spots Kufri after the fresh snowfall in the region. Kufri is fully covered with a thick white blanket of snow. Tourists are enjoying every bit of moment by throwing snow balls onto each other. Himachal Pradesh continued to record shivering temperatures on December 13 after rains and snowfall across many places in the state. State administration is clearing the snow from the road to maintain the vehicular flow.
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Dec 13 (ANI: Kerala Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on December 13 said that all the Ministers and leaders of opposition in Assembly will sit together on protest against Citizenship Amendment Act. He said, "Constitution is going to be weaken by this act and religion is not the basis of citizenship."
The upheaval in the broader economy has reshuffled the ranks of India’s billionaire promoters. Changes in the market value of promoter stake in top private sector companies suggest that the number of billionaires is on the decline, after hitting a high in March last year. The gap between the rich and the not-so-rich promoters also widened in 2019. There are now 80 promoters with net worth of a billion dollars or more. In December last year, there were 82; and in March last year, there were 91.
New Delhi, Dec 13 (ANI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on December 13 held a Cabinet Meeting in the national capital. After the meeting, CM Kejriwal informed about the decisions which were taken in the meeting. He said that 30 more State Government services have been included in the 1076 number. 30 extra services include departments like, Transport Labour Department, Women and Child Development, Delhi Pharmacy Council and Drugs Control Department.
New Delhi, Dec 13 (ANI): Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reacted over onion price hike across the country. "Onions are a fast perishable commodity. Due to rain in some places, flooding in some other, crop extent was less and hence the less output. Due to this it has gone out of certain reasonable level. Government is taking steps to import and bring onions to the market as soon as possible, said Finance Minister," said FM Sitharaman. Finance Minister further added, "The price of onions has started going down at several places. It is not completely less, but it is going down. We've had a Group of Ministers' meeting which is reviewing on almost every 1-2 days' gap basis and deciding on how to further take up the import related issues."
New Delhi, Dec 13 (ANI): Union Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said that total refunds of direct tax and indirect tax this year amounted to almost 2.2 Lakh Crore. "If you sum total both direct tax and indirect tax, total refunds that have been issued this year is amounting to almost Rs 2.2 Lakh Crore," said Revenue Secretary, Ajay Bhushan Pandey in during press conference held by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
New Delhi, Dec 13 (ANI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on December 13 held a Cabinet Meeting in the national capital. After the meeting, CM Kejriwal said that the Delhi government is going to start a campaign to stop crime against women. In the campaign, in every college, private and government schools, it will mandatory for the boys to pledge that they will not commit any crime against women and respect them. The pledge will be repeated in intervals of three to six months.
New Delhi, Dec 13 (ANI): Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) KV Subramanian on December 13 said that measures to boost investment have been fruitful and it can be seen with Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows. "Evidence of measures to boost investment is actually seen in the record FDI inflows - US$ 35 Billion in the first half of 2019-20 as against US$ 31 Billion during the same period last year. It's a good sign of foreigners seeing India as a very important destination," said Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) said during his presentation in a press conference, which was held by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
New Delhi, Dec 13 (ANI): Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reacted over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 'Rape in India' remark on December 13. She said, "We are talking about women and their dignity. I could've definitely gone hammer and tongs on that matter...It's a matter of shame that a senior leader of Congress speaks forgetting about the dignity of women." She made this statement while addressing a press conference in New Delhi.
Mumbai, Dec 13 (ANI): Maharashtra Home Minister Eknath Shinde reacted over Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 and said that Maharashtra government and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will take a decision in the interest of the state. "Chief Minister (Uddhav Thackeray) will take a decision on Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 People of all caste, religion and language live in this state. All of them should feel that this government is theirs. Our government will continue to maintain a free atmosphere and see that law and order is maintained," said Maharashtra Home Minister.
New Delhi, Dec 13 (ANI): A delegation of dignitaries from Maldives met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on December 13. Delegation included Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid and Speaker of Maldives Parliament Mohamed Nasheed.
New Delhi, Dec 13 (ANI): After the winter session of Parliament concluded today (December 13), Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that when India will celebrate 75 years of Independence in 2022, efforts are underway to have a new session in new building of Parliament. "The process is on, discussions are on. I had requested to Prime Minister, and he had given his assent," said Speaker Om Birla.
Chennai, Dec 13 (ANI): Indian Cricket Team Bowling Coach Bharat Arun hailed Deepak Chahar by saying that he has got everything in him to do well at the International level. "Deepak has been exceptionally well in the IPL, he is someone who can move the ball both ways, he is a very skillful bowler, he is got everything in him to do well at the International level," said Arun.
Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Dec 13 (ANI): Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel on Friday said that their stand on Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 won't be different from what is being taken by All India Congress Committee (AICC). While speaking to mediapersons in Raipur, he said, "Our stand won't be different from what is being taken by All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Citizenship Amendment Act. Our stand is same as them."