Month: June 2019

India and the US on Wednesday acknowledged that there were issues between the two countries on bilateral trade and committed themselves to removing differences between them.

Speaking to the media after talks with the visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said both the countries should take “constructive and pragmatic view” on the issues pertaining to trade between them.

“On outstanding issues, particularly relating to trade, that we take a constructive and pragmatic view of that. It is natural that when you have trade, then there will be trade issues. The real test of our intention is our ability to address them effectively.” he said.

Jaishankar asserted that India is committed to making business easier between the two countries.

“As far as business is concerned We are committed to making it easier to provide level playing field to grow with the world economy and striking a right balance between their concern is what we are trying to do,” said Jaishankar.

India had imposed retaliatory tariffs on 25 American goods, less than two weeks after US President Donald Trump announced an end to preferential trade treatment for India over the trade barriers.

Last year, India had announced tariffs in retaliation to higher US import duties on steel and aluminium.

Asserting that great friends are bound to have disagreements, Pompeo, in his remarks, said that Washington and New Delhi need to solve trade issues as there are millions of opportunity before the two countries.

“Great friends are bound to have disagreements and the US has been quite clear with its demand of greater market access and today I addressed these differences in the spirit of friendship to remove trade barriers and open economy. The two countries will be able to see a good outcome for each other,”

“I’ve never found a partner, ally, no matter how close, where we didn’t have places where we’ve to work through things. We have endeavoured to make sure that our countries can provide security for ourselves, want India to be able to do that too,” he added.

The two leaders discussed a host of issues including terrorism and the Asia Pacific during lunch hosted by Jaishankar for his counterpart.

“We discussed a number of bilateral and global issues, on terrorism, I took the opportunity to express our appreciation for the strong support that we have received from the Trump administration, what we say is really zero tolerance for cross border terrorism,” Jaishankar said.

In a veiled reference to China on Indo-Pacific issues, the Indian minister said said that India is not working against any country but looking for peace, security, stability, and prosperity.

“Indo-Pacific is not against something but for somebody. That something is peace, security, stability and prosperity we are really looking.”

Pompeo also reiterated that India and the US have solidified their common vision for free and open Indo-Pacific. We have grown cooperation in energy, space and other areas.”

The meeting between Jaishankar and Pompeo, the first high-level engagement between India and the US after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reelection, was also to the stage for the meeting between Modi and US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of G-20 Summit in Osaka later this week.

(ANI)

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Ahead of July deadline, the Assam government on Wednesday published a list of names of over one lakh people who have been excluded from the draft National Register of Citizens published last year.

The additional exclusion list, published as per provisions contained in Clause 5 of the Schedule of The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, contains names of 1,02,462 persons.

The persons named in the exclusion list are the persons or whose descendants were found to be Declared Foreigner (DF) or Doubtful Voter (DV) or whose cases were pending at Foreigners Tribunals after publishing of draft NRC.

The list also includes names of people who were found ineligible while appearing as witness in hearings held for disposal of claims and objections. The list, however, does include the results of claimants, who appeared for hearings held for disposal of claims and objections during the period of 15th February 2019 to 26th June 2019 and their results will be appearing in the final NRC.

Additionally, people who were found to be ineligible during the process of verification carried out by the Local Registrars of Citizens Registration (LRCRs) under provisions of Clause 4(3), after the publication of Complete Draft NRC on 30th July, 2018 have also been included in the exclusion list.

Letters of Information containing the reason of exclusion is being sent to the excluded persons at their residential address. They will also be getting an opportunity to file their claims which will be simultaneously disposed of through a hearing and the Letters of Information will be containing the details of the venue of the claim cum submissions hearing.

The date of hearings will be published on the NRC website and are scheduled to start from 5th July. The results of these hearings will be taken into account in final NRC.

The final National Register of Citizens will be published on 31st July 2019.

(ANI)

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday unleashed a strong attack on Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi stating that the government had not put them behind bars since it was not the Emergency, while calling upon the opposition party to support the BJP government’s efforts towards women empowerment in the form of Triple Talaq bill.

Outlining his government’s commitment to make the country strong, prosperous and inclusive, Modi in his reply in the Lok Sabha to the motion of thanks to the President’s Address to the joint sitting of the two houses of parliament, called upon all opposition parties to “rise above political boundaries to create a new and modern India”.

He cited former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to emphasise on duties and not merely rights and said: “there was need of a paradigm shift of moving from rights to duties”. He said it was also the duty of public representatives to create “public awareness” on the issue.

He invoked the Emergency of 1975 and said people had returned his government to power after testing it for the past five years.

Modi sought to distinguish the work culture of BJP from other parties, saying that the party stays away from negativity and believes in “drawing a bigger line” rather than erasing the line of its rivals.

Modi rejected Congress allegations that it was targeting Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Referring to speech of Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who had accused Modi government of making allegations against top leaders to defame them and challenged it to arrest UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and President Rahul Gandhi, Modi said his government was being criticised for “not putting (people) to jail”.

He said the country was not under Emergency and due process of law will be followed while continuing the attack on corruption.

“If you get bail, enjoy it,” he said in a veiled reference to Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.

Modi also accused the Congress leadership of not thinking “beyond family” and that only a few contributed to the national progress.

Challenging the Congress, he asked if it had praised late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee before 2004 or till 2014. “You did not praise Narasimha Rao, was the name of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh taken during the debate. They do not think outside the family,” he said.

“There are some people who feel only a few names contributed to national progress. They only want to hear those few names and ignore the others. We think differently, we feel each and every citizen has worked for India’s progress,” he said.

“You are riding high. I congratulate you. You can’t see properly from a height, people on the ground look small. We do not believe in being on a high. We believe in connecting with the grassroots,” he said.

He also used the anniversary of the imposition of Emergency to attack the Congress, saying it had killed the soul of the nation.

Referring to the Triple Talaq Bill, he said Congress can make up for two “missed opportunities” on the issue of women empowerment in the past.

“They first missed in 1950s when Uniform Civil Code was being debated and then after 35 years when Shah Bano case came up. Now is the third chance when they can support Triple Talaq Bill.

“There are reports that a Congress minister had said at the time when Shah Bano case was being debated in the country that ‘upliftment of Muslims is not the responsibility of the Congress, if they want to lie in gutter, let them be’,” Modi said and added that the members of the main minority community need to made part of country’s progress.

He targeted Congress over its criticism of `Make in India’ initiative, and said that China exports arms while India was world’s biggest arms importer.

Modi said the President’s Address is the voice of how the government will fulfill the aspirations of common people.

“Where do we want to take the country, how we intend to take it, what will be the priorities, we have tried to present a roadmap. “The great men of the country saw a dream of a powerful, prosperous, inclusive India. The demand of time, the expectation of people is that we do this with determination and with greater speed. In today’s global atmosphere, India should not lose this opportunity. We can remove all obstacles to meet the aspirations,” he said.

ANI

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United States Secretary of States, Michael Pompeo, arrived in India late on Tuesday for his first high-level engagement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA regime after Lok Sabha elections.

Pompeo will meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday when issues relating to oil imports from Iran and the S-400 missile deal with Russia are expected to come up.

The three-day visit of Pompeo comes amidst rising tensions between the US and Iran over fresh sanctions imposed on Tehran, an issue which is likely to come up for discussion between the two sides on Wednesday.

Following fresh US sanctions, Indian oil companies are also facing a tough time and many have reportedly stopped importing oil from Iran. Government sources, however, say that India will take any decision on the issue keeping its energy security and national interest in mind.

Diplomatic sources said there is no structured agenda and New Delhi is expected to urge for de-escalation of tensions between Washington and Tehran. They said there could be a discussion on the situation in the Persian Gulf region, which has a big Indian diaspora. (ANI)

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A BJP delegation on Tuesday submitted its report to party’s national president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the alleged killing of its workers and violence in Bhatpara in North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal.

The delegation was led by BJP Member of Parliament (MP) SS Ahluwalia and comprised of Satya Pal Singh and Vishnu Dayal Ram.

A three-member delegation led by Ahluwalia on June 22 arrived in Bhatpara in the wake of violent clashes between the BJP and TMC in the state.

Amid tight security, the three BJP leaders did a recee of the area, amid chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram.’

This came after two people were killed and several others were injured on June 20 after clashes broke out between two groups suspected to be affiliated to ruling TMC and the BJP in Bhatpara, which comes under the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency.

During the violence, the two groups hurled crude bombs at each other and gunshots were also fired. In response, police resorted to firing teargas shells to bring the situation under control.

Section 144 of the CrPC, which prohibits the assembly of more than four people, was promulgated in Bhatpara and Jagatdal police station areas to restore order in the localities.

Both TMC and BJP have blamed each other for the incident. (ANI)

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Blaming the post-poll conduct of the Samajwadi Party (SP), BSP chief Mayawati on Monday announced breaking of the alliance with SP in all future elections, marking the end of a brief coming together of the two in the Lok Sabha elections.

Making a terse announcement in a tweet, she referred to the bitter past between the two parties, an apparent reference to the Guest House incident in the mid-90s when Mayawati was attacked by SP men, she said she had forgotten old issues and concerns before tying up for the recent Lok Sabha polls.

“However, the conduct of SP after the Lok Sabha elections forces BSP to think whether it is possible to defeat the BJP by joining hands with the SP. It is not possible. Hence in the interest of the party and the movement, the BSP in future would contest every big and small election on its own,” Mayawati said in the tweet.

The latest development came a day after Mayawati chaired a meeting with her party office bearers, members, legislators and parliamentarians to chalk out the strategy for the upcoming by-election to 11 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh.

“It is well known the BSP had forgotten all issues and concerns it had with the SP. We sidelined our concerns about anti-Dalit and anti-BSP decisions of SP in 2012-17, the anti-reservation stance of SP and deteriorating law and situation under the SP rule just for the larger interest of the public and has respected the alliance dharma,” tweeted Mayawati on Monday.

Shortly after the conclusion of the Lok Sabha polls, Mayawati claimed that the SP’s voters did not support the alliance in the Lok Sabha elections. She had then announced that her party would fight the 11 Assembly by-elections in Uttar Pradesh alone. However, she had also said that this was not a “permanent break” from her alliance with the SP.

The BSP and the SP contested 38 parliamentary seats each out of 80 seats. However, the BSP could only secure 10 and SP 5 seats (ANI)

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Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Viral Acharya resigned six months before the scheduled end of his term, reports said on Monday, adding that Acharya will return to the New York University. 

Acharya took up his post on January 20, 2017 for a term of three years. He is the central bank’s youngest deputy governor post-economic liberalisation. His tenure was to end on January 20, 2020.

Reports speculated that Acharya will return to the New York University as CV Starr Professor of Economics.

During his tenure, Acharya advocated for RBI’s independence, saying that if the government does not respect its autonomy, it will incur the wrath of financial markets.

His resignation comes in the backdrop of economic growth slowing to 5.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018-19. It also comes ahead of the Union Budget 2019-20 in the Parliament on July 5.

In December last year, Urjit Patel had stepped down from the post of RBI governor following differences with the government.

(ANI)

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