Month: October 2021

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a rousing welcome from Indian diaspora on Friday when he reached Piazza Gandhi in Rome to pay floral tributes to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

Soon as the PM’s cavalcade entered the premises, chants of PM’s name reverberated in the surroundings.
Excited to have a close glimpse of PM Modi and a chance to shake hands, Indian diaspora members travelled overnight to have this opportunity of meeting the PM in the foreign land.

PM Modi after paying floral tribute to Gandhi met the Indian disapora members waiting to have a quick word with the leader.

“In Rome, I had the opportunity to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi, whose ideals give courage and inspiration to millions globally,” PM Modi tweeted after paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi.

A yoga guru, Hariom Kalia, along with his three students recited Shiv Stuti that brought smile to the PM’s face.

Hariom Kalia, who has been practising Yoga in Italy for more than 20 years told PM Modi that he hails from Nagpur.

Pm Modi interacted with Kalia in Marathi. Also, responded in Gujarati to a woman who asked him as to how he is doing.

Moving on to another set of supporters, PM Modi waved and the crowd started raising slogans like “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Modi, Modi”.

Vishwanath Valluri who has roots in Andhra Pradesh and is now working for the European Space Agency, told ANI that he is excited and do not have words to express the joy of meeting the PM.

“I am very excited to see PM Modi. Overall he is rebranding India’s name, through the G20 summit our voice will be heard. We felt happy and delighted to get a chance to meet our beloved leader,” he said.

Satish Kumar Joshi, Convenor, Overseas Friends of BJP said that it is a great opportunity for both Italy and India to strengthen their relationship.

“We are very proud. After several years, an Indian leader has arrived here in Italy. PM Modi is the world’s leader. Since he has assumed office in 2014, he has delivered what he promised,” he said. (ANI)

Ahead of the G20 Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a joint meeting with Charles Michel, President of the European Council and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission in Rome.

PM Narendra Modi arrived in Italy on Friday to participate in the two-day Summit. He is likely to hold several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.
Apart from attending the summit, which has its focus on the global economy, health, sustainable development, environment and climate change, there are likely to be meeting with heads of several states.

Sources claimed that there are at least three such meets lined up on the sidelines on the first day of the Summit. PM Modi will use this opportunity to ensure greater cooperation from the nation’s participating in the G20 summit.

Upon his arrival, PM Modi said that he is also looking forward to other engagements during this visit.

“Landed in Rome to take part in the @g20org Summit, an important forum to deliberate on key global issues. I also look forward to other programmes through this visit to Rome,” PM Modi tweeted.

PM Modi is expected to be hosted at the residence of the Italian PM in the evening. On October 30, the Prime Minister is scheduled to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican early morning and will attend the G20 summit that has “Global Economy and Global Health” as the first session.

The same day, Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to have a meeting with President of France Emmanuel Macron and a meeting with the President of Indonesia Joko Widodo. PM Modi is expected to have a meeting with Singapore PM Lee Hosein Loong as well.

The next day, the Prime Minister is expected to have a meeting with Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the G20 summit. (ANI)

Underling the importance of Uttar Pradesh in national politics, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday called on the electorate in the state that if they wanted to see Narendra Modi as Prime Minister again in 2024, then they have to ensure that Yogi Adityanath is elected as the Chief Minister again in 2022.

While addressing the launch of ‘Mera Parivaar-BJP Parivaar’ membership drive, Shah said, “If you want to make Modi PM again in 2024, make Yogi the CM again in 2022. We will make UP the number one state. Without UP there cannot be a government at the Centre and the credit of the Narendra Modi governments in 2014 and 2019 goes completely to people of Uttar Pradesh.”
The Union Home Minister said that the BJP government had fulfilled 90 per cent of promises made in the 2017 manifesto and the remaining 10 per cent would also be completed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the next two months.

“Today I can proudly say that Yogi ji and his team have fulfilled 90 per cent of the promises that we made in our 2017 manifesto. I want to say to Yogi ji to march towards 100 per cent target in upcoming months so that people can believe that BJP fulfils whatever it says,” said the home minister.

Shah further expressed confidence that the BJP would cross the mark of 300 seats in 2022 and Adityanath would return to power.

Speaking about Ayodhya’s Ram Janmbhoomi Temple, Shah pointed out, “Did anyone even imagine there will be a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and reminded Samajwadi leader Akhilesh Yadav of his jibe, ‘Mandir wahin baneyenge, tithi nahi batayenge’.”

Further slamming the Opposition parties, he said that for many years the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) game happened which resulted in the destruction of Uttar Pradesh. “Seeing the law and order situation of UP, my blood used to boil. From west UP people were migrating. But now, no one can dare to make anyone migrate. Today, there are no Bahubalis. This change is because of the BJP government,” he said.

He further said that unlike the opposition we have proved that Bharatiya Janata Party governments work for the poorest of the poor.

Uttar Pradesh is set to go to the polls next year.

In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP won a landslide of 312 Assembly seats and secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly. Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress bagged seven seats. (ANI)

Ahead of the 2022 assembly polls, Bollywood actress Nafisa Ali and Mrinalini Deshprabhu on Friday joined Trinamool Congress (TMC) in presence of West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee.

“We are elated to share that Nafisa Ali and Mrinalini Deshprabhu have joined the Goa Trinamool Congress family today in the presence of our Hon’ble Chairperson @MamataOfficial. We wholeheartedly welcome both leaders!,” tweeted TMC.
West Bengal Chief Minister is in Goa and expected to interact with party workers and the fishermen community there.

Later, during the evening, Banerjee will visit Mangueshi Temple at 3:30 pm in Priol, Ponda. She will also visit Shri Mahalsa Narayani Temple at 04:00 pm in Mardol, Ponda. Further, Banerjee will visit to Tapobhoomi Temple at 04:30 pm in Kundaim, Ponda.

Concluding the day, Mamata Banerjee will interact with Civil Society Members at 05:45 pm in International Centre Goa.

On October 24, 300 people have joined the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) in three different events that took place in the Panaji, Navelim and Sanguem area of Goa, as per the press note released by the party.

“The entire block-level leadership of Congress party, including President Conceicao Peixote and over 170 workers, joined the Goa TMC in the presence of TMC National Vice-President Luizinho Faleiro in Navelim on Saturday,” reads the release.

As per the release on the same day, a senior Congressman from St Cruz joined the party in the presence of West Bengal Minister of State Shri Manas Ranjan Bhunia and Goa Trinamool Congress leaders Shri Yatish Naik and Shri Mario Pinto in Panaji.

Similarly, over 150 people including the Sarpanch and four Panchs of Molcornem Panchayat joined the party in the presence of TMC’s Parliamentary leader in Rajya Sabha, Shri Derek O’Brien and independent MLA from Sanguem Shri Prasad Gaonkar in Sanguem.

Goa Assembly has a strength of 40 members out of which BJP currently has 17 legislators and enjoys the support of legislators from Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), Vijay Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and three independents. GFP and MGP each have three MLAs.

Congress, on the other hand, has 15 MLAs in the house. (ANI)

After almost 11 months of being blocked due to the farmers’ agitation against Central farm laws, Delhi Police has started removing barricades and cemented blocks put up at the Gazipur and Tikri borders.

The stretch was shut for over 11 months ever since the farmers’ agitation started and had been inconveniencing commuters.
The process of opening the roads has been started from one side of the carriageway for vehicles going from Gaziabad to New Delhi at the Gazipur border.

At Gazipur, Delhi Police initiated the action early today and removed all the barricades and barbed wires to open the roads.

The Delhi Police yesterday started the process of removing barricades placed at the Tikri border allowing traffic movement from New Delhi to Haryana.

The barricades were placed in the wake of the January 26 violence during the farmers’ protest.

Thousands of protestors broke barricades to enter Delhi and indulged in vandalism across several parts of the national capital during their tractor rally organised to protest against the Centre’s three new farm laws on January 26 this year.

Police personnel at the spot said, “The barricades are being removed, the route is being opened. We have received the orders.”

Dependra Pathak, Special CP Law and Order said that in a short while the Gazipur, border will be opened for commuters.

“It’s the Delhi Police initiative and we are removing the block which we’ve placed. We will request farmers so that this highway is opened for people. We are hoping our gesture will be reciprocated by farmers,” said Pathak.

DCP East Priyanka Kashyap confirmed the developments and said the stretch will be opened for vehicular traffic soon.

“The barricades were put up on January 26 to maintain law and order in the border areas but now it is being removed. It is NH9, we are opening that. NH 24 will also be opened,” said Kashyap.

Meanwhile, the barricades and cemented blocks have still not been removed from the Singhu border and the road remains closed for commuters.

The farmers’ unions, however, said their protests will continue and that they were not the ones who blocked the roads in the first place.

The police had placed barricades on the roads, along with giant nails and huge concrete blocks, when farmers converged on various border crossing points around the capital in November last year to protest against the Centre’s three agricultural laws.

Earlier on October 21, the Supreme Court said that farmers have the right to protest but roads cannot be blocked indefinitely. This came while hearing a plea against the blockade of roads between Delhi to Noida due to farmers’ protests against the three agriculture laws.

Farmers have been protesting at different sites since November 26 last year against the three enacted farm laws: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (local time) arrived in Rome, where he is scheduled to attend the G20 Summit.

Prime Minister Modi will pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his first day of arrival in Rome. He will also call on Pope Francis in the Vatican during his two-day visit.
The Prime Minister is visiting Rome on the invitation of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

He will be in Glasgow, United Kingdom, on November 1 and 2 for the COP26 meeting at the invitation of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

In Rome, the Prime Minister will join other G20 Leaders during the 16th summit in discussions on global economic and health recovery from the pandemic, sustainable development, and climate change.

“This will be the first in-person Summit of the G20 since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 and will allow us to take stock of the current global situation and exchange ideas on how the G20 can be an engine for strengthening economic resilience and building back inclusively and sustainably from the pandemic,” the PMO said.

On the sidelines of the G20 Summit, the Prime Minister will also meet leaders of other partner countries and review the progress in India’s bilateral relations with them.

In Glasgow, the Prime Minister will participate in the high-level segment of COP-26 titled ‘World Leaders’ Summit’ (WLS) on November 1,2 along with 120 heads of states and governments from around the world. (ANI)

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday arrived in Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur to meet the kin of a farmer who died while waiting to purchase fertiliser.

According to sources, Vadra to go to Lalitpur in Bundelkhand to meet the families of farmers who had died recently.
The Congress leader also claimed that the “Bundelkhand region of UP is facing a severe shortage of fertiliser”.

“Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi reached Lalitpur. Will soon visit the affected farmer families. There is a severe shortage of fertilizers in the entire Bundelkhand including Lalitpur. Our “annadaata” our dying back to back,” tweeted Ajay Kumar Lallu, Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief.

Earlier on Thursday, the Congress leader interacted with her ‘coolie brothers’ or porters at Charbagh railway station in Lucknow.

During the interaction, the porters told Vadra about the problems related to their livelihood and the economic blow they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Priyanka Gandhi is currently the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee in charge of Uttar Pradesh.

This development comes ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled to be held in 2022. (ANI)

President Ram Nath Kovind will inaugurate a housing scheme for economically weaker sections (EWS) at Bhavnagar today.

The President will also visit Shree Chitrakutdham Ashram today.
A press release issued by the President’s secretariat on Wednesday said, “The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind will visit Gujarat from October 28 to 30, 2021. On October 29, 2021, the President will inaugurate a Housing Scheme Project for the Economically Weaker Section at Bhavnagar. He will also visit Shree Chitrakutdham, Ashram of Morari Babu at Talgajarda in Bhavnagar district.”

Gujarat assembly elections are expected to be held in 2022. In the 2017 state election, the BJP won 99 of the state’s 182 Assembly seats, Congress got 77 seats. (ANI)

By Shalini Bhardwaj

Centre’s mega COVID-19 vaccination campaign ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ will be launched on November 2 on the occasion of Dhanwantari Diwas, informed the official sources. The month-long door-to-door vaccination campaign is aimed towards full vaccination in poor-performing districts.

After a review COVID-19 meeting with the Health Minister’s of states and UTs on Wednesday, the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed the media about the ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign to ramp up vaccination.

“We are going to launch a mega vaccination campaign ‘Har Ghar Dastak’. We have decided that for the next one month, healthcare workers will go door-to-door to vaccinate people eligible for the second dose and also those who have not taken the first dose,” said Mandaviya.

According to the Union Minister, 77 per cent of the eligible population in India has been vaccinated against COVID with the first dose while 32 per cent of people have received both doses.

“More than 10 crores people have not taken the second dose of vaccine. People who are eligible for the second dose should take the vaccine,” he added.

Highlighting the need to accelerate the pace and coverage of vaccination, he stated that there are more than 10.34 crore people in the country who have not taken the second dose after the prescribed interval.

As many countries report a high number of Covid-19 cases, the ramping of vaccination drive in India to reduce severity becomes crucial. (ANI)

New COVID-19 cases and deaths worldwide are rising again for the first time in two months on account of renewed spread in Europe, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), said on Thursday.

“The global number of reported cases and deaths from COVID-19 is now increasing for the first time in 2 months, driven by an ongoing increase in Europe,” Tedros said at a virtual press conference on the latest global developments of COVID-19.

As for 12:40 GMT Thursday, WHO reported 244,897,177 COVID-19 cases, including 4,970,429 deaths. In comparison, on October 11, the number of registered COVID-19 cases was estimated at 240,307,120 with 4,893,877 deaths. (ANI/Sputnik)