Month: January 2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday paid floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in New Delhi on the 74th death anniversary of the father of the nation.

“Remembering Bapu on his Punya Tithi. It is our collective endeavour to further popularise his noble ideals. Today, on Martyrs’ Day, paying homage to all the greats who courageously safeguarded our nation. Their service and bravery will always be remembered,” PM Modi tweeted earlier in the day.
India observes Martyrs’ Day every year on January 30 to mark the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and to honour his contribution towards the freedom of the country.

On January 30, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse at Gandhi Smriti in Birla house.

According to the directions of the central government, two minutes of silence is observed in all states and Union Territories on January 30. (ANI)

Former cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar on Sunday said that the Maharashtra Open will be a great opportunity for all the tennis aspirants to watch the ATP 250 event taking place in India.

2022 Maharashtra Open will be held at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune from January 31 to February 6.
“As a tennis enthusiast, I know many like me will be excited for the upcoming, #MaharashtraOpen. It will be a great opportunity for all the Indian aspirants & tennis lovers to watch the ATP 250 event taking place in India,” tweeted Sachin.

Star Indian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan has been seeded second in the doubles main draw at the 2022 Maharashtra Open.

As the draws were revealed on Saturday, the in-form Indian pair, who recently clinched an ATP title in Adelaide, will kickstart its campaign against the experienced American pair of Jamie Cerretani and Nicolas Monroe.

The Aussie duo of Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith has been handed the top seeding in the doubles main draw, wherein 16 pairs will battle it out for the title of South Asia’s only ATP 250 event, which is organised by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association and sponsored by the Tata Group.

Apart from Bopanna and Ramkumar, two more Indian pairs will be seen in action in the doubles as Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan, and Arjun Kadhe and Purav Raja have received wildcards. (ANI)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will visit Chhattisgarh’s Raipur on February 3 to release the first instalment of ‘Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Bhumiheen Krishi Mazduur Yojana’ in the state.

Under this scheme, the Chhattisgarh government will give annual financial aid of Rs 6,000 to rural landless families. The registration for the scheme was started last year in September.
Taking to Twitter, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said, “Rahul Gandhi will visit Chhattisgarh on February 3 after state government invited him. On this occasion, he will release the first instalment of “Rajiv Gandhi Bhumiless Krishi Mazdoor Nyay Yojana” and lay the foundation stone of ‘Gandhi Sevagram’.”

The event will be held at Rajyotsav Ground.

The Wayanad MP will also attend the foundation laying ceremony of a ‘Sevagram’ being built in Nava Raipur during his visit to the state.

“The heroic stories of our martyrs are an inspiration for our generations. Rahul Gandhi ji will lay the foundation of “Amar Jawan Jyoti” in Chhattisgarh on February 3. This will be a true tribute to the soldiers of India,” the Chief Minister further said in a tweet. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday expressed his condolences on the demise of Sardar Iqbal Singh Lalpura and said “he will be remembered for his efforts to spread education among youngsters.”

Taking to Twitter, the Prime Minister wrote “Pained by the passing away of Baba Iqbal Singh. He will be remembered for his efforts to increase education among youngsters.”
“He tirelessly worked towards furthering social empowerment. My thoughts are with his family and admirers in this sad hour. May Waheguru blesses his soul,” PM Modi said in a tweet.

Former IPS officer from Punjab, Sardar Iqbal Singh Lalpura took charge as the Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities in September 2021.

Lalpura was the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party from Punjab before taking over as Chairman of the Commission. (ANI)

Martial musical tunes with Indian fervour flowed at Raisina Hill here as the Beating the Retreat ceremony commenced with synchronised performances of bands of the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi received President Ram Nath Kovind ahead of the ceremony. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh welcomed the Prime Minister at the event.
In a first, a grand drone show will dazzle the sky above the national capital during this year’s Beating the Retreat ceremony.

A total of 26 performances will enthral the spectators with foot-tapping music by the bands. (ANI)

While Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team are busy giving the final touch to the Union Budget 2022, the Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation has said that this year focus of the Budget will be on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Export oriented.
In an interview with ANI, FIEO President A Sakthivel said that Indian exports are on the upswing and we are within the range of reaching the milestone of $400 billion during the current fiscal year. The order booking position of exporters across sectors is extremely encouraging, assuring us of continuing on the growth trajectory next fiscal as well. However, the logistics and a few challenges are of grave concern to them. Shortage of containers, abnormal increase in freight, and space constraints on ships are impacting our exports.

Sakthivel suggested that container manufacturing should be encouraged more so as we are also pushing coastal shipping in our country. A Production Linked Incentive (PLI) kind of scheme for container manufacturing can come in handy to encourage domestic manufacturing of containers addressing some cost disadvantages. We also need to develop an Indian shipping line of global repute. We may be remitting over $75 billion or more as freight charges this year. An Indian shipping line, which gets 25 per cent of this business can save $17-20 billion on a recurring basis annually, he said.

Sakthivel urged Finance Minister to encourage MSMEs by providing a double tax deduction for overseas marketing so that for example for every $1000 spent on global marketing, $2000 may be provided as tax deductions under the income tax for specified kinds of overseas marketing for market exploration, market penetration, and market promotion. FIEO also suggested to extend The Emergency Credit Linked Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for one more year and

Interest Equalisation Scheme (IES) requires extension with effect from 1st October 2021 at least for 3 years. FIEO President highlighted the urgent need for R&D and product development to sustained exports. 200-300 per cent tax deductions may be provided on investment in R&D and product development for a long-term exports strategy to increase value addition and diversify the exports base as well.

Shakthivel said that in Budget we need to provide a higher budget for agri exports more so for the Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) Scheme and backward and forward linkages in the agri sector.

Sakthivel said that another sector is Services where govt needs to focus. The services sector is not getting any support as SEIS benefits are also no longer available. The travel & tourism sector has been hit heavily due to pandemic and needs to be given encouragement. Mode-2 of services (service provided to a Foreign national in India paid in free foreign currency) have neither been provided exemption from IGST nor refund of the accumulated input tax credit.

“While we appreciate the new provision incorporated under Section 15 of IGST Act providing the refund of IGST on the supply of goods to tourists leaving India at the International airports, it is equally necessary that no taxes are imposed on the services being provided to them during their stay in India. The travel tourism sector including hotel and hospitality is already burdened with high taxation and tourists are preferring South East Asian countries,” he added.

Tourism has one of the highest capital employment ratios and therefore, refund of IGST/ITC facility to Mode-2 of services will go a long way in providing competitiveness to the sector and helping the country to take its tourism earning to $100 billion in the next 5 years, he said. (ANI)

Congress on Saturday once again put up strong allegations on the Central government on the issue of Pegasus Software Purchase stating that the Modi government deployed it for snooping and spying upon Rahul Gandhi and his staff members.

“The shocking new expose in an international publication has now confirmed what the Indian National Congress has long asserted – “The Modi Government is the deployer and executor of the illegal and unconstitutional snooping and spying racket through Israeli surveillance spyware Pegasus and the Prime Minister PM Modi Modi is himself involved!,” said Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewalaa while addressing a press conference here in Delhi.
“This is a brazen ‘Hijack of Democracy’ and ‘An Act of Treason’, said Congress.

Surjewala also said that the five damning truths about the Pegasus purchase software are now clear by adding “Modi Government purchased Pegasus Spyware in 2017 and other military technology as the “centrepieces” of a package including “weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly USD 2 billion” from Israel during PM Modi’s visit.

He also alleged that it is not a coincidence that the Budget of the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) reporting to NSA went up from Rs 33 crore to Rs 333 crore in 2017-18.

The Congress leader asserted that the spyware Pegasus not only breaches Whatsapp and phone but is also able to turn over the cellphones camera and microphone to capture all activities in the vicinity of the phone, besides hacking all the security features of the phone and can also plant fake material into the cellphone to falsely incriminate people.

Continuing his allegations on Modi Government over the issue, he said that it deployed Pegasus spyware for snooping and spying upon Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his staff members (former PM Deve Gowda, former Chief Ministers – Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy), former BJP Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia; BJP Cabinet Minister Prahlad Singh Patel, his wife and staff, former head of VHP and others.

In addition, Supreme Court judges, Election Commission of India, CBI Director Alok Verma and his wife and family, advocates, activists and even journalists of prominent media organisations and many others were also targeted by Pegasus, he added.

Surjewala also alleged that the Modi Government duped and deceived Parliament.

He also alleged that the Ministry of Home Affairs also deceived the people of India by denying the purchase of Pegasus in response to an RTI query.

“Defence Minister and Defence Ministry also on record misled the Parliament and the people by denying purchase of Pegasus spyware from NSO. The BJP machinery engaged in a massive and coordinated strategy to dupe and betray the Indian public,” he said.

Modi government misled the Supreme Court which directly questioned it on the purchase and use of the questionable software.

In July 2021, names of several Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi and over 40 Indian journalists appeared on the leaked list of potential targets for surveillance by an unidentified agency using Pegasus spyware, according to a report published in The Wire.

However, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav had attacked the reports of India’s Pegasus use as “baseless” and “highly sensational”.

Later, journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, SNM Abdi, Prem Shankar Jha, Rupesh Kumar Singh, and Ipsa Shatakshi, who are reported to be on the potential list of snoop targets of Pegasus spyware, had also approached the Supreme Court along with The Editors Guild of India (EGI) among others.

The Supreme Court, had in October last year, formed a three-member committee to oversee a technical committee comprising three members, including those who are experts in cyber security, digital forensics, networks, and hardware, which will probe Pegasus spyware case. (ANI)

Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday challenged Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) Bikram Singh Majithia to contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly poll only from the Amritsar East constituency.

The SAD has fielded former Punjab Minister Majithia from Amritsar East as well as from Majitha constituencies.
Talking to reporters after filing his nomination papers from Amritsar East, Sidhu said, “If you (Bikram Singh Majithia) have guts then leave Majitha and contest elections only from the Amritsar East.”

Speaking to ANI after filing his nomination, Sidhu said, “I don’t want to turn “Loktantra (democracy) into Dandatantra” (force)…This city had, has, and will continue to have its faith in the Congress.”

Sidhu is the sitting MLA from the seat.

Punjab will go to assembly polls on February 20 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10. (ANI)

A day after the Union Budget is tabled in the Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers across the country virtually on February 2 at about 11 AM, sources said.

Sources privy to the development told ANI that the Prime Minister will speak about the Union Budget 2022 during his address.
The preparations for the same are underway. It is being said that LED screens will be set up across several districts in the country for people to listen to the Prime Minister’s address.

Sources say that the Prime Minister is expected to highlight that the Central government is working towards the welfare for all cutting across sections of society and the Union budget is a reflection of that commitment.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting the Union Budget on February 1.

PM Modi’s address comes at a time when five states are going to polls next month.

Uttar Pradesh is going for seven-phase assembly election from February 10, Manipur to go for two-phase election from February 27 and Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand to face elections on February 14.

The polling in Manipur on February 27 and March 3 will coincide with the fifth and sixth phase of Uttar Pradesh election. The counting of votes in all states will take place on March 10. (ANI)