Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that Maharashtra will become the country s first trillion dollar economy. Speaking at the Magnetic Maharashtra Global Investors Summit in Mumbai PM Modi said Maharashtra s development was representative of the changes in the country.The BJP-led government s budget reforms have created a new work culture and are transforming the socio-economic landscape of the country PM Modi said at the event. Our budget is not limited to outlay its focus is on outcome. Our reforms in budget making and presentation have created a new work culture and are transforming the socio-economic landscape he said. We are moving in a direction where the state is policy driven governance is performance driven government is accountable and democracy is participative he said at the event in suburban Bandra. We are working in times of disruptions and discontent PM Modi added.In the last three and half years the government has transformed the country from being a fragile five nation to one now aspiring USD 5 trillion GDP he said.In the last three and half years the government has transformed the country from being a fragile five nation to one now aspiring for 5 trillion GDP he said.A country progresses only when it has a vision and works for inclusiveness PM Modi said. Potential policy planning and performance leads to progress. He said the government in the last three years has repealed 1 400 laws and the new ones are being written with the intent of simplification not to complicate (things).On investments he said there is a healthy competition among states to attract investments as per their strengths. What started with Gujarat is visible all across the country now. I congratulate Maharashtra government for the work on ease of doing business and making it easier for investors he said.The Samruddhi corridor between Mumbai and Nagpur will help boost agriculture and agriculture-based industries he said. CommentsClose X On the centre s development initiatives PM Modi said We will create 1.5 lakh wellness centres in bigger gram panchayats .Besides PM Modi said 10.5 crore people have been accepted under the MUDRA scheme and Rs 4.60 lakh crore has been disbursed to small businesses.
NEW DELHI: At a time when NDA partners are unhappy with BJP over a host of reasons Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his party s very DNA is democratic and it believes in taking all friends along since the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee s rule. Speaking at the inauguration programme of BJP s state-of-the-art headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg on Sunday Modi emphasised that BJP and its predecessor Jan Sangh have been involved in all movements aimed at protecting nationalism post-Independence. BJP s DNA is cent per cent democratic Modi said adding that all aspirations of the party are framed within the democratic ethos and underlined that these democratic values of BJP have been very useful in taking others along. In a multi-party system it was natural to have coalition politics. Joining hands or walking out for selfish reasons is different. But to take friends along a different attitude is required. Under the leadership of Atalji (then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee) a successful experiment of taking all partners along balancing regional aspirations and awakening a new hope was done. This experiment also succeeded under BJP s leadership Modi said. The fundamental reason for its success is that democracy is in our veins and we are moving ahead with this he added. The prime minister also referred to the role of some political parties during the freedom struggle and those formed after the Independence. He hailed Jan Sangh for espousing an ideology and thought with clarity and facing all obstacles and challenges in its path. We have never left those ideals and values. After Independence all movements of national interest having a nationalist and patriotic hue were led by Jan Sangh and BJP. We are proud of that. Our party is steeped in nationalism PM Modi said. He lauded the contribution of BJP veteran LK Advani among others to the growth of the organisation. BJP chief Amit Shah said the new headquarters is equipped to conduct video conferencing with all state and district offices of the party and telecast speeches and programmes of its senior leaders. The new headquarters spread over 1 70 000 square feet and having modern facilities has conference rooms plush office rooms for its office-bearers all the paraphernalia for the BJP IT Cell and its social media team.
Pakistan has billed India Rs 2.86 lakh as route navigation charges for Indian Air Force aircraft used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a stopover in Lahore and visits to Russia Afghanistan Iran and Qatar an RTI response shows. The data gathered by activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra through his RTI application show that till June 2016 Indian Air Force aircraft were used for the Prime Minister s visits to 11 countries--Nepal Bhutan Bangladesh Afghanistan Qatar Australia Pakistan Russia Iran Fiji and Singapore. Batra gave a copy of the RTI responses received from August last year to January 30 2018 to PTI. During one such visit on December 25 2015 Modi had a brief stopover in Lahore at the request of then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The stopover took place when Modi was returning from Russia and Afghanistan. For this a bill of Rs 1.49 lakh has been issued as route navigation charges records accessed under the RTI Act from the Indian High Commission in Pakistan show. Modi was received by Sharif with a warm hug at the tarmac of the Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore when he made the unexpected stopover on his way back home following a day-long trip to Afghanistan after concluding a two-day visit to Russia. Modi was accorded a red carpet welcome as the PM s special Indian Air Force Boeing 737 plane touched down at 4.50 pm. He then took a helicopter to Sharif s Raiwind palatial residence on the outskirts of Lahore to attend Sharif s birthday celebrations. A bill of Rs 77 215 was imposed as route navigation charges by Pakistani authorities when Modi used an IAF aircraft to visit Iran on May 22-23 2016 and Rs 59 215 when he visited Qatar on June 4-6 2016 the RTI response shows. For both visits he flew over Pakistan. The records were part of a response collected from various missions of India on the expenditure incurred on the visits of Modi on IAF aircraft between 2014 and 2016. According to the data collected a total of about Rs 2 crore has been spent on foreign visits of the Prime Minister during the period for the use of IAF aircraft. Generally an Air India aircraft is hired for the foreign visits of the VVIPs -- the President the Vice President and the Prime Minister -- for which the national carrier sends the bill. The bills for the Prime Minister s visits are borne by the External Affairs Ministry. The bills submitted by Indian missions in these countries include charges for fuelling ground handling airport charges dearness allowance paid to the staff hotel stay catering and mobile for the crew transport hiring captain s imprest and other charges.
By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: February 19 2018 9:04:14 am PM Narendra Modi will also address a rally in CM Siddaramaih s home district Mysore. (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal/File) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a rally and participate in various public functions during his visit to Karnataka on Monday. Modi who arrived in Mysore last night was received by CM Siddaramaiah. On Monday afternoon PM Modi will take a chopper ride to Shravanabelagola about 85 km north of Mysuru in Hassan district to take part in the anointing celebrations of Jain god Gomateshwara. He is also scheduled to inaugurate the Bahubali General Hospital built by the Jain Mutt. Later the Prime Minister will commission the electrified Mysuru-Bengaluru railway line and flag off the Humsafar Express train from Mysuru to Udaipur in Rajasthan. In the evening Modi will address a rally in CM Siddaramaih s home district Mysore. Modi s tour coincides with BJP chief Amit Shah who is also on a three-day visit to the state beginning today. This is PM Modi s second visit to the poll-bound state in a fortnight. Earlier on February 4 Modi had addressed a rally in Bengaluru to mark the culmination of the 90-day BJP yatra. Attacking the Congress on law and order and corruption in the state Modi said that Siddaramaiah government is recognised as 10 per cent government and is on its way out. PM Modi in Karnataka LIVE UPDATES: 9:04AM 19 Feb 18 Welcome Follow our live blog to track all the latest developments as Prime Minister Modi begins his visit to Karnataka IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd Tags: BJP Karnataka elections Narendra Modi
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the BJP s new headquarters on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg spread over 1.70 lakh square feet on Sunday in the presence of party chief Amit Shah former BJP chiefs several Union ministers and office-bearers. While Modi lauded Shah and his team for building the multi-storeyed three-tower HQ in 18 months the party chief said the building was bigger than the office of any political party in the world. He added that the new headquarters was fitted with the latest communication technologies and had a spacious social media office. The PM could address a state executive sitting here he said. Former party chiefs L K Advani Murli Manohar Joshi Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari besides Union minister Sushma Swaraj were on the dais at the event. Modi said the BJP and its forerunner Jana Sangh had since independence led all agitations in national interest adding that democracy was the party s core value which enabled it to take along allies successfully. The PM said Jana Sangh was founded because after independence a need was felt to have one or two more strong national parties. After independence Bharatiya Jana Sangh and then BJP led all agitations in national interest in the country. And we are proud of it he told the gathering. That is why BJP was dyed in the colour of patriotism and was always willing to struggle and sacrifice for the cause of the nation Modi said. At a time when some NDA allies have spoken about their differences with the BJP the PM recalled the work of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. Vajpayee was successful in taking allies along while navigating regional aspirations and sparking anew hope in the country Modi said adding The root cause for this is that democracy is in our blood. That is why we are moving ahead while taking everyone along to the best extent possible. The new building may be the work place for the party but its area of work should be the country s boundaries Modi said adding that party workers should be its soul. Shah said BJP was on course to have its office in almost every district of the country in a year s time. He said he had done his research and came to know that with an area of over 1.70 lakh sq feet the BJP office was the biggest of any political party in the world. The party and its crores of workers would work together to realise the PM s dream of a new India he said while paying tributes to departed party leaders andworkers.
By Amulya Ganguli For the Bharatiya Janata Party s supporters the growing belief that the party is no longer as favourably placed as before must be both bewildering and disheartening. They must be wondering what could have gone wrong when the BJP was looking forward to not only a comfortable victory in 2019 but was also planning to celebrate the 75th year of India s independence in 2022. The talk of a New India under the BJP s near-permanent control was in the air with both Nitish Kumar and Omar Abdullah from two opposite sides of the political spectrum saying that Narendra Modi faced no challenge. Yet the scene has changed. What is more it has happened so over a rather short period of time. Among the reasons for it may be the BJP s electoral setbacks in first the Chitrakoot assembly byelection in Madhya Pradesh in November last year the near-defeat it faced in the Gujarat assembly polls in the following month and finally the huge margins by which it recently lost three byelections in Rajasthan. Before these contests the successes of the Congress s student wing in the Delhi University and of a leftist union in the Jawaharlal Nehru University student union elections over the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) the saffron brotherhood s student wing were significant pointers to the emerging trends. The new scenario has now led to conjectures about a fall in the BJP s number of Lok Sabha seats to 200/220 from the present 282 in a House of 545. Since these figures have been mentioned by a saffron scribe it is obvious that assessments on these lines are currently on in the BJP. Another scribe has identified the absence of effective speakers other than Modi as one of the factors behind the BJP s slide in popularity. Perhaps one of the first to say openly that the Modi magic was fading was a Shiv Sena spokesperson who also noted the change in Rahul Gandhi s body language and his transformation into a credible leader. Not long after the Sena decided not to align with the BJP in 2019. BJP s old ally is not the only party to begin thinking of greener pastures. The Telugu Desam Party too has expressed its displeasure over the neglect of Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget. To forestall a rupture BJP has offered Shiv Sena 144 seats in Maharashtra in an assembly of 288 seats but the generous gesture is more indicative of the BJP s nervousness than of magnanimity. So what went wrong for a party which was riding high during the first three years of its tenure? First and foremost reason is its failure to usher in the promised achhe din or better days because of a sluggish economy. The scene might have been better but for the twin blows of demonetisation which dealt a blow to small businesses and the shambolic rolling out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which also unsettled the traders and businessmen. The second reason is the widespread rural distress which eroded the BJP s influence in Gujarat. As a party essentially of urban lower middle class areas the BJP s connection with the countryside has never been very strong. In its Jan Sangh days the party once even forgot to adopt a resolution on agriculture till the lapse was noticed at the last minute. Modi is now said to have sought the advice of farming experts to reach out to the cultivators. But the move is unlikely to pay immediate political dividends. To compound the BJP s problems the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) the Sangh Parivar s labour wing has raised the red flag over the disappointing Union Budget. Another explanation for the BJP s woes is undoubtedly the inability to control the saffron goons who have been running amok to impose their diktats on diet inter-faith romance and film scripts among other things. The rampages of the cow vigilantes have hit the meat and leather industries and resulted in ageing cows being let loose by their owners to roam the countryside and city streets to forage on their own. Hence the proposal to impose a fine on the guilty owners. The result is the prevalence of an atmosphere of intolerance of the kind which made a section of the intelligentsia return the awards which they had once won in protest against the deteriorating state of affairs in the country. Perhaps the BJP s only solace at the moment is that its opponents haven t been able to get their act together. Moreover the fissures in their ranks are palpable with a rift in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) over whether to align with the Congress in an anti-BJP front and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) teaming up with the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka on the eve of the assembly elections. There are also said to be reservations among the senior opposition leaders about accepting Rahul Gandhi as the leader of an alliance. Karnataka will be the next big electoral battle for the BJP. If it can dislodge the ruling Congress in the state it will be able to brush aside the party s setbacks in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Otherwise the road to 2019 will seem steeper. (Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)
Mumbai: The road ahead for artificial intelligence (AI) depended on and would be driven by human intentions Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Mumbai on Sunday. He was speaking after dedicating the Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence in suburban Kalina to the nation. It is our intention that will determine outcomes of AI Modi said. With every technological revolution the scalability of technology has increased manifold. This has given humans increasingly more power he said. The march of technology can t be at the expense of further increasing the difference in society he added. File image of Narendra Modi. AP The evolution of technology has to be rooted in the ethics of Sab ka saath Sab ka vikas . We need to make AI in India and it should work for India Modi said. The road ahead for artificial intelligence depends on and will be driven by human intentions. It is our intention that will determine outcomes of AI he said. We are using technology in an unparalleled way from aeronautics to agriculture and from space missions to service deliveries Modi said. He pointed out the diversity in the country while dwelling on the use of artificial intelligence. We are such a diverse nation of hundreds of languages and hundreds https://profiles.wordpress.org/kfckk/ of dialects can we have AI that makes communication and conversation across these languages and dialects easier? I am sure we can he said. With the arrival of artificial intelligence there is no doubt that productivity will go up. But there are also rising fears of human redundancy because there is a competition between the mind and the machine he said. Such fears are neither unfounded nor new. At every stage of technological evolution we have faced such doubts and questions. This leads to two views of the future. The first brings hopes and aspirations and second brings fears and disruption he said. On Maharashtra government and Mumbai University helping set up the institute for artificial intelligence Modi said it was an excellent example of public-private sector cooperation. The institute has ten scientists working at present and their number will go up to 50-100 in a few years. Initial investment (in the project) is Rs 200 crore said Romesh Wadhwani co-founder of the institute.
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