LUCKNOW : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday announced a defence industrial corridor in the Bundelkhand region to bring development in one of the most backward regions of Uttar Pradesh. One of the two defence industrial corridors mentioned in the budget one is proposed in the Bundelkhand region of the state which will bring an investment of Rs 20 000 crore and generate employment avenues for 2.5 lakh people the Prime Minister said at the Investors Summit-2018 here. Read also: UP attracts investments worth Rs 4.28 lakh crore Yogi Adityanath says Stressing that Uttar Pradesh government has a vast potential the Prime Minister said that it requires policy planning performance to bring progress and both Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and people of the state are ready to give super hit performance. Terming holding of investor s summit in Uttar Pradesh and congregation of industrialists from all over as a sign of a big change the prime minister said the Yogi government has overcome the previous negativity and shown a ray of hope to people with positive changes. Uttar Pradesh signs 900 MoUs before start of investors summit Uttar Pradesh has values and virtues but it also needs value addition the prime minister said lauding the new policy One district one product of the Yogi government and said that it could prove to be the game changer for the state. The prime minister also said that international airports will come up in Jewar and Kushinagar.
By Subhadip Sircar The biggest holders of India s sovereign debt are dumping them. State lenders have been selling Rs 470 crore ( 73 million) of government bonds on average every day this year hurt by deep portfolio losses data from the Clearing Corp. of India show. Last year their net daily inflows totaled Rs 36.8 crore and in 2016 the run rate was at Rs 300 crore a day. Their sale in a market where there s a paucity of buyers is contributing to a vicious downward spiral where losses keep worsening. It will be difficult for debt auctions to sail through without participation from the state banks when Prime Minister Narendra Modi s new borrowing program begins in April according to Sandeep Bagla associate director at Trust Capital Services in Mumbai. State-run banks have reduced secondary market activity which is impacting volumes in a big way said Bagla. They are investing selectively in state government bonds but staying away from federal bonds. The average daily volumes on the central bank s trading system have dropped to Rs 30 700 crore since Jan. 1 from Rs 38 500 crore in 2017. Sovereign bonds in India have sold off for six consecutive months hurt by concerns of a wider government deficit and higher oil prices.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said 50% of the country s crop area would be covered under the crop insurance scheme by 2018-19. Currently 32% of the country s crop area is covered. He also said strengthening irrigation was a priority with focus on expanding micro-irrigation and completing 99 pending projects. He said 50 projects would be completed this year. Under the agri insurance scheme the government has reduced premiums and expanded the reach the Prime Minister said. In 2017-18 claims of Rs 11 000 crore was disbursed to farmers which is double than earlier the PM told farmers agri-scientists agro companies and economists on the concluding day of the twoday national conference Agriculture 2022 Doubling Farmers Income . We want to link more farmers to insurance schemes. We re working with a target that in 2018-19 at least we ll cover 50% of crops by insurance he said adding that the amount sanctioned for agriculture credit has been enhanced. He said 20 lakh hectares of farmland has so far been brought under micro-irrigation through the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana. We ll complete 50 project (out of the 99 project) this year and the rest next year. This was pending for 25-30 years which we are making efforts to finish in 25-30 months said the PM while adding that with each completed irrigation project the input cost of farmers would come down. He said the government was taking coordinated steps to improve the income of farmers. In this regard he mentioned four aspects: reducing input costs; ensuring a fair price for the produce; reducing wastage; and creating alternate sources of income.
MYSURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his entourage did not get accomodation at the iconic Hotel Lalitha Mahal Palace here as almost all rooms were booked for wedding reception its top official said on Monday. The district administration later made arrangements for them at another plush hotel in the city. An official from the deputy commissioner s office had visited us to book rooms for the prime minister and his staff including security personnel but we were not in a position to do so as most of the rooms were booked for a wedding reception the hotel General Manager Joseph Mathias told PTI. Modi s arrival here coincided with the wedding reception yesterday evening Mathias said. The three rooms that were available were not enough for them he said. Considering security reasons it was not advisable to book just three rooms for a big staff he added. However the district administration made alternative arrangements. Modi was accommodated at Hotel Radisson Blu where he stayed overnight and today. There too the hotel management was said to have advised a businessman s family to reschedule the wedding reception citing security issues so that it concluded before the prime minister arrived. Modi arrived here last night for engagements at Jain piligrim centre Shravanabelagola in Hassan district. His itinerary also included a South Western Railway function here and a public rally organised by the BJP in the run up to the Assembly polls in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today hard sold pro-farmer initiatives announced in his government s last full-year budget saying more agriculture credit and easy access to markets will help boost farm income. Addressing a conference on Doubling farm income by 2022 he said pulses production in the country has risen to 23 million tonnes from 17 million tonnes in just one year. Modi also mentioned about steps taken to lower cost of production improve productivity and take farm produce to markets by minimising wastage and said these measures will help in increasing farmers income. The prime minister also said that coating urea with neem has helped in enhancing efficiency of fertiliser and boosting productivity as also led to cost saving. Also soil health cards -- providing detailed analysis of state of soil and the crops it can support best -- have improved productivity he said adding that this has helped curb use of chemical fertiliser by 8 to 10 per cent and increase productivity by 5 to 6 per cent. Modi said as many as 99 irrigation schemes that had been stuck for 2-3 decades will be completed within a specified time-frame and Rs 80 000 crore has been allocated for the same. Half of these schemes would be completed by this year end and remaining in the next year he added. In the budget 2018-19 Operation Greens has been announced to augment farm supply chain that will help cultivation of tomato onion and potato he said. The prime minister said 22 000 rural markets would be upgraded so as to provide a market for farm produce within 5-15 km distance of production points. The government he said is also encouraging Farmer Producer Organisation. Also the provision for agri-credit has been raised to Rs 11 lakh crore from Rs 8 lakh crore. Promoting use of solar energy converting agriculture waste into wealth and economical use of crop residue will also help in doubling of farmers income by 2022 he said. With this in mind the government has also approved blending of up to 10 per cent sugarcane-extracted ethanol in petrol the prime minister added. Modi said as much as Rs 11 000-crore claims have been settled under the crop insurance scheme which is double of the past amount.
The British got A History of the English Speaking Peoples. The Germans got Mein Kampf. The Americans got Profiles in Courage. At one time India got The Discovery of India. And even The Insider.These days we get Exam Warriors. By Narendra Modi. That s how the title of books by the chief executives of various countries roll.The strangeWe start with Mantra 1: an exhortation to treat exams as festivals. Holi spreads cheer and forgiveness . ( Forgiveness ? Wasn t Holika burned while Prahlad survived? But no matter.) Similarly exams must spread something but what? Everyone needs to work out for themselves what the Festival of Exams represents to themselves. We then move from the vague to the clichéd. Your Exams Test Your Current Preparation Not You! Mantra 2 exclaims before retreating into a APJ Abdul Kalamesque anecdote of failing one exam and yet achieving a different kind of success. On turning the page the examinee is told to write a letter to his exam. Dear Exam I am not afraid of you because Right.The mood then changes from celebration to humour why we are not told. Examinees are encouraged to laugh your way into the exam hall and laugh out of it . Apparently laughing fosters relaxation and relaxation increases the ability to recall. Now research into the psychology of examination anxiety (of which there is a large body of scholarly work not mentioned in this book) indicates that in fact moderate trait anxiety correlates with higher final examination performance but we won t let actual research into the psychological basis of examination anxiety into this review. It might distract from the focus on laughing.From there we move into the frankly curious. When you go to visit a doctor or lawyer do you ask for his mark sheet? No you trust the doctor or lawyer. (I paraphrase). Does the writer seriously think that the public goes to see doctors or lawyers based on zero criteria regarding qualifications? Partial knowledge is more harmful than scoring low marks . One wants to retort that partial knowledge is what scores low marks but whatever.The strangerAnd then we come to the extraordinary sample timetable of an Exam Warrior. It is unclear whether this is a timetable for when an exam is looming or not but unless one is going to be an Exam Warrior all through the year (and this is not clear from the book) one should suppose that the timetable is for exam times. The Warrior spends 7 hours sleeping 1 hour watching TV 1 hour Drawing 1 hour 30 minutes on hobbies 1 hour 15 minutes on playing and most strange of all 1 hour on Getting Ready . Actual study time: 3 hours. There are not many exams in India that the average Janardan is going to get through with 3 hours of before-exam study (this is from personal experience of 24 years of taking exams and watching compatriots).Scattered throughout are all manner of bits and pieces of advice encapsulated in the most odd manner. Exam Warriors are advised to revise using Mind Maps . These should be made using pen and paper (OK got that not on a Samsung Note) but the paper should be oriented in Landscape mode (Why? I puzzled a little over why landscape mode until it struck me that Indian palm leaf manuscripts are generally written in landscape mode so that must be why). Then in the little homily on the necessity of sleep there is the flash of purple prose where I and me occur 15 times in 9 lines when the author informs us that he sleeps a mere 4-6 hours per day obviously essential knowledge for every Exam Warrior.The strangestLet there be no mistake examination anxiety is a very real and often crippling condition that affects a huge number of people especially in a country where successfully clearing an exam can set oneself up for life in an increasingly precarious job market. But this cheerful little book is not the one that answers those anxieties. Indeed this book validates our entire rote-learning based educational system that potential exam-takers school exams college admission tests public service exams have to negotiate. The unspoken assumption is that everything else with the educational system is fine the huge class sizes the demotivated teachers the footnote-learning the almost universal neglect of physical and sporting activity the absence of encouragement of critical thinking and independent thought. All that matters is the navigation of the exam fears and terrors of parents children relatives and even spouses and how an oracle is at hand to magic them away.Actually the book never really offers anything more than the trite bromides handed out by self-help books. There has obviously been considerable help provided by the Blue Kraft Digital Foundation. And then comes However the Exam Warrior who has diligently read the first half the first 100 pages of the book is now in for something of a shock. Incredibly the author is bored of the subject. The second half of the book (another 93 pages) wanders off into digressions which seem to have little relation to the subject of examinations. Chapter 21 is about Incredible India and the travel and exploration possible therein. Other chapters are about dreaming thanking tailors and cooks and drivers and conductors (Do they have examinations too? Who do they thank?) and nearly 50 pages of yogasanas to pad out the lack of coherent content.Whom is this book aimed at? Who will benefit and what will they learn? Well apart from the odd name dropping of Vivekananda and Sachin Tendulkar not much more than the routine exhortations to greater effort that they hear in their morning assemblies in school every day. There is no music no literature no schema for exploration of the unknown no historical or social context of the need for educational assessment beyond summative exam assessment. An Exam Warrior will not read the out-of-syllabus Mahabharata or Rabindranath Tagore or even a Kalidasa or THuiruvalluvar for the sheer pleasure of reading. He will not want to read the Origin of Species in the original to relive the spirit of adventure. What is also fascinating is that the book is not available free of cost.PSFinally in the process of preparing for exams Exam Warriors need to forget that their bodies are composed of elements according to the Periodic Table that reductionist nonsense peddled by Western thought polluters. Our Scriptures have taught us that our bodies are composed of the Panchamahabhoots the five elements of Prithvi Jal Vayu Akash and Agni. The rest of the world has moved on from Anaximander and Galen. Our Exam Warriors obviously do not need to.Exam Warriors Narendra Modi Penguin Books.
New Delhi: PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday expressed concern over what it termed as the crisis triggered in the banking industry following the fraud detected in state-run Punjab National Bank. The 1.77 billion (about Rs 11 400 crore) scam in PNB involves billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi allegedly acquiring fraudulent letters of undertaking (LoUs) from a branch in Mumbai to secure overseas credit from other Indian lenders. http://raceiq.us/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=user&id=1771403 In a statement PHD Chamber said it is surprised how the bank s internal audit system failed to detect anomalies in transactions leading to the alleged fraudulent loans given out to the borrowers. AP image. Blaming the systematic failure of the internal audit system President PHD Chamber Anil Khaitan said the current situation is worrying for Indian industry since it may lead to unnecessary tightening of norms and procedures in raising capital from banks. This will in turn hurt the positive sentiment generated in ease of doing business. The chamber also appealed to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the banking industry to ensure that genuine borrowers are not adversely impacted by this move. What seems like a failure of a bank s internal audit system and an isolated fraud as alleged should not be used to penalize genuine borrowers and their capital needs. The industry is on the threshold of a growth trajectory and any change in banking processes can have an adverse impact said Khaitan. The PHD Chamber feels that instead of making changes in the loan seeking mechanism stringent steps should be taken by the RBI to strengthen the banks internal audit procedures. It also appeals to the central bank to put in place technology driven norms and processes to ensure incidents like this one are not repeated and any loopholes in the system are plugged.
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