Ananth Kumar challenges Rahul Gandhi for open debate on black money

Agencies
November 9, 2017

Hyderabad, Nov 9: Union minister Ananth Kumar on Wednesday challenged Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for an open debate on the issue of black money and alleged that scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore had taken place during the UPA rule.

"The Congress is synonymous with black money, corruption and scams," the Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister alleged while talking to reporters on Wednesday evening.

He alleged that scams like 2G spectrum auction, coal block allocation, and the chopper deal, among others, collectively worth Rs 12 lakh crore, had taken place during the 10-year rule of the UPA government between 2004 and 2014.

"Today, Rahul baba is touring Gujarat... He is seen only in Gujarat (campaigning) and there he is speaking about demonetisation and GST. I challenge Shri Rahul Gandhi to come for an open debate and open discussion on the issue of black money, on the issue of 10 years of scams and corruption of the UPA government," Kumar said.

"I will not say the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh... but it was led by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi because they were guiding and dictating it and indulged in scams of Rs 12 lakh crore which is all black money," the minister said.

Kumar, a BJP MP from Bengaluru, said that on 8 November last year the Modi government took a historic decision against black money in the country by way of demonetisation. "People who have lost black money are observing 'black day'," he said.

The minister said that around 1.5 lakh people deposited over Rs 4.92 lakh crore during the demonetisation, which is one-third of total cash/currency deposited. "How come such a small section amass such huge unaccounted money," he asked.

According to him, in the last one year (post-demonetisation) the stone pelting incidents in Kashmir came down to 639 from 2,683 reported during November 2015 to November 2016. Similarly, Left-wing extremism incidents decreased post-note ban and came down to 831 from 1,071 during the same period.

The Modi government has closed around 2.24 lakh shell companies in the last one year, which were having a huge number of bank accounts, he said, adding that 58,000 bank accounts belonging to 35,000 companies revealed that they deposited Rs 17,000 crore and also withdrew Rs 17,000 crore and now all of them are under the net.

"I want to ask Sonia, Rahul and P Chidambaram... why didn't he (Chidambaram) do in the 10 years of the UPA rule what Narendra bhai did in one year. Why didn't he close so many fake companies... why he did not reduce high demonetisation currency... why he did not take action against fake accounts... the questions are there. Because they wanted to hide those 12 lakh crore of scam and corruption," Kumar said.

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News Network
February 6,2020

Beijing, Feb 6: The number of confirmed fatalities from China's coronavirus outbreak rose to at least 560, after authorities in hardest-hit Hubei province reported 70 new deaths on February 6.

In its daily update, the health commission in Hubei also confirmed the number of confirmed infections in the outbreak has reached 28,018 nationwide with 3,694 new cases reported.

The epidemic, which has spiralled into a global health emergency, is believed to have emerged in December from a market that sold wild game in Hubei's capital Wuhan.

Hu Lishan, an official in Wuhan, warned Wednesday that despite building a hospital from scratch and converting public buildings to accommodate thousands of extra patients, there was still a "severe" lack of beds in the region.

There was also a shortage of "equipment and materials," he told reporters, adding that officials were looking to convert other hotels and schools in the city into treatment centres.

Authorities in several other cities in China have placed restrictions on the number of people allowed to leave their homes.

Global concerns have also risen about the virus, with cases confirmed in more than 20 countries.

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News Network
May 27,2020

Mumbai, May 27: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday ordered re investigation by the CID into the suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer and his mother, allegedly over non-payment of dues by TV journalist Arnab Goswami and two others.

State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said he ordered re investigation after Adnya Naik, daughter of interior designer Anvay Naik, claimed that Alibag Police in neighbouring Raigad district did not probe the non-payment of dues which had driven her father and grandmother to suicide.

"Adnya Naik had complained to me that #AlibaugPolice had not investigated non-payment of dues from #ArnabGoswami's @republic which drove her entrepreneur father & grandmom to suicide in May 2018," Deshmukh tweeted.

"I've ordered a CID re-investigation of the case," the minister, an NCP leader, added.

He also used the hashtag "Maharashtra government cares" while sharing the tweet. Earlier this month, the police registered an abetment of suicide case against Republic TV editor-in-chief Goswami and two others.

The suicide note purportedly written by Anvay Naik, managing director of Concorde Designs Private Limited, said he was forced to take his life as he was not paid dues of Rs 5.40 crore by the three accused.

Republic TV denied the allegation and said that certain vested interest groups were running "a false and malicious campaign and making false statements and innuendos against the company by exploiting the tragic event".

Mumbai Police are also conducting a probe against Goswami over his statements about the Palghar lynching case of April this year.

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Agencies
February 16,2020

New Delhi, Feb 16: Despite the fact that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) managed to clean sweep in the recently-concluded 2020 Delhi Assembly polls with eight women candidates winning, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's new cabinet does not have a single woman.

This, even as eight AAP women candidates -- Atishi Marlena, Rakhi Birla, Raj Kumari Dhillon, Preeti Tomar, Dhanwati Chandela, Parmila Tokas, Bhavna Gaur and Bandana Kumari emerged victorious in the 2020 Assembly polls.

Also, AAP's poll campaign had put the spotlight on women's issues- free bus rides for women, safety etc.

This year, AAP had fielded nine female candidates out of which only woman candidate Sarita Singh from Rohtas Nagar suffered defeat. In 2015, the party had fielded six women candidates, all of whom won the election.

Atishi Marlena, who won the election from Kalkaji, has served as a key advisor to the AAP leader Manish Sisodia primarily on education policies that transformed public school education in the capital.

Just like Marlena, incumbent MLA Rakhi Birla from Mangolpuri constituency has also failed to comeback to the Cabinet in this term even after bagging over 74,100 votes, with a margin of over 30,000 votes and 58 per cent of the vote share.

She was charged with the Cabinet Ministry of Women and Child, Social Welfare and Languages, for a few months in AAP's first term from 2013 to 2014. During this, period she came to the spotlight as she became the youngest ever cabinet minister of Delhi at the age of 26 and was even called "giant killer" for defeating four-time Congress MLA Raj Kumar Chouhan in 2013 Delhi polls.

Another candidate of AAP, Raj Kumari Dhillon swept Hari Nagar against BJP's Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga by a margin of over 20,100 votes.

Apart from these three, Preeti Tomar (Tri Nagar), Dhanwati Chandela (Rajouri Nagar), Pramila Tokas (RK Puram), Bhavna Gaur (Palam), and Bandana Kumari (Shalimar Bagh)- the other five who won for AAP- do not figure in the new cabinet.

Today at Ramlila Maidan, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Delhi.

Besides him, Manish Sisodia, Satyender Jain, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gehlot, Imran Hussain, and Rajendra Gautamas took oath as the ministers in Delhi.

AAP achieved a landslide victory in the Assembly elections with a clear majority of 62 seats out of 70. 

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