'Arvind Kejriwal to take on Modi in Varanasi'

March 13, 2014
New Delhi, Mar 13: The AAP has almost decided to pit former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal against Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha polls if the BJP's prime ministerial candidate contests from Varanasi.

ArKe_NaMo

AAP leader and Kejriwal confidant Manish Sisodia, who is the virtual no. 2 in the AAP, also said his party hopes to field 350-400 candidates in the April-May elections and do particularly well in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

"If Modi contests from Varanasi, then we have almost decided that Arvind Kejriwal will be pitted against him (Modi)," said Sisodia here. Sisodia, who was education minister in the 49-day AAP government in Delhi, hoped Modi will contest one Lok Sabha seat - not two seats -- if he is indeed a mass leader.

"Those who are afraid (of losing) contest from two seats. If he is afraid, he will fight from two seats. Let him decide." There is intense speculation that the Bharatiya Janata Party will field the Gujarat chief minister in the temple town of Varanasi in a bid to generate a pro-BJP wave in Uttar Pradesh.

Pressed to confirm that Kejriwal, 45, will be a candidate in the general election, Sisodia replied: "Personally, I feel he (Kejriwal) should contest."

The AAP, formed in November 2012, has announced 187 candidates for the Lok Sabha battle thus far. It includes a mix of the known and the unknown. Sisodia said the AAP hoped to do well in Karnataka because people there "are as much fed up with the BJP as the Congress".

One of the oldest associates of Kejriwal, Sisodia said he and his colleagues were surprised that social activist Anna Hazare had come out in support of the Trinamool Congress and its leader Mamata Banerjee.

"Annaji used to say that he will never support any political party. I am confused whether Annaji is supporting Mamata Banerjee or the Trinamool. It is fine if Annaji is only supporting a leader, not a party."

Sisodia said people in east Delhi - where he lives - and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh had asked him to contest the election but he said he prefers to campaign for the party.He denied accusations that Kejriwal and the AAP "ran away" over the Jan Lokpal bill instead of governing Delhi .

"The truth is we did not want to form the government. Circumstances forced us to form a government.

"With 28 MLAs (legislators), the government can last only this long. More numbers are needed to run a stable government."

Sisodia underplayed the reported bickering within the AAP over ticket distribution and said the party had fielded more journalists than any other party as "they have a fair idea of what is happening on the ground".

At the same time, he accused sections of the media of unfairly targeting the AAP. "A section of the media is compromised... That are betraying the country. If we do wrong, criticize us. But they are running a smear campaign. Many stories are not based on facts."

Sisodia claimed that the AAP tour of Gujarat this month had helped expose many claims made by Modi on how the state had been developed.

"Our purpose was to get a fair idea about the condition of schools, hospitals, colleges and youths," he said, adding that 26 AAP teams visited all the districts in Gujarat.

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News Network
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: The government has decided to rename National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM), Faridabad, as Arun Jaitley National Institute of Financial Management, an official statement said on Tuesday.

Set up in 1993 as a registered society under the Department of Expenditure, NIFM trains officers of Finance and Accounts Services recruited by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) as also officers of Indian Cost Accounts Service. The Union Finance Minister is the President of the NIFM Society.

"Aligning the vision and aspiration of the Institute for the future with the vision and contribution of late Arun Jaitley, the Government has decided to rename National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM) as the Arun Jaitley National Institute of Financial Management(AJNIFM)," the statement said.

NIFM has become a premier resource centre to meet the training needs of the central government for senior and middle level of management in the fields of public policy, financial management, public procurement and other governance issues for promoting highest standards of professional competence and practice.

Padma Vibhushan awardee Jaitley was the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs during May 26, 2014 to May 30, 2019.

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News Network
July 10,2020

New Delhi, Jul 10: Nepal has banned all Indian news channels, except DD News, for alleged propaganda against the country.

Reports say that Nepal cable operators have stopped getting signals of Indian news channels.

Nepal government spokesperson Yuvaraj Khatiwada said: "We request all not to disseminate news that infringes sovereignty and self-respect of Nepalis. This includes the media of neighbouring countries. We might seek both political and legal remedies."

Earlier, Nepal has amended its map which show some Indian territory as part of it.

Nepal's parliament on June 13 adopted unanimously the Constitution Amendment Bill, paving the way for accommodating the updated political-administrative map, which includes Indian areas of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura, in its symbol.

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Agencies
March 12,2020

Mumbai, Mar 12: In what appears to be the worst trading session in the Indian stock markets, the benchmark BSE Sensex crashed over 2900 points to end below the 33,000-mark.

The Sensex crashed 2,919.26 points to end at 32,778.14. So far it has touched an intra-day low of 32,530.05 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange also lost nearly 850 points so far. It plunged 868.25 points to 9,590.15.

The plunge was in line with the global markets as all Asian indices also traded in the red after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic following which the Dow Jones Industrial Average also slumped significantly on Wednesday.

The bear run in both the global and domestic markets has continued off late on concerns of the coronavirus outbreak severely impacting the global economy. It has also raised calls for government intervention and support.

Central banks in several countries, including the US Federal Reserve have announced emergency rate cuts to boost sentiments. However, the concerns have only deepened in the past few days as the number of COVID-19 cases across the world has increased.

Further, following the rout in the global markets oil prices also fell on Thursday with the Brent crude trading around $34 per barrel.

The Indian rupee also felt the pressure and touched a 17-month low of 74.34 per dollar in its initial trade.

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