Cong demands PM Modi’s apology for ‘insulting’ Bengaluru

Agencies
May 5, 2018

New Delhi, May 5: The Congress today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "insulting" Bengaluru and the people of Karnataka by calling it a "valley of sins" and demanded his apology for his "deplorable" remarks.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi described Bengaluru as the garden city and the pride of India and said calling it a "garbage city" is "insulting".

"Building lies comes naturally to you, but you seem to find building cities very difficult. The data nails your lies," he said on Twitter, targeting the prime minister.

"Cosmopolitan, innovative and historic, beautiful Bengaluru, India’s pride, is the world’s most dynamic city!," he said in another tweet, adding that his government is committed to investing Rs 1 lakh crore to further develop Bengaluru and other cities in Karnataka.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said that as the Karnataka assembly election approaches, "the fears, frustration and follies of the BJP grow due to its impending defeat and this is reflected in the idioms and the language used by its leaders including the prime minister".

He also accused Modi of spreading "divisiveness" in the poll-bound state and alleged that such language was being used to divert the public attention from key issues such as the Cauvery water dispute, the dilution of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, joblessness and declining economy.

Singhvi said the prime minister failed to be the custodian of federal cooperation and maintain equilibrium between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in the Cauvery river water-sharing dispute.

"You accuse Bengaluru, the Kannadiga of being a ‘valley of sin'. I think it is shameful and I think the country needs an apology which I am sure we will never get from the prime minister," he told reporters.

"As you see the heat mounting up on this campaign, you find the defamatory, the criminally culpable statements coming, deliberately inflaming and inciting communal passions, deliberately polarising communities, religious and groups and comprising blatant falsehood," he alleged.

The Congress leader said the country's prime minister lacked his grasp of the country's history as was evident from his yesterday's "false and superficial" statements on Field Marshal K C Cariappa and General K S Thimayya.

"The prime minister in his insatiable urge bordering on greed to attack the Congress party actually ended up insulting comprehensively the people of Karnataka, insulting each and every one of its entrepreneurs, insulting each and one of its IT technologists and labelling Bengaluru as the ‘valley of sin' from the Silicon Valley," he said.

"This is SIN - a ‘Special Insult. ‘S' for special and IN for insult which the prime minister of the country has heaped upon Bengaluru and the people of Karnataka," he said.

Describing Bengaluru as a birthplace of IT giants, a technological hub, a start-up hub, he said, "The prime minister has ignored the ‘S' for superior, the ‘I' for Information Technology and ‘N' for Novelty and calls it ‘SIN'."

He said, "The prime minister ignores the ‘S' for Super Highway which Bengaluru and its IT industry are and ignores the ‘I' for IT and the ‘N' for Network. He only finds 'SIN' and that is "deplorable" as he is unable to create jobs and stop farmer suicides, and instead accuse Bengaluru, the ‘Kannadiga' of being a ‘Valley of Sin'."

"The higher the divisiveness factor, the higher goes the BJP's decibel. Their decibel is linked to divisiveness. Why it is - to digress and draw the attention of the people of Bengaluru and Karnataka away from their failures in one day yesterday," he alleged.

In a full-scale attack on the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka on city-related issues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday accused it of having turned Bengaluru into a "garbage city and valley of sin" from "Silicon Valley." 

Comments

MR
 - 
Sunday, 6 May 2018

All the perfumes in Arabia cannot wash away the sins Modi alone has committed.

People of Karnataka will give him a fitting reply by voting for Congress!

 

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News Network
February 14,2020

New Delhi/Washington, Feb 14: India has offered to partially open up its poultry and dairy markets in a bid for a limited trade deal during US President Donald Trump's first official visit to the country this month, people familiar with the protracted talks say.

India, the world's largest milk-producing nation, has traditionally restricted dairy imports to protect the livelihoods of 80 million rural households involved in the industry.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to pull all the stops for the US President's February 24-25 visit, aimed at rebuilding bonds between the world's largest democracies.

In 2019, President Trump suspended India's special trade designation that dated back to 1970s, after PM Modi put price caps on medical devices, such as cardiac stents and knee implants, and introduced new data localization requirements and e-commerce restrictions.

President Trump's trip to India has raised hopes that he would restore some of the country's US trade preferences, in exchange for tariff reductions and other concessions.

The United States is India's second-largest trade partner after China, and bilateral goods and services trade climbed to a record $142.6 billion in 2018. The United States had a $23.2 billion goods trade deficit in 2019 with India, its 9th largest trading partner in goods.

India has offered to allow imports of US chicken legs, turkey and produce such as blueberries and cherries, government sources said, and has offered to cut tariffs on chicken legs from 100 per cent to 25 per cent. US negotiators want that tariff cut to 10 per cent. The Modi government is also offering to allow some access to India's dairy market, but with a 5 per cent tariff and quotas, the sources said. But dairy imports would need a certificate they are not derived from animals that have consumed feeds that include internal organs, blood meal or tissues of ruminants.

New Delhi has also offered to lower its 50 per cent tariffs on very large motorcycles made by Harley-Davidson, a tax that was a particular irritant for President Trump, who has labelled India the "tariff king." The change would be largely symbolic because few such motorcycles are sold in India.

President Trump will be feted in PM Modi's home state of Gujarat, then hold talks in New Delhi and attend a reception that the hosts have promised will be bigger than the one organised for former president Barack Obama in 2015.

But it is far from clear whether India's offers will be enough to satisfy US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who cancelled plans for a trip to India this week. Instead, he has held telephone talks with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

The US dairy industry remained sceptical on Thursday that a viable deal is at hand.

"We're always looking for market access, but in terms of India, as of today I'm not aware of any real progress going on," said Michael Dykes, president of the International Dairy Foods Association and a member of USTR's agricultural trade policy advisory committee.

Mr Dykes said the US dairy industry was looking for access in viable commercial quantities.

A USTR spokesman and India's trade ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

A parliament panel is reviewing a draft data privacy law that imposes stringent controls over cross-border data flows and gives the government powers to seek user data from companies.

It is not clear whether it will be passed, or in what form, but the possibilities have unnerved US companies and could raise compliance requirements for Google, Amazon.com Inc, and Facebook.

The draft law is not part of the trade discussions, Indian officials say, because the issue is too difficult to resolve at the same time.

"The privacy and localization piece will be raised independently and in concert with the trade discussions," said a Washington-based source with knowledge of the US administration's thinking.

President Trump on Tuesday was non-committal about sealing a trade deal before his visit. "If we can make the right deal, we'll do it," he told reporters.

Two US sources said progress had been made on proposed alterations to the medical device price caps. India's new import tariffs on medical devices, walnuts, toys, electronics and other products on February 1 surprised US negotiators, however.

The new tariffs were aimed at China, which also makes medical devices, according to an Indian government source. "We have to protect our market and our companies," the source said.

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News Network
August 7,2020

Kozhikode: An Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 people on board overshot the Kozhikode tabletop runway on landing there today. The Boeing 737 “fell off” the runway into the valley, broke into two causing death and devastation. 

According to reports, around 20 people were dead including two pilots.

An Air India spokesperson said: “Air India Express flight IX 1344 operated by Boeing 737 aircraft from Dubai to Calicut overshot the runway at Kozhikode at 7.41 pm Friday. No fire reported at the time of landing. There are 174 passengers, 10 infants, two pilots and five cabin crew on board. Rescue operations are on and passengers are being taken to hospital for medical care. We will soon share the update in this regard.”

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is probing this accident. “Prima facie, the aircraft landed beyond the touchdown point and fell into a valley. It has broken into two. We suspect some casualties. More information is awaited,” said a senior DGCA official.

Taking to twitter, defence minister Rajnath Singh wrote: “Devastating news from Kozhikode, Kerala. I am deeply anguished by the loss of lives due to an accident carrying several passengers on Air India flight. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.”

Foreign minister S Jaishankar tweeted: “Deeply distressed to hear about the Air India Express tragedy at Kozhikode. Prayers are with the bereaved families and those injured. We are ascertaining further details.”

While, senior BJP leader from Kerala K J Alphons tweeted: “Second tragedy of the day in Kerala: Air India Express skids off the run way at Kozhikode, front portion splits , pilot dies and lots of passengers injured . All passengers evacuated. Very lucky the aircraft didn’t catch fire.”

More details are awaited.

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News Network
February 28,2020

Washington, Feb 28: US intelligence agencies are monitoring the global spread of coronavirus and the ability of governments to respond, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, warning that there were concerns about how India would cope with a widespread outbreak.

While there are only a few known cases in India, one source said the country's available countermeasures and the potential for the virus to spread given India's dense population was a focus of serious concern.

US intelligence agencies are also focusing on Iran, where the country's deputy health minister has fallen ill during a worsening outbreak.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday the United States was "deeply concerned" Tehran may have covered up details about the spread of coronavirus. A US government source said Iran's response was considered ineffective because the government only has minimal capabilities to respond to the outbreak.

Another source said US agencies were also concerned about the weak ability of governments in some developing countries to respond to an outbreak.

The US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee has received a briefing on the virus from the spy agencies. "The Committee has received a briefing from the IC (intelligence community) on coronavirus, and continues to receive updates on the outbreak on a daily basis," an official of the House Intelligence Committee told Reuters.

"Addressing the threat has both national security and economic dimensions, requiring a concerted government-wide effort and the IC is playing an important role in monitoring the spread of the outbreak, and the worldwide response," the official added.

A source familiar with the activities of the Senate Intelligence Committee, led by Republican Senator Richard Burr and Democratic Senator Mark Warner, said the panel was receiving daily updates. The role of US intelligence agencies in responding to the coronavirus epidemic at this point principally involves monitoring the spread of the illness around the world and assessing the responses of governments.

They are working closely with health agencies, such as the US Center for Disease Control, in sharing information they collect and targeting further intelligence gathering.

One source said US agencies would use a wide range of intelligence tools, ranging from undercover informants to electronic eavesdropping tools, to track the virus' impact.

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