Cong should be ashamed of Rahul's Kashmir remark: Shah

Washington, Feb 27: President Donald Trump has said that the US' relationship with India is "extraordinary" right now and a lot of progress was made in bilateral ties during his maiden official visit to the country where America will be doing a lot of business.

Talking to reporters, after his return from India on Wednesday, Trump said, "He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) is a great gentleman, a great leader. It's an incredible country."

President Trump visited India from February 24 to 25. He was accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and the top brass of his administration, including national security advisor Robert O'Brien.

They visited Ahmedabad, Agra and New Delhi before leaving for Washington on Tuesday.

During his stay, he addressed a massive rally in Ahmedabad, visited Agra and held official meetings in New Delhi.

The US President was feted at the world's largest cricket stadium in the "Namaste Trump" event in Ahmedabad and was cheered by tens of thousands of people.

"We were treated very, very well and we really enjoyed it. A lot of tremendous progress was made in terms of relationship - our relationship with India is extraordinary right now," he said.

"We are going to be doing a lot of business with India, they are sending billions and billions of dollars now to the United States," Trump said in response to a question.

In a tweet, his daughter Ivanka said that, Trump announced that US international development finance corporation "will establish a permanent presence in India to strengthen our economic ties, improve development plus further women's economic empowerment through WGDP (Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative)!"

On her arrival from India, she thanked PM Modi for "your warm hospitality as we visited your beautiful country and celebrated the strength, spirit and unity of the US and India!"

"Throughout our visit we saw monumental achievements of human creativity and proof of the infinite capacity of the human heart!" she said.

The first lady tweeted two pictures of her with Trump facing the Taj Mahal in Agra.

"One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the breathtaking Taj Mahal!" she said.

President Trump "reaffirmed the strong strategic partnership, vibrant economic ties and expanding security relationship between our two countries. Wonderful trip, but glad to be home! Thank you India!" said White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.

During the visit, India and the US on Tuesday finalised defence deals worth $3 billion under which 30 military helicopters will be procured from two American defence majors for Indian armed forces.

The deals will include procurement of 24 MH-60 Romeo helicopters by India from the US at a cost of $2.6 billion. Another contract to acquire six AH-64E Apache helicopters for $800 million from the US is also on the table.

New Delhi, May 10: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensured audit of donations made to the PM-CARES Fund, and to share the details and the money spent with the people.

"The PM-CARES Fund has received huge contributions from PSUs and major public utilities like the Railways. It's important that the Prime Minister ensure the fund is audited and that the record of money received and spent is available to the public," he tweeted.

The #PmCares fund has received huge contributions from PSUs & major public utilities like the Railways.

It’s important that PM ensures the fund is audited & that the record of money received and spent is available to the public.

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 9, 2020
His remarks came amid reports that the central government is accumulating a huge sum of money in the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund set up as a corpus to fight novel coronavirus and that the amount spent will not be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The CAG office had clarified that since the fund is based on donations, it has no right to audit a charitable organisation.

On Friday, Rahul Gandhi told the media that the PM-CARES Fund should be audited and people of the country should know about the donors and the donations made.

New Delhi, May 1: Amid the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Human Resource Development Ministry are planning to conduct the PhD and MPhil exams through online mediums in various universities across the country. The universities have been informed by the UGC and the MHRD about this.

Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' said, "Phd, MPhil exams, practicals, viva etc can be conducted through Skype or any other meeting apps."

When this system is implemented in colleges, students will not have to wait long for various types of examinations. Especially internal examinations can be taken online. Students' viva tests can also be conducted via Skype or any other similar meeting apps.

Regular classes in the universities will resume after the lockdown is removed. The classes for the first year will start from September 1 while for the second and third years the classes will start from August 1. However, students of various colleges will have to appear for basic exams in July.

A special committee constituted by the UGC has emphasized on conducting examinations online. The committee in its recommendation said that various colleges and universities should conduct online examinations including internal exams of colleges for 25 per cent marks.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), on the advice of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, has extended the date of filling the entrance examination forms for various universities.

According to the orders of the NTA, the date of filling the form for the entrance examinations of Jawaharlal Nehru University, National Council for Hotel Management 'G' and for Phd and MBA from IGNOU has been extended till May 15.