Don’t communalise, says Army after Owaisi reveals religion of martyred soldiers

Jan 15: Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is facing a bitter welcome during his India visit this week as the country’s antitrust regulator initiated a formal investigation just hours before his arrival and trader bodies comprising millions of infuriated small store owners announced demonstrations.

Bezos is in New Delhi for the Smbhav summit, an Amazon India event for small and medium businesses. The billionaire is scheduled to conduct a fireside chat with Amazon India chief Amit Agarwal, anchoring an event that also features Infosys Ltd. co-founder Narayana Murthy and retail billionaire Kishore Biyani, who recently sold a stake in his retail group to Amazon. Ahead of the event, Bezos paid his respects at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial, wearing a white tunic and a rust-colored Indian vest.

The small businesses that Amazon’s CEO is hoping to endear himself to, however, are organizing in opposition. The Confederation of All India Traders announced that members of its affiliate bodies across the country would stage sit-ins and public rallies in 300 cities to raise a war cry against the world’s largest online retailer. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, the confederation’s Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal alleged that Amazon, much like Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart, was an “economic terrorist” who engaged in predatory pricing that deprived the government of tax revenue and “compelled the closure of thousands of small traders.”

India’s e-commerce market is projected to grow to $150 billion by 2022, according to a 2018 report by software industry group Nasscom and consulting firm PwC India. Competition for this rapidly expanding sector is intensifying as Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, prepares to go live with JioMart, an online shopping platform challenging Amazon and Walmart directly. The latter’s Flipkart Online Services Pvt is also delving deeper into the countryside in its pursuit for more customers. Amazon, for its part, opened a huge office complex in the southern city of Hyderabad in September, underscoring its commitment to the country.

The Competition Commission of India said it would probe the deep discounts, preferential listings and exclusionary tactics that Amazon and Flipkart are alleged to have used as anti-competitive levers. India’s trade bodies have long argued that both retail giants were flouting rules by promoting sales and discounts through their favoured sellers, many of whom they have preexisting commercial arrangements. The regulator has ordered for the investigation to be completed within two months.

Bezos last visited India in 2014 under starkly different circumstances. During that trip, the Amazon founder wore local festive garb, rode atop a festooned truck for a photo opp and presented Amazon’s Indian unit with a giant check for $2 billion. Since then, Amazon has pledged a further $3.5 billion to expand in the country.

Varanasi, Feb 16: Amidst continuing protests against the amended citizenship law, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said his government stood by the decision despite all pressure.

"Be it the decision on Article 370 or the Citizenship Amendment Act, it was necessary in the interest of the country. Despite pressure, we stand by our decision and will remain so," he said.

Modi was addressing a public meeting in his Lok Sabha constituency.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also asserted that the trust set up for construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya will work "rapidly".

"A trust has been formed for construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya. This trust will work rapidly," he said at a public meeting during his day-long visit to his Lok Sabha constituency.

The government had recently set up the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra on the Supreme Court's directive to the Union government to form a trust that can look into the construction and management of the temple.

New Delhi, Jul 19: Amid the political firestorm in Rajasthan following Sachin Pilot's rebellion, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday called for amending the anti-defection law to ban all defectors from holding public office for five years and fighting the next election.

Sibal also said that the "antibodies" against the "virus of corrupt means" to topple elected governments lie in amending the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law).

His attack comes in the wake of Pilot's open rebellion against the Ashok Gehlot government, which has been on shaky ground since, with at least 18 legislators backing the rebel leader.

Pilot was sacked as deputy chief minister and the state Congress chief earlier this week.

The Congress has accused the BJP of making efforts to topple the Gehlot government by indulging in horse-trading.

"Need for Vaccine: Virus of 'corrupt means' to topple elected governments has spread through a 'Wuhan like facility' in Delhi," Sibal tweeted, in an apparent swipe at the BJP.

"Its 'antibodies' lie in amending the Tenth Schedule. Ban all defectors from: Holding public office for five years, fighting the next election," he said.

Taking a swipe at Pilot over his claim that he is not joining the BJP, Sibal on Thursday had asked what happens to his "ghar wapsi" and whether Rajasthan's dissident legislators are vacationing in Haryana under the "watchful eye" of the saffron party.

In the house of 200, the Congress has 107 MLAs, including the 19 dissidents who have been issued notices of disqualification by the speaker and they have challenged them in the high court.

The Congress has maintained the claim that the Gehlot government has the support of 109 MLAs, including the two BTP MLAs.