Don't mess with govt image: Modi's message to Smriti Irani

July 6, 2016

New Delhi, Jul 6: In the high decibel din of the Cabinet expansion and reshuffle of portfolios in the Narendra Modi government, the media seems to have forgotten about a certain BJP maverick MP – Subramanian Swamy – who until recently was its obsession. Where is he now in this celebration?

modisairathSwamy neither figures in the list of new inductees, nor does he seem to be throwing tantrums over his exclusion. Evidently, Swamy's antics of attacking the likes of RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, economic advisor Arvind Subramanian and other officials of the Finance Ministry turned out to be a misadventure. His snide remarks against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was the final nail in the coffin of his aspirations to be a Union minister.

In his attempt to rejig the Cabinet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown a distinct distaste for those with a penchant for courting controversy. Swamy's exclusion and Smriti Irani's removal from the human resource development (HRD) Ministry are indicative of a pattern.

Though unlike Swamy, Irani never crossed the Rubicon line of party discipline. Yet she found herself in the midst of many controversies related to her haughtiness with bureaucrats and academics – with Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide in Hyderabad and the JNU row marking crucial blows in her two-year tenure as HRD minister.

Though senior BJP leaders, including Modi, are quite impressed by Irani's political pugnacity, she seems to have lost out on moderation. In a recent conference of vice-chancellors of central universities, she ticked off seasoned academics in a very unpleasant manner.

Apparently the minister's conduct could not endear her to the bureaucracy and academics. On some occasions, she was seen courting controversies that may suit the image of a street-fighter, but not of a Union minister.

Contrast this with Prakash Javadekar, an unassuming leader from Maharashtra, who is the only one elevated in this Cabinet expansion – he is now the HRD minister, after relieving his post as the Environment Minister. All this, with Javadekar maintaining a low-profile while facilitating the industry to negotiate with environmental concerns.

Insiders say that Javadekar very deftly handled his assignment of aligning the regulatory regime of the environment Ministry with developmental concerns. He was rewarded with the HRD portfolio for efficiently implementing the government's agenda and for his pro-active role in the climate change talks in Paris. Given Javadekar's own training as Swayamsevak, his new assignment would only get wide approval within the Sangh Parivar.

If the reshuffle is any indication, then it is clear that the prime minister did not hesitate to clip the wings of those found falling short of his expectations. For instance, the communication portfolio was taken away from a voluble Ravi Shankar Prasad and given to Minister of State for Railway Manoj Sinha, as additional responsibility.

Sinha, an engineering graduate from Banaras Hindu University, won unqualified admiration for his efficiency, while maintaining a low-profile. Prasad was, however, given back the charge of the Law Ministry in view of his background as a lawyer – he replaced DV Sadananda Gowda, who had taken over the law ministry from Prasad back in 2014.

Modi has also plugged gaps in certain portfolios by appointing MJ Akbar in the Foreign Ministry and by deploying Ananth Kumar as Parliamentary Affairs Minister, along with SS Ahluwalia, to mobilise support from non-congress parties for the smooth conduct of Parliament.

The underlying theme of the Cabinet reshuffle is quite Biblical – 'meek shall inherit the earth'. This is the precise reason why Swami is left sulking. Similarly, a powerful leader like Yogi Adityanath in eastern UP was ignored, though the Cabinet expansion saw the accommodation of several leaders with influence at the local level. Modi also did not hesitate to axe Ram Shankar Katheria – as the junior HRD minister – as his controversial utterances had caused much consternation.

Taken together, the whole exercise conveyed that those inducted within the government would not be allowed to mess around with its image, either by their conduct or by their utterances.

The implied message was clear – that those having self-inflated notions about themselves can enjoy all the freedom of speech and expression, but while sitting outside the government.

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Satyameva jayate
 - 
Thursday, 7 Jul 2016

This shows how modijis govt failed for the last two years with useless ministers.........they gave positions to the modijis schela' s and now suffering......let's see after two years what will be the change....may be this party will change the PM candidate itself......

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News Network
January 9,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 9: Some BJP workers created a ruckus on Wednesday at a college here while seeking support for the amended Citizenship Act by raising slogans like 'Go back to Pakistan' outside the campus on Wednesday, as girl students opposed a pro-CAA banner on the wall of their institution.

A video of the incident went viral on social media.

A group of BJP workers, supporters of local party leader M M Govindaraj, had put up a poster "India Supports CAA" on the wall of Jyothi Nivas College near Koramangala.

This was opposed by girl students, who said they would not allow any such poster to be put up on the college property.

The BJP workers then tried to shout down the students.

"You are not concerned about citizenship, you are concerned about yourself. You should be concerned about India first. You are not an Indian then," a BJP worker is heard screaming at the girls in the video.

They also questioned the students if they had valid reasons to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act and sought to know whether they wanted an argument or a debate.

The BJP workers purportedly told the girls that they were only the students of the college and not the owner.

"What's your problem madam with the CAA? Are you the owner of the college?" they asked.

Amid the heated argument, the BJP workers resorted to sloganeering like 'We want CAA' and "Go back to Pakistan', as seen in another video shot by the students.

BTM Layout Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy visited the college on Thursday after learning about the incident and spoke to its management.

Later, he told reporters that the campus should not be allowed for any political activities.

"Any signature campaign whether in favor or against it (CAA) should be done outside the campus," Reddy said.

He cautioned the pro-CAA protesters he will not let any violent incidents like the one at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi happen at the city college.

Reddy's daughter Sowmya Reddy, who is the Jayanagar MLA, tweeted, "A few videos & photos of outside #JyotiNivascollege are being circulated on social media."

"MLA Ramalinga Reddy & I have spoken to cops and the Prinicipal about this incident. Spoke to DCP South East Bengaluru and she said that Koramangala cops went there immediately & they are picketing even now," she added.

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News Nerwork
July 4,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 4: Karnataka on Saturday reported its biggest single day spike of 1,839 new COVID-19 cases and 42 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections in the state to 21,549 and the death count to 335, the Health department said.

The day also saw 439 patients getting discharged after recovery; even as 226 patients in the state were undergoing treatment in ICU.

Out of 1,839 fresh cases reported on Saturday, a whopping 1,172 cases were from Bengaluru Urban alone; while 24 of the 42 deaths were from the capital city.

The previous biggest single day spike was recorded on July 3 with 1,694 cases.

As of July 4 evening, cumulatively 21,549 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 335 deaths and 9,244 discharges, the Health department said in its bulletin.

It said, out of 11,966 active cases, 11,740 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 226 are in ICU.

Among the 42 dead are six from Bidar, four from Dakshina Kannada, three each from Kalaburagi and Dharwad and one each from Hassan and Bengaluru rural.

Of the 42, twenty-six are men, the bulletin said, adding most of them were with a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), Influenza-like illness (ILI).

Out of 1,839 cases tested positive today, contacts of the majority of the cases are still under tracing.

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru Urban accounted for 1,172 cases, followed by Dakshina Kannada (75), Ballari (73), Bidar (51), Dharwad (45), Raichur (41), Mysuru (38), thirty seven each from Kalaburagi and Vijayapura, thirty-five each from Mandya and Uttara Kannada.

Bengaluru Urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 8,345 infections, followed by Kalaburagi 1,597 and Udupi 1,276.

Among discharges, Kalaburagi tops the list with 1,189 followed by Udupi (1,103) and Bengaluru Urban (965).

A total of 6,89,526 samples were tested so far, of which 17,592 were tested on Saturday alone.

So far 6,50,876 samples have been reported as negative, and of them 15,294 were reported negative today.

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News Network
May 11,2020

May 11: The Karnataka government appears set to roll out red carpet welcome to foreign companies seeking to move out of China.

The State's Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said the Government plans to constitute a task force, under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar, to spearhead the drive to attract such investment. A proposal to this effect has been sent to the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for approval, the Minister told PTI in an interview.

This panel would take feedback and suggestions from a consultative committee to be formed with prominent industrialists from the State and representatives of various countries located here, Shettar said.

In recent days, the Minister held consultations with industrialists such as co-founder and Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys Ltd, Nandan M Nilekani, Executive Chairperson of Biocon Ltd, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Chairman of early-stage startup accelerator and venture fund Axilor Ventures Senapathy (Kris) Gopalakrishnan to fine-tune the States outreach push.

Shettar also held interactions with industry bodies, including Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) and Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA).

Industrialists who took part in the deliberations suggested to the government to focus on ease of doing business and improving the single window clearance system for approvals, as the Minister spelt out government's intent of further improving the investment climate to attract industries to Karnataka.

To boost the industry sentiment in the State, they also stressed the need on easing land acquisition regulations, and leveraging the knowledge base of Bengaluru to promote technology-based manufacturing.

"Given the interest shown by some companies in moving their manufacturing bases out of China, the industry leaders recommended that the State government identify a target list of 100 firms to reach out to for attracting to the State, and work out a strategy to bring them to Karnataka," an Industry department official said.

The industry leaders assured cooperation from the private sector in reaching out to and facilitating interactions with CEOs of these companies.

Shettar said restrictions on acquisition of agriculture land for starting industries have now been relaxed with the passage of an amendment to the land reforms act in the recent Legislature session.

This would facilitate immediate land allotment to industries, he added.

The Minister has also submitted a proposal to the Chief Minister on relaxing labour laws.

Secretary General of industry body ASSOCHAM, Deepak Sood, told news agency recently that there is a broader consensus that the global manufacturing supply chain would be more spread than concentrated in major economies like China.

"If India comes out of the present crisis with minimum of impact, we can be the destination of choice for the global manufacturing giants in different sectors like electronics, computer hardware, pharmaceuticals, including medical devices, automobile, including components and other engineering products," Sood had said.

Gopalakrishnan, also co-founder of Infosys and former CII President, said India has to target companies which have operations in China, reach out to them, understand what their needs are and hold discussions with them.

"We have to make sure that their requirements are addressed, be it with regard to land, office space, faster approvals, and some concessions on local taxes. It depends on the businesses that the companies are in, and if we are able to respond to those requests, I think we will be able to attract them", he told news agency.

"All states will compete for this business (foreign investment)," Gopalakrishnan added.

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