Guj Cong promises jobs, unemployment allowance, smartphones

Agencies
September 12, 2017

Ahmedabad, Sept 12: Gujarat Congress on Tuesday said that it would provide unemployment allowance to youth in the state if elected to power in the forthcoming Assembly elections slated for this year-end.

“After 22 years of power, the BJP that promised 50 lakh jobs has ended up seeing 30 lakh unemployed youth in the state. The economy is in doldrums and business in dumps. The agriculture growth has slackened and youth are in disgust. The agitations in the state are symbolic of this dissatisfaction,” Bharatsinh Solanki, Gujarat Congress chief said adding that on an average Gujarat has seen the imposition of Section 144 in 200 of the 365 days.

He said that the main thrust for Congress would be to address unemployment and provide jobs to local youth. “We promise to provide jobs to every youngster in five years and as our commitment, we would provide unemployment allowance in the interim,” he added. The Congress announced that it would extend a stipend of Rs 3000 to each youngster who has completed education till 12th, Rs 3,500 for graduates and Rs 4,000 for post graduates every month. It also announced that soft loan would be extended to those seeking to go entrepreneurial way.

“The entire exercise would cost the exchequer not more than Rs 8,000 crore per annum. Not much compared to the money being splurged by BJP in its marketing activities,” Solanki said. The Congress said that it would also strictly ensure the implementation of law insisting on 80% jobs for locals.

“Gujarat was a textiles hub, an oil engine hub, pharma hub, diamond hub, chemicals hub and ceramic hub before 1995 when BJP came to power. Since then they talked of making Gujarat an I-T hub, knowledge hub, auto hub but nothing. The state has not added even 1 MW of public sector power, nor has one university been opened by the government. All that capitalist BJP has done is open up the sectors for the private sector,” Siddharth Patel, senior Congress leader said, taking a dig at BJP president Amit Shah who had said Gujarat has developed only after BJP came to power in 1995.

Patel said that there are seven lakh jobs available for giving in multiple state boards and undertakings. These can be filled easily. “More than 12 lakh educated youth applied for 600 jobs of revenue clerk (talati). This tells you the reality of employment in Gujarat.”

Other than unemployment allowance, Congress has also announced that it would provide a smartphone to all youngsters in the state. “Instead of providing Trishul and swords as done by RSS and BJP, we want to help youth put their talent to constructive use and are going to put smartphones in their hands,” Solanki said.

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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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News Network
June 27,2020

New Delhi, Jun 27: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Saturday called an emergency meeting here to discuss the situation following a locust attack in neighbouring Gurugram.

The minister also directed the administration to be alert, an official said.

"After the emergency meeting, an advisory will be issued on steps to be taken to deal with the situation," Rai told PTI.

He asked the officials of the Agriculture department to make field visits to areas close to Gurugram.

The development secretary, divisional commissioner, director, Agriculture department, and the district magistrates of South Delhi and West Delhi will attend the meeting, the official said.

Earlier in the day, the skies over many parts of Gurugram turned dark as swarms of locusts descended on the town.

However, the migratory pests are likely to spare the national capital for now, officials said.

The swarms of locusts, spread across two kilometres, moved from west to east. They entered Gurugram around 11.30 am, K L Gurjar of the Locust Warning Organisation, Ministry of Agriculture, told PTI.

The pests, he said, were headed towards Faridabad and Palwal in Haryana.

Alarmed at the invasion of the locusts, which settled on trees, rooftops and plants, many residents of Gurugram shared videos from their high-rise perches.

In May, India battled a devastating desert locust outbreak. The crop-destroying swarms first attacked Rajasthan and then spread to Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

According to experts, broadly four species of locusts are found in India – desert locust, migratory locust, Bombay locust and tree locust. The desert locust is considered the most destructive.

It multiplies very rapidly and is capable of covering 150 kilometers in a day.

This insect, a type of a grasshopper, can eat more than its body weight. A one square kilometer of locust swarm containing around 40 million locusts can in a day eat as much food as 35,000 people.

Experts blame the growing menace of desert locusts on climate change. They say breeding of locusts is directly related to soil moisture and food availability.

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News Network
July 2,2020

Lucknow, Jul 2: After a video showing health workers allegedly tossing bodies of coronavirus victims in a large pit in Karnataka, BSP President Mayawati on Wednesday stated that the incident is the "height of cruelty and insult to humanity".
The former UP Chief Minister demanded that the guilty must be punished.

"The tragedy that the bodies of COVID-19 victims being thrown into trenches in Ballari, Karnataka is the height of cruelty and an insult to humanity. Though incidents related to inhuman cruelty with corona patients are rampant but guilty of Ballari must be punished by the state government," Mayawati said in a tweet.

Also, in another tweet, she asked the Central government to extend the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana till the end of the coronavirus pandemic.

"In order to check ignominy of starvation on account of long unprecedented hardship & unemployment due to coronavirus and the subsequent nationwide lockdown, the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna must continue not till November but till the end of the pandemic, this is the demand of BSP," she tweeted. 

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