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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Agencies
August 7,2020

Washington, Aug 7: US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) signed executive orders halting all transactions with Chinese applications TikTok and WeChat within 45 days, citing national security concerns, further escalating the tensions between Beijing and Washington.

"WeChat, a messaging, social media, and electronic payment application owned by the Chinese company Tencent Holdings Ltd., reportedly has over one billion users worldwide, including users in the United States. Like TikTok, WeChat automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. 

This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) access to Americans' personal and proprietary information," Trump said in a statement.

Citing reasons for the ban on WeChat, the US President said that the application captures the personal and proprietary information of Chinese nationals visiting the US, thereby providing the CCP a mechanism to keep tabs on the Chinese citizens who may be "enjoying the benefits of a free society for the first time in their lives".

"In March 2019, a researcher reportedly discovered a Chinese database containing billions of WeChat messages sent from users in not only China but also the United States, Taiwan, South Korea and Australia. WeChat, like TikTok, also reportedly censors content that the CCP deems politically sensitive and may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the CCP. 

These risks have led other countries, including Australia and India, to begin restricting or banning the use of WeChat. The US must take aggressive action against the owner of WeChat to protect our national security," he added.

Earlier, Trump had issued an order banning TikTok as it "reportedly censors content that the CCP deems politically sensitive, such as content concerning protests in Hong Kong and China's treatment of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. 

TikTok may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the CCP."
US politicians have repeatedly criticised TikTok, owned by Beijing-based startup ByteDance, of being a threat to national security because of its ties to China.

The development comes as China and the US are at loggerheads on a variety of issues including Hong Kong national security law, the South China Sea, the novel coronavirus and trade.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

New Delhi, Aug 8: Former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Saturday said that it is unfair and unfortunate to blame the pilots or the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the Kerala place crash which took place on Friday evening.

"It is very unfortunate and unfair when experts come under television channel and they try to put blame on the Airports Authority of India or the pilots. Airport authority in an institution which has had survived various tests of time for the last 65 to 70 years, or pre-independence, so it is unfair to blame them," he said.

While speaking to news agency, Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that the 737 Boeing aircraft is reliable and the pilots were experienced, and it was wrong to blame them.

He further said that there are many possibilities on what could have happened, and said, "It is an accident and we need to find the facts."
Rajiv Pratap Rudy also expressed his deepest condolences to the family members of those who lost their lives in the plane crash. "This accident is terrible and heart-rending. 

I offer my deepest condolences to the family members of the captain and first officer, and the families of passengers who died and were injured," he said.

At least 18 people died when a plane carrying 190 passengers came from Dubai met with an accident at Karipur airport in Kozhikode on Friday evening, as per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

"Eighteen people, including two pilots, have lost their lives. It is unfortunate. 127 people are at hospitals, others have been released," said Puri on the Air India Express flight that crash-landed on Friday evening.

Air India Express Dubai-Kozhikode IX-1344 flight, carrying 190 people on board from Dubai under the Vande Bharat Mission, skidded off the runway at Karipur Airport in Kozhikode at 7.41 pm on Friday in which several people sustained injuries.

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Agencies
March 15,2020

Jakarta, Mar 15: Indonesia's transport minister is in intensive care after testing positive for the novel coronavirus, an official has said, as schools and tourist attractions were ordered to close over the health threat.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi was receiving treatment at an army hospital in Jakarta, State Secretary Pratikno said on Saturday.

A hospital spokesman said Sumadi was encountering difficulty breathing but that his condition was improving.

Pratikno said Sumadi was involved in virus mitigation efforts, particularly the evacuation of Indonesians from epicenters of the outbreak, and that President Joko Widodo had called for tests to be carried out on other ministers.

Cases of the virus in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, have jumped from zero two weeks ago to 96, with five deaths, according to government spokesperson Achmad Yurianto.

He also said the virus has spread outside Greater Jakarta to Bandung in West Java, Solo in Central Java, Manado in North Sulawesi, Pontianak in West Kalimantan, as well as holiday havens Yogyakarta and Bali.

Following the increase, the government on Saturday established a task force on COVID-19 mitigation.

Jakarta's Governor Anies Baswedan announced that schools would close for two weeks starting Monday, and ordered the closure of city-owned tourist attractions, such as Ragunan Zoo and Ancol beach.

He emphasized that Jakarta would not be locked down but urged people "to be responsible" and called for social distancing when possible.

Similarly, the administration of Solo, Central Java, Friday announced that schools and tourist attractions would close after a coronavirus patient died in the region.

The World Health Organization has said it is particularly concerned about high-risk nations with weaker health systems, which who may lack the facilities to identify cases.

A day after declaring the coronavirus outbreak to be pandemic this week, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called Indonesia's president Widodo and both agreed to "scale up cooperation."

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