India ready to neutralise its enemies: Rathore on Dawood, Hafiz Saeed

New Delhi, May 21: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid tributes to Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary.

Former prime minister Gandhi was assassinated on this day in 1991 in Tamil Nadu's Sriperumbudur by a suicide bomber during an election campaign.
 
"On his death anniversary, tributes to former PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi," Modi tweeted.

Bharuch, Mar 5: Vijay Kumar, a resident of the Tamil Nadu has sought help from his friend Abdulkhuda Mohd Hanif Shaikh who is residing in Gujarat to build a temple in his village.

Abdulkhuda Mohd Hanif Shaikh, who also belongs to Tamil Nadu's Paraipatti village and has been residing in Gujarat' Bharuch for a decade has collected Rs 3 lakh from his friends as a donation to build the temple in Paraipatti village in Dindigul district.

"They'd told me 4 months ago and came to me 10 days back. From Vapi to Mehsana, there are several Madrasis, even here in the village too. I personally went to them and collected around Rs 3 Lakh," Shaikh said.

Vijay Kumar said that he stayed in Gujarat for ten days and collected Rs 3 Lakh with him.

"I had sought help from him. I stayed here in Gujarat for 10 days, and went with him from people to people and collected Rs 3 Lakh. No one lives like Hindus or Muslims in our village, everyone lives like friends," he said.

New Delhi, May 17: Following the COVID-19-induced economic disruptions, up to 135 million jobs could be lost and 120 million people might be pushed back into poverty in India, all of which will have a hit on consumer income, spending and savings, says a report.

According to a new report by international management consulting firm Arthur D Little, the worst of COVID-19's impact will be felt by India's most vulnerable in terms of job loss, poverty increase and reduced per-capita income, which in turn will result in a steep decline in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

"Given the continued rise of COVID-19 cases, we believe that a W-shaped recovery is the most likely scenario for India. This implies a GDP contraction of 10.8 per cent in FY 2020-21 and GDP growth of 0.8 per cent in FY 2021-22," the report said.

India's COVID-19 tally has crossed 90,000 and the nationwide death toll has touched nearly 2,800 so far.

The report titled "India: Surmounting the economic challenges posed by COVID-19: A 10-point programme to revive and power India's post-COVID economy" said the 'collateral damage' of the forecasted GDP slowdown, will be felt most acutely in employment, poverty alleviation, per-capita income and overall nominal GDP.

"Unemployment may rise to 35 per cent from 7.6 per cent resulting in 136 million jobs lost and a total of 174 million unemployed. Poverty alleviation will receive a set-back, significantly changing the fortunes of many, putting 120 million people into poverty and 40 million into abject poverty," the report said.

"India is headed towards a W-shaped economic recovery with a potential GDP contraction of 10.8 per cent in FY21. An opportunity loss of USD 1 trillion is staring India in its face," said Barnik Chitran Maitra, lead author of the report and Managing Partner & CEO of Arthur D Little, India and South Asia.

Maitra further said "for its USD 5 trillion vision, a radical economic approach is needed, centred on an immediate stimulus and structural reforms. The Prime Minister's visionary 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' is a good start to this new approach."

The report lauded the steps taken by the government and the Reserve Bank of India, but said a far more assertive approach may be required given the magnitude of the adverse economic output.

The report suggested a 10-point programme to accelerate the recovery which include strengthening the 'safety net' significantly for the most vulnerable, enable survival of small and medium businesses, restarting the rural economy and providing targeted assistance to at-risk sectors.

It further said the government should launch "Make in India 2.0" to capture global opportunities, build 'Modern India', accelerate Digital India and Innovation, strengthen global investment corridors with the US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Japan and the UK, debottleneck land and labour and transform banking and financial markets in a bid to secure a sustainable economic future for 1.3 billion Indians.