Modi's poll pitch in Delhi; targets Kejriwal

January 10, 2015

New Delhi, Jan 10: Kickstarting BJP's poll campaign for Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today wooed voters with a host of promises as he singled outAAP leader Arvind Kejriwal for attack and asked people to punish him for "wasting" one year.

Anarchist Kejriwal

Without naming Kejriwal or his party, Modi said at a rally here that if the AAP leader wants to be an "anarchist" as he has claimed to be, he should go to jungles to join naxals as Delhi cannot have anarchy. Kejriwal had said about a year ago that he is an "anarchist".

During the 30-minute address, he suggested that Kejriwal has "mastery" in "lies" and dharnas and protests and should be given that role only and that power should be given to BJP which has "mastery" in administration.

At the rally at Ramlila Ground attended by all three new BJP Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand, Modi sought a clear mandate for his party to ensure allround development and create a "new" Delhi.

Delhi, which is under President's Rule, is expected to have Assembly polls next month.

Promising to take Delhi to new heights of development, the Prime Minister said people here will be given an option of choosing their power service provider on the lines of mobile number portability and pledged to make Delhi slum-free by 2022.

He also promised to usher in a corruption-free system, saying it has been started at the top and gradually it will reach down to colonies.

In a apparent reference to Kejriwal's comment made almost a year back that he was an anarchist, Modi said "if somebody is an anarchist, he should go to the jungles and join the naxals. Do not allow Delhi's pride to be affected by anarchy. Delhi will not benefit from it."

Apparently referring to resignation by Kejriwal government on February 14 last year after being in power for 49 days, he said, "people should punish those because of whom one year of Delhi was wasted."

Committing to provide a corruption-free society, Modi said he already commenced the cleansing from the top and asked if anyone has heard any complaint about him ever since he took over as Prime Minister some seven months back.

"Trust me, I will clean up the system. I have started from the top and I will take it to the bottom. People take money from auto drivers, shopkeeper, the poor people...It will all stop," the Prime Minister said.

Reaching out to the vast slum population, he promised to replace the slums with concrete houses by 2022, saying "your dream is my dream." He said steps have already been initiated in this regard by the Urban Development Ministry.

While talking about schemes benefitting the poor, he referred to Jan Dhan and said bankers, who earlier used to be reluctant to open accounts of the people from lower economic strata, are now going house-to-house to open zero-balance accounts.

"So far 11 crore accounts have been opened as against the target of 7 crore by January 26," he said adding though people had an option of opening zero-balance accounts, Rs 8,500 crore were deposited by them. In Delhi alone, 19.50 lakh accounts were opened under the scheme," he said.

Taking a dig at the Congress over its claim of standing by the poor, he said "who was running government for the rich and who is running government for the poor has been proved by the Jan Dhan scheme."

Promising 24 hour power supply to Delhi, Modi said he will rid the city of generators which will also ensure a cleaner environment. "We will shut the voice of generators in Delhi. It will also help clean up the air by reducing poisonous gases."

He said BJP was all set to take some "revolutionary steps" in Delhi which no one can even think of and talked about portability of choosing power service providers on the line of mobile number portability.

Assuring to end water woes in Delhi, he said BJP-ruled Haryana has promised to provide more water to Delhi after Central intervention.

He also hailed people of Jammu and Kashmir for coming out in large numbers and defeat the separatist forces.

Modi termed Amit Shah as the "most successful" party president as under his leadership party has achieved unprecedented success in various states.

Without naming anybody, the Prime Minister said a "factory of lies" has come up in the city and rumours are being spread that if BJP comes to power, the retirement age of government employees will be reduced from the current 60 to 58 years.

He said those spreading lies cannot be defeated by anybody except the people and asked the voters to do so.

"The government never thought about it and never spoke about it. And still a lie is being spread. Every day a new lie is being manufactured. Spreading lies is their job and their politics. Modi can never back stab anyone...Elect a good government in Delhi. Give us a clear mandate," he told the gathering.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 19,2020

Mar 19: Amidst spiralling cases of COVID-19 in the country, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Thursday advocated "absorbing sunlight" as a possible precaution against coronavirus that has claimed over 8,000 lives globally.

Speaking to reporters outside parliament, Choubey said 10-15 minutes in the sun would build immunity as sunlight provides Vitamin D.

"From 11 am to 2 pm the sun is shining brightly. We should spend at least 10-15 minutes to absorb sunlight so that we get vitamin D which improves the immunity of our body and also kills such viruses. All should be aware of (this fact)," he said when asked about the spread of coronavirus.

COVID-19 cases in India climbed to 169 on Thursday after 18 fresh cases were reported from various parts of the country, according to the Union health ministry.

The cases include 25 foreign nationals -- 17 from Italy, 3 from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each belonging to Canada, Indonesia and Singapore.

The figure also includes three deaths reported from Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra so far.

According to the World Health Organisation, the novel coronavirus has killed over 8,000 people globally and infected more than two lakh.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
March 15,2020

New Delhi, Mar 15: The number of novel coronavirus cases in the country rose to 107 on Sunday, with 12 fresh cases in Maharashtra, the Union Health Ministry said.

The number of cases include two persons who died in Delhi and Karnataka.

While a 76-year-old man from Kalaburagi who had recently returned from Saudi Arabia died on Thursday, a 68-year-old woman in Delhi who had tested positive for coronavirus passed away at the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital on Friday night.

Delhi has reported seven positive cases and Uttar Pradesh 11 so far. Karnataka has six coronavirus patients while Maharashtra 31, Ladakh three and Jammu and Kashmir 2. Telangana reported three cases.

Besides, Rajasthan also reported two cases. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have reported one case each.

Kerala has recorded 22 cases, including three patients who were discharged last month after they recovered from the contagious infection with flu-like symptoms.

The total number of confirmed cases includes 17 foreigners -- 16 Italian tourists and a Canadian, the ministry officials said

Amid rising coronavirus cases in India, the government has asked people not to panic, saying no community transmission of the virus has been observed and there has only been a few cases of local transmission so far and that it is "not a health emergency" in India at present.

With the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, a Health Ministry official said over 4,000 people who had come in contact with the 93 positive cases have been identified through contact tracing and were being tracked while 42,000 people across the country are under community surveillance.

He said all essential facilities like community surveillance, quarantine, isolation wards, adequate personal protective equipment (PPEs), trained manpower, rapid response teams are being strengthened further in all states and union territories.

The government on Wednesday suspended all visas, barring a few categories like diplomatic and employment, in an attempt to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

It has asked Indian nationals to avoid all non-essential travel abroad.

All incoming international passengers returning to India should self-monitor their health and follow the required do's and dont's as detailed by the government.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 10,2020

Mumbai, Jan 10: India’s oil demand growth is set to overtake China by mid-2020s, priming the country for more refinery investment but making it more vulnerable to supply disruption in the Middle East, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.

India’s oil demand is expected to reach 6 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2024 from 4.4 million bpd in 2017, but its domestic production is expected to rise only marginally, making the country more reliant on crude imports and more vulnerable to supply disruption in the Middle East, the agency said.

China’s demand growth is likely to be slightly lower than that of India by the mid-2020s, as per IEA’s China estimates given in November, but the gap would slowly become bigger thereafter.

“Indian economy is and will become even more exposed to risks of supply disruptions, geopolitical uncertainties and the volatility of oil prices,” the IEA said in a report on India’s energy policies.

Brent crude prices topped USD 70 a barrel on rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, putting pressure on emerging markets such as India. Like the rest of Asia, India is highly dependent on Middle East oil supplies with Iraq being its largest crude supplier.

India, which ranks No 3 in terms of global oil consumption after China and the United States, ships in over 80 per cent of its oil needs, of which 65 per cent is from the Middle East through the Strait of Hormuz, the IEA said.

The IEA, which coordinates release of strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) among developed countries in times of emergency, said it is important for India to expand its reserves.

REFINERY INVESTMENTS

India is the world’s fourth largest oil refiner and a net exporter of refined fuel, mainly gasoline and diesel.

India has drawn plans to lift its refining capacity to about 8 million bpd by 2025 from the current about 5 million bpd.

The IEA, however, forecasts India’s refining capacity to rise to 5.7 million bpd by 2024.

This would make “India a very attractive market for refinery investment,” IEA said.

Drawn to India’s higher fuel demand potential, global oil majors like Saudi Aramco, BP, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co and Total are looking at investing in India’s oil sector.

Saudi Aramco and ADNOC aim to own a 50 per cent stake in a planned 1.2-million bpd refinery in western Maharashtra state, for which land is yet to be acquired.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.