Mamata warns media against ‘spreading lies’

August 26, 2012
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Kolkata, August 26: Even as she claimed that no government in the world had ushered in so much development as her administration since it came to power last year, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday continued her tirade against a section of the media and said the police would register cases against “those who are spreading lies.”

It was spreading canards against her government, she alleged and cautioned it against being a “nuisance” or transgressing its limits.

“Do not teach me about law. I am aware of the codes of the police, media and even political parties,” Ms. Banerjee said while addressing the first convention of Trinamool Yuva — the party’s youth wing.

Alleging that this section of the media was paying people to entice them into making false allegations against her government, she said political parties were being used as “guinea pigs” for the business interests of media houses.

Ms. Banerjee urged the Trinamool Yuva representatives to use social networking sites to counter the misleading, anti-government campaign with well-argued statements. “The most important work of the Trinamool Yuva is building up the party’s image.”

Highlighting the various activities taken up by her government, she said peace was restored in Darjeeling and Jangalmahal but her critics persisted with hollow allegations.

“Those who underestimate the Trinamool Congress should bear in mind that the party will be a force to reckon with at the all-India level.”

Criticism against the government started with infant deaths in state-run hospitals, followed by ‘farmer suicides’ where any suicide was labelled as that of a farmer, and now there was a conspiracy to insult women by referring to the frequent rape cases, Ms. Banerjee said.

She assured the people that action would be taken against any genuine incident of crime against women, but said it was becoming difficult to ascertain whether there was truth in such allegations.

Stating that it had been only a year since the Left Front government was voted out of power, Ms. Banerjee asserted that “people will not forgive those who are working as agents to bring them back to power.”

Police complaints would have to be made and strong action should be taken, as documents and files related to the Left Front government had gone missing, she added.

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News Network
June 12,2020

New Delhi, Jun 12: Petrol price on Friday was hiked by 57 paise per litre and diesel by 59 paise a litre as oil companies adjusted retail rates - the sixth straight day of increase in rates since oil firms ended an 82-day hiatus of rate revision.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 74.57 per litre from Rs 74, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 72.81 a litre from Rs 72.22, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary in each state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or value added tax.

This is the sixth consecutive daily increase in rates since oil companies on Sunday restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

In six hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 3.31 per litre and diesel by Rs 3.42.

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News Network
January 27,2020

Jan 27: Bidders for Air India Ltd. will need to absorb $3.26 billion of its debt, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration tries once again to sell the national carrier.

The entire company will be sold but effective control needs to stay with Indian nationals, according to preliminary terms published Monday. Bids are invited by March 17 with Ernst & Young LLP India as transaction adviser.

Air India, which started in 1932 as a mail carrier before winning commercial popularity, saw its fortunes fade with the emergence of cutthroat low-cost competition. The state-run airline has been unprofitable for over a decade and is saddled with more than $8 billion in debt.

Indian regulations allow a foreign airline to buy as much as 49% of a local carrier, while overseas investors other than airlines can buy an entire carrier. The government didn’t find a single bidder when it tried to sell Air India in 2018.

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June 6,2020

United Nations, Jun 6: The COVID-19 pandemic, which has presented challenges for several nations, could be an “opportunity” for India to speed up the health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat, especially with a focus on primary healthcare, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.

WHO Director-General Ghebreyesus was responding to a question on the COVID-19 situation in India, where the number of coronavirus cases are increasing rapidly. India went past Italy on Friday to become the sixth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic.

India saw a record single-day jump of 9,887 coronavirus cases and 294 deaths on Saturday, pushing the nationwide infection tally to 2,36,657 and the death toll to 6,642, according to the health ministry.

"Of course COVID is very unfortunate and it's challenging for many nations but we need to look for opportunities too. For instance for India, this could be an opportunity to speed up Ayushman Bharat, especially with a focus on primary health care. I know there is a very strong commitment from the government to speed up the implementation of Ayushman Bharat and with primary healthcare and community engagement, I think we can really turn the tide,” Ghebreyesus said during a press briefing in Geneva on Friday.

Ayushman Bharat is the world’s largest health insurance scheme and was launched by the Narendra Modi government in 2018. Last month, Modi had said that the number of people who have benefited from the scheme crossed the one crore-mark.

The scheme aims to cover more than 500 million beneficiaries and provide coverage of Rs 500,000 per family per year.

Referring to the Ayushman Bharat scheme, Ghebreyesus added that “using and speeding up what has started could actually help in India and that's what WHO was very appreciative by the way when Ayushman Bharat started. And this could be a very good opportunity actually to test that and speed up and use it to really fight this pandemic.”

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