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In Vidarbha, Gadkari wears a tycoon mantle

[email protected] (DHNS)
October 18, 2012

Gadkeri_wears_a_tycoon

Mumbai, October 18: From a man who ran a family-owned furniture shop in a cobbled lane of Nagpur in the early nineties, 55-year-old Nitin Jairam Gadkari today, apart from being the president of the BJP, is the chairman of one of the biggest business groups in Vidarbha called Purti Group dealing in liquor, power, sugar, fuel, mineral and super bazaars.

Gadkari has come a long way from his days in student politics in ABVP (Akhila Bharat Vidyarthi Parishad) and RSS shakha worker; his political trajectory took a leap when an MLC from a graduate constituency in Nagpur expired. His proximity to RSS leaders helped him gain entry into the Vidhan Bhavan.

Even though the term was only for two years, Gadkari's path was chalked out very adroitly by a Nagpur journalist called Prakash Deshpande from Nagpur. Deshpande later became his personal assistant and key strategist.

Incidentally, Deshpande some years ago was found dead near the rail tracks between Deolali and Nashik. The case was never solved and it was closed with a remark that he fell down from the train in which he was travelling to Nagpur.

Gadkari, reportedly a leader with no mass-base, in 1995 first tasted the powers of being a minister after being given public works department portfolio when Shiv Sena -BJP came to power in Maharashtra. While he initiated several projects infrastructure projects in the state like Mumbai-Pune Expressway, his business venture Purti Group focussing on retail trading in the beginning also started flourishing.

In a span of five years, it started its first manufacturing company Purti Power and Sugar Ltd and today, it is regarded as one of the top sugar manufacturing companies in Vidarbha; as of now it is made of eight major group companies playing in sectors like power, sugar, fuel, minerals like manganese, iron and bio-fertilisers.

Gadkari, after his stint as a minister, never had to look back even though controversies continued to dog him at every juncture. A case in point some years ago was the discovery of the smothered body of seven-year-old girl Yogita Thakre, daughter of Gadkari's domestic help, inside his car. The case like that of Deshpande was given a quiet burial. And same happened to the questions that reared up when lakhs were splurged in the wedding of his son in Nagpur.

Gadkari's proximity with the RSS and the press also played a major role in helping him get out of soups he lands in. While his RSS god-fathers may have helped him in retaining him for the second term despite severe opposition from several quarters inside the party itself, his media friends have always bailed him out of tight corners when the BJP failed miserably in elections.


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News Network
January 13,2020

New Delhi, Jan 13: Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, has fired around 50 of its India executives as part of its restructuring in the country, three sources with direct knowledge said.

The move underscores the struggles Walmart has faced in expanding its wholesale business in India. The Bentonville, Arkansas based company currently operates 28 wholesale stores where it sells goods to small shopkeepers, and not to retail consumers.

The firings mostly affected executives in the company’s real estate division because the growth in the wholesale model has not been that robust, two of the sources said.

“It’s happening because focus is shifting to e-commerce rather than physical (stores),” said one source, who declined to be identified as the decision is not public.

Walmart did not respond to a request for comment.

Walmart has placed bold bets on India’s e-commerce sector. In 2018, it paid $16 billion to acquire a majority stake in India’s online marketplace Flipkart, in its biggest global acquisition.

The second source added that while Walmart could slow down the pace of opening new wholesale stores, the focus will increasingly be on boosting sales through business-to-business and retail e-commerce.

Some of the executives were sacked last week and more could be let go on Monday, two sources said.

In a statement to India’s Economic Times newspaper, which first reported the news, Walmart said it was always looking for ways to operate more effectively and that “this requires us to review our corporate structure to ensure that we are organized in the right way to best meet the needs of our members.”

Walmart has around 600 staff in its India head office out of a total of around 5,300 nationally, one of the sources said.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

New Delhi, Aug 3: Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani on Monday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the timely supply of food and medical assistance to meet the requirement in Afghanistan.

During their telephonic conversation, PM Modi also reiterated India's commitment to the people of Afghanistan in their quest for a peaceful, prosperous and inclusive Afghanistan, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement on Monday.

The two leaders also exchanged views on the evolving security situation in the region and other areas of mutual bilateral interest.
Both leaders also exchanged greetings on Eid-Al-Adha. 

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Agencies
August 8,2020

New Delhi, Aug 7: With the highest single-day spike of 62,538 cases, India's COVID-19 count rose to 20,27,075 on Friday, said Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total cases include 6,07,384 active cases, 13,78,106 cured/discharged/migrated, and 41,585 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

The country's COVID-19 positive cases crossed the 10 lakh mark on July 17 when the total positive cases stood at 10,03,832 in India.

Maharashtra with 1,46,268 active cases and 3,05,521 cured and discharged patients continues to be the worst affected. The state has also reported 16,476 deaths due to the infection.

Tamil Nadu has 54,184 active cases while 2,14,815 patients have been discharged after treatment in the state. 4,461 deaths have been reported due to COVID-19 in the state.

Total COVID-19 cases in Andhra Pradesh are 1,96,789 including 1,12,870 recoveries, 82,166 active cases, and 1,753 deaths, as per the last health bulletin.

Delhi reported 1,192 new COVID-19 cases and 23 deaths on Friday. The total count of cases in the national capital has risen to 1,42,723. 

According to the Health Department, a total of 1,108 recoveries have been reported in Delhi in the last 24 hours.

The total number of cases includes 1,28,232 recoveries, 10,409 active cases, and 4,082 deaths.

According to the official data, 5,612 RT-PCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests and 17,773 rapid antigen tests were conducted today.

A total of 11,43,703 test has been conducted so far. The Union Health Ministry said that India continues its track record of testing more than 6 lakh COVID-19 samples each day for the fourth successive day.

"Expanded diagnostic lab network and facilitation for easy testing across the country have given a boost, and with 6,39,042 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, India has done 2,27,88,393 tests presently. The Tests Per Million (TPM) has seen a sharp increase to 16,513," the ministry said.

As many as 473 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Jammu and Kashmir today; 128 from Jammu division and 345 from Kashmir division.

The total number of cases stood at 23,927 including 7,260 actives cases, 16,218 recoveries, and 449 deaths.

The government of Mizoram informed that 19 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the state, taking the total number of cases to 558.
The number of active cases is 270 while 288 people have been discharged. No death reported in the state to date.

Bihar Health Department said, 3646 new cases reported in the state on August 6. Total tally reaches 71,794.

Similarly, 244 new COVID-19 cases, 77 recoveries, and five deaths were reported in Puducherry on Friday, taking the total number of cases to 4,862, including 1,873 active cases, 2,914 recoveries, and 75 deaths.

1,063 new cases of COVID-19 cases, 381 recovered and 23 deaths reported in Punjab in the last 24 hours. State tally rises to 21,930 including 7,351 active cases, 14,040 cured/discharged and 539 deaths.

Meanwhile, 1,074 new cases of COVID-19 and 22 deaths reported in Gujarat in last the 24 hours. State tally rises to 68,885 including 14,587 active cases, 51,692 cured/discharged and 2,606 deaths, the State Health Department said.

According to the Union Health Ministry, West Bengal has 23,829 active cases with 1,902 deaths so far while, Karnataka has 75,076 active cases of the virus with 80,281 recovered and 2,897 deaths so far.

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