No ban on day-dreaming: Javadekar on Rahul's prime ministerial aspirations

Agencies
May 22, 2018

Mumbai, May 22: Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday took a dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi's remark that he is ready to be the prime minister, saying there is no ban on "day-dreaming".

The Congress has lost 20 states and it is in power only in a couple of states now. "If on that basis, Gandhi is thinking of becoming the prime minister, then there is no ban on day-dreams in this country," Javadekar told a regional television channel, when asked about the Congress chief's remark.

Gandhi had recently said he is ready to become the prime minister if his party emerges as the "biggest" party in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Asked if Gandhi could pose a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the parliamentary elections next year, Javadekar said, "A smart tweet or big talk is not politics. It is much more than that."

The BJP had only two MPs in the Lok Sabha in 1984 and it won 282 seats in the 2014 general polls. The Congress was then 400, which reduced to 44, he pointed out.

"There are lessons to be learnt by the Congress from our example," he said.

Asked about the recent political scenario in Karnataka, he said the southern state's governor had invited the BJP by acting within the constitutional framework.

"When we realised that we do not have the sufficient strength, our chief minister (B S Yeddyurappa) stepped down," he added.

On the Punjab National Bank scam involving diamond merchant Nirav Modi, the BJP leader said, "It happened during Congress period but we have arrested more than 13 people in connection with the case. We will seize their properties spread across the country."

On the BJP's slogan of 'Congress-free India', the minister said it means a country free of "crony-politics, lobbying and passing on benefits only to selected people."

"The bad culture in politics, introduced by the Congress, is what we have been opposing," Javadekar said.

Asked about Rahul Gandhi using a similar slogan of "Modi-mukt Bharat", he claimed that it does not have any appeal among people. "Being so anti-Modi is negative politics which will never be successful in the country."

Despite being a nationwide party, if the Congress was going to say it will only oppose (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi, then it is negative politics, he said.

Javadekar exuded confidence that the BJP will not only win the 2019 general elections, but its performance will also be better than earlier in West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. "We will also retain our current base in the country."

To a query on how the Centre was going to check the black money and if any opposition leader from Maharashtra would face the heat, he said the Benami Property Transaction Act is going to be implemented from June onwards.

"You will see many leaders of the Congress, the NCP and many more will face its heat. The properties and bungalows purchased in the name of some servants or non-existing person, all are going to be confiscated," he said.

Highlighting the government's achievements and lauding its Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Javadekar said seven crore houses in the country got toilets.

"I have seen that women in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have given their toilets the name of 'izzat ghar' as earlier it was embarrassing for them to go out in public," he said.

There are some 400 schemes in the country having an outlay of Rs 3.25 lakh crore, which directly gets deposited into the bank accounts, he said.

"The then prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, had once said that if he sends Rs 100 to the people, only Rs 15 would reach actually. It was the Congress in power, from the Centre to village, and leaders were siphoning off money. We have stopped it," Javadekar said.

Comments

Mr Frank
 - 
Tuesday, 22 May 2018

Yes Modiji has got excellent experience of that in karnataka and it applies more to Modiji than Rahul for 2019.

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News Network
June 16,2020

New Delhi, Jun 16: Jet fuel or ATF price on Tuesday was hiked by 16.3 per cent while petrol price was increased by 47 paise per litre and that of diesel by a record 93 paise on the back of firming international oil rates.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was hiked by ₹5,494.5 per kilolitre (kl), or 16.3 per cent, to ₹39,069.87 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification by state-owned oil marketing companies.

This is the second straight increase in ATF price this month. Rates were hiked by a record 56.5 per cent (₹12,126.75 per kl) on June 1.

Simultaneously, petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the 10th day in a row.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to ₹76.73 per litre from ₹76.26, while diesel rates were increased to ₹75.19 a litre from ₹74.26, the price notification said.

In 10 hikes, petrol price has gone up by ₹5.47 per litre and diesel by Rs 5.8 a litre.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

The hike in diesel rates is the highest daily increase since the state-owned fuel retailers started daily revision in rates in May 2017.

Hike for 10th consecutive day

Tuesday’s increase in petrol and diesel price marks the 10th straight day of rise in rates since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

The freeze in rates was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of fall in international oil prices.

The June 1 hike in jet fuel price had come after seven consecutive reductions in rates since February. ATF price in Delhi before the reduction cycle began in February was ₹64,323.76 per kilolitre, which got reduced to ₹21,448.62 last month.

Industry officials said the hike was necessitated because benchmark international rates have bounced back from a two-decade low.

While ATF prices are revised on 1st and 16th of every month, petrol and diesel prices are revised on a daily basis.

Oil companies used to revise ATF prices on the first of every month, but adopted fortnightly revisions on March 21 to pass on the benefit of falling international oil prices to airlines.

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News Network
May 21,2020

London, May 21: Working mothers in Europe and the United States are taking on most of the extra housework and childcare created by lockdown - and many are struggling to cope, a survey showed on Thursday.

Women with children now spend an average 65 hours a week on the unpaid chores - nearly a third more than fathers - according to the Boston Consulting Group, which questioned parents in five countries.

"Women have been doing too much household work for too long, and this crisis is pushing them to a point that's simply unsustainable," Rachel Thomas, of U.S.-based women's rights group LeanIn.Org, said in response to the data.

"We need a major culture shift in our homes and in our companies ... We should use this moment to build a better way to work and live – one that's fair for everybody."

Researchers say fallout from the pandemic weighs on women in a host of ways, be it in rising domestic violence or in lower wages, as some women cut paid work to take on the new duties.

With lockdowns shutting schools and keeping citizens at home, creating a mountain of domestic work, public campaigns from Georgia to Mexico have urged men to do their fair share.

But women, who on average already do more at home than men, are now shouldering most of the new coronavirus burden, too, said the survey of more than 3,000 working parents in the United States, Britain, Italy, Germany and France.

Women's unpaid hours at home have nearly doubled to 65 hours a week, said the survey, against 50 logged by an average father.

British women are more likely to support others in the COVID-19 pandemic and are finding it harder to stay positive, according to separate analysis released this week by polling firm Ipsos MORI and feminist organisation The Fawcett Society.

It is "no surprise" to see women do more childcare and housekeeping on top of their day jobs, Jacqui Hunt of women's rights group Equality Now, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

However, there are "hopeful signs" that men in West Africa are sharing more childcare during the pandemic in a shift in social norms, found a small rapid analysis by humanitarian organisation CARE International released on Wednesday.

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News Network
March 5,2020

Mar 5: The fourteen Italians, who have tested positive for coronavirus, have been shifted to the Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon from an ITBP quarantine centre.

The hospital issued a statement on Thursday morning, saying these patients are housed on a completely separate floor, which has been quarantined and has no contact with the rest of the hospital.

There is a dedicated medical team wearing protective gear looking after these patients.All items used on the floor are isolated to that floor.

The isolated floor will completely contain the disease even with these asymptomatic persons. All other hospital operations are operating as normal, and there is no increased risk to patients, visitors or staff, the statement said.

Twenty-one Italian tourists and their three Indian tour operators were shifted out from an ITBP quarantine centre here on Wednesday as they were exposed to novel coronavirus.

An affected Italian couple is being treated at Jaipur's SMS medical college.

Officials on Tuesday said the foreigners have been sent to a private hospital in Gurgaon and a centre in the national capital while the Indians have been transferred to the Safdarjung Hospital.

Fourteen Italians and an Indian (driver), who were in the same group as the affected Italian couple, tested positive for the virus as per information provided by the Health Ministry.

The Italian tourists and three Indians were admitted to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force centre in Chhawla on Tuesday.

The Centre already has 112 people, 76 Indians and 36 foreigners, since February 27 after they were evacuated by an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane from China's Wuhan, the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus.

The first samples of these 112 people had tested negative when reports came in last week.

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