No place for Dalits and backwards in the heart of Congress: PM Modi

Agencies
May 10, 2018

Bengaluru, May 10: There is no place for Dalits and backward classes in the heart of the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, asserting his government is trying to realise B R Ambedkar's dream of a powerful and prosperous India.

Launching a blistering attack on the Congress over the way it has treated Dalits, Modi said the party showed no respect for Ambedkar.

The Congress, he alleged, used "all its power" to defeat Ambedkar when he contested Lok Sabha election in 1952 and Bandara Lok Sabha by-election in 1953.

"That is the reason why Baba Saheb had to face defeat and insult. Let Congress show at least one thing it did to honour Baba Saheb," he said.

Addressing BJP's SC/ST/OBC and Slum Morcha workers through his Namo App, Modi said, "There is no place for Dalits and backward classes in the heart of the Congress."

"This has been happening for decades. Till the time the Congress party was in power, Baba Saheb was not given Bharat Ratna," he said.

Maintaining that Ambedkar dreamt of an India which takes everybody forward together, he said the BJP is trying to fulfil his dream by implementing various schemes.

The government, he said, is making efforts to ensure there is social justice and equality.

Modi said 'Stand Up' and 'Mudra' Yojanas are playing a major role in the financial empowerment of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, OBCs and women.

Noting that the BJP has the most number of MPs belonging these categories, Modi said, it was for the first time after Independence that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government created a separate ministry for scheduled tribes.

Also, it was under Vajpayee that the government created a separate national commission for scheduled tribes, he said.

Modi said the BJP has its governments in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh which have sizeable tribal population.

It is also in power in northeastern states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura, and is part of coalition dispensations in Nagaland and Meghalaya."This shows that tribal people are fully supporting BJP," he said.

He said the party's manifesto for Karnataka elections has details of the programmes its government will undertake for the empowerment of the scheduled tribes.

In Chitradurga, Mysuru, Uttar Kannada and Bagalkot, the government will set up four 'sindhoora laxman training centres' for vocational training, he said.

Modi said the Congress never thought of giving constitutional status to OBC Commission.

"What problem they have I am yet to understand. Every time they create obstacles despite the community's demand for it," he said.

The Congress, he said, did not allow Parliament to function to block the government's move to accord constitutional status to OBC Commission.

Modi said his government made provisions of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act more stringent and increased the number of offences listed under it from 22 to 47.

"The government did this because I know what problems the poor face, what pain Dalits and tribals suffer, and what kind of language is used against them.

"He asked BJP workers to visit the homes of people belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward classes to reassure them that BJP will work for their welfare.

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News Network
February 14,2020

London, Feb 14: Liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya once again asked the Indian banks to take back 100 per cent of the principal amount owed to them at the end of his three-day British High Court appeal on Thursday against an extradition order to India.

The 64-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss, wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to an alleged Rs 9,000 crores in unpaid bank loans, said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are fighting over the same assets and not treating him reasonably in the process.

“I request the banks with folded hands, take 100 per cent of your principal back, immediately,” he said outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

“The Enforcement Directorate attached the assets on the complaint by the banks that I was not paying them. I have not committed any offenses under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) that the Enforcement Directorate should suo moto attach my assets," he said.

"I am saying, please banks take your money. The ED is saying no, we have a claim over these assets. So, the ED on the one side and the banks on the other are fighting over the same assets,” he added.

Asked about heading back to India, he noted: “I should be where my family is, where my interests are.

"If the CBI and the ED are going to be reasonable, it’s a different story. What all they are doing to me for the last four years is totally unreasonable.”

Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing, the two-member bench presiding over the appeal, concluded hearing the arguments in the case and said they will be handing down their verdict at a later date after considering the oral as well as written submissions in the “very dense” case over the next few weeks.

On a day of heated arguments between Mallya’s barrister, Clare Montgomery, and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) counsel Mark Summers, arguing on behalf of the Indian government, both sides clashed over the prima facie case of fraud and deception against Mallya.

“We submit that he lied to get the loans, then did something with the money he wasn’t supposed to and then refused to give back the money. All this could be perceived by a jury as patently dishonest conduct,” said Summers.

“What they [Kingfisher Airlines] were saying [to the banks] about profitability going forward was knowingly wrong,” he said, as he took the High Court through evidence to counter Mallya’s lawyers’ claims that Westminster Magistrates Court Judge Emma Arbuthnot had fallen into error when she found a case to answer in the Indian courts against Mallya.

Mallya, who remains on bail on an extradition warrant, is not required to attend the hearings but has been in court to observe the proceedings since the three-day appeal opened on Tuesday. A key defence to disprove a prima facie case of fraud and misrepresentation on his part has revolved around the fact that Kingfisher Airlines was the victim of economic misfortune alongside other Indian airlines.

However, the CPS has argued that “there is enough in the 32,000 pages of overall evidence to fulfil the [extradition] treaty obligations that there is a case to answer”. “There is not just a prima facie case but overwhelming evidence of dishonesty… and given the volume and depth of evidence the District Judge [Arbuthnot] had before her, the judgment is comprehensive and detailed with the odd error but nothing that impacts the prima facie case,” said Summers.

At the start of the appeal, Mallya’s counsel claimed Arbuthnot did not look at all of the evidence because if she had, she would not have fallen into the multiple errors that permeate her judgment. The High Court must establish if the magistrates’ court had in fact fallen short on a point of law in its verdict in favour of extradition.

Representatives from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as well as the Indian High Commission in London, have been present in court to take notes during the course of the appeal hearing.

Mallya had received permission to appeal against his extradition order signed off by former UK home secretary Sajid Javid last February only on one ground, which challenges the Indian government's prima facie case against him of fraudulent intentions in acquiring bank loans.

At the end of a year-long extradition trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London in December 2018, Judge Arbuthnot had found “clear evidence of dispersal and misapplication of the loan funds” and accepted a prima facie case of fraud and a conspiracy to launder money against Mallya, as presented by the CPS on behalf of the Indian government.

Mallya remains on bail since his arrest on an extradition warrant in April 2017 involving a bond worth 650,000 pounds and other restrictions on his travel while he contests that ruling.

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News Network
July 17,2020

Lukung, Jul 17: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday assured that not an inch of our land can be taken by any power in the world while he interacted with the Indian Army and ITBP personnel at Lukung.

Referring to the India-China border standoff, he said, "Talks are underway to resolve the border dispute but to what extent it can be resolved I cannot guarantee. I can assure you, not one inch of our land can be taken by any power in the world."

Emphasising on finding a diplomatic solution to the standoff, he further said, "If a solution can be found by talks, there is nothing better."
"Recently what happened between troops of India and China at PP14, how some of our personnel sacrificed their lives protecting our border. I am happy to meet you all but also saddened because of their loss. I pay my tributes to them," he added.

Singh interacted with the Army and Paramilitary troops here along with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane.

Earlier today, the Defence Minister witnessed para dropping and scoping weapons here. He also inspected a Pika machine gun.

Indian Army T-90 tanks and BMP infantry combat vehicles carried out the exercise at Stakna, Leh in presence of Singh, Chief of Defence Staff and Army Chief.

Defence Minister is on a two-day visit to Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. He will take stock of the situation at both the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the Line of Control (LOC).

While Pakistan constantly violates ceasefire from across the LoC, China has continued to intrude into Indian territory in Ladakh region in recent past, escalating tensions between India and its eastern neighbour.

On June 15, twenty Indian soldiers laid out their lives during combat with Chinese forces in Galwan valley, leading to tensions between both nations. Chinese soldiers subsequently started moving back following dialogues between two countries through the military level and diplomatic level.

Singh was accompanied by the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane.

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News Network
May 26,2020

New Delhi. May 26: 6,535 more coronavirus cases have been reported in India in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 1,45,380, informed Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.

Out of the total, at present, there are 80,722 active cases in the country. So far, 60,490 people have been cured/discharged and 4167 have died due to the lethal infection.

According to the data compiled by the Centre, Maharashtra has so far recorded the maximum number of cases of COVID-19 across the country with 52,667 people.

The tally of cases in Tamil Nadu has risen to 17,082. While Gujarat has recorded 14,460 cases of the infection so far.

There are 14,073 cases of coronavirus in the national capital.

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