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Like ‘pickpocket’, Modi diverts attention from issues, says Rahul Gandhi

Agencies
October 15, 2019

New Delhi, Oct 15: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "loudspeaker" of certain industrialists, and said his strategy was like that of a pickpocket who diverts people's attention before stealing.

Addressing an election rally in Yavatmal district ahead of the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly polls, Rahul Gandhi said the prime minister speaks of the moon and abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, but is silent on issues being faced by farmers and the common man, like joblessness.

"The Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation broke the back of small and medium enterprises, farmers, labourers and poor people. Till the Modi government is in power, the issue of joblessness will continue to haunt the country. The problem of joblessness will grow in six months," he claimed.

Criticising the government's decision to waive off corporate tax, Gandhi said certain industrialists were given such benefits, but not the poor sections of society.

He claimed the government was planning to privatise country's assets like ports, Air India, coal mines and PSUs.

"Modi is the loudspeaker of Adani and Ambani. Just like a pickpocket, who diverts attention of people before stealing, his (Modi's) only job is to divert your attention so that he can pass your money to a select few industrialists," the former Congress president alleged.

While the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), Right to Food, land acquisition and tribal laws were being amended, the amendment of GST was not acceptable to the government, he said.

The country's economy is not run by industrialists, but by farmers, labourers and mid-size businesses, he said.

"When the poor gets money, he starts purchasing, when the demand increases, manufacturing gets a boost," he said, adding that the NYAY scheme, earlier proposed by the Congress, was to jump-start the economy.

The annual budget of MNERGA is Rs 35,000 crore and the Modi government waived off corporate tax worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore in a single day, Gandhi charged.

Referring to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's recent France visit, he said the latter did a puja of the Rafale fighter jet.

"But, Rs 35,000 crore was stolen from the jet deal. The media will not write about this because it is being controlled by industrialists. Your money is given to the media so that they publicise Modi," he alleged.

He said Maharashtra has an opportunity to rectify all problems by voting for the Congress and NCP.

"We will bring a government which will work for the poor, farmers, labourers, and small and medium businesses," he added.

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News Network
June 27,2020

New Delhi, Jun 27: Fuel prices were hiked by the oil marketing companies for the 21st day in a row on Saturday. Petrol and diesel will now cost Rs 80.38/litre and Rs 80.40/litre respectively in the national capital.

The price of petrol is increased by Rs 0.25 per litre while that of diesel by Rs 0.21 per litre.
Rates differ from state to state depending on the incidence of value-added tax (VAT).

Notably, oil marketing companies have been adjusting retail rates in line with costs after an 82-day break from rate revision amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. These firms on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs.

The Congress party had called the increase in the price of petrol and diesel 'unjust', 'thoughtless' and demanded from the Central government to roll back increase with immediate effect and pass on the benefit of low oil prices directly to the citizens of this country.
In an official statement, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had said that no government should levy and impose such unacceptable strain on its people.

Before the nation entered the lockdown, the average price of petrol and diesel in Delhi was Rs 69.60 per litre and Rs 62.30 per litre respectively.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: Even as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in various parts of India, more than 1 million people have recovered and discharged till now, informed Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health, here on Thursday.

"More than 1 million people have recovered from COVID-19 in the country. This landmark recovery has been achieved because of the selfless work and dedication of our doctors, nurses and frontline workers," Bhushan said at a press conference.

Giving the number of cured persons, Bhushan said, "More than 1,020,000 patients have recovered. They have been discharged. It is a great achievement."

He said, "The recovery rate has shown positive trends. It was 7.85 per cent in April and today it is 64.4 per cent, which is another heartening news which tells us that whatever battle is put by the Union government in collaboration with state governments is showing results."

"Sixteen states of the country have a recovery rate that is more than the national average. Of these, Delhi has a recovery rate of 88 per cent, Ladakh 80 per cent, Haryana 78 per cent, Assam 76 per cent, Telangana 74 per cent, Tamil Nadu & Gujarat 73 per cent, Rajasthan 70 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 69 per cent and Goa 68 per cent," Bhushan said.

He said effective clinical management lead to a decrease in case fatality rate. In June it was 3.33 per cent and now 2.21 per cent.

Bhushan said the case fatality rate in India today is 2.21 per cent and it's among the lowest in the world. Twenty-four states and Union Territories have lesser fatality rate than that of the country.

Herd immunity in a country of the size and population of India can not be a strategic option. It can only be achieved through immunisation.

"Over 18,190,000 tests have been conducted in the country including RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests. There has been a week-on-week increase in average tests per day. India is conducting 324 test per 10 lakhs population per day," Bhushan said.

He added, three vaccine candidates, are in phase 3 clinical trial. These three are in the US, UK and China. In India, two indigenously developed vaccine candidates are in phase I and II of clinical trials. 

Trial of the first vaccine involves 1,150 subjects at eight sites, second on 1,000 subjects at five sites.

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News Network
January 1,2020

New Delhi, Jan 1: In the backdrop of huge losses borne by airlines, Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said the government is concerned that more airlines will shut down if predatory pricing continues. "Some predatory pricing is taking place" in airfares, the minister told reporters on Tuesday. Mr Puri however ruled out any plan by the government to regulate airfares. The remarks come amid high competition in the country's aviation sector, struggling against high fuel prices and other operating costs.

"The interesting thing that we have observed is that on Delhi-Mumbai route 20 years ago, the average fare was Rs 5,100. Today, the average fare is Rs 4,600. Some predatory pricing is taking place. It means people are selling tickets below their cost," he said.

"One of our concerns is that if there is predatory pricing, then the airlines will stop functioning. This is not Air India's problem only. Jet Airways got shut down. Before that, it was Kingfisher airline," he said.

IndiGo and SpiceJet - two of the country's biggest airlines - reported losses of Rs 1,062 crore and Rs 463 crore respectively in the second quarter of 2019-20. Other airlines have also reported losses in the quarter that ended on September 30, 2019.

Asked if predatory pricing is the reason for the ill health of the airlines, the minister said, "No, there are many reasons... Predatory pricing is one of the factors. But the profitability of an airline is dependent on (a) number of things."

Asked if the trend of predatory pricing has come down after regular discussion with the airlines, he said, "Yes, absolutely."

"It is (a) constant battle. An ideal situation from an airline's point of view is that they grow and they are also able to charge more fares. What fares they charge is their business. Our advice to them is to charge realistic fares," he added. "It should not be too high. And it is not in your business interests if you are imposing predatory fares."

The minister also said that the government is not planning to regulate fares. "No regulation. It has to be done within deregulation system.... If I put a cap on fare, the airline will start charging that cap only... that cap will become the normal fare... So, within a deregulated structure, we have to bring about an equilibrium," the minister said.

"Government, periodically, at my level or at secretary''s level, we sit down with the main aircraft operators and tell them it is in your interest not to allow such practices which undermine the civil aviation sector."

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