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Rahul Gandhi gets bail in RSS defamation case

November 16, 2016

Thani, Nov 16: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi was today granted bail by a court in Bhiwandi near here in a defamation case over his alleged comment against the RSS on Mahatma Gandhi's assassination.

rahulRahul, who reached the Bhiwandi magistrate court in neighbouring Thane district around 10.30 AM amid tight security along with his supporters, appeared before Judge Tushar Waze, who adjourned the case till January 30, 2017.

Former Union Minister Shivraj Patil stood as surety for the bail for the Congress leader. The case against Rahul was filed by a local RSS functionary, Rajesh Kunte, over the former's speech in Bhiwandi on March 6, 2014 in the run up to Lok Sabha polls.

During the rally, Rahul had allegedly claimed, "The RSS people had killed Gandhi."The complainant's counsel Nandu Phadke told the court that if Rahul was ready to accept his "mistake" then he was willing to withdraw the case against him as the complainant (Kunte) believed in "forgive and forget."

Also, Rahul should give an undertaking that he will not repeat it in the future, Phadke demanded.

When Rahul's lawyer Ashok Mundargi requested for a date and sought the court to exempt him from personal appearance, owing to his political commitments, the complainant's lawyer said Rahul may be treated as an "ordinary citizen".

On September 1, Rahul had preferred to face the trial as an accused in the defamation case, submitting before the Supreme Court that he stood by "every word" of his statement.

The Congress vice president had expressed his readiness to face the trial after the apex court refused to interfere with the criminal proceedings pending against him before the trial court. He then withdrew the appeal filed by him against the Bombay High Court judgement refusing to quash the defamation case and summons issued to him by the trial court.

The apex court also declined Rahul's plea that he be exempted from personal appearance before the Bhiwandi court which had taken cognisance of the complaint of an RSS functionary by summoning him as an accused in the case.

Last evening, Rahul reached Mumbai to a rousing welcome by party workers and state leaders.

Several party workers carried placards which read: "Bapu ke samman mein, Rahul Gandhi maidan mein" (For Mahatma Gandhi's honour, Rahul Gandhi joins fight"; "Gandhiji ke hatyaro se sangharsh rahega jari" (fight against Gandhi's killers will continue) and "Rahul Gandhi sangharsh karo, hum tumhare saath hai" (Rahul Gandhi carry on the fight, we are with you).

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Althaf
 - 
Wednesday, 16 Nov 2016

Then who killed Gandiji??

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News Network
June 4,2020

New Delhi, Jun 4: India's Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, following which the defence ministry carried out a massive contact-tracing exercise, official sources said.

Kumar's condition is stable and he is currently under home-quarantine, they said.

At least 35 officials working at the ministry's headquarters in South Block in the Raisina Hills have been sent on home quarantine after reports of Kumar testing positive for the infection emerged on Wednesday morning.

There was no official comment on Kumar's health condition. The defence ministry spokesperson refused to comment on the issue.

It is learnt that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh did not attend office as part of a precautionary measure.

The offices of the defence minister, the defence secretary, the Army Chief and the Navy Chief are on the first floor of the South Block.

The sources said all laid down protocols on contact-tracing and quarantining of people are being scrupulously followed.

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News Network
February 1,2020

New Delhi, Feb 1: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promised to make India a higher education destination, as she unveiled the government’s plan to invest in the education sector in her Budget speech.

“We propose Rs 99,300 crore for education sector in 2020-21 and Rs 3,000 crore for skill development,” said Sitharaman. While there is an increase of 4.6 per cent in the education spending than last year, the budget for skill development remains almost unchanged. Sitharaman also announced holding IND-SAT exam in African and Asian countries, for foreign candidates who wish to study in India.

The Finance Minister had listed three themes of the Union Budget 2020 while presenting the financial statement of the government in Parliament: Aspirational India to boost the standard of living, economic development for all, and building a humane and compassionate society. The spend under education is being done under aspirational India, “which focusses on focussed on skills, education, and agriculture” said Sitharaman.

“A degree-level full-fledged online education programme will be offered by institutes in top 100 in National Institutional Ranking Framework,” said Sitharaman, adding that Centre will announce a new education policy soon. “The government has received over 2 lakh suggestions on it.”

Further giving boost to India’s import of skilled human capital, Sitharaman said, “I propose special bridge course for nurses and medical professional for labour export to countries who open their door for such jobs.”

“Steps will be be taken to attract external commercial borrowing and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the education sector,” the finance minister added.

She further said the government plans to start a programme for urban local bodies to provide opportunities for internship to young engineers.

The Finance Minister also said National Police University and National Forensic University are being proposed.

The government has also proposed to attach medical colleges with district hospitals on PPP model to deal with shortage of doctors, Sitharaman added.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

Mumbai, Aug 6: Former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday that overly focusing on what sovereign rating agencies think can take one's eyes off what needs to be done for the economy.

"It is also important to convince both domestic and international investors that after the crisis associated with the pandemic is over, we will return to fiscal responsibility over the medium term, and the government should do more to convince them of that," Rajan told the Global Markets Forum.

India was placed under one of the strictest lockdowns in the world in late March for more than two months to stem the spread of the coronavirus, but cases have continued to rise steadily since the government eased restrictions in June, stymieing hopes of an economic recovery.

The government has announced several initiatives to help the poor and small- and medium-size businesses, but actual cash outgo from the government's measures has been estimated at just about 1% of GDP.

Several attribute the fiscal prudence to fear of a downgrade after Moody's cut India's rating and outlook in early June followed closely by a change in outlook from Fitch.

The central bank on its part too has reduced the key lending rate by 115 basis points on top of the 135 bps last year and is widely expected to cut rates by another 25 bps later on Thursday.

"The RBI and government have certainly been cooperating, but it seems like it is elsewhere, the ball is in the government's court to do more," Rajan said.

He said the RBI needs to focus on whether credit is reaching the stressed areas of the economy and also if the viable firms were able to access credit and not the unviable ones.

"And I think that's where it has to focus its attentions, because resources, as you well know, are limited in India today."

Recently analysts, however, have cited the growing possibility the RBI may prefer to pause and cut rates only at its October meeting.

Government officials too have suggested the possibility of any more fiscal stimulus being announced, would only come in the second half of the fiscal year, once a recovery has taken root and coronavirus cases have peaked.

"What India should focus on at this point is protecting its economic capabilities, so that when it has dealt with the virus it can go resume activity in a reasonable way. That should be the focus," Rajan said.

"And if it does that, there is no reason why the rating agencies will not see that as an appropriate policy".

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