Fight coronavirus first, worry about stimulus later, says former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan

New Delhi, Jun 24: In a stinging attack on the Gandhi family of the Congress, BJP president J P Nadda on Wednesday said a dynasty and its courtiers have "grand delusions" of the opposition being about itself and stated that a "rejected and ejected" family is not equal to the entire opposition.

In his tweets, Nadda said it was the time for unity and solidarity, and the "relaunch of the scion for the nth time can wait", an apparent dig at Rahul Gandhi, who has been aggressive in his attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his handling of the border row with China.

Nadda said India lost thousands of square kilometres of land due to the "misadventures of one dynasty" and claimed that the Siachen glacier, where the Indian Army has a strong presence, was almost gone. No wonder India has rejected them, he said.'

The BJP president posted a news report to back his assertions about Siachen.

"One 'royal' dynasty and their 'loyal' courtiers have grand delusions of the Opposition being about one dynasty. A dynast throws tantrums and his courtiers peddle that fake narrative. The latest one relates to the Opposition asking questions to the Government," Nadda said.

Though he did not directly name the Gandhi family or any of its members, the reference was clear.

He said it was the opposition's right to ask questions and added that the all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi saw healthy deliberations, with several opposition leaders giving their valuable inputs.

They also fully supported the Centre in determining the way ahead, Nadda said.

"One family was an exception. Any guesses who," he asked.

Targeting the Gandhis, the BJP president said, "One rejected and ejected dynasty is NOT equal to the entire Opposition. One dynasty's interests are not India's interests. Today, the nation is united and supportive of our armed forces. This is the time for unity and solidarity. Relaunch of 'the scion' for the nth time can wait."

Noida, Jan 6: A fire broke out at the ESIC Hospital in Noida on Thursday morning and firefighting was underway, officials said.

The blaze broke out in the basement of the seven-storey hospital building located in Sector 24, a police official said.

Fire tenders were rushed to the spot after the Fire Department was alerted about it around 8 am, the official said.

After that, a search was done to see if anyone was trapped in the building, he said.

The cooling process is now underway.

He said the fire had engulfed the ground, first and second floors of the building, except the basement.

Police said they received information about fire at Kaveri printing press at 2:45 am, when the manager Yogesh called them. The press owners have been identified as Atul and Anuj Goyal, residents of Sukhdev Vihar, they said.

The man who died in the fire has been identified as Phool Dev, from Bihar, who used to work as a help there. Dev went inside the building in the night to sleep before the fire started and died due to suffocation, the fire department official said.

The body has been kept at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and the post-mortem will be done once the family reaches here, police said.

Hyderabad, Apr 12: Indicating that prolonged lockdown to contain coronavirus spread may lead to job cuts in the Indian IT industry, NASSCOM former president R Chandrashekhar has said that the work-from-home culture may become a positive development in the long run as it opens up newer avenues and save investments by IT firms.

The former bureaucrat also said startups which are surviving on funds infused by venture capitalists may face tougher situations if the present scenario deteriorates.

"The larger companies may not be actually cutting jobs for two reasons. One is that they do not want to lose their employees and they have money to pay. Many of them ( big companies), even if they do shed some jobs it might be at the most people who are on temporary or intern type and all. But they would not want regular and permanent employees to go. So as long as they have sufficient flexibility in their books, they would continue," said NASSCOM former president.

"But beyond a point that it goes on, for let us say, two months or three months, then even for them, they will feel the pressure. They may not just keep on providing subsidies to the employees. So the key question will be how long that goes on," Chandrasekhar said.

He also said the work-from-home systems being adopted by several firms across the globe, including India, may have a negative impact on the industry in the short-term, but in the long run it would change the work culture which hitherto was not experienced by many of the IT firms in India.

 On impact of the prolonged lockdown on startups, he said it would be a big challenge for the budding enterprises as the investments they get are based on their ideas and future revenues and the present situation under which peoples movement is curbed may shackle their progress.

 "Where will they (startups) get money to pay salaries to their employees. Venture capital investors would not pay the money or invest their money to pay salaries because they are not in the charity business."

If the employees are not paid and if they leave and it is difficult for the startup againto come up. So the whole investment plan goes for a toss, he said.

Former chairman of NASSCOM, B V R Mohan Reddy said a clear picture as to what is going to happen has not yet emerged as the situation with all respects is still evolving. Reddy said there will be a demand shrinkage for the IT industry as the entire world is under stress. "There is no economy in this world that is going to do well in this situation.

So, therefore, there will be a demand shrinkage, he said, indicating tougher times of the industry ahead.