Narendra Modi has given land equal to Vadodara to Adani, says Rahul Gandhi

April 13, 2014

Modi_RahulNew Delhi, Apr 13: In a strong attack on Adani group perceived to be close to Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi said that he had been given land equal to the size of Vadodara at throwaway prices and also the Gujarat coastline of the size of Mumbai coastline.

Without explicitly mentioning the group by name, the Congress vice president alluded to it when he said, "land equal to Vadodara was given to him. Do you know for how much? For Rs 300 crore. Coastline equal to Mumbai was also given to him."

He was asked specifically during the interview to a news channel whether he was referring to the Adani group to which he said he would not like to name anybody.

Vadodara has an area of 149 square kilometers and the Mumbai coastline is 167 km long.

"When Gujarat grew, it was because of the small industries, because of movements like Amul and that is its strength. Now you see the Gujarat model, the turnover of one industrialist has grown from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore," the Congress Vice President said.

He went on to add that Modi's economic model is that the "entire money of the state should be given to two-three persons. This mindset is also dangerous for the country. I keep fighting against such mindset."

Though he did not name the Adani group, Rahul has in the recent days been attacking it.

Slamming Modi's development model, he said "the reality of Gujarat is that two-three industrialists are prospering" while people are dying in the state.

"Their (Modi's) focus is on benefitting three-four industrialists so that there is trickle-down effect. Trickle-down effect happened in the US also and it has gone bust," the Congress leader said.

He insisted that UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh had performed better than NDA even though there was slowdown in growth briefly because of global recession.

While listing a number of programmes and achievements of the UPA government, he said, "The reality is that we have been in power for 10 years... There will be little bit of anti-incumbency."

When pointed out that the election campaign had become personal, Rahul said he has "no interest in personal attacks and I don't indulge in that."

He added, "Narendra Modiji is a person. He has his issues. I have nothing to do with that. But he represents an ideology. This ideology pits one Indian against another Indian. That is dangerous for the country. My fight is against this ideology."

On the issue of corruption, he said it is a "reality" but it is time to stop talking and start action against it by building institutional frameworks.

He insisted that the UPA government and he himself had been working in this direction through initiatives like RTI, Lokpal, Land Acquisition Bill and MNREGA.

Targeting BJP in this regard, he said its manifesto talks about corruption but "show me one line which says what it will do.... Talking is one thing, doing is another thing."

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News Network
January 28,2020

Jan 28: After Union minister Anurag Thakur, on Tuesday, BJP MP Parvesh Verma has stoked a controversy by saying that "Shaheen Bagh protesters will enter houses and rape sisters, daughters." The BJP MP even went on to say that if BJP is voted to power in Delhi, they "will clear Shaheen Bagh protest within an hour."

"If the BJP comes to power in Delhi on February 11, we will clear Shaheen Bagh of all protests and protesters within one hour. Not a single person will be visible," Parvesh Verma said during a meeting at Vikaspuri assembly constituency.

"Lakhs of people gather there [Shaheen Bagh]. People of Delhi will have to think and take a decision. They will enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters, kill them. There's time today, Modi ji & Amit Shah won't come to save you tomorrow..." the BJP MP told news agency ANI.

"If our government is formed, then give me just a month after February 11, and I will remove all mosques built on government land in my Lok Sabha constituency," the BJP parliamentarian added.

Well, these statements didn't go down well with the netizens, who took to Twitter to express what they felt about the BJP leader's comments. A user wrote, "This is pure, unadulterated hate speech." While other user said, "Only when you thought BJP couldn't stoop any lower."

Earlier, on Monday, BJP leader and Union Minister Anurag Thakur triggered a row after he led the crowd to raise an incendiary slogan that "traitors should be shot". At the rally, Thakur, the Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, shouted: "desh ke gaddaron ko" to which the crowd responded, "goli maro saalo ko" (shoot down the traitors).

Addressing the meeting in support of BJP candidate from Rithala, Manish Chaudhary, Thakur raised the pitch of nationalism as he linked opposition parties with anti-CAA protests in Shaheen Bagh and with alleged anti-India slogans, and then asked the crowd to raise the controversial slogan.

For more than a month, over 200 women have been joined by hundreds of others every day at South East Delhi's Shaheen Bagh at a sit-in protest against the CAA which promises citizenship to only non-Muslim refugees from three neighbouring countries.

Protests have been ongoing in different parts of the country against the amended Citizenship Act (CAA) which grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh if they entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government on Thursday rejected the mercy plea of Mukesh, one of the convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya case.

The mercy plea was then forwarded to Lieutenant Governor, who has now sent it to Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

The convicts were sentenced to death for raping a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in the national capital on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012.

The victim, who was later given the name Nirbhaya, had succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Singapore where she had been airlifted for medical treatment.

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News Network
May 6,2020

May 6: The government on Tuesday said that the Food Corporation of India, the nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains, has sufficient stocks in its godowns, even after meeting the requirement of additional wheat and rice provided free of cost during the lockdown period.

Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has given detailed information about the various steps taken by the government and the total stocks of food grains and pulses available with the government and sent to the states till now, an official statement said.

"FCI currently has 276.61 lakh tonnes rice and 353.49 lakh tonnes wheat. Hence a total of 630.10 lakh tonnes food grain stock is available," it said.

As against this, about 60 lakh tonnes of food grains is required for a month under the NFSA (National Food Security Act) and other welfare schemes.

Paswan said FCI stocks are comfortable even after fulfilling extra commitments during the lockdown.

Under the 'Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana', the Centre is providing 5 kg of free food grains per month to 80 crore ration card holders. This free of cost wheat and rice will be provided for three months. Besides, 1 kg of pulses will also be supplied per family.

This is over and above the normal quota of 5 kg of food grains provided per month per person to about 80 crore people under the food law.

The minister informed that since the lockdown, about 69.52 lakh tonnes of food grains have been transported through 2,483 rail rakes.

Apart from rail route, transportation was also done through roads and waterways. A total of 137.62 lakh tonnes has been transported.

During the lockdown, NGOs and social institutions running relief camps can purchase wheat and rice directly from FCI Depots at Open Market Sales Scheme (OMSS) rate.

The state governments can also purchase food grains directly from FCI. Under the OMSS, the rate of rice is fixed at Rs 22 per kg and wheat at Rs 21 per kg.

Under the 'Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana', for the next 3 months a total of 104.4 lakh tonnes rice and 15.6 lakh tonnes of wheat is required of which 59.50 lakh tonnes rice and 8.14 lakh tonnes wheat have been lifted by various states and UTs.

The Government of India is bearing 100 per cent financial burden of approximately Rs 46,000 crore under the scheme, the statement said.

For pulses, the total requirement for the next three months is 5.82 lakh tonnes.

So far, 2,20,727 tonnes of pulses have been dispatched, while 1,47,165 tonnes of pulses have reached the states/UTs and 47,490 tonnes have been delivered, it said.

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